Triathlon - Newbie thinking of doing first tri

So I just finished my first Marathon, NYC 4:55. I have been running for the past year and a half. Also, I commute to work (and everything else) on my fixed geared bike.

So I am thinkng about doing the NYC Sprint tri in August 2004. It is 1/4 swim, 12 bike, and 5 run.

My line of thinking is that I really have to start swimming to round out my training for a sprint tri.

Let me know what you think and any training tips. Also, I would pick up a road bike.

Thanks,

Matt

Plenty of time.

Pick up a copy of Triathlon 101 for abour $12 on Amazon. It will give you the basics of merging all 3 sports

I am in about the exact same boat. I just picked up the Triathlon 101 book, and it looks pretty good.

I've just been on my first six-hour bike ride, averaging about a 75% estimated max heart-rate (that is including about five ten-minute breaks). I felt pretty good after the six-hours. This was on a $100, 26" Wall-Mart mountain Bike. I, too, am considering a road bike, but I am just getting over the $ sticker shock...

I hear road bikes are much faster than mountain bikes, but have yet to experience the difference first hand.

A road or tri/tt bike will make you more efficient on paved roads, therefore, will make you faster. That being said, I've seen people do tri's (mostly sprints) on all kinds of bikes. If you just want to try out the sport, there's nothing wrong with using your mountain bike for tri's. Once you get serious about it, you can start looking for a tri bike, or a road bike with aerobars. Do you research before buying a road or tri bike, though. I have serveral friends that went out and bought a tri bike, then end up getting (or wanting) a road bike a year later because they didn't know what they really wanted at the time they bought their bike. They just bought a tri bike because that's what everybody had.