Tri newbie

Hey there,

I've been reading all kinds of entries in the general forum for the past few days and thought I ought to introduce myself before I start making lots of posts all over these boards. I just started training for a triathlon five weeks ago and definitely right now am experiencing both the highs of training and the equipment/training obsession.

I'm training for the St. Anthony's olympic in Florida in April. So far I'm just building a base and am tracking my training by 12-minute units that I'm being careful not to increase by more than 10% every week. I'm riding a fairly slow hybrid bike - a $250 bianchi with slim but knobby tires and mountain bike handlebars. I figure I'll train on that for a few months and if I'm definitely hooked in then think about a ~$1000 - $1500 road bike. I'm considering getting a hrm so that I can make sure I'm not overtraining.

And, I have one question so far re heart rate training. I've read in different places that "aerobic training" takes place anywhere from 60 - 85% of max hr, depending on where I read it. I figured for starters I'd try to do all my training between 65 and 75%. Does that sound about right?

Also, a second question re the bike. What kind of mph improvement do you think I'd get if I switched from the hybrid to a road bike? I'm currently just trying to average 14mph, which is doable and seems to keep me at a good aerobic rate (usually right around 140 bpm, which is between 70 and 75% of my max). I thought I'd try to increase my average by about .5 mph each month. Does that seem like a good idea or is there some other smart way of tracking my endurance training?

This is a great site and I've really enjoyed reading everyone's posts on everything - equipment, training, and just general tri-information. Thanks for all the good information and I look forward to getting to know folks on the site more.

-s