Running to Triathlon - How competitive could I be?

head over to slowtwitch for a better resource on tri stuff. Just quickly, though, you need to initially focus on technique and not volume for swimming improvements (assuming no swimming background) and you need a better bike. 16mph is a slow time, but, hybrid bikes are not really built to go fast. If you build up to 4 hours riding you'll see improvements, but I don't think you'll hit 20+ MPH on your current equipment. Your run times are decent and much faster than many triathletes. I think if you work on your technique, build your bike volume substantially (8-10 hours per week) and get better equipment you could be competitive in 2 years.

Your running is stronger than most you'll see in age group at a regional level. A strongish swimmer can go around 12 minutes for 800 m in a sprint race so you've got a long long way to go there and it won't come quickly. If you're serious about becoming competitive you'll need to work with a coach. Your bike time seems ok given the lack of training and equipment handicap and you should see fairly rapid improvement, so it's really the swimming that's going to kill you from a competitive standpoint.

You have a very long way to go to be competitive in the swim and bike. You will never be competitive on a hybrid bicycle. A well-fitting road bike with aero bars is the minimum, but the good news is that anything beyond that offers diminishing returns, so there's no need to spend thousands on a bike. As a runner without a swimming or cycling background, you have a good chance at becoming a good cyclist. Swimming is much harder to pick up, but you can still become decent if you work at it. I've won some age group awards despite being a mid packer in the swim.

Just because you're not going to win any age group awards for a while doesn't mean you can't have fun training and competing, however.

I did a lot of triathlons in my early 40s in Southern California. My running times were comparable to yours, and my bikes times were similar (I could hold 21-ish mph in races). My swim time was about 22:00 for 1650yd/1500m. With those kind of times I typically would finish about 4th or 5th in my age group.

My running times are similar to yours and I've been a USAT "All-American" and have qualified for Kona. Cycling improvement comes from time in the saddle. Swimming is more technique-oriented, so you may need to find someone to give you some pointers if you're a beginner.

I'm think of switching from hetero to homo. How much of a douche can I be?

gojo mojo wrote:

I'm think of switching from hetero to homo. How much of a douche can I be?

Start at the back and then move up a notch.

I've been involved with tris for a number of years. Running is my weakest of the three sports, with half marathon and 5k times around 1:22 and 17 flat.

For a half mile swim i'm normally around 10 min give or take 30 sec, and for an 18-24mi bike on a flat course 24-26mph.

This will put me top few overall in smaller races and top 10 in larger ones.

You've got a long way to go with the swim and bike times, and when you put them all together they are all going to slow down some as well.

Not much that hasn't been said already. If you truly want to get better at triathlon, drop you weekly time/mileage for running down and put it into swimming and cycling. Based on your times, I would say swimming is a bigger limited for you than biking, but an improvement in the bike can pay off with greater returns due to greater amount of time you spend on the bike. Because of this, I would focus on getting most of your volume on the bike, and working more on technique to drop your times in the swim. If you are just doing triathlons as a way to ease back into running, start off on this plan, and then back off on the swimming and cycling and bump up the running.

Thanks to all who gave their advice and perspective.

It's very helpful and motivating.