Overwieght smoker contemplating sprint tri

spareman

Hi Folks,
Im 32 years old, overwieght (about 17.5 stone), smoke 25 a day, very bad eating habits, I do absolutely no excercise what so ever at the moment, played football and swam a good bit in my youth but have not done anything for about 12 years, want to turn my life around.

I Would love to complete an Ironman at some stage.

I am contemplating doing my first sprint triathlon at the end of August this year.

I found an 11 week couch to sprint training plan, and I was thinking of sorting out my diet, and walking, swimming over next few weeks before the 11 week plan kicks in.

I would feel embarased to join a tri club now as I am seriously out of shape.

Few Questions,
Does anybody here think I can finish the tri or am I nuts?
Should I give myself more time before my first tri?
Anyone come from simular circumstances and suceed?

x in the city

spareman wrote: »

Hi Folks,
Im 32 years old, overwieght (about 17.5 stone), smoke 25 a day, very bad eating habits, I do absolutely no excercise what so ever at the moment, played football and swam a good bit in my youth but have not done anything for about 12 years, want to turn my life around.

I Would love to complete an Ironman at some stage.

I am contemplating doing my first sprint triathlon at the end of August this year.

I found an 11 week couch to sprint training plan, and I was thinking of sorting out my diet, and walking, swimming over next few weeks before the 11 week plan kicks in.

I would feel embarased to join a tri club now as I am seriously out of shape.

Few Questions,
Does anybody here think I can finish the tri or am I nuts?
Should I give myself more time before my first tri?
Anyone come from simular circumstances and suceed?

first port of call is a gp...

Pisco Sour

spareman wrote: »

I found an 11 week couch to sprint training plan, and I was thinking of sorting out my diet, and walking, swimming over next few weeks before the 11 week plan kicks in.

You mention sorting out the diet but no mention of giving up the ciggies :P:rolleyes::D

Of course you can do it, but:

1) First see a doctor as mentioned above
2) Give up the fags. Smoking 25 a day is counterproductive to doing a triathlon.

Best of luck

tunney

spareman wrote: »

Hi Folks,
Im 32 years old, overwieght (about 17.5 stone), smoke 25 a day, very bad eating habits, I do absolutely no excercise what so ever at the moment, played football and swam a good bit in my youth but have not done anything for about 12 years, want to turn my life around.

I Would love to complete an Ironman at some stage.

I am contemplating doing my first sprint triathlon at the end of August this year.

I found an 11 week couch to sprint training plan, and I was thinking of sorting out my diet, and walking, swimming over next few weeks before the 11 week plan kicks in.

I would feel embarased to join a tri club now as I am seriously out of shape.

Few Questions,
Does anybody here think I can finish the tri or am I nuts?
Should I give myself more time before my first tri?
Anyone come from simular circumstances and suceed?

As a former sedentary fattie and smoker who turn up running and triathlon and who'd love to some day finish an ironman - I can empathise.

Start slowly, don't rush in. The task of losing weight and smoking are huge and not to be flippantly dismissed as "Lose weight and give up the fags", it will be difficult but it is possible.

By all means aim for and enter a sprint triathlon at the end of august but approach things slowly. Swim, cycle, and walk, build up to a walk run and do the event but be prepared for it to feel as if you aren't getting anywhere. You will though.

Aim for small achievalbe goals: Get to 16 stone, do a 5km, do a 10km, do a sprint triathlon.
Don't make unrealistic goals - saying I'm going to get down to 10 stone, run a marathon and do an ironman next year will only leave to disillusionment and a feeling of failure.

Make a 4-5 year plan for your ironman and work towards that. The journey is just as important as the destination.

village runner

spareman wrote: »

Hi Folks,
Im 32 years old, overwieght (about 17.5 stone), smoke 25 a day, very bad eating habits, I do absolutely no excercise what so ever at the moment, played football and swam a good bit in my youth but have not done anything for about 12 years, want to turn my life around.



I would feel embarased to join a tri club now as I am seriously out of shape.

Few Questions,
Does anybody here think I can finish the tri or am I nuts?
Should I give myself more time before my first tri?
Anyone come from simular circumstances and suceed?

Nov 2006 17st4ibs and 30 a day man. Broke 3 hours in berlin 2009. Still enjoy the cigarette after big races. Give them up but always go back on them.
Small goals. half a stone at a time. 2ibs a week is doable with small changes. That would have you at 15st 7ib by august. Ran my first marathon at 15st and paced on at 14st. Its all about what your make up is........Are you a winner ?? Time will tell. Why dont you start a log that might motivate you more. Join a mens WW class to speed up the weight loss ?

spareman

x in the city wrote: »

first port of call is a gp...

Done 10am tommorrow morning, after I pick up my xl tri suit in aldi, lol.

04072511 wrote: »

You mention sorting out the diet but no mention of giving up the ciggies :P:rolleyes::D

This goes without saying really, I have tried to quit before and found it very hard, so this time I think once the training starts I will definetly be smoking less, but Im not going to put myself through the whole stressed out quiting thing just yet. I won't deprive myself of ciggerettes completely but Im sure in time I will quit, Im not too worried about the smoking, I feel it will sort itself out more or less once my training starts and I get my mind set on what I want to achieve.

Thanks for the advice people, I am going to start a training log so I can get a bit of feedback from here as I go. Thanks again.

tinydave

I was a bit like yourself last September, 20 stone, bad eating habits and liked a drink or two.
Then i Heard about these Triathlons and said I must give these a go! I started to train 5 days a week until Christmas and then morning and afternoon sessions 6 days a week. I have lost over 3 stone since starting triathlon training and its still dropping.
I completed my 1st sprint triathlon in April and I'm doing another this weekend and next weekend so I'd say go for it:)
Keep us all posted on how your getting on

whatnext

Started to do a bit of running about 2 months ago, had no intention of giving up the smokes, but it just happened, I completely lost my appatite for them. (except when drunk)

was 15 to 20 a day man.

Good luck with it

buzzingnoise

Go for it buddy!!
take one step at the time and cherish every little accomplishment. before you know it all those "little accomplishments" start to add up. started tri about 3years ago. couldn't swim a stroke, run a mile or hadn't been on a bike since i was a kid. still not a world-beater but i'm a million miles from where i was, which was a fat injured ex-rugby player lacking motivation to train.
don't even worry about the ciggs for the time being, soon enough giving up the cancer-sticks will make as much sense as skipping dessert or squeezing in an extra hill-climb session.
write down what you want to achieve in the short, medium and long term. my mrs always says its like shopping, know what you want/need, figure out how much it's going to cost you(in ur case:time, effort, determination), then pay the price!! simple sums.
keep us posted how you go.

trad

spareman wrote: »

Done 10am tommorrow morning, after I pick up my xl tri suit in aldi, lol..

Aldi xl sports gear is rarely man size.

Good luck, Got a new job 6 weeks ago, loads of walking and standing. Replaced the battery in my weighing scales, down 11kgs, thinking about getting back on the bike but, as said in the thread, going to see the GP first.

I'd love to be 17.5 stone.

spareman

trad wrote: »

Aldi xl sports gear is rarely man size.

Got my so called extra large tri suit this morning, lol.... Goes on alright its getting it back off where the problems begin, I couldn't wear it in public, too many bits hanging out, dont want to be scaring the kids on the road, haha. I have a new goal, fit into my tri suit. Thanks for the advice people, Ive started a training diary in training logs, any advice good or bad much appreciated.

iceage

Best of luck buddy it can definately be done. In my 40's I gave up the smokes over 5 years ago after one false start, and like every ex-smoker here we do appreciate how difficult it can be to knock them on the head, stick with it. Was the best thing I ever did. Set myself a personal goal a while back and managed to drop some weight as well with some sensible eating and regular exercise, dropped from nearly 16St. to about the 14 1/4 St. mark. Bit of will power and you'll be fine. Believe in yourself and don't take any notice of the knockers, only listen to the positive stuff. Go steady and don't rush it and most of all...enjoy it!

Running a 10k this weekend.....stick with mate.

Kick off with shorts and a T shirt.

toomuchdetail

+1 on the "go for it " Spareman .

What part of the country are you in , might be worth meeting up with like minded people of a similar level to keep you motivated .

Dont smoke but I am 17st for about 9 months coming down from 20, can still run 5k in 21 mins and complete a sprint tri in 1:22+ while not at the level as some of the guys on here what you will find on the tri scene is that you only judge yourself as no one else will critise ,they will only encourage .
Did my first Tri last year in Nenagh and completed about 10 since ,I am over 40 now and should have done it years ago.
You will benchmark yourself on your August outing and next time you will try and better it .
Good luck and heres to a Tri suit thats more forgiving than the Aldi version !!

moonshadow

Spareman,i am so like you AGE 38,WEIGHT 15,10 ,did a bit(exercise) did a lot (bad lifestyle) and am thinking of (getting fitter),set up that blog i think you may have motivated me!
at 17 yrs old i ran 1.51 for 800m and 3.53 for 1500m,this was irish national standard,so lets do it as they say:eek:

Esroh

Spareman good on you and Good Luck

moonshadow wrote: »

Spareman,i am so like you AGE 38,WEIGHT 15,10 ,did a bit(exercise) did a lot (bad lifestyle) and am thinking of (getting fitter),set up that blog i think you have motivated me! Fixed that for you



at 17 yrs old i ran 1.51 for 800m and 3.53 for 1500m,this was irish national standard,so lets do it as they say:eek:

You know that you have it so go get some of it back:D

Highway_To_Hell

Is there anyone on Boards who wasn't at one point an overweight unfit smoker?

Should add I was 16st 20 a day and on the wrong side of 40yrs old person.


Jan 08 couldnt run more then 500mtrs without stopping. I have now done 2 Marathons, plenty of Olympic/Sprint tris and one very long duathlon (Eireman 2009). Plan to do an Ironman in the next year or so. got my weight down to 12.5 st but now on the wrong side of 13st. - Havent been able to run for the last 4 months and it is the only thing that keeps my weight down, currently cycle 300-400kms/week and weight won't shift :-(

@OP - go for it but as others have said plan out your goals over the next few years, the IM should be a few years away so you can make the most of the experience.

elvis jones

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

Is there anyone on Boards who wasn't at one point an overweight unfit smoker?

I'm overweight and by no means fit.........but never smoked. Food is my downfall.

33 and weight was 111KG last Oct, i started running and recently cycling and now down to 102KG.........so it does work with A LOT of hard work, but its enjoyable.

I started not being able to run for 30 sec outside, now i can do 2 hrs !

200+ miles done so far this year and in week 2 of 18 week programme for Longford marathon.

I could be down more weight but i love my food and have an 80% good diet with the odd blowout !!!

spareman

toomuchdetail wrote: »

+1 on the "go for it " Spareman .

What part of the country are you in , might be worth meeting up with like minded people of a similar level to keep you motivated .

Im in South Dublin, I don't want to be holding anyone back in training, don't want people waiting for me in a run or bike, When I get a bit fitter I will join a tri club.

moonshadow wrote: »

set up that blog i think you may have motivated me!

Its done look for couch to sprint tri in the training logs.

aburke

spareman wrote: »

Im in South Dublin, I don't want to be holding anyone back in training, don't want people waiting for me in a run or bike, When I get a bit fitter I will join a tri club.

Don't wait - join now.
Any decent athletics/tri club accept people of ALL standards.
The worst case scenario is that you will be last in a group spin/run - and what's wrong with that? Just let people know what level you're at, and that you're fine on your own, and things will work out.

We'll have plenty of people at our club who though they weren't 'fit enough', but in reality, were a perfect fit.
You'll meet people who have more in common with you that you think.