The Triathlon thread - Ironman, 70.3, Olympic, Sprint
Discussion
What do people think to "age grouping" tri and du events?
Personally, they're a bit of a joke, and just another way to get more money into events...."here you're 50th overall, but 3rd 40-45....come race in Germany for England, but you've got to pay £100 for an England tri suit, £300 entry and sort your own flights and accommodation out".
Personally, they're a bit of a joke, and just another way to get more money into events...."here you're 50th overall, but 3rd 40-45....come race in Germany for England, but you've got to pay £100 for an England tri suit, £300 entry and sort your own flights and accommodation out".
lukefreeman said:
What do people think to "age grouping" tri and du events?
Personally, they're a bit of a joke, and just another way to get more money into events...."here you're 50th overall, but 3rd 40-45....come race in Germany for England, but you've got to pay £100 for an England tri suit, £300 entry and sort your own flights and accommodation out".
You don't have to do that, its optional. I think its good, it gives amateurs a chance to prove themselves against the best their age and to compete on a world stage.Personally, they're a bit of a joke, and just another way to get more money into events...."here you're 50th overall, but 3rd 40-45....come race in Germany for England, but you've got to pay £100 for an England tri suit, £300 entry and sort your own flights and accommodation out".
lukefreeman said:
What do people think to "age grouping" tri and du events?
Personally, they're a bit of a joke, and just another way to get more money into events...."here you're 50th overall, but 3rd 40-45....come race in Germany for England, but you've got to pay £100 for an England tri suit, £300 entry and sort your own flights and accommodation out".
I think they're absolutely the spirit of the sport.Personally, they're a bit of a joke, and just another way to get more money into events...."here you're 50th overall, but 3rd 40-45....come race in Germany for England, but you've got to pay £100 for an England tri suit, £300 entry and sort your own flights and accommodation out".
They give people the opportunity and incentive to compete as long as they realistically want to and give competitors a gauge by which they can qualify there performance relative to their peer group, in addition to the the outright winning performance.
The example you cite is just what happens whenever you sign up to compete in any race - only I wish my entry fees were just 300 quid!!!!
m444ttb said:
944fan said:
Nice. Swam in 12 degree water last year and couldn't feel my face after 5 minutes. Might brave the 750m.
I remember after a lesson last spring we must have stopped swimming and chatted for a few mins. Big mistake! I couldn't hold my cars keys to unlock the door!!That was my worst experience with it. 13-16 degrees I find is not worth swim in unless you are practicing for a cold swim. At 17+ degrees it is quite pleasant.
IronMan Texas 3 weeks on Saturday. Swim course (being a man made drainage point for flood water) looks in a terrible state due to the flooding this week over there, and there has been an official announcement that the local councils (or US equivalent) have refused access to the bike course this year.
Trying to stay positive but it doesn't sound too good!
Trying to stay positive but it doesn't sound too good!
Stylus said:
IronMan Texas 3 weeks on Saturday. Swim course (being a man made drainage point for flood water) looks in a terrible state due to the flooding this week over there, and there has been an official announcement that the local councils (or US equivalent) have refused access to the bike course this year.
Trying to stay positive but it doesn't sound too good!
Sorry to hear that, hopefully it's all sorted in time.Trying to stay positive but it doesn't sound too good!
Can you give us a rough week of training you follow for one? I've been thinking of entering on, but only ever done two sprints.
lukefreeman said:
Can you give us a rough week of training you follow for one? I've been thinking of entering on, but only ever done two sprints.
Worth building your distance with other events first, rather than jump from sprint to IM. Although it could be done with enough time.I am currently training for a half IM. Hopefully going for full IM next year
I am mid way through in a build phase and I do 2 x 1hr swims per week (covering about 6km in total), 1x intervals run (45-55min), 1 x strength/intervals bike (55 min), short recovery run, then long zone 2 bike ride and long z2 run. Building distance on the long rides/runs each week. 1 total rest day per week. Couple of strength + core sessions per week.
As I get closer and move to a peak phase the short recovery run will become a longer z2 effort, still keeping the long run at the weekend and will add an additional OW swim.
944fan said:
lukefreeman said:
Can you give us a rough week of training you follow for one? I've been thinking of entering on, but only ever done two sprints.
Worth building your distance with other events first, rather than jump from sprint to IM. Although it could be done with enough time.I am currently training for a half IM. Hopefully going for full IM next year
I am mid way through in a build phase and I do 2 x 1hr swims per week (covering about 6km in total), 1x intervals run (45-55min), 1 x strength/intervals bike (55 min), short recovery run, then long zone 2 bike ride and long z2 run. Building distance on the long rides/runs each week. 1 total rest day per week. Couple of strength + core sessions per week.
As I get closer and move to a peak phase the short recovery run will become a longer z2 effort, still keeping the long run at the weekend and will add an additional OW swim.
Monday: 1hr swim
Tuesday: bike to and from work, 40 miles, then 7 miles with club on track doing efforts
Wednesday: bike to and from work, 40 miles, 40 mintute swim
Thursday: 5 mile easy run in morning, 46 mile bike ride at night (20 with chain gang circa 25-26mph)
Friday: 10 mile run
Sat: rest
Sunday: 60-80 miles on bike, usually 6-8000ft climbing, 5 easy miles in afternoon.
I was thinking of upping Friday's run, swimming Saturday, and running immediately after bike on Sunday.
lukefreeman said:
Sorry to hear that, hopefully it's all sorted in time.
Can you give us a rough week of training you follow for one? I've been thinking of entering on, but only ever done two sprints.
I haven't diligently followed a plan, more referenced one. I live in the UAE, so I did events through our season most weeks (we are truly gifted with events during the winter) to keep motivated and make the training more fun, with the big ones being halfIM distances in November, December and January.Can you give us a rough week of training you follow for one? I've been thinking of entering on, but only ever done two sprints.
February/March and April I've just been building on those by adding distance. The swimming is the easiest to put time to - in a 1hour session you're likely to be 3/4 of the full distance swim anyway. Running I've only gone to a half marathon distance as I niggled it in the January half and I don't want to risk it - so the last part of the run will be new ground.
Cycling is much harder for me, as everything is repetitive, hot, flat and really boring. I've done some full distance cycles begrudgingly but I've mostly been doing 80ish miles, followed by a run more often than full distance cycles.
Time wise it ranges from about 8-12 hours/week.
I've no idea as the above is of any use, but hopefully find out in 3 weeks!
Did my first duathlon at the weekend. 4 miles, 18 miles, 2.5 miles.
First run went really well, was up in about 30th/85 places. Onto the ride, I knew this was going to be tough having only done one proper training ride this year. Hung on in averaging 16.5mph, the last few miles were a real dig in, lost about 20 places overall on the bike as was expected. 2nd run went great, legs loosened up real quickly and I managed to pass about 5 people finishing 44/85 overall so really pleased for my first multi sport.
Plenty of scope for improvement on the bike, mostly just need to ride more but will see sorting my bike fit out as I think that was making it harder for myself.
First run went really well, was up in about 30th/85 places. Onto the ride, I knew this was going to be tough having only done one proper training ride this year. Hung on in averaging 16.5mph, the last few miles were a real dig in, lost about 20 places overall on the bike as was expected. 2nd run went great, legs loosened up real quickly and I managed to pass about 5 people finishing 44/85 overall so really pleased for my first multi sport.
Plenty of scope for improvement on the bike, mostly just need to ride more but will see sorting my bike fit out as I think that was making it harder for myself.
I'm doing the don fink training plan for ironman Wales at present.
Just wondering what people's opinions are on sacrificing a run session for a bike session given the hilly nature of the Welsh course and also missing a session due to soreness/niggles?
Sometimes I'm getting sore knee and hip joints generally because I'm a shift worker and i have to work sessions around that which can mean less than 24 hours between two 1hr runs.
Struggling for swim motivation too, my local pool is rubbish really and usually can't fit a full training session into the 1hr session available. Couple that with absolutely detesting swimming it's getting really frustrating/ down heartening. Any tips?
Just wondering what people's opinions are on sacrificing a run session for a bike session given the hilly nature of the Welsh course and also missing a session due to soreness/niggles?
Sometimes I'm getting sore knee and hip joints generally because I'm a shift worker and i have to work sessions around that which can mean less than 24 hours between two 1hr runs.
Struggling for swim motivation too, my local pool is rubbish really and usually can't fit a full training session into the 1hr session available. Couple that with absolutely detesting swimming it's getting really frustrating/ down heartening. Any tips?
InertialTooth45 said:
Did my first duathlon at the weekend. 4 miles, 18 miles, 2.5 miles.
Excellent work! Very jealous of of you and anyone competing at the moment as I've had an awful start to the season with THREE 'flu like episodes since christmas!! Certainly not anywhere near "match fit" at the moment, but my training restarts next Monday, so fingers crossed I'll reverse that quickly!!briangriffin said:
Just wondering what people's opinions are on sacrificing a run session for a bike session given the hilly nature of the Welsh course and also missing a session due to soreness/niggles?
Sometimes I'm getting sore knee and hip joints generally because I'm a shift worker and i have to work sessions around that which can mean less than 24 hours between two 1hr runs.
Struggling for swim motivation too, my local pool is rubbish really and usually can't fit a full training session into the 1hr session available. Couple that with absolutely detesting swimming it's getting really frustrating/ down heartening. Any tips?
You're not going to do your race any harm by replacing a run for a bike - if you're getting sore joints, it's probably a good idea to listen to your body and do that anyway. Any IM is very bike focussed and trying to come off the bike as fresh as you're able to is the name of the game. You will never be running a "fast" marathon at the end of an IM, so you won't gain heaps from hammering your run in training (more likely injuries will be the result of that!).Sometimes I'm getting sore knee and hip joints generally because I'm a shift worker and i have to work sessions around that which can mean less than 24 hours between two 1hr runs.
Struggling for swim motivation too, my local pool is rubbish really and usually can't fit a full training session into the 1hr session available. Couple that with absolutely detesting swimming it's getting really frustrating/ down heartening. Any tips?
As far as your swimming goes, I would definitely work on it - if you do, you will learn to love being in the water! It sounds like your weakest event and for that very reason it deserves special attention . . . I'm not sure of your IM background, but even with a rolling start, the swim can be very "busy" and being comfortable in open water is very important.
As far as tips go, you just need to try and motivate yourself and there is no greater motivation than knowing that if you don't work on it, it is a very real possibility to DNF the race you've trained for all year for in less than 60 mins - any sea swim has the possibility to be very tough and Wales has history on that front.
It's one thing swimming 3.8k in a pool and quite a different experience doing it in a lake or river. Throw in salt water, 2500 other competitors, a 5ft swell with waves breaking over your head, whilst swimming through other people's vomit and 3.8k can feel like hell on earth even if you're a decent swimmer - it's exceptionally easy to feel WAY out of your comfort zone.
Train for the worst conditions though and you'll probably surprise yourself come race day
I've just got an email saying the Roade triathlon is back on this year. For those that don't know it, it is just a pool based sprint, towards the end of the season. It had been running for years and at its peak it had about 500 competitors per race. I did it a few years ago and its a really good event. Lots of support from people in the village. Some even had deck chairs out on their front lawn.
Last year they cancelled it because there was not enough entrants. Not sure why they think they will get enough this year. I might sign up for it, there is a 20% discount on the entry fee if you sign up before 2nd May.
Last year they cancelled it because there was not enough entrants. Not sure why they think they will get enough this year. I might sign up for it, there is a 20% discount on the entry fee if you sign up before 2nd May.
briangriffin said:
Struggling for swim motivation too, my local pool is rubbish really and usually can't fit a full training session into the 1hr session available. Couple that with absolutely detesting swimming it's getting really frustrating/ down heartening. Any tips?
Have had any coaching for swimming? I hated it at first because I couldn't do it. Had a few 1 hr sessions with a good coach, corrected my flaws, got a training plan. I now love it (most of the time - head up breast stroking in the fast lane is still a pet peeve).Worth looking at. Also having some specific drills and different sessions makes it more fun
lukefreeman said:
At the moment a typical week for me is
Monday: 1hr swim
Tuesday: bike to and from work, 40 miles, then 7 miles with club on track doing efforts
Wednesday: bike to and from work, 40 miles, 40 mintute swim
Thursday: 5 mile easy run in morning, 46 mile bike ride at night (20 with chain gang circa 25-26mph)
Friday: 10 mile run
Sat: rest
Sunday: 60-80 miles on bike, usually 6-8000ft climbing, 5 easy miles in afternoon.
I was thinking of upping Friday's run, swimming Saturday, and running immediately after bike on Sunday.
Honestly, that is more miles both cycling and running than I do in a week, and more than I did in all but my longest training weeks following Fink's IM 30 week plan for IM Wales last year. (At 8,000 feet your longer cycles have more climbing feet than the whole IM Wales course, which is itself thought to be one of the toughest at approx 7,200 IIRC)Monday: 1hr swim
Tuesday: bike to and from work, 40 miles, then 7 miles with club on track doing efforts
Wednesday: bike to and from work, 40 miles, 40 mintute swim
Thursday: 5 mile easy run in morning, 46 mile bike ride at night (20 with chain gang circa 25-26mph)
Friday: 10 mile run
Sat: rest
Sunday: 60-80 miles on bike, usually 6-8000ft climbing, 5 easy miles in afternoon.
I was thinking of upping Friday's run, swimming Saturday, and running immediately after bike on Sunday.
I thought the same reading 944fan's post above.
I'm sure you already have the fitness to complete an IM; they say that if you are capable of doing IM mileage over the course of a week, then you could finish one. (I may have nicked that from Fink's book, I don't recall) I completed Wales in 13hrs 20 mins and your fitness seems to be a long way ahead of where I was at this stage last year. (Except swimming, perhaps.)
Right now I'm training for Isoman (Iron length time wise but with longer swim and shorter bike) and Alpe D'Huez middle distance, both in July.
Last week, pulled from my Polar diary:
Monday - Rest day
Tuesday - 50 min run (5 miles)
Wednesday - Brick, 41 min cycle, 22 min run. (Fink calls these transition sessions) Evening swim, 1hr. (3km)
Thursday - Commuted by bike, 1hr 45m total, 25 miles.
Friday - 1hr run, 6.5 miles
Saturday - 3hr 50min cycle (52 miles), with lots of climbing!
Sunday - 1 hr 2 min run; raced my mate doing a paper round (by car), helping when I passed him at convenient moments. 5.8 miles. (My longer runs should really be 2hrs by now, but had a month off due to hip pains and just building back up)
Monday - (I would normally have done this on Saturday or Sunday) 2hr 36m swim, 8km.
Does anyone use a 910XT for pool swimming? I used a Garmin Swim for ages but upgraded as I need something with ANT+ power for the bike so went for the all in one watch.
On the Garmin Swim at the end of each lap I pressed pause and it gave me a rest timer. This was useful as I use a Finis Tempo Trainer to pace my CSS efforts to I knew when to hit play again and set off.
On the 910 I press lap and it gives my an Interval Count and time pop up. This obscures the main timer so I have no idea when to hit lap and start again.
Is hitting lap on each stop and start the correct thing and anyway to get a rest timer?
I know I should RTFM but interested to hear other's experience as well
On the Garmin Swim at the end of each lap I pressed pause and it gave me a rest timer. This was useful as I use a Finis Tempo Trainer to pace my CSS efforts to I knew when to hit play again and set off.
On the 910 I press lap and it gives my an Interval Count and time pop up. This obscures the main timer so I have no idea when to hit lap and start again.
Is hitting lap on each stop and start the correct thing and anyway to get a rest timer?
I know I should RTFM but interested to hear other's experience as well
Can I have some help with my power numbers please? I have been training using HR zones until recently. I bought a G3 powertap. My old garmin didn't support ANT+ so I did my first FTP Test using my phone and strava, which came out as 251W for 20 mins.
I then bought a Garmin 910XT. It recognised the power meter straight away and asked if I wanted to calibrate, I said yes and it said successful. I programmed in my FTP and it calculated the zones. I went for a 90 min ride on my usual routes. It was set to include zeros in the average
When I have put it on garmin connect the numbers don't make sense.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1147711...
My average HR zone is low Z2, but my power zone is 3.5 and my 20 min max average power is 223. The average speed is the same as my last two long rides.
Have I done the FTP test wrong and should I re-do it with the Garmin? It seems if I kept my power zone in Z2 I would be much slower than before and my HR would remain pretty much in Z1.
I then bought a Garmin 910XT. It recognised the power meter straight away and asked if I wanted to calibrate, I said yes and it said successful. I programmed in my FTP and it calculated the zones. I went for a 90 min ride on my usual routes. It was set to include zeros in the average
When I have put it on garmin connect the numbers don't make sense.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1147711...
My average HR zone is low Z2, but my power zone is 3.5 and my 20 min max average power is 223. The average speed is the same as my last two long rides.
Have I done the FTP test wrong and should I re-do it with the Garmin? It seems if I kept my power zone in Z2 I would be much slower than before and my HR would remain pretty much in Z1.
944fan said:
Does anyone use a 910XT for pool swimming? I used a Garmin Swim for ages but upgraded as I need something with ANT+ power for the bike so went for the all in one watch.
On the Garmin Swim at the end of each lap I pressed pause and it gave me a rest timer. This was useful as I use a Finis Tempo Trainer to pace my CSS efforts to I knew when to hit play again and set off.
On the 910 I press lap and it gives my an Interval Count and time pop up. This obscures the main timer so I have no idea when to hit lap and start again.
Is hitting lap on each stop and start the correct thing and anyway to get a rest timer?
I know I should RTFM but interested to hear other's experience as well
Yes, I use the Garmin 910Xt. I've not used it for tempo training but they have a virtual racer function - could you maybe program that to give you a pace setting ? On the Garmin Swim at the end of each lap I pressed pause and it gave me a rest timer. This was useful as I use a Finis Tempo Trainer to pace my CSS efforts to I knew when to hit play again and set off.
On the 910 I press lap and it gives my an Interval Count and time pop up. This obscures the main timer so I have no idea when to hit lap and start again.
Is hitting lap on each stop and start the correct thing and anyway to get a rest timer?
I know I should RTFM but interested to hear other's experience as well
I had my first every triathlon yesterday. I learned to swim a couple of years ago to get over a chronic back problem. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it and it led to setting myself a goal of completing a Sprint before I hit 50, partly inspired by reading this very thread. So thanks, your contributions have been great reading for me !
The event was 400m pool swim, 24km bike & 5km run. Both the bike & run routes were pretty hilly with a killer slope on the run at the end.
I was reasonably confident about the 400m swim having done that distance in my training several times and was getting closer & closer to my target of 8min. That's probably snail pace for you lot but a realistic goal for me. I've noticed in my training that it takes about 15-20min for me to settle down and really get going and boy did this come back to haunt me. Lining up in my wave to get going it dawned on me there was going to be no warm up ! First three in my lane set off at 10 sec intervals then it was suddenly my turn. Still completely flustered I kicked off and got 3 lengths into it then my breathing completely went. All those technique drills went out the window and it was survival time. I kept going but was not enjoying it one little bit. About 10 laps in I felt the inevitable tap on my feet and had to let the other three past. In the end I got out huffing and puffing and into transition.
The bike went pretty well and I soon forgot the pain of the swim. The run also went well. The pain of the hill was bad but a happy pain, not the swim type pain. On reflection I can bike & run until I'm really not well, but swimming is a different game all together. Must be something deep down in my psyche.
The results were out this morning. 1:35:08 which put me in #90 out of 242. Winner came in at 1:15ish. Fairly happy overall but really annoyed about my performance in the pool. There's a good 3 min to be saved with a better swim and sorting out my transitions. I also need to speed up on the bike but there's a whole summer of cycling ahead for that one.
Anyway, thanks again. I'm off to book up the next one !
The event was 400m pool swim, 24km bike & 5km run. Both the bike & run routes were pretty hilly with a killer slope on the run at the end.
I was reasonably confident about the 400m swim having done that distance in my training several times and was getting closer & closer to my target of 8min. That's probably snail pace for you lot but a realistic goal for me. I've noticed in my training that it takes about 15-20min for me to settle down and really get going and boy did this come back to haunt me. Lining up in my wave to get going it dawned on me there was going to be no warm up ! First three in my lane set off at 10 sec intervals then it was suddenly my turn. Still completely flustered I kicked off and got 3 lengths into it then my breathing completely went. All those technique drills went out the window and it was survival time. I kept going but was not enjoying it one little bit. About 10 laps in I felt the inevitable tap on my feet and had to let the other three past. In the end I got out huffing and puffing and into transition.
The bike went pretty well and I soon forgot the pain of the swim. The run also went well. The pain of the hill was bad but a happy pain, not the swim type pain. On reflection I can bike & run until I'm really not well, but swimming is a different game all together. Must be something deep down in my psyche.
The results were out this morning. 1:35:08 which put me in #90 out of 242. Winner came in at 1:15ish. Fairly happy overall but really annoyed about my performance in the pool. There's a good 3 min to be saved with a better swim and sorting out my transitions. I also need to speed up on the bike but there's a whole summer of cycling ahead for that one.
Anyway, thanks again. I'm off to book up the next one !
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