Triathlon - need recommendations for a personal triathlon

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bigtea
11-08-09, 06:43 AM
Here's the background: I'm a lifelong cyclist who suffered a hip and pelvis fracture last December that left me reassembled with titanium pins, plates, and screws. After the 5 month long recovery I took up lap swimming and "walking/running" on an elliptical trainer. I'll never be able to run again. I can and do ride my bike, albeit very carefully and only in very safe areas. Swimming is something I've stuck with and thoroughly enjoy although I'm terrible at it.

On December 20th, the first anniversary of that life-changing accident and I want to celebrate with a personal triathlon...elliptical, lap swim, cycling.

I will be 60 years old in January and here are my performance limits at this point (this is one sport, one day...I don't do more than one at a time):

1. Swimming - 1000 meters in 30 minutes
2. Elliptical - 2 miles in 25 minutes
3. Cycling - 30 miles in 2 hours

So, with those metrics can anyone recommend a triathlon (all three consecutively in the same day) that is achievable yet pushing my limits?

flip18436572
11-08-09, 07:31 AM
There are many places that do indoor triathlons, but since you don't want to run, you will have to do your own triathlon. Some of the indoor tri's are 10 minute swim 30 minute bike and then a 20 minute run with the longest distance in those times are the winners of the event.

Since that is not what you are wanting to do, I would say do the same thing, but substitute the running on a treadmill with your elliptical.

The swim will be really short for you, or at least feel short for your current training, but when you consider you will be doing two other events back to back you should try something similar to a sprint indoor tri.

Good luck
bigtea
11-08-09, 07:38 AM
There are many places that do indoor triathlons, but since you don't want to run, you will have to do your own triathlon. Some of the indoor tri's are 10 minute swim 30 minute bike and then a 20 minute run with the longest distance in those times are the winners of the event.

Since that is not what you are wanting to do, I would say do the same thing, but substitute the running on a treadmill with your elliptical.

The swim will be really short for you, or at least feel short for your current training, but when you consider you will be doing two other events back to back you should try something similar to a sprint indoor tri.

Good luck

Thanks for the recommendation. The idea of measuring total distance makes sense. Actually I do ride my road bike outdoors and swim laps in an outdoor pool. So my thinking was to do it in this order....elliptical, cycling (from the gym to the community pool), swim. Does a reverse order matter?