London Oly Tri in August- Training Program ideas?

[garnett]

Hi there.

I'm new to triathlon. A friend has convinced me to take part in the London Olympic distance triathlon in August of next year.

I have not cycled or swan in years. I ran a 10k a few months ago in 49 mins.

I'm 27, 6'1", and about 90kg, so that should give some indication of my fitness levels.

I now have 7 months to get in shape for this triathlon.

I have done a bit of reading (and asking questions on this forum) but I was hoping people might be able to point me in the direction of decent ideas for fitness programmes.

Just to prove I'm not expecting everyone to do my job for me, and also hopefully to provide a useful resource for anyone else in a similar situation, here are some sites I've already found:

forum.220magazine.com/default.asp
www.beginnertriathlete.com/default.asp
swimming.about.com/od/triathlon/a/buy_a_wetsuit.htm
www.netfit.co.uk/menu.htm
www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/triathlon/onph1.htm
www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/triathlon.htm
www.trisportepping.co.uk/trainadv/beginners.html

[andys]

What's your aim? Number one important question. If it's just to complete then get out there and get swimming/cycling/running and you'll do just fine. Make sure you can cover the distances as individual session in training and it'll come together on the day. If you have a target time in mind then you need to state it so further advice can be given!

Make sure you get in a couple of open water swims before the race, don't be one of the people who turn up at London without open water experience.

[garnett]

Thanks for the reply Andy.

My aim is to do well for a first triathlon I guess. This is going to be a target for me to base my fitness motivation around for the next half year.

As I said before, I haven't swan or cycled in years, but I'm pretty fit and when I did swim years ago, I did so at a fairly competitive standard.

I guess I was thinking about 50 mins for the run (what I can do now, but with more training to counter the fatigue of a swim and a ride), not too much longer than 2 hours for the cycle, and some sort of corresponding time for the swim. Some results of previous Olympic distance triathlons would be useful. Then I could see whether this is realistic for a novice.

Also I don't know whether the run is a lot slower than usual because of the fatigue from the previous two stages.

Are there any open water races before the event, or can I go and swim the course at any time? That could be useful.