The Triathlon thread - Ironman, 70.3, Olympic, Sprint

[whatleytom]

Mike Random said:

Read your blog yesterday, massive respect, I am trying to get a swim coach sorted and start looking at bikes this week. You seemed to go from relatively little to an IM in a pretty short period of time.

Mike

Thanks for reading! Yeah it was always an ambition of mine which initially I thought was out of reach. But after training solidly for London triathlon, I felt like it was a million miles away and so commited.

It's my firm opinion that anyone is capable, it's just a question of having the commitment to stick to the training required

[944fan]

Mike Random said:

Oddly enough l live in Stamford so not really that far, but work in France

Out of interest what did people spend on there first bike? Do most people opt for a TT bike or cross? Carbon or Aluminium ?

Mike

Edited by Mike Random on Tuesday 26th November 11:48

My first (and only bike) is a Trek 1.1, cost £550. It is Alu frame with normal drop bars. You see all kinds of bikes in the events. From multi thousand pound carbon TTs to knackered old mountain bikes. Most are on normal racers. If you are only going to have one bike that is probably the best bet as you can use it for other things more easily.

There didn't seem much point to me spending loads because all you really get is more gears and a lighter bike. Given that I was pretty overweight when I started knocking a couple of kilos off the bike weight was nothing to knocking a few stone of the old belly. Plus it gives you enormous satisfaction passing the "bat-bikes" on an entry level racer.

[Mike Random]

944fan said:

Mike Random said:

Oddly enough l live in Stamford so not really that far, but work in France

Out of interest what did people spend on there first bike? Do most people opt for a TT bike or cross? Carbon or Aluminium ?

Mike

Edited by Mike Random on Tuesday 26th November 11:48

My first (and only bike) is a Trek 1.1, cost £550. It is Alu frame with normal drop bars. You see all kinds of bikes in the events. From multi thousand pound carbon TTs to knackered old mountain bikes. Most are on normal racers. If you are only going to have one bike that is probably the best bet as you can use it for other things more easily.

There didn't seem much point to me spending loads because all you really get is more gears and a lighter bike. Given that I was pretty overweight when I started knocking a couple of kilos off the bike weight was nothing to knocking a few stone of the old belly. Plus it gives you enormous satisfaction passing the "bat-bikes" on an entry level racer.

I pretty much said the same to a salesman today when he mentioned saving a few grams on a wheel bar, l tapped my belly and said a pizza and beer put pay to your 103 euro bar.....

Joking aside l was looking at the Giant Defy 3 Triple for 679 Euros, by the time l get the gear and Garmin l am a tad over 1k, only want the one bike until l decide what l am doing long term, am looking at the Dam Buster Duathlon Medium and the Cannes (France) Triathlon

Mike

[drgav2005]

Mike Random said:

I pretty much said the same to a salesman today when he mentioned saving a few grams on a wheel bar, l tapped my belly and said a pizza and beer put pay to your 103 euro bar.....

Joking aside l was looking at the Giant Defy 3 Triple for 679 Euros, by the time l get the gear and Garmin l am a tad over 1k, only want the one bike until l decide what l am doing long term, am looking at the Dam Buster Duathlon Medium and the Cannes (France) Triathlon

Mike

Mike,

A sensible choice, the Giant Defy is a pretty decent bike for the money. Garmin 910XT (although expensive) is a brilliant piece of kit and will serve you well for all 3 sports. Beg, borrow or hire a wetsuit for a season (much cheaper than buying) until you're totally wrapped up in the sport (which WILL happen!). Then kiss goodbye to your wallet and say hello to shiny tri bikes, aero helmets and magical wetsuits!

Next up, sign up for your events, get yourself a decent training plan and stick to it. It is amazing what you can achieve with a bit of dedication... oh, and a bit of professional coaching (swimming being my achilles heel) helps tremendously too.

I've only been involved in triathlon for the last 18 months or so but it is a great sport and a really friendly, welcoming community. Welcome and enjoy!

Gav
www.drgironman.blogspot.com

[drgav2005]

Greg66 said:

So, one week ago I started my 25 week plan for Mallorca 70.3. First running I've done since August.

Four days in, I roll my ankle on soft wet slippery ground and jam the outside of my foot onto a tree root.

Broken fifth metatarsal. Minimum six weeks recovery.

bks.

Ouch! Not great news - hope it heals quickly and you're back up and training soon. All the best

[drgav2005]

Greg66 said:

So, one week ago I started my 25 week plan for Mallorca 70.3. First running I've done since August.

Four days in, I roll my ankle on soft wet slippery ground and jam the outside of my foot onto a tree root.

Broken fifth metatarsal. Minimum six weeks recovery.

bks.

Ouch! Not great news - hope it heals quickly and you're back up and training soon. All the best

[drgav2005]

Greg66 said:

So, one week ago I started my 25 week plan for Mallorca 70.3. First running I've done since August.

Four days in, I roll my ankle on soft wet slippery ground and jam the outside of my foot onto a tree root.

Broken fifth metatarsal. Minimum six weeks recovery.

bks.

Ouch! Not great news - hope it heals quickly and you're back up and training soon. All the best

[Mike Random]

drgav2005 said:

Mike Random said:

I pretty much said the same to a salesman today when he mentioned saving a few grams on a wheel bar, l tapped my belly and said a pizza and beer put pay to your 103 euro bar.....

Joking aside l was looking at the Giant Defy 3 Triple for 679 Euros, by the time l get the gear and Garmin l am a tad over 1k, only want the one bike until l decide what l am doing long term, am looking at the Dam Buster Duathlon Medium and the Cannes (France) Triathlon

Mike

Mike,

A sensible choice, the Giant Defy is a pretty decent bike for the money. Garmin 910XT (although expensive) is a brilliant piece of kit and will serve you well for all 3 sports. Beg, borrow or hire a wetsuit for a season (much cheaper than buying) until you're totally wrapped up in the sport (which WILL happen!). Then kiss goodbye to your wallet and say hello to shiny tri bikes, aero helmets and magical wetsuits!

Next up, sign up for your events, get yourself a decent training plan and stick to it. It is amazing what you can achieve with a bit of dedication... oh, and a bit of professional coaching (swimming being my achilles heel) helps tremendously too.

I've only been involved in triathlon for the last 18 months or so but it is a great sport and a really friendly, welcoming community. Welcome and enjoy!

Gav
www.drgironman.blogspot.com

Great blog Gav, really enjoyed reading it, it seems a lot of people take a year plus to train for an IM would this be right? I have booked some swim lessons, have done a marathon and a half very little cycling though. Early 2015 to optimistic to aim for?

Mike

[944fan]

Regards to wetsuits it is worth looking out on Ebay. Triathlon seems to be one of those sports where people decide to do it, buy the kit, try it once, hate it, sell all the gear.

I got an Aqua Sphere Ironman racer wetsuit, hrdly used, perfect condition for £70. Would have cost £50 to hire one for the season. People do piss in their wetsuits though

[944fan]

Has anyone had trouble uploading multisport records to Garmin Connect? My Forerunner 301 allows you to switch sports during a tri but I couldn't get it on to connect. Googling shows lots of people with similar issues.

Anyway it seems to now be fixed so if you have been having trouble try re-uploading them and it should work.

[drgav2005]

Mike Random said:

Great blog Gav, really enjoyed reading it, it seems a lot of people take a year plus to train for an IM would this be right? I have booked some swim lessons, have done a marathon and a half very little cycling though. Early 2015 to optimistic to aim for?

Mike

Thanks Mike - pleased you liked it

No, I would have thought early 2015 is entirely achievable. Your running base having completed a marathon is good, some of my club members who did their first IM this year had never run a marathon until the event! Try and ramp up your cycle fitness over the next year and focus on technique, technique, technique for your swim.

IM Austria was only my 3rd ever triathlon. I'd done a couple of marathons back in 2006 (prior to knee surgery) and took up cycling / swimming / running again to rehabilitate my knees and general fitness. 18 months ago I could barely swim 50m without thinking my lungs were going to explode and I could just about manage an hour or so on the bike. I started training around April 2012 and competed in Austria in Jun 2013 - so around 15 months training all in.

The key for me was getting a good plan (I used Don Fink's tri fit book - pretty much the defacto choice for most triathletes) and ***sticking*** to it. Join a club where you can train with other like minded people, especially if they are competing in similar events. I found logging all of my data (from the Garmin 910XT) really helpful and writing the blog helped to keep me focused and motivated even when I was tired and my mind whispered 'just miss a session, sit down eat cake, what harm will missing one session do?.'

Set yourself the goal, plan to succeed and enjoy the training!

[Mike Random]

Gav how clean was your diet etc? I have a personal trainer but have an job that is difficult to set a routine on,

Mike

[anonymous-user]

Mike Random said:

Great blog Gav, really enjoyed reading it, it seems a lot of people take a year plus to train for an IM would this be right? I have booked some swim lessons, have done a marathon and a half very little cycling though. Early 2015 to optimistic to aim for?

Mike

To echo what drgav has said, 2015 is entirely feasible. In fact, the second half of 2014 would be doable, if you have a reasonable base right now.

There are three Don Fink Ironfit plans: just finish, intermediate and competitive. All three are 30 weeks start to race day. I used his plan starting Jan this year to race in August (having take a modest - 14 year - break from tri). However, I cycle a lot, and swimming is my strongest of the three. For various reasons I was only able to run properly for about 9 of the 30 weeks. And once I'd decided my swim was good enough, I backed off that a lot too, because an extra minute or two wasn't worth the pool time. Instead I put a lot into the bike. Bottom line is that deep bike fitness is your "ace in the hole" in an IM.

The Fink programmes start quite lightly on running, not too badly on biking, and heavy on swimming. Specifically, 2x2500m sets per week in the competitive programme. In terms of distance relative to full IM distance, that like starting week 1 with 2x75 mile bike or 2x18 mile runs. The reason it does this is because you're least likely to suffer injury swimming, and it is all about getting as much aerobic time under your belt to build your aerobic engine. It follows from this that one of the biggest hurdles to starting an IM isn't completing the training - that's relatively easy absent other factors - it's staying injury free so that you can complete the training.

There are plenty of ways to skin the IM cat though. My physio worked up to it over three years, doing half marathons, half IMs and a marathon. And she's a bike racer. I'm pretty sure I would have been more likely to have ended up off the idea of a full IM had I done it that way round. Only you know what will best appeal to your psychology.

[nick s]

944fan said:

Regards to wetsuits it is worth looking out on Ebay. Triathlon seems to be one of those sports where people decide to do it, buy the kit, try it once, hate it, sell all the gear.

I got an Aqua Sphere Ironman racer wetsuit, hrdly used, perfect condition for £70. Would have cost £50 to hire one for the season. People do piss in their wetsuits though

I've got a wetsuit I would sell if somebody needs a beginner one? It's a 2XU T:1. Only used it for 6 months or so before upgrading. It's in mint condition, (and I never p*ss in my wetsuits!! dirty gits! ) I don't mind giving it someone on here for £70 if they want it! It's a medium/large. Would fit someone from 5"10-6"1 between about 12.5-14.5 stone. I'm in Windsor by the way.

[Mike Random]

Greg66 said:

Mike Random said:

Great blog Gav, really enjoyed reading it, it seems a lot of people take a year plus to train for an IM would this be right? I have booked some swim lessons, have done a marathon and a half very little cycling though. Early 2015 to optimistic to aim for?

Mike

To echo what drgav has said, 2015 is entirely feasible. In fact, the second half of 2014 would be doable, if you have a reasonable base right now.

There are three Don Fink Ironfit plans: just finish, intermediate and competitive. All three are 30 weeks start to race day. I used his plan starting Jan this year to race in August (having take a modest - 14 year - break from tri). However, I cycle a lot, and swimming is my strongest of the three. For various reasons I was only able to run properly for about 9 of the 30 weeks. And once I'd decided my swim was good enough, I backed off that a lot too, because an extra minute or two wasn't worth the pool time. Instead I put a lot into the bike. Bottom line is that deep bike fitness is your "ace in the hole" in an IM.

The Fink programmes start quite lightly on running, not too badly on biking, and heavy on swimming. Specifically, 2x2500m sets per week in the competitive programme. In terms of distance relative to full IM distance, that like starting week 1 with 2x75 mile bike or 2x18 mile runs. The reason it does this is because you're least likely to suffer injury swimming, and it is all about getting as much aerobic time under your belt to build your aerobic engine. It follows from this that one of the biggest hurdles to starting an IM isn't completing the training - that's relatively easy absent other factors - it's staying injury free so that you can complete the training.

There are plenty of ways to skin the IM cat though. My physio worked up to it over three years, doing half marathons, half IMs and a marathon. And she's a bike racer. I'm pretty sure I would have been more likely to have ended up off the idea of a full IM had I done it that way round. Only you know what will best appeal to your psychology.

Thanks for that info, ideally l can train from September through to May, the summer months are impossible for me really. I am considering a few Duathlons this winter/spring to try it out.

Mike

[DBSV8]

nick s said:

I've got a wetsuit I would sell if somebody needs a beginner one? It's a 2XU T:1. Only used it for 6 months or so before upgrading. It's in mint condition, (and I never p*ss in my wetsuits!! dirty gits! ) I don't mind giving it someone on here for £70 if they want it! It's a medium/large. Would fit someone from 5"10-6"1 between about 12.5-14.5 stone. I'm in Windsor by the way.

i'm interested can you pm me
cheers

[944fan]

nick s said:

and I never p*ss in my wetsuits!! dirty gits!

I was told by someone that there are two kinds of Triathletes. 1) Those who admit to pissing in their wetsuits and 2) Those who lie!



I don't mind admitting I have done in mine Don't worry, wont try and sell it to anyone on here.

[graeme4130]

944fan said:

nick s said:

and I never p*ss in my wetsuits!! dirty gits!

I was told by someone that there are two kinds of Triathletes. 1) Those who admit to pissing in their wetsuits and 2) Those who lie!



I don't mind admitting I have done in mine Don't worry, wont try and sell it to anyone on here.

It's the bit I look forward to most at the start of the race. Especially as I line up for the swim start and it takes my nerves away for a few moments before the melee of the start. When you look around you can see a raft of face expressions of racers doing the same
Not so nice to know those swimming behind you are getting a mouthful too if it's still floating about

At our middle distance races, we always have a number of swimmers pull off to the side of the lake just before coming up the swim exit ramp to have a wee there rather than going out on the bike course
All part of the 'triathlon experience'

[drgav2005]

Mike Random said:

Gav how clean was your diet etc? I have a personal trainer but have an job that is difficult to set a routine on,

Mike

My diet was fairly stable I guess. I started out my training around 93kg (following a good New Year's holiday in USA!) and by race day I was around 79-80kg and about 6% body fat. The last few months of training I worked hard to keep the calories going in since I was using so many during peak phase, so didn't hold back on beers and curry!
I'd often work out (very gently, i.e HR zone 2) for 30-60 minutes in the morning immediately before breakfast. Full fat yoghurt, granola + milk, toast and good coffee before heading out to work. I got into a pretty decent (if boring) routine of having a big salad and some decent protein (tuna, chicken etc) for lunch, snacked on apples and bananas mid morning and afternoon, worked out as soon as I got home from work and immediately after training I'd have a protein shake (350ml of semi skimmed milk and a scoop of Hurricane XS protein powder - vanilla - from my protein.com) which would tide me over until I cooked dinner. Often chicken and rice, steak and chips, chilli... usual stuff and maybe the occasional beer (or two)

Certainly as the training progressed, the weight decreased but in a sensible way. I'm currently about 85 kg after another good US holiday in July (immediately after IM Austria) where I did no real exercise for an entire month. I'm starting to ramp up training (I'm mid way through a 10 week cycle training programme from The Sufferfest which is ace) and I'm starting to get back into racing shape again. The next month or two will be steady base training until I start on the 30 week iron fit plan for The Outlaw which is on the 28th July 2014.

What is just as important as your training plan and diet is rest. Your body cannot adapt to all the training (to make you fitter / stronger / faster) unless you make this an integral part of your plan. Leave at least 1 day a week as a *total* rest day. Ensure you try and get a good night's sleep *every* night. Listen to your body and don't overtrain when you are tired - you risk injury and you'll damage your motivation. Sure, there will be some days when your head is screaming at you to stay in your nice, warm, comfortable bed but you *know* you need to get up and do a session. This is where you earn your IM medal... the race is the fun bit

I found having my plan written out for the week helped me stay focused. Using my Garmin to record the sessions was great psychologically. Especially for the swim. Your mind will play tricks on you in the taper phase of your plan and you'll start to freak out that you haven't done enough training. I was able to look back on all my sessions and prove to myself that I had done enough, the miles were in the bag and 'enjoy' (if you could call it that!) the minimal sessions.

Gav

[nick s]

944fan said:

nick s said:

and I never p*ss in my wetsuits!! dirty gits!

I was told by someone that there are two kinds of Triathletes. 1) Those who admit to pissing in their wetsuits and 2) Those who lie!



I don't mind admitting I have done in mine Don't worry, wont try and sell it to anyone on here.

No I can honestly say I never have! Why would you want a litre of your p*ss floating round all over your body for the duration? The thought of it makes me feel sick! It doesn't come through the matrial and out into the water like it does in a pair of swimming trunks does it?!