[Closed] Triathlon: Anyone tried it ?

Your chances - what are your objectives? The 50+ age-group is one of the most competitive because you have many people who've been competing for 20+ years - at Ironman you have guys running 3 hour marathons and needing go sub-10:15 to qualify for Hawaii.

Best advise? Join a club because a good one will have coaches and structured sessions to help with the technical elements like swimming.

I started doing triathlon in the 80's when it was very much a fringe sport - last raced about 15 years ago but I still cycle with mates who are into Ironman and stuff. Plenty of competition in the age groups - I know people still competing in their 60s. When out on the bikes, we can have a group including ex-GB elites, World, European and IM age-champions - it can get a bit frisky.

I'd been racing triathlon for 23 years when I gave up at 55. At 50 I managed a few age-group wins but there's a multiple French champion a year younger than me so it was short lived. He's packed up too, maybe I should keep trained up enough to have another go when I turn 60.

In the early years I found it a fun sport and didn't suffer too much because it was a managed effort until the last few kms of the last dicipline (run Summer, ski Winter). After 50 I found it hard from start to finish and did it more out of habit that for the pleasure. It's hard to stop when something has been such a big part of your life.

My brother who’s in his early 40’s took up triathlon about 4 years ago and competed for GB twice last year so not too late to take it up. He invests a hell of a lot of time training, there is no way i’d Get away with it with my wife. His wife is a lot more understanding. I did a sprint tri about 6 years ago and didn’t really do any training for it, wasn’t bothered where I came (came about mid table on the day so not bad considering) so your training will depend on what your goal is. It’s good fun. I’m not a runner so havn’t continued with it but enjoyed doing it. Give it a go.

Loved it ..... When I was 20 years younger and 4 stones lighter. A car accident and mangled knee while riding put paid to my running but for the 4 years I did them I loved it. Super fit ,loads of stamina, good physique.
If you start getting the bug you can be a bit anal about training , I certainly was (running kit laid out for a transition after a fast ride home from work) but great while it lasted.
Go for it you probably have most of the kit needed already just need a structured training plan and look forward to summer.

Never done one but I've been told that like MTB XC racing there's a top end and very much a bottom end which consists of people trundling along just for a bit of fun. I'm guessing you need to be reasonably able to swim, bike and run, but I don't think the barrier to entry is particularly high.

I've seen alot of people who took it up early-mid 40s and went on to be very successful age groupers.

Usually folks who have been successful at one or other of the sports in their early life and taken a break before coming back.

I do triathlons, not very well but I enjoy myself 🙂 dovebiker's advice is spot-on: join a club. I get a lot of pleasure out of training with my club mates, and realistically to improve at swimming you need a coach. (It'd be easier to improve at running and cycling with a coach of course, but it's nothing like as important...)

So I'd say try out a club or two, and sign up for an Olympic distance race and give it a go.

5 years of Ironman training, and a coaching qualification later, I can now see that I got the bug! I’ve drifted away from tri the last year or so, but I’m still friends with lots of triathletes (and married to one).

As said above, everyone is at their own level, and everyone has a weakness. I know it’s easy to think ‘I can’t swim like that guy’ but you haven’t seen him ride a bike! Then again some gifted people can do all 3 very well.

Good advice t join a club, ask questions (no such thing as a stupid one- we were all beginners once) and get involved!

Can you swim?
Only reading the original post you have not mentioned this.

Compete or complete? If the latter, anyone can do it - it's very accessible. There are plenty of biffers trundling about the course who had set themselves a triathlon as a goal after a career surfing their sofa. The former is a bigger challenge. IMO too many newbies treat triathlon like running was treated back in the 80's when 'fun runners' defaulted to the marathon as their entrance distance and do the same with Ironman. There are some real gems at a shorter distance which are more fun and fulfilling. Then move up to ironamn when you know what you are doing and when you are doing it for the right reasons.

I'm too shit at running and too good at biking

I did some of the fun events a few years back when I was on a fitness kick.

Practice transitions to help and get someone who is reliable to help you setup on the day.

Clubs are a great source of info as well, they can give a lot of efficiency tips.

My wife does them, I dabble. Start off with a sprint tri, they’re relatively easy and will get you hooked, then move up from there. Shorter events are great fun and you can just turn up and have a crack.

My experience is that cycling is the easy part and that swimming is really hard. If you have little or no swimming experience then get lessons and practise a lot, good technique makes it much easier and saves a heap of energy.

And the comment above is correct that, certainly in the age groups, there’s top guys and the fellas at the bottom, but not much in the middle. I’m happy to dabble at the back of the field, Mrs Lunge prefers the front.

forgetting the actual event aspect, its a really good way to get your fitness in training wise. i have done tris, i dont do tris, but i do train with all 3 if that makes sense.

in terms of doing one, assuming we are not talking full iron mas, its no big deal if you are reasonably prepared especially the shorter ones with pool swim not open water.

you would actually be quite surprised at some of the people who line up at the start, my club had a guy one year who did a full shower and wash routine after the swim and set off on his bike with a box of sandwiches strapped to his rear rack. i kid you not!

My mate does these regularly. He trains every day and sometimes twice a day. He's not bad for his age group, but he's 70+ and there's not a lot of competition.
He qualified for European age related champs. Was 4th UK and 120th in age over all!!
He's in a club. I've been riding with them. I leave my mate for dead but struggle to keep up with the club guys who are all 60+.
The guys who do it seriously are pretty fit and seem to feed off each other. Suspect it will be hard to be competitive on your own. Think it will be hard to be competitive for the first 3 or 4 years even if you are in a club.

Good luck, but I think a lot of the challenge is mental as much as physical.

My mate does them and is pretty good, occasionally wins his age group. He tells me my swimming is not half bad, and that I should do well on the bike given how low the standard generally is. I'm a shit runner though. The problem I have with it is that I could happily train on the bike and on foot, that fits with the whole outdoor exercise type thing, but I'd still be poor on foot; then the swimming I could be quite good at but I hate training for it.

So I'm just not that bothered.

I did pretty much every distance from sprint to Ironman between the age of 35 and 40ish.
You need to do loads of training to be competitive in your age group. To give you an idea, my best times for running distances when I was doing triathlons was 5k in 17.40, 10K in 38.50, half marathon at 1.28 and full marathon at 3.05 yet I was nowhere near the front of my age group. This didn't particularly bother me, as I wasn't looking to win, but it's something to bear in mind if you're the competitive sort.

It was good fun, and I raced on some interesting courses (IM Mallorca was great, with closed roads for the bike and run legs) but I realised after a few years that mountain biking, which had always been my main sport, was more enjoyable and required less of my time.

JP

There's always duathlons - run/bike/run.
I did a few Triathlons as a junior, but don't like swim training (I like swimming, but react very badly to the chemicals in pools). Switched to duathlons and did pretty well - a few top 10s in national level races. Then beer and girls took over my interests for a few years 😆

I’ve done a few, my swimming was reasonable, cycling obviously fine but my running was disastrous, and I hated it, so never got better, repeat ad infinitum.

They’re much more inclusive than XC racing imo (someone compared them up there), a huge number of people are just there to finish, there are finishers medals and all sorts of stuff, whilst it’s a given that you’ll finish an XC race, with no real achievement pegged to that.

Being competitive is hard, particularly if you’re not in a senior age group, as the fields are big, so while XC there may be 30 people there are often 200+ in a tri and still only 3 podium places.

I tried to find off road ones, but they were fairly few and far between. Some are non-standard distances - East Grinstead had a longer bike leg for a sprint. I preferred open water swimming to pool swimming.

The general public are more impressed you can do a triathlon than do mountain bike racing, like it’s more relatable somehow, very weird. They’re expensive. They’re often stupidly early in the morning. Most people can’t ride bikes and you’ll make up tonnes of places. You can throw obscene amounts of money at kit, and people do. Olympic distance events are better than sprints IMO.

I started a few years back after a bet in the pub. I just done the Manchester Marathon and a friend challenged me to do a sprint triathlon a month later. I hadn't swam since school, 30 years earlier. I managed it and if I hadn't fallen off the bike and got misdirected on the run I'd have done well. I was quite anxious but when I saw grannies getting shopping bikes out of their cars before the start i new I'd be alright. Later that year I did a half iron man and the next year I did a full length and they've all been brilliant and really inclusive if your half fit you'll not be last.

So much of Tri is competing against yourself, dont worry about the "racing" side of it, just go and have fun. Swimming doesn't need to be scary if you choose a pool based tri, the biking is the fun bit, the run the f-ing hard part.
I popped along to a couple of sprint races that my local club were putting on and really enjoyed it, ended up comiting to IM wales in 2017. Back for another crack this year as I know (hope!) I can go faster with better (ie more dedicated) training...
They are so much more inclusive than XC racing just due to the number of folks and ages taking part, you'll see every body type, and for many just finishing is the challenge.
I love it, you'll also get damn quick on your MTB!

I have been doing sprint triathlons for the past 2 years in the East Midlands. They are fun things to do. I am a fair swimmer, rider and runner and get into the top ten in my age category. I don't do them because I want to win and be the best triathlete ever, I do them because I enjoy them and that's about it really.

I do train for them, I probably could train harder but that may mean taking it more seriously and if I am honest that would reduce the fun aspect.

The first one I did was the Slateman in Llanberis in 2014, which is a toughy. I did practice my swimming as I was very bad at it, but basically I just turned up and gave it a go, hated it and vowed never to do one again. When I moved to the midlands in 2017 I pretty much did the same again. The gym I use has a pool so I was swimming more so I figured why not try again! This time I did pretty well and more importantly really enjoyed it. Its all fun and that is the most important thing.

Just give it a go. Whats the worst that can happen?

I don't think it's for me (I'm happy just cycling) but [url= https://www.gotri.org/training/take-on-your-triathlon-challenge!_147 ]Tri January[/url] was mentioned on the national news today which might be of interest to the OP.

I've just entered the Durty offroad Triathlon in Aviemore, August as a means / incentive to get fit again.

I've done it once before and, as an MTBer, would recommend offroad Tri's for the pleasure of riding up / down / over anything technical past hoards of "regular" triathletes. That was the most satisfying part for me - after the first steep climb and tech descent, I'd passed that many people I seriously thought I was winning the race because I couldn't see anyone in front of me. Obvs I didn't win, but riding skillz are great compensation for being a very average swimmer.

I’ve done a few sprints in recent years. A mate who was doing them and talked me into it. I was, and still am, a below average swimmer and pretty average runner. Did a bit of training but not loads and really enjoyed the first one I did. I’ve since done a couple of local ones each year. They’re fairly expensive if you want to do them often. As above I find them very inclusive and friendly with a great atmosphere. I don’t take them seriously. I generally just try and get into a steady rhythm on the swim and don’t worry about the pace. Then hit the bike pretty hard as the standard generally isn’t great and you can make up loads of ground on the field. The run is then just a steady pace and hang on. Great feeling at the end. Definitely worth a go.

How’s your swimming? Front crawl 400 metres non-stop and that’ll give you a gauge of swimming fitness. Join a club as others have suggested - at least for the swimming alone, whichll give you broadly structured seasonal work-outs.

"I’m 50 years old, I cycle, run and visit the Gym regularly so have a moderate level of fitness but I’m no athlete. What are my chances ? "

Your chances are very high!
Find a short event and stick an entry in, as long as you can finish the swim then you'll be fine. When I did my first one (1985 😂) I swam 1 length front crawl then the rest breast stroke. It's all about getting through the event and just enjoying the sense of achievement.

The pool-based ones (tend to be early and late season) certainly have a very wide range of abilities. I watched one where a swimmer was hanging on to the poolside for a rest half-way down each length. I think he basically pulled himself along for the last few lengths. Got a huge cheer when he finally got to the end and hauled himself out like a beached whale...
Lots of people also thrashed along for about 2 lengths of crawl before reverting to a genteel breaststroke for the rest of the swim.

Thanks for all the advice.
My plan now is to try one of the sprint events in the spring to set a benchmark and then see if I can improve on that and better my pb. Are all the sprint events exactly the same length or can you only do a pb for each individual course ?
Depending on how this plan plays out, I could possibly aim for an olympic distance triathlon later in the year .

Sprint tris differ in length/difficulty depending on the course. Hardest thing about our local one (500m, 15k, 5k with a reasonable hill. Not the swim.) is getting a place - forget it if you're not poised and ready to click the first few minutes after it opens. I've done it twice, finished top 5 v50 (as in not top 4...), based on mtb fitness and a few runs to check I'd get round. Trained a bit for the next year, but only a few seconds faster and 5th again, so sacked it. May make a glorious return in a few years to Zimmer the ****er out...

Sprints are usually 750m swim, 20k bike and 5k run, but they can differ.

My two local ones both differ. The first is an open water sea swim so the swim is knocked down to 500m and the the other has the bike ride at about 27k as it’s an out and back to a roundabout and I guess there’s no practical way to shorten it to 20k

Times are only relevant to each individual course as they all differ so much. During the summer there are a series of super sprint events close to me (near Richmond, N. York's) which I like as you can try to improve times over the same course. If you can find something like that it becomes a good aim

I did 3 in 2013, ending in an Ironman. I really enjoyed them but didn't train too seriously, I was marathon fit and did some long road rides and also enough swimming to ensure I didn't drown.

You can improve a lot and also smoke a lot of folk in any mountain bike stage. I was consistently bottom 10% swim, top 30% run and 10% bike. I could eat what I wanted for 2 weeks after the 220 too!

Don't coat your hands in Bacteria alcohol hand Gel after the swim after downing a few mouth fulls of coke to kill swim bugs, sure you won't get a dodgy belly after, but you will not be able to transfer at any great rate with gel coated slippy hands.........why I did not practice or realise this before I do not know.

I switched from the road based Tri to off road duathlon and triathlon after 12 years. For me getting back up to speed on how to ride a MTB fast has been the challenge. On TTs or long course triathlons I could hold my own but starting from scratch on the MTB has been the driver for the last 6 months