The Triathlon thread - Ironman, 70.3, Olympic, Sprint
Discussion
Greg66 said:
So, how is everyone's post Xmas training going?
I'm not doing too bad, just concentrating on a bit of S&C work in the gym and running at the mo'. Managing about 50 - 80k a week (for the last 4 weeks anyway) and hopefully can keep that up until my marathon at the beginning of April. Haven't ventured on to the bike or into the pool this year, but am getting my girlfriend's brother some swim lessons at the end of the month/February for his Christmas pressie and I may well have to crash those myself!!!Gotta say you're more than a bit brave getting out in the Baltic conditions on your bike - turbo only for me at this time of the year!! Will probably get back on my turbo in a couple of weeks, but haven't taken my bike out of its bag since Mallorca!!
drgav2005 said:
Wishing everyone on here a brilliant 2015, enjoy your training and race well.
I'll 
to that DrGav - hope yours goes every bit as well 
esuuv said:
my P5 is nearly finished
Oh you can soooo go off some people!!! 
Piccies when it's delivered if you get the chance
Edited by dangerousB on Friday 9th January 20:18
whatleytom said:
Me again on this! I've finally got a reply from the organisers. Just need some details from you if you're still up for the swim?
Its just DoB, emergency contacts details and full name etc. If you can email me through the profile thing here, i'll get the ball rolling.
YHM Tom Its just DoB, emergency contacts details and full name etc. If you can email me through the profile thing here, i'll get the ball rolling.
You're a proper lunatic DrGav! That's an absolutely cracking bike leg Tom and moreso given the conditions - top effort!!
Thought of you guys whilst at my girlfriend's Gran's 90th birthday do on Sunday!! Wished I could have been doing that swim leg!
Actually, I've just started back training properly - I tore my r/h/s tibialis posterior tendon 4 weeks before the Paris marathon on April 12th and consequently couldn't manage any long runs (well >25k) before going there, but decided to go anyway (managed a 3:22) - in the process I exacerbated the injury (I really should know better, but with travel/hotels booked it's tough!!) and combined with the busiest couple of months that my business has experienced in memory, I've had a VERY frustrating time training wise since!! Like not a lot of anything
It looks like my ankle's sorted now though - had a few 10k's last week with no repercussions (albeit they were a LOT harder than they should have been!) and work has calmed a little so don't have to be in early or finish late and may even be able to slip in a few afternoon sessions now
Thought of you guys whilst at my girlfriend's Gran's 90th birthday do on Sunday!! Wished I could have been doing that swim leg!
Actually, I've just started back training properly - I tore my r/h/s tibialis posterior tendon 4 weeks before the Paris marathon on April 12th and consequently couldn't manage any long runs (well >25k) before going there, but decided to go anyway (managed a 3:22) - in the process I exacerbated the injury (I really should know better, but with travel/hotels booked it's tough!!) and combined with the busiest couple of months that my business has experienced in memory, I've had a VERY frustrating time training wise since!! Like not a lot of anything
It looks like my ankle's sorted now though - had a few 10k's last week with no repercussions (albeit they were a LOT harder than they should have been!) and work has calmed a little so don't have to be in early or finish late and may even be able to slip in a few afternoon sessions now
drgav2005 said:
Well, it's taper week. Not sure how that happened! Will be at the start line of IM Switzerland on Sunday. Training on the bike and the run has gone pretty well this year, managed to complete the Knight of Sufferlandria challenge in February and really enjoying my running at present. Swimming has been a disaster zone - either tore my rotator cuff (physio's diagnosis) or impinged the bursa (surgeon's diagnosis) 14 weeks ago and haven't been able to swim since. I'm hoping that Zurich will be a wetsuit swim but the water temp is perilously close to 24.5C. To be honest, I'm hoping just to get round the swim and then I'll start my race on the bike and run. Anyone else going over to Zurich? If do, Good Luck and hope to see you there - I'll be number 1506
Best of luck to IM UK entrants this weekend too
Hey DrGav, don't worry whether it's a wetsuit swim or not - I was thinking the same about the swim in Mallorca last year and when it came to it (water temp 26.5°C I think) wetsuits weren't in any way an option. Hardly noticed the difference to be honest and it made quite a pleasant difference to be swimming in my trisuit! That being said I darn near had my lights punched out for at least 3k, so no change there Best of luck to IM UK entrants this weekend too
Get the swim done and then have a fab race! I'll be checking the IM tracker on Sunday!
Just got back from a
Good luck to all IMUK participants on Sunday as well - bigandclever I'll be checking your number too
el stovey said:
Kudos if he posts in T1 or T2. 
That wouldn't definitely earn a few man points!! I checked earlier on though and it said he DNF'd on the bike??? 
Checked DrGav's progress and looks like he had a mighty tough time in the swim - his shoulder must have been been giving him some serious grief by the looks of things . . . out on the run as I speak though, so fingers crossed it hasn't entirely ruined his day . . .
Well, that’s me just back from IM Barcelona. Another great event and yet another one that I haven’t been able to do anywhere near the level training I should have!!
It’s been a very busy year workwise and that combined with my girlfriend going back to work after maternity leave and many lost weekends with dad duties (she works a lot of weekends!), well, it’s been very difficult to get any volume done at all. To top it all off I tore my rotator cuff (infraspinatus) in May, so all round I wasn’t expecting too much other than to try and enjoy the race!
Training wise though, I started in June and managed:-
June - 13hrs (Swim 2hrs 10min, Bike 2hrs 50min, Run 8hrs)
July - 17hrs 25min (Swim 3hrs 45min, Bike 10hrs 30min, Run 3hrs)
August - 18hrs 15min (Swim 4hrs 45min, Bike 8hrs 50min, Run 4hrs 30min)
September - 23hrs 30min (Swim 40min, Bike 15hrs 20min, Run 7hrs 30min)
or to put that lot into plain English, an average of 4 hours a week over the 3 disciplines in the 18 week lead up, with one long OW swim back in August (4.2k), 1 long run (35k) and no long bikes! Longest ride was 95k.
Anyway, excuses over, race weekend was last weekend - racking Saturday, race Sunday. There’d been a lot of storms out in the Med and the weather had been changeable over the previous 2 days from bright sunshine and 25°C to overnight storms with very heavy rain. Racking on Saturday was done just off the beach in a howling cross-offshore wind (making it also impossible to get a bike cover on single handed!) and there were many worried looking faces standing on the beach looking out at an extremely uninviting looking sea - white horses everywhere with a very chunky swell.
One of those faces was mine - with only 11 or 12 hours swimming completed in the previous 18 weeks and with my shoulder still not exactly stable (certainly not over anything more than 1500m anyway), I had been hoping to look at a vision of what most people associate with the Med - clear, smooth and flat. This was like looking at an Atlantic coast shoreline!!
Fortunately, race day dawned a bit calmer - the wind had dropped and whilst the sea was far from calm, it had at least improved somewhat - not to the extent of thinking “I can’t wait to get in there”, but hey, we don’t do this because it’s easy, eh?!!
I'll stick the race report in a seperate post as I think I banged on a bit too much with it!
It’s been a very busy year workwise and that combined with my girlfriend going back to work after maternity leave and many lost weekends with dad duties (she works a lot of weekends!), well, it’s been very difficult to get any volume done at all. To top it all off I tore my rotator cuff (infraspinatus) in May, so all round I wasn’t expecting too much other than to try and enjoy the race!
Training wise though, I started in June and managed:-
June - 13hrs (Swim 2hrs 10min, Bike 2hrs 50min, Run 8hrs)
July - 17hrs 25min (Swim 3hrs 45min, Bike 10hrs 30min, Run 3hrs)
August - 18hrs 15min (Swim 4hrs 45min, Bike 8hrs 50min, Run 4hrs 30min)
September - 23hrs 30min (Swim 40min, Bike 15hrs 20min, Run 7hrs 30min)
or to put that lot into plain English, an average of 4 hours a week over the 3 disciplines in the 18 week lead up, with one long OW swim back in August (4.2k), 1 long run (35k) and no long bikes! Longest ride was 95k.
Anyway, excuses over, race weekend was last weekend - racking Saturday, race Sunday. There’d been a lot of storms out in the Med and the weather had been changeable over the previous 2 days from bright sunshine and 25°C to overnight storms with very heavy rain. Racking on Saturday was done just off the beach in a howling cross-offshore wind (making it also impossible to get a bike cover on single handed!) and there were many worried looking faces standing on the beach looking out at an extremely uninviting looking sea - white horses everywhere with a very chunky swell.
One of those faces was mine - with only 11 or 12 hours swimming completed in the previous 18 weeks and with my shoulder still not exactly stable (certainly not over anything more than 1500m anyway), I had been hoping to look at a vision of what most people associate with the Med - clear, smooth and flat. This was like looking at an Atlantic coast shoreline!!
Fortunately, race day dawned a bit calmer - the wind had dropped and whilst the sea was far from calm, it had at least improved somewhat - not to the extent of thinking “I can’t wait to get in there”, but hey, we don’t do this because it’s easy, eh?!!
I'll stick the race report in a seperate post as I think I banged on a bit too much with it!
SWIM
The swim was a one lap rectangular course - out 200m, turn right 1.5k, turn left and out another 100m, left again for the homeward leg of 1.8k and then left again for the 300m back to shore and finish.
Swim start was one of the new “rolling” ones, where the chute into the water is about 30ft wide (I guess) and everybody self seeds into designated time pens. Pro men & women went off at 8.30am & 8.35am respectively and AGs at 8.45am - with 2600 of us starting, the new start procedure made a lot of sense - rather than a stampede for the water, it was more a relentless, controlled stream of competitors hitting the water probably 20 at a time, wave after wave after wave.
It made the start a lot less chaotic - you were entering the water with similarly paced competitors, so whilst it was still extremely busy and there was a lot of bumping and bargeing going on, it never got to the stage where I thought “this is absolutely ridiculous” (when I have thought that before!).
Sighting was very difficult though - the swell must have been 5ft or so and whilst the big yellow buoys that marked the course were probably 3m high, they were unbelievably elusive during sighting strokes - I kept having to throw in 5 sighting strokes in a row (very frequently) just to keep track of where I was.
Other than that, the swim was a lot of the usual - lots of congestion at turn buoys, people off track torpedoing you when they changed direction, a well timed breaststroke kick off someone that inverted my goggles at one point, but fortunately my shoulder held up reasonably well - bit of instability at the 1.5/2k mark, but nothing too untoward.
After what seemed an absolute lifetime in the water though, I was battling through the shore dump and legging it up the beach for T1
SWIM 1:16:17
BIKE
Out of T1 in a rather tardy 7:42 and onto the 2½ lap bike course! It’s a fast course, with only 2000ft or so of elevation with 3km of narrow speed bump infested roads to navigate before we hit the main road.
Things didn’t start too well, with me hitting one of the speed bumps approx 1k out of transition at 35ish k’s which created a sufficient enough jolt to release my mini pump from its mounting! After hearing it clatter to the floor, I momentarily thought “leave it”, only to come to my senses immediately, come skidding to a halt and totter my way back to pick it up. Total pain in the arse!
Out onto the course proper though and it was pretty enjoyable - personally I prefer out and back courses, but the one good thing with laps is that at least the distance is broken down for you (rather than having to do it mentally). The crowd at the Calella turn point was fantastic - you pop over a crest of hill, plunge downhill into a roundabout and climb back up away from them - they were brilliant every time though - raucous, loud and enthusiastic, a welcome boost at 75k and 147k!
There were plenty of officials out on the course as well (apparently twice the normal amount with 40 outriders) - there was a big problem with drafting last year and I think they wanted to put their foot down . . . saw a fair few guys/girls in penalty boxes so think they made their presence felt!
My ride was fairly uneventful - still have a massive problem with nutrition (I simply don’t like anything sweet) - I had 2 Snickers bars, 2 Shot Blocks, I Clif Bar, a small flapjack and 1l of sports drink, all of which I had to pretty much force down. I don’t think it was enough really and I must look at that for next season as it doesn’t do my run too much good!
Anyway, rolled into T2 feeling a bit yuck stomach wise (always do with the sweet stuff) - no mechanicals though, that was the main thing and considering my bike is 11yrs old, 9 speed with nothing aero at all bar a set of tri bars, I felt reasonably happy!
BIKE 5:26:05
RUN
Run course was 4 laps, pretty non-descript, but followed the beach for 5k(ish), through a turnpoint, then through an underpass and out on to the main road, joining back onto the beachside for the last 2k to the second turnpoint.
Out of T2 (in 1:48) and on to the run course, I high fived my girlfriend and her mate and tried to focus on settling into a comfortable first 10k - picking up just water at aid stations and dumping it over my head! After 5k I suddenly realised that in my T2 rush, I’d left my cycling shorts on (which I’d put on over my tri-suit in T1), the pad of which was beginning to feel rather heavy having soaked up my water dousings!
First 10k was OK though (well, as much as it could be) and at the latter stages of the 2nd (18k ish), I began to get the first of the rampant hunger pains. I was still using the water, but decided that I’d have to eat something pretty soon or I could be in trouble.
At 22k I grabbed my first half banana. By this point my soaking cycling shorts had essentially become a very heavy nappy and I was desperate to see either my girlfriend or her mate so I could ditch them!
As it turned out, they’d disappeared for a bite to eat and I didn’t end up seeing them until 34k, but boy oh boy, it was a massive weight lifted when I eventually did see them and get rid! By this time my run had settled into a (slow) comfortable pace - it felt like I was on a bit of a knife edge nutrition wise, getting massive hunger pains every 4 or 5k, briefly alleviated with half bananas at aid stations. I dared not pick the pace up until I was very close to home, just in case I was in bonk territory (which is what it felt like).
By the last lap, I felt I was just about hanging on, but thankfully, I was looking at the kilometre markers for the last time - got all excited with 1k to go and managed to see that off in a (relative to the rest) supersonic 4:30!!! Should have really tried picking the pace up earlier, as it didn’t actually feel too much worse than plodding along tbh, but the main thing was I was up at that last turnpoint and instead of running around it AGAIN, this time I was turning right!!!! Oh my word, the joy and relief!!!
Down the red carpet, on to the finishing ‘chute. Loud music, bright lights, boisterous crowd, high five the MC and over the line . . . “You are an Ironman”
RUN 4:13:50
FINISH 11:05:42
The swim was a one lap rectangular course - out 200m, turn right 1.5k, turn left and out another 100m, left again for the homeward leg of 1.8k and then left again for the 300m back to shore and finish.
Swim start was one of the new “rolling” ones, where the chute into the water is about 30ft wide (I guess) and everybody self seeds into designated time pens. Pro men & women went off at 8.30am & 8.35am respectively and AGs at 8.45am - with 2600 of us starting, the new start procedure made a lot of sense - rather than a stampede for the water, it was more a relentless, controlled stream of competitors hitting the water probably 20 at a time, wave after wave after wave.
It made the start a lot less chaotic - you were entering the water with similarly paced competitors, so whilst it was still extremely busy and there was a lot of bumping and bargeing going on, it never got to the stage where I thought “this is absolutely ridiculous” (when I have thought that before!).
Sighting was very difficult though - the swell must have been 5ft or so and whilst the big yellow buoys that marked the course were probably 3m high, they were unbelievably elusive during sighting strokes - I kept having to throw in 5 sighting strokes in a row (very frequently) just to keep track of where I was.
Other than that, the swim was a lot of the usual - lots of congestion at turn buoys, people off track torpedoing you when they changed direction, a well timed breaststroke kick off someone that inverted my goggles at one point, but fortunately my shoulder held up reasonably well - bit of instability at the 1.5/2k mark, but nothing too untoward.
After what seemed an absolute lifetime in the water though, I was battling through the shore dump and legging it up the beach for T1
SWIM 1:16:17
BIKE
Out of T1 in a rather tardy 7:42 and onto the 2½ lap bike course! It’s a fast course, with only 2000ft or so of elevation with 3km of narrow speed bump infested roads to navigate before we hit the main road.
Things didn’t start too well, with me hitting one of the speed bumps approx 1k out of transition at 35ish k’s which created a sufficient enough jolt to release my mini pump from its mounting! After hearing it clatter to the floor, I momentarily thought “leave it”, only to come to my senses immediately, come skidding to a halt and totter my way back to pick it up. Total pain in the arse!
Out onto the course proper though and it was pretty enjoyable - personally I prefer out and back courses, but the one good thing with laps is that at least the distance is broken down for you (rather than having to do it mentally). The crowd at the Calella turn point was fantastic - you pop over a crest of hill, plunge downhill into a roundabout and climb back up away from them - they were brilliant every time though - raucous, loud and enthusiastic, a welcome boost at 75k and 147k!
There were plenty of officials out on the course as well (apparently twice the normal amount with 40 outriders) - there was a big problem with drafting last year and I think they wanted to put their foot down . . . saw a fair few guys/girls in penalty boxes so think they made their presence felt!
My ride was fairly uneventful - still have a massive problem with nutrition (I simply don’t like anything sweet) - I had 2 Snickers bars, 2 Shot Blocks, I Clif Bar, a small flapjack and 1l of sports drink, all of which I had to pretty much force down. I don’t think it was enough really and I must look at that for next season as it doesn’t do my run too much good!
Anyway, rolled into T2 feeling a bit yuck stomach wise (always do with the sweet stuff) - no mechanicals though, that was the main thing and considering my bike is 11yrs old, 9 speed with nothing aero at all bar a set of tri bars, I felt reasonably happy!
BIKE 5:26:05
RUN
Run course was 4 laps, pretty non-descript, but followed the beach for 5k(ish), through a turnpoint, then through an underpass and out on to the main road, joining back onto the beachside for the last 2k to the second turnpoint.
Out of T2 (in 1:48) and on to the run course, I high fived my girlfriend and her mate and tried to focus on settling into a comfortable first 10k - picking up just water at aid stations and dumping it over my head! After 5k I suddenly realised that in my T2 rush, I’d left my cycling shorts on (which I’d put on over my tri-suit in T1), the pad of which was beginning to feel rather heavy having soaked up my water dousings!
First 10k was OK though (well, as much as it could be) and at the latter stages of the 2nd (18k ish), I began to get the first of the rampant hunger pains. I was still using the water, but decided that I’d have to eat something pretty soon or I could be in trouble.
At 22k I grabbed my first half banana. By this point my soaking cycling shorts had essentially become a very heavy nappy and I was desperate to see either my girlfriend or her mate so I could ditch them!
As it turned out, they’d disappeared for a bite to eat and I didn’t end up seeing them until 34k, but boy oh boy, it was a massive weight lifted when I eventually did see them and get rid! By this time my run had settled into a (slow) comfortable pace - it felt like I was on a bit of a knife edge nutrition wise, getting massive hunger pains every 4 or 5k, briefly alleviated with half bananas at aid stations. I dared not pick the pace up until I was very close to home, just in case I was in bonk territory (which is what it felt like).
By the last lap, I felt I was just about hanging on, but thankfully, I was looking at the kilometre markers for the last time - got all excited with 1k to go and managed to see that off in a (relative to the rest) supersonic 4:30!!! Should have really tried picking the pace up earlier, as it didn’t actually feel too much worse than plodding along tbh, but the main thing was I was up at that last turnpoint and instead of running around it AGAIN, this time I was turning right!!!! Oh my word, the joy and relief!!!
Down the red carpet, on to the finishing ‘chute. Loud music, bright lights, boisterous crowd, high five the MC and over the line . . . “You are an Ironman”
RUN 4:13:50
FINISH 11:05:42
baxb said:
11.05 off the back of that amount of training 
you have to be some sort of machine ! very impressive stuff DB. How did the course/organisation compare to the others you have done ? I have a few friends talking about one last long event in 2017 (were we will all be closer to 50 than 40 !) & this has been mentioned as a possible.
Cheers
Cheers! I was reasonably OK with the time - very glad for the finish though, but definitely more to come! Just got to make better use of the winter and actually train a lot more consistently next year!!! you have to be some sort of machine ! very impressive stuff DB. How did the course/organisation compare to the others you have done ? I have a few friends talking about one last long event in 2017 (were we will all be closer to 50 than 40 !) & this has been mentioned as a possible.Cheers
As far as this race goes, like all M-Dot events it's very well organised . . . it's actually in Calella (about 40k from Barcelona & €5 on the train) which is half high rise hotels (not exactly pretty), but the old town is very close by and very pleasant (old churches/narrow lanes/town squares etc). It would really depend on what you and your mates would want from a race . . . I've done three now, all of which I would recommend for one reason or another:-
Lanzarote
Plus points
Cheap hotels & flights • Great swim (clear water so you can see the fish!) • Awesome, iconic bike course (pretty tough) • Amazing support around the whole island (the whole island seems to stop for the race) • Great party afterwards (next evening in Route 66)
Minus points
4hr flight • Not everyone would like the tough bike nor the potential for high temperatures (38°C when I raced there and kids/supporters may suffer as well!) • Race is in PDC, but registration/expo/parties etc in La Santa which means having to get on a coach to go out there every time (45ish min journey there and back) • Most of your training will have to be done in the winter for this race (not as easy as it sounds)
Mallorca
Plus points
Hotels & flights reasonable price • Old town Alcudia and Puerto Pollenca fab holiday locations • Great swim (possibly better than Lanzarote, but more jellyfish and potential of non-wetsuit because of high water temperatures) • Cracking bike course (not as tough as Lanz - fast first 90k, then a wonderful climb up to Lluc at 120k) • Probably the best organised post race party (in a club with great DJs) • Lots of time for training in better weather
Minus points
Not everyone would like the climb (going up anyway!) - it says in the guide books that it's 8km @ 7% or 8% (from memory), but it really doesn't stop going uphill for about 16k (granted with a few opportunities for rest) - the descent is wicked though! • Skins only swim a definite possibility (which may bother some) • Don't stay too far east of Alcudia (road closures a nightmare on race day + it's not all that nice!)
Barcelona
Plus points
Cheaper hotels than the other two, flights about the same • Family friendly • Also a sea swim, but 1 lap so less congested (in theory!!) • Fast bike course (not as scenic or challenging in terms of ascent as the other two, but aero bike work certainly takes a different approach) • Lots of time for training in better weather
Minus points
No post race party (there was an Oktoberfest on this year which we went to, but nothing else that we found) and not quite the atmosphere of the other two (although that is very subjective)
and I guess also on my list would be Tenby and Nice (and probably Klagenfurt).
If I had to choose one race (that I've done) to recommend, I'd have to say Lanzarote. 3 years later I can still recall just how tough it was. Brutal conditions. The finisher's t-shirt should have "survivor", because moreso than the other two I felt that not only was I battling the distance, but also the island and I'm not ashamed to say, it kicked seven bales of s
t out of me that day! What better for a final race for you guys?!! Others obviously may not quite share my view as I am a bit of a masochist, but you wouldn't be disappointed with any of them - they all have individual appeal . . .
Right, that's been nice - 5 weeks off with no training whatsoever!!
Just taken delivery of a shiny new turbo and dusted off my running headtorch, so it's now time to get my arse in gear . . . first run tonight since Barcelona and just fired up a Trainerroad subscription, the FTP ride for which is tomorrow
DrGav/Rich_W, how do you rate the Zurich race? Looking at races with my training buddy for next year and Zurich is good timewise, but it certainly looks a bit
pricewise, I've got to say!!! Any advice/comments welcome for that one!
Just taken delivery of a shiny new turbo and dusted off my running headtorch, so it's now time to get my arse in gear . . . first run tonight since Barcelona and just fired up a Trainerroad subscription, the FTP ride for which is tomorrow
DrGav/Rich_W, how do you rate the Zurich race? Looking at races with my training buddy for next year and Zurich is good timewise, but it certainly looks a bit
pricewise, I've got to say!!! Any advice/comments welcome for that one!drgav2005 said:
Good to hear from you dangerousB,
I'm currently going through the pain of no training too - had my shoulder op 2 weeks ago to repair my subscapularis tendon and I've another 4 in a sling until I see the surgeon and hopefully get the go ahead to start training again... starting to go stir crazy!
Likewise DrGav - good to hear you've had that shoulder operated upon. I tore my rotator cuff earlier in the year (evidently nowhere near as bad as yours!) so I can imagine how it feels. I think mine was the infraspinatus and hopefully it's looking like the physio/exercises are going to sort it, but it's taken ages to get to this stage and even so probably only about 75% at the moment.I'm currently going through the pain of no training too - had my shoulder op 2 weeks ago to repair my subscapularis tendon and I've another 4 in a sling until I see the surgeon and hopefully get the go ahead to start training again... starting to go stir crazy!
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you though and hope the surgery has a good result . . . time off through injury is such a pain in the arse, but if it's any consolation this is a great time of the year for it - got totally drenched on my pitch black run last night, it wasn't pleasant!!!
Rich_W said:
Useful stuff about IM Zurich
Cheers for the info - it looks to my fag packet maths that Zurich is probably going to cost 400 quid more than Nice (which is a race that I definitely want to do, but is a touch early for my mate this year), so I just wanted to make sure it'll be worth it!! Anybody else entered in for, or got plans for races next year?? I'm halfway looking at a 70.3 as well - could do with being
Well yet again (5th year running) I didn't get a London marathon place and just in case I thought karma may give me a helping hand, I repeated the feat with the Berlin marathon!
However, as of today, I'm in for:-
Paris marathon in April
IM Switzerland in July
and I'll be booking a 70.3 sometime in the next month or so.
Training wise I'm just ticking over with the cycling and running and doing some S&C with a newly acquired olympic bar and olympic rings. No swimming yet - I ditched my stupidly expensive gym subscription in favour of stocking my torture chamber, so I'll have to wait until the outside water temps creep over 12°C (at least) or find another pool soon!
However, as of today, I'm in for:-
Paris marathon in April
IM Switzerland in July
and I'll be booking a 70.3 sometime in the next month or so.
Training wise I'm just ticking over with the cycling and running and doing some S&C with a newly acquired olympic bar and olympic rings. No swimming yet - I ditched my stupidly expensive gym subscription in favour of stocking my torture chamber, so I'll have to wait until the outside water temps creep over 12°C (at least) or find another pool soon!
Dimski said:
. . . but now need to try to get the enthusiasm for training back, which i have been finding a right chore in this weather. It doesn't help that I ****ing hate the turbo!
What turbo have you got? I've recently sorted a Trainerroad subscription and tbh, I prefer turbo sessions to riding outside (even in decent weather)!!!bigandclever said:
Did a leisurely indoor half ironman yesterday
Good effort!!ED209 said:
My wife has kindly entered me in a 70.3 event in spetember as part of my christmas present. Nice of her but a bit ambitious since i have never ever swam in open water (its a sea swim) and i have only ever done one go-tri event before.
If it helps, my mate had a big phobia about swimming - could barely swim a solitary length in an indoor pool. If he did manage it, he was gasping for air at the end and certainly not looking to repeat the experience! This despite having a very strong background in sport (rowing ironically, pretty much elite level). He had never swam in open water and tbh, couldn't think of anything he'd rather not do.Last June I taught him the basics, he had a bunch of swimming lessons (from an excellent coach) and in October he came out of the water at IM Barcelona (4-5ft swell, by no means an easy swim) in 1:18.00. This year I'm going to have to work hard so that he doesn't beat me out of the water!!
He now loves OW swimming - got back from an Ibiza holiday last year and the first thing he said was "the swimming was AMAZING!".
You've got heaps of time - surprise yourself
944fan said:
First ride in over a year this weekend. Now got a dinosaur rear end - a Mega Sore-arse
Changed my saddle last year for a charge spoon as everyone said they were the most comfortable. Guess I need some Kms in the my arse and legs.
My first four or five rides of the year always leave me with a sore arse! You've just got to get those k's in though and it's soon forgotten about . . . 4 or 5 rides and I'm totally fine for 5hrs+.Changed my saddle last year for a charge spoon as everyone said they were the most comfortable. Guess I need some Kms in the my arse and legs.
Like Rich_W, I'm an ISM Adamo fan - got their "Road" saddle and it was worth every penny.
Should have got those rides in already this year, but have been sidelined for 10 days with a virulent dose of man flu. I'm on day 2 of almost feeling human again, so fingers crossed, it should be business as usual next week (I sincerely hope so anyway!)
ewenm said:
It's popping up a lot on Facebook at the moment but worth repeating if you haven't seen it. In the Ironman 70.3 South Africa at the weekend Brit Susie Cheetham crashed hard towards the end of the bike, spent 20mins in the medical tent, got back on and finished the bike and run to take 8th placed pro. Then it was straight to hospital, and surgery on a broken elbow! Pretty hardcore! She's local to me and was always a liability on the corners when we did running training together but nothing like this bike crash!
Wow, hadn't heard that, cheers Ewen. Fair play to her, can't be comfortable riding in a TT position (or running for that matter) with a busted elbow!!! Great attitude 944fan said:
Hows everyone's training going? I've really struggled last couple of weeks with energy, enthusiasm the lot. Need to re-boot and get back out there.
I've had a terrible start to the year!No problem with desire, but almost everyone I know has seemed to have had colds/viral infections of one sort or another and I've managed to contract two proper doses of something I certainly don't want again!!! 40°C temperature, massive sore throat, thick head, relentless cough and just a feeling of total lethargy on both occasions. Horrible, whatever it was, I wouldn't wish it on anybody.
Add that to a 2 year old that's had something similar (many nights up at 3am - I swear it's taken her 6 weeks to kick it) and similar for my girlfriend - it's unsurprising that on checking my Garmin Connect at the weekend I discovered I've managed just 2 weeks training since the beginning of the year
I've managed to get going again this week though and have had a couple of 12k runs (which felt absolutely awful!) and a short bike sesh (much the same!), but fingers crossed this is the start of a decent stretch of uninterrupted training. I sooooo hope so anyway. Just nice to feel normal again!!!
Oh, to top my woes off, I've got the Paris marathon on April 3rd - I have a feeling it won't go well
944fan said:
Sorry to hear about your illness. I have two kids school age and used to constantly pick up everything they had and they were always bringing illness home with them. Few months ago I had a blood test for something unrelated. My Vit D was low so they put me on a mega dose to start with then a maintenance dose. Since I have been taking that I have not been ill at all, whilst the kids and wife have both had a few colds etc.
Might be worth getting some Vit D to boost your immunity. You can get 5K IU tablets from Amazon for a few quid
Cheers - I may well have a look at those. That would also make sense also for the fact that we haven't seen much sun this winter either!!!Might be worth getting some Vit D to boost your immunity. You can get 5K IU tablets from Amazon for a few quid
Stylus said:
Biggest concern right now is the swim in Houston, it's likely to be wetsuit "optional".
I seriously wouldn't worry about it - if you can swim, you can swim.I had similar worries at IM Mallorca (report earlier in the thread) - never even considered that it may be skins only and found out in race brief that there was no way wetsuits were going to be allowed (not even an option).
Cacked it for 24 hours, but needn't have worried - I was 5 or 6 mins slower than I'd have expected, but I think that had more to do with the 2700 mass start than anything to do with swimming in a tri-suit!
Seriously, you'll be fine
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