Yet another newbie! goddamn!!
luckymarine
Posts: 9
in General Chat
Hello all, I have recently left the Royal Marines to attend University therefore earning lots of money and eventually get big and fat and then maybe dying of some fat related problem, however. University isnt really the buzz its cut out to be (bravo on the marketing!) so im looking into taking up some kind of sport. I have decided on triathlons as alone, swimming, cycling, running can become oh so boring!
I know i am pretty much swim-fit as Marines need to be able to swim distances with weight in open water, might have to brush up on technique. Cycling will be another matter altogether and as i have previously read its the one stage that can really make or break a triathlon! have looked into a number possible bikes and have decided that something under £1000 would be best for me, so can anyone who ownes a Focus Izalco Tria tell me if its any good? or anyone with similar.
As for running i have kept my running fitness from the Marines although will have to now concentrate more on speed than endurance.
I have my sights set on the IronmanUK 70.3 next year and i'd like to do better than just complete it, is this realistic? As a University student i have more spare time than i know what to do with so this could become almost a full time occupation.
As with any sport its best to get advice before rushing headlong into novice mistakes! hence the post. Also does anyone know of a triathlon club or any randoms that train as triathleates in the Carlisle area?
Thankyou for any advice given.
I know i am pretty much swim-fit as Marines need to be able to swim distances with weight in open water, might have to brush up on technique. Cycling will be another matter altogether and as i have previously read its the one stage that can really make or break a triathlon! have looked into a number possible bikes and have decided that something under £1000 would be best for me, so can anyone who ownes a Focus Izalco Tria tell me if its any good? or anyone with similar.
As for running i have kept my running fitness from the Marines although will have to now concentrate more on speed than endurance.
I have my sights set on the IronmanUK 70.3 next year and i'd like to do better than just complete it, is this realistic? As a University student i have more spare time than i know what to do with so this could become almost a full time occupation.
As with any sport its best to get advice before rushing headlong into novice mistakes! hence the post. Also does anyone know of a triathlon club or any randoms that train as triathleates in the Carlisle area?
Thankyou for any advice given.
0
Comments
i joined a tri club and it was the best thing i have done you will find there are tuns of people who want to help you!
just listern to their advice and you wont go far wrong!
by the sound of it you are very fit the best idea is to get the swimming right and the rest will follow get a good technique so you dont use your legs to much in the swim aspecially if you want to do an ironman you will want to save your self for later!
also just try and get out on the bike as much as you can the more you do the easier it will feel!
hope this helps a little!
Plus being on the edge of the Lake District have plenty of opportunity to get out fell running, and frolicking about in random lakes.
Thankfully the University also has a half decent gym which should help especially for this time of the year! New to road cycles+ice I'm guessing is not a very good combination!
but seriously if you want to get some miles done then get one if the roads are icy!!
it does get boring but i have found bbc iplayer really good to keep the time flying by or some motervational videos there are some on other threads!!
I could do with some kind of contact in Carlisle, its always better training as a group rather than fighting with the inner bed demon!
hope all goes well!
Im sure with your mental attitude and fitness levels you will enjoy the challenge triathlon will offer.
However as far as bikes are concerned i reccomend you visit your local bike shop. They can offer you lots of advice and help. They most probably will also set you up on it too.
They could also put you in touch with a tri club, or convince you to join them on club rides etc.
Good luck
G
Being an ex bootneck myself i thought i'd reply.
I must say the intake must have changed since i was in (not many potential uni types,that i can remember[:D])
As for the bike question,i have a focus cayo,and i'm very happy with it, goes like a rocket. I'm just going to put a pair of tri bars on for racing next year. I'm toying with the idea of doing a full iroman so a totally 'aero' bike might not be needed.
Just completed my first "Brick" session, fair enough it was in the gym and consisted of 3k row, 10 mins best effort bike an 20 mins best effort run on slight incline repeated a few times. I have a swivley chair i sit on at the PC and have nearly fallen off it 3 times already! am seriously considering glueing it to my bottom for tonight as my legs clearly are not in charge of themselves!!!
Thankyou for the tip on asking at the bike shops about going out on rides maybe i can convince a few of them to stray to the dark side and take up running and swimming too!
Pallace cycles in carlisle is a good bike shop, They have a range of Orca wetsuits in also. Border City Wheelers is a carlisle based cycling club, very frendly lot.
The closest tri club to you is Arragons cumbrian triathlon club, actually based in penrith, they have bike rides & meet up 4 swim training thurs nights at penrith swim pool. Alot of carlisle tri ppl go there. However i have heard a rumour that Someone is starting a carlisle tri club poss next yr? Would def reccommend Arragons tho. Arragons is the bike shop in penrith ask in there re membership. Good shop also.
One of the reasons i left the corps was that the powers that be were just trying to turn us into a regular pongo infantry unit, no windproofs, issue boots only etc etc[:@], and the fact that the kit was made by the lowest bidder. It was truly embarrassing when cross training with the yank marines who wanted for nothing.
An yea i know what you mean, was sick of pongo captins in my specialisation an the fact that the corps has no top cover so were slowly being turned into pongo units. take cdo logs for exapmple. when i left you had difficulty spotting 1 bootneck on the whole camp!
I would really look into doing some BRICK training. I am newish to this too and have like square clare all the advise on this forum is really good and esactly what you need.
So a BRICK
You need to cycle for a few K's then off the bike and start running for at least a K or so building up dustance as you get use to it. After the run back on the bike and do it again. The reason for this is that after the cycle your leg muscles will be relaxed and not ready to run so you will end up with JELLY LEGS. The first time I did this training I fell over.
Good luck with training.
It wasnt just the fact that windproofs look better than the issue combat jacket,its down to the fact that as Marines you spend an awful lot time on operations or exercises and you need kit up to the task. The issue combat jacket is about as much use as t***s on a fish!!, its bulky, soaks water up like a sponge etc etc. Same goes for the issue boots - cheap and nasty. Not a lot of fun when yomping 30 miles over Dartmoor. So alot of the guys bought scarpa boots or similar.
Putting it in a triathlon context its like being made to do an ironman on a
a raleigh chopper instead of a cervelo etc, both are bikes but one is up to the task the other isnt.
Sorry to bang on, but i hope you get my point[;)]
So....who decides this kit is good enough when it clearly isn't?
Forces: "we need new body armor as the kit we are using is 20 years old and not up to the task"
Government: "hmm, ok we'll see what we can do"
Government then issues a contract for X ammount of body armour to whoever wants to make it.
1st contractor: We have designed state of the art armour that will protect a soldier from everything from small arms fire to blast damage and will cost 2k each.
2nd contractor: We have used a design we have used before and can sort of protect a soldier from falling over. will cost 1k each
Government: We have just realised that we can "mod" the old armour and keep it going for the next 10 years!
Hence the reason i left, i get so would up sometimes!! [:@] rant ... over.
Great runs around 205A though!