Hi and already asking

First of all, welcome!

Based on what you wrote, I think an Oly in August is MORE than achievable.  Obviously, the higher your expectations in august diminish your chances.  (Basically, if you want to win in August, you probably don't have enough time to prepare.)   If you want a very respectable time and maybe top 1/3?  I think 15 weeks is more than enough time based on your abilities now.

Good luck!

Welcome!! I belive you have more than enough time. Given you have a good running background and you are aready wimming, i think it would be a matter of focusing on the bike (there is a bike focused program here in BT). And get comfortable in open water.

Best of luck in your trainning!!

as a tip for the bike, race day your doing 40km so you should be doing 70 to 80 km comfortably in training. twice last year I heard people in my tri club having trouble on the bike leg to find out that that was there longest bike ride of the year.

cheers and have fun

I hadn't thought of that but I guess it makes sense since on the day you'll have to cover the bike distance plus the swim and the run.

I think I'll o the sprint on the 5th of May and register straight after, still on a high from it

You'll do just fine. With your base you could be looking at training for a HIM. My first Olympic was a bit of a disappointment, I should have pushed harder but was worried about not having enough left in the tank. It was pretty easy. I bet you'll go sub 3 hours. Good luck

Just re-read your post, I bet you will be disappointed as I was if you do your Olympic  to "finish". Either set a difficult time goal for your OLY and push hard or use it for a primer for a HIM, 3 or 4 weeks prior. The HIM you can "just finish". I'm telling ya....train accordingly and you can do it!!!

I know that I could do the oly swim and run today, it's the bike bit that leaves that question mark... I would LOVE to the an oly tri, and the idea of doing it sub 3hrs just sounds so so so appealing, but unachievable... But then again, when I signed up for my first marathon it also sounded unachievable...

Not even a question that you'll be able to finish. So put that out of your mind. 

Depending on the course, sub-3 hrs a little ambitious. But you'll do well with that marathon base. 

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I might just go for it... I was looking at the profile of the bike course and it doesn't look too hilly

Also think I might have found company for the bike rides which will def help me (I've loads of company for runs - short runs, slow runs, long runs, faster runs...) and have the club swim but I'm def not confident enough to join the club for the bike rides yet.

I was looking at the training programme on BT and it looks doable. But since it's a 16wk plan and from today I would have 15 weeks, my sprint is in two weeks time, so do you think I should wait until after the sprint and start on week 4 or just start now on week 2?

Yes.  Given your background an Olympic triathlon is definitely something that you can finish, and a time goal is not out of the question, either.  In fact, I used the fitness gained from training for an Olympic distance race to springboard into a fall marathon (my blog about it is here) a couple of summers back.   Since the bike is your concern, that's where you can focus your training leading up to the event.  Depending on how often you are training each week, I would be sure to do several rides and include at least one long bike ride per week leading up to the Olympic distance (long is a relative term, but if you stick with it, you should get to a point where a 25-30 mile ride feels comfortable).  You can continue to swim and run, but you won't need to put in the same amount of time running as you would for a longer race.

Here's another likely bonus.  I came to triathlon after a background in running.  Since then, I've found that my running has improved (read faster) because I'm doing more cross-training. 

Good luck to you, and if you're like most of us, you're going to love the triathlon experience!

Love the blog, I  have a 'thing' with the Dublin marathon at the end of October, and was starting to accept that I might not be able to enter it this year as with all the triathlon training I wouldn't start training for it until the end of August. Now you put ideas in my head... lol 

3:15 when you break it down like that does sound achievable. My issue with the bike is more about leg strength than aerobic, I don't think I ever used those muscles before. (although I secretly hope that it's to do with the fact that I live in a town that's on top of a hill which means any direction I go I'll face a steep uphill coming home - and no, I never go fast enough on the downhill to compensate).

So starting tomorrow, I had planned to do 20k on the bike and 5k run, will try to go further on the bike.

One more question: how can I use the spin bike in training to mimic as much as possible the real thing? Should I have a target rpm or just keep increasing the resistance?

Add more resistance every week. Make your training session as hard as you can take. When you get off the bike, your legs should feel like rubber, be out of breath and already be dreading your next ride. lol.

But seriously, push yourself hard 80% of your rides, once in a while go ahead and spin cadence. Good luck.

Thanks. I've started the oly training pl  an last sunday with a bike ride (and a 5k run after although it wasn't in the plan) but had to travel for work and haven't managed a second bike ride this week - it's much easier to carry my trainers

Next training ride will be this sunday, will try the heavier gears on the spin this week.