been there, done that and got the Ironman t shirt. I started out as a "cyclist" - I drifted into events at longer and longer distances
Number one tip would be get some swim coaching. Once you can swim a couple of hundred metres crawl non stop, join a tri club and swim 2-3 times a week. Tend to be very friendly and lots of low end swimmers (like me!)
Then do some run training. Google "couch to 5k"... works a treat for beginners. For you I would actually do LESS to avoid injury. 2-3 times per week maybe.
Do plenty of cycling. Do some brick sessions (running off the bike) eg 15 min bike, 5 min run all then repeat 2 or 3 times
Google "triathlon transition tips"....
Enter a local low key race
ENJOY
PM me with more specifics.....
Agreed on all of this.
I am less far down the path to Ironman, having only just completed both my first competitive triathlon (albeit one longer than the standard Olympic distance) and done a serious endurance tri event for charity. You can read about all that here:
http://tritillicry.wordpress.com
I thought I couldn't swim until February this year. I got coaching and can now do both endurance swimming (several hours non-stop) as well as 2km in 45 minutes, which is not at all fast by competition standards, but is fast enough not to embarass myself and to be in a good position to put my cycling experience into effect and more than make up in the bike leg.
The most difficult thing I have found is the bike-run transition, and I would strongly emphasize doing as many bricks (bike session straight into a run) as you can, especially once the tri season is upon you (as Jay suggested to me, earlier this year). The swim to cycle transition doesn't seem to be a problem at all (at least not for me).
I've really got the bug now and will be training hard over winter and pre-season, and doing a full competition programme next year from sprint to half-ironman triathlons, as well as other non-tri running and cycling events.
