Should I Start Swimming?

Yes start swimming. Now is the perfect time. If you start swimming in 2 years, you will just be 2 years further behind the others. It doesn't matter if they are faster in swimming, you can probably beat them running. Swimming is all about technique, and learning now will help you a lot with your triathlon dreams. There are triathlons you can probably do right now. The shorter length tri's are usually 400 to 800 meters swimming, 12 or so miles biking and a 5 k run. A reverse tri has the run first and the swim last. Usually those are done in high school pools and the swim may only be 150 meters. I have done 4 tri's and there are lots of kids your age doing them. Talk to your high school swim coach about drills you can try for swimming. You dont really need to do too many weights because swimming is more technique than strength, although Lat Pull downs and chin ups/ pull ups will help your swimming muscles.

My advice to you is to start working toward your goal, but don't expect to achieve it for at least a couple of years. You're probably going to find that your age is below the minimum for Ironman distance events. There might be exceptions, but 18 years is usually the youngest you can be. DO NOT let that discourage you. You're going to need at least two years training, before you'll be ready to swim 2.4 miles. You can (and should) start with shorter distance triathlons. Being an inexperienced competitive swimmer, you would be well advised to join a swim team, in order to get some good training in proper technique. Be sure to inform the coaches that you're interested in distance events. Though you'll be expected to train and compete shorter distances in addition to the long stuff, you will have plenty of opportunity to work on endurance swimming. Don't be surprised if they discover some hidden talent that you're unaware of. At your age, you're still growing. After a few months of regular swim training (assuming you keep your biking and running mileage up), you will more than likely be ready for a sprint-distance triathlon. That's usually about a half-mile swim 10-15 mile bike usually followed by a 5K run. Don't worry if you get smoked in the water. Triathlon is a sport that plays more to the strengths of bikers and runners than swimmers. Be sure not to take this first race too serioulsy, and remember to have fun. I would encourage you to introduce yourself to other participants, particularly if they live in your area. You may be invited to participate in group rides, or runs. If not, try go get the name and phone number for the most talkative and experienced competitor in the race. Call him (or her) up sometime in the week following the race and say that you'd like to take them to lunch (or even coffee) sometime. Say that you're impressed with the way they raced and you'd like to know what kind of advice they could give to a young person just starting out in triathlon who'd like to be an ironman an a few years. (I'd be absolutely shocked if you were to be turned down.) You'll find that triathletes are few enough in number that in virtually any community most of the triathletes know each other. They'll be happy to tell you (maybe before you ask) where the various races are, what kind of conditions to expect, what groups are around to train with, etc. You're definitely not too late in starting swimming. A few years ago a guy about your age started swimming. After about a year he happened to be sitting in the sauna at the local YMCA with me listening to me go on and on about my most recent race. He asked if he could train with me, to see if he liked triathlons. We ended up training together for over ten years. While he had some difficulty keeping up with me for the first few months, he absolutely kicks my butt, now. Best of luck! PS I looked over a few of your questions and answers, and have to commend you on your writing abilities. Very few teenagers these days have the command of our language that you seem to have.

If you just started swimming , the first thing you want to work on is drills. The two most important things you need are technique and endurance. Technique can be taught (through coaching) and esp. drills will help ALOT. Once you get familiar with the strokes, you should have a workout plan . Vary the workout, such as doing 10 100's freestyle on a 1:30 interval, then warm-down then doing some other strokes.. and it's not too late. There was a junior on my swim team last year, he just started swimming. He couldn't even swim one lap at the beginning of the year. A year later, he made CIF. so yeah, if you're dedicated and give 100 % in practice, you're going to beat a lot of people.

YAAAAAA. GO 4 IT!!!

It's never too late! Larsen Jenson(an olympic metalist) didn't start swimming until high school!!!

You should join swim team, its a lot of fun and waterpolo is so fun too. Its a little hard at first but youll get the hang of it pretty fast I reccomend for you to join

look, im a swimmer, a freshmen, and id love to do tri's also, but since i do swim, and run, i can do them. and i only started swimming when i was 12, and i dont want to brag but im pretty good, so if you think you can make a commitment of like 15-16 hours a week of only swimming, then do it. And ps i know someone who started at like 16 or 17 and then won an invitational meet in his senior year.

i think that what you think is swimming, isnt as clear as the idea youll get in a team. you tend to notice more on your form, breathing, w/e. so yeah, go ahead, i have to warn you, if youre used to running, swimming will be hella hard, because you have runners feet.

if it's something you really want to do, go for it. Worst case scenario would be to not try and then regret it later