To the uninitiated, unaware, don't care, a triathlon involves swimming, biking and running, in that order, with a quick change over in between, the transition. Triathlon has always been a fairly popular sport but recently, British superstars like the Brownlee brothers have increased it's popularity. The Half Iron Distance totals 70.3 Miles: 1.2 miles of swimming in open water; 56 miles of cycling on roads and 13.1 miles running on what I believe to be flat and firm summer trail.
Now I think I've got the running covered, that's my thing that I've done a fair bit of over the last 18 months or so. Swimming I can do, I generally don't sink and I've swum the distance comfortably since entering the race. It's going to be the bike leg that will be the biggest challenge for me. I've little experience cycling and didn't even own a road bike until August. The one I bought may see me through but it didn't cost the earth (or the moon).
I've taken part in two multisport events since registering: The Black Country Triathletes Sprint Triathlon (1:15:45 / 107 of 240) and the Newport Duathlon (1:42:07 / 49 of 90). These were both very different events with very different fields, the duathlon providing a much sterner challenge of the two due to the energy sapping run before the bike and a very competitive bike field. The bike leg was demoralising due to the number of riders gliding past with seemingly little effort, however this just serves as a reminder as to just how little riding I had done and how much there is to do.
I'm going to be following a Don Fink training plan, from the book "Iron Fit Secrets" and it will be interesting to see how things progress. One piece of advice I've had is to train in proportion to the amount of swimming, biking and running there is in the race...therefore the bike will definitely be taking precedence even before the plan officially starts on 9th February.