You Don't Have To Be a Triathlete to Complete Your First Triathlon!

Is the word “Triathlon” something that makes you feel suddenly not part of a conversation? Is it something that you’d love to do, but don’t have the time, fitness, or knowledge? How about the fact that maybe – just maybe – you don’t see yourself as someone who could possibly participate in – and finish! – a triathlon…? Well, believe me – there’s not a competitive triathlete, or marathon runner out there who didn’t think those very same things once. In fact, if you've experienced a fitness regime like Ultimate Bootcamp, you know anything is possible.

Finding the Time to Train
As with many other things in life, including fitness, time is of the essence. How you choose to use your time is up to you, and it’s probably that very choice that separates you from doing many things you think you could never do. Let’s add up the number of hours you watch TV each week, or play video games, or even read.  If you gave that time – even just some of it – to triathlon training, you’d be at the start line in no time! Let’s break it down a little more.

What kind of Triathlon is good for beginners?
An ideal place to start is a sprint triathlon. Most of these races total about 14 or 15 miles. A ¼ or ½ mile swim, a 10 or 12 mile bike, and about a 5k run. If you spend time at each one of these sports every week, you can get there. If you were to spend just 30-40 minutes swimming, biking, and running every week, you’d still have time on your hands! 30 minutes! If you were to replace just one daily activity with training, or even just get out of bed a half-hour earlier, you would have found the time.

Make a Triathlon Training Schedule
Treating your training like an actual appointment is an approach that works for many people. If it’s in your calendar, and you promise to keep that appointment with yourself, you’ll succeed. Joining a running club or triathlon group is one great way to have that 'task' in your calendar. And – once you get used to having all that fabulous new fitness in your life, you’ll begin to build upon it – lengthening the amount of time per day, or increasing the numbers of days per week, until you hardly recognize yourself! Improved health, higher levels of fitness, weight loss, a cool new conversation piece…the benefits are endless!

Advice for Triathletes
What you don’t want to do is commit to doing a triathlon, but not complete the training properly. Your body needs to adjust to the various demands being put on it by swimming, biking, and running. Your joints need to adapt, your muscles need to learn to recover, and you need to be able to gauge and test your ability and new-found skills.

So let’s give this a shot, shall we? Doesn’t 2012 look like a really perfect year for you, and your new hobby? Even if you do just one triathlon, and never do another one again, you’ll still have done a triathlon! So what are you waiting for? Get online to sites like active.com, find a race in your area in the next 3-6 months, and sign up. Then…all you have to do is train. Piece of cake! We’ll be right here, with all the tools you’ll need to reach the start line. See you there!