OK I’m a complete noob. My goal is to complete an Olympic distance Triathlon, preferably London Triathlon in under 2.30.
Is this realistic for a first competitive triathlon?
you’re going to have to give a little more information. perhaps about your existing swim bike and run experience, fitness, etc. if you’ve never done any of them… i’d say it’s not likely
if you have my level of talent? no
about 25 to 50 percent of the world has more talent than me though
More information will be required by the assembled ST masses before judgement can be passed…
Not sure how realistic is is, but definitely possible especially if you’re already in shape.
Anecdotally I was severely out of shape in April (like couldn’t run a mile) and managed a 2:15 in my first (pretty flat) OLY in late August. I was doing sprints all summer though.
If its your very first Tri (and its an OLY) though, I would just focus on finishing and feeling good…not on time.
28 years old, didn’t run the length of my own body for 8 years, but kept pretty fit as a waiter. Started training 3 months ago after giving up a 40 a day cigarette habit.
80kg, 6ft tall.
1.5k swim (My weakest section) - about 45 minutes (Need a 5 minute break after 1k or so) - This is an area where I need coaching as I have very bad breathing/timing issues which makes me panic!
40k bike standalone time 1h07ish - about 1h15 after swim.
10k run standalone 37ish minutes - and a paltry 48 minutes after swim and cycle.
Given those times, and, if the race was tomorrow, doing the math I would say unlikely…More like 2:45-2:50 with transitions…Now, with training (given your stand-alone bike and run) I would say yes.
10k of 37 minutes after 4 months of training and no run history?
fuuuuuu
Was the 40k in a draft legal race? If thats a TT time, and you can run run a 37min 10k after 3 months of training you should easily be able to go sub 2:30 in 3 months.
Just focus on bricks, and get your (no offense, very weak) swim time down.
Thanks. I think I’m probably shaving off close to 1/2 a minute per week at the moment, This is slowing up though.
Am I better to keep concentrating on my cardio base and endurance, or step up to strength and speed work more often.
At the moment I’m doing like 9 days endurance followed by 4/5 days speed/strength.
I know you will all probably tell me to spend more time in the pool!!!
your swim is so slow what you need is probably some 1 on 1 instruction first, THEN more time in the pool.
once you figure that out, get some aero-instruction on the bike and go sub 2:10 
I know you will all probably tell me to spend more time in the pool!!!
37m12s is a PB since starting again. I ran XCountry for my county when I was 17. My standard time would be between 39-41 minutes - depends how much training I have done in the few days beforehand. A good rest gives me a better time.
I’ve never done a race. That’s just my own training, but the cycle is almost completely flat and the course is sunk into the ground (like an old railway) so no wind.
Honestly, and I’m no pro, if I had those open 10k times and bike time, I’d keep doing what I was doing on the bike and run. The only difference is that I would make sure I got at least two Bike/Run brick workouts in a week (which I do…we have close bike performance). I would however get some instruction in the pool then work or that, as has been mentioned by other already.
EDIT: I looked at your times again…You’re bike is slowing because you have poor swim fitness…You run slows (much more than it should) most likely because your bike fitness suffers from the swim. Your run should only be about 15-30 seconds slower per mile than standalone as a rule of thumb, or, half marathon pace for an olympic run (10K).
I do 3 brick workouts a week bike/run. One 40k/10k and two 20k/5k. My total distances over a week (About 2/3 endurance to 1/3 speed/strength work) would be approx 120k bike and maybe 30-35k run. Mostly in the safety of the gym as it’s handy to my work and open 24/7 which helps when you are working as a waiter and finishing at 2am etc.
Upon seeing your EDIT - Without swim - my 40k/10k brick in the gym takes about 1h52ish (Average 1h55) - I do this at 1% incline - (I read that goes someway to making up for air resistance outdoors?!?)
One thing I wanted to check - I average 90rpm on the gym bike - this feels comfortable to me for the 40k duration. Should I be aiming to go higher rpm or higher gear to better my times?
As others said work on the swim (technique + fitness). Swimming 45 minutes is way more tiring than swimming 25 minutes in addition to the time itself. As a strong runner, you might improve your overall performance by pedaling at a higher cadence; in my experience higher cadence demands more cardio, lower more leg strength. Most runners have better cardio than leg strength. You will have to experiment w/your bricks to determine that. But 90 rpm is generally good.
One thing I wanted to check - I average 90rpm on the gym bike - this feels comfortable to me for the 40k duration. Should I be aiming to go higher rpm or higher gear to better my times?
“gym bike”? Is this a spin bike or similar? Speeds and distances don’t really translate to the real world. Do you ever ride on a real bike?
They are Lance Armstrong “livestrong” bikes.
The couple of times I have been able to borrow a bike my times were closer to 1h15m - I put this down to confidence and not playing around with the bike setup though. If I were to ride regularly on a “Real” bike I’m sure my times would correlate eventually!
Forget about what time is realistic, for your first triathlon, you should have 2 goals: Finish with a smile, and don’t crap yourself. Come to think of it, that should pretty much be everyone’s goal.