Starting from Zero. Your opinion, please

Hi Lizy,

Congratulations on starting the process.  Consistency is one the most important components in building fitness.  There's a sizeable level of fitness that needs to be achieved to complete a 140.6 mile day.  Most long course athletes will be swimming and biking 3-4 times a week and running 4-5 times a week. 

Swimming and biking, being low impact, are the easiest to ramp up.  You're smart to think about swimming lessons.  Start with the lessons to get your technique going in the right direction.  If you're a member of a local YMCA or other fitness club, you can get lessons there.  Heck, you could do the lion's share of your training at a local YMCA...swim, indoor cycling (I go to a couple of spin classes each week) and running (on their treadmills).

Running: this is where you need to be careful.  When you get to the point you want to add in the running component, I would keep it very short and at a conversational pace...if you're out of breath then you ran too hard.  It takes some time for the body to get use to the stress caused by running so I'd err on shorter but frequent runs. 

Don't let ANYONE take your goals away from you!  

Yes, you can do it.  I've mentored people here on BT who did Ironman races their first year.  

Start slowly and build slowly.  The challenge with an Ironman race isn't finishing the race, it's STARTING it!  About 95% of the people who start the race finish it (including the pro's who drop out strategically).  There's a higher percentage of people who sign up but never start, often because they've injured themselves training for it.  

You're on the right track to build endurance, lose weight, and develop a healthy lifestyle to support your goal.  

The race has cutoffs.  Set yourself up to come in under the cutoffs even if something goes wrong.  

Typically
Swim cutoff:  2 hours 20 minutes.  
Bike cutoff:  10 hours 30 minutes.
Run cutoff:  16-17 hours 

If you target a 2 hour swim (2 minutes 50 seconds per 100 yards) and then 7:30 for the bike (15 mph), you'll have about 30-60 minutes "cushion" before the bike cutoff for transition and things going wrong.  You've got ~6:30 for the run (14:50 minutes/mile).  

Don't spend the winter watching swim videos.  Get some instruction and SWIM!!!!.  Remember, this is your GOAL!  Why put it off?  

The best machine you can get on at the gym is a treadmill.......just walk.....then walk a bit faster each week....then longer....then walk and jog.....and eventually jog. 

Weight loss first.....slowly and properly with exercise and healthy diet.  You don't need a single bit of "weight training" right now.

I was athletic (soccer player) when young, then got overweight, and then, like you, I went from that state to an Ironman.  You can definitely do it.

I would skip the weight lifting.  It does not serve your immediate interests.  I'm not 100% against weights, but the kind of benefit that lifting can potentially confer is not what you need right now.

Stay low impact until the weight comes off.  Instead of running, walk or power-walk.  (If you can run without hurting yourself, then run.  Slowly.  But don't press the issue.  Walking is totally fine.)  It is important to get some walking in as part of your routine now, even if you cannot run without too much risk, because you are acclimating yourself to being on your feet for a long time.  This is important as foot injuries are very common in running, especially in inexperienced runners.  (I have my own sad story to tell here, but I'll spare you.)  By walking a lot, you will also begin to build resistance to lower leg and knee problems, albeit to a lesser extent.

In my experience, biking is by far the best way to lose weight (out of swim/bike/run).  With some 'working up to it' (increasing time in the saddle per week moderately over a period of months) you can get a LOT of time in the saddle and the weight comes off.  But I'll admit I'm biased against swimming, as spending 3-4 hours on a bike is very attractive to me, but doing the same in a pool makes me want to vomit.  If you find that swimming is your thing, then use it to lose weight.

Of course, none of the above works if you do not stay disciplined.  There is almost no amount of swimming/biking/running that you can do right now or for the foreseeable future that could not be counteracted by poor eating.

Hello, Lizy:
  Congratulations on taking the first step and finding beginnertriathlete.com and setting a (huge) goal!
  I see several BT'ers providing some feedback about getting started, coming up with a plan with the 3 disciplines, etc., but am curious to hear if you know a friend or someone local who has been doing triathlons and would be willing to help you and provide guidance?