The Ironman in 2019 thread

You can do this with best bike split (get the erg file) which is what I assume you mean. I did it for 70.3 Chatty that I did last year.

I did Calgary too, the whole time thinking if I got a flat there would be no way I could change it successfully with my frozen hands haha, so nice job! Actually found a small piece of metal in my tire when I was cleaning my bike… eek, luckily didn’t cause a flat.

Dropped my 70.3 PB from 4:36 to 4:11, mostly due to the bike course. The “seeded” start of the swim was a mess haha, definitely didn’t have my best swim. Really crowded out there. Some people say the bike course is boring, but other than the cold I really enjoyed it. Wind almost felt like it was helping both ways.

Didn’t really know what to expect from the run… how many flies did you eat? haha. That hill near the end was certainly a real punch too the gut but thankfully the end was relatively near at the top.

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That’s a huge improvement, nice work! Did you get a slot to Taupo?

The swim and the bike were both really crowded. Did you run into the back of the slower swimmers on your second lap?

I wasn’t actually that cold on the bike until I had to stop to fix the flat (but clearly I wasn’t going as fast as you lol). Trying to get the tire back on was the worst.

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I did get a slot. Looking forward to that! Will be going to Nice this year too but that will be more for the experience. Will be training hard for Taupo.

I was hoping for a 32ish min swim time, it’s by far the weakest of the three for me. Ended up swimming a 35 so pretty sure I didn’t lap anyone haha

I tried the man-up method on the bike lol, just my sleeved tri suit and summer gloves. Certainly cold, though I don’t feel like it slowed me down at all. Couldn’t feel my feet till a ways into the run. Had a half marathon PB on the run though, so enjoy myself other than all the flies I ate :upside_down_face:

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Great job! Congrats on the PR despite weather and a flat.

Killer HIM! That’s smoking fast and congrats on PR as well.

@Murph333, don’t know about courses. As far as fields, I have 10s power, time, speed, HR, and cadence.
On another screen I have all the other stuff that I don’t look at during the race.

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Dude that’s massive! What were your splits for that pro level finish? Going to Taupo?

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Yup I plan on going! Going to Nice in a few weeks, qualified for that in Victoria in June but needed it to roll down to 9th. Did a 4:36 there. In Calgary, finished 4th in my AG in Calgary, 8th overall.

Swim 35:06… watch had me at almost 2100m :man_facepalming:
Bike 2:07:50
Run 1:23:37
Finish: 4:11:09

Have been following the TR 70.3 mid-volume plan for about a year now. Started about a month before my first triathlon last year (Indian Wells 70.3 - 4:51) though I had been doing non-TR training for about half a year before that. Always was a decent runner without much training, handful of 10ks or half marathons over my adult life (42 min 10k, 1:32 Half), but have focused on the bike for sure and made huge gains, from below 200 to 300. With the structured run training my run has increased as well. Haven’t run a stand-alone half or 10k since all this training. This Calgary run stands as by far my best half time, triathlon or stand-alone.

Obviously it’s time to focus on the swim… haha. I did a 32 in Victoria so this Calgary swim wasn’t too good, though I have gotten faster in the pool, I didn’t cope with the mass start and low visibility very well.

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It’s been a long road but…You did it!

:tada::grinning:

I use BBS field and upload the course onto my Garmin, so far I’ve tried it twice in racing and it failed to give me power targets both times. Probably user error.

Congrats on the finish man, saw you out there and you looked absolutely smoking out there on the run. Congrats on the PB’s! You passed me on the ride at around 20km in and I knew there was no point trying to catch you.

I didn’t race Calgary balls to the walls but still pushed it pretty good. Had some injuries going in and I kinda mentally checked out when I saw the weather while hoping my ankle and knee held up. Ended up throwing on a jacket which slowed me down quite a bit for the bike but I decided that I would rather be warm than fast and miserable. I did a half before in the rain and decided to not wear a jacket; pretty memorable how shitty that felt! Also committed a race sin and switched out my seat for an ISM a week prior as I always dealt with some… uncomfortably on the ride before. I think that also didn’t help me hold my power per se, but I like the seat :stuck_out_tongue: . I got kicked in the swim but I swam it really comfortably, no pushing myself in the swim and even though there was contact, I felt like I swam it pretty relaxed. Jumped out of the lake around 34 mins. TBH I liked the mass start as it makes the race fair. But eh, I am also a slower swimmer so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

All in all a solid race for me. I pulled out a strong ride despite feeling slow and the watts I pushed were not generating the speed I though they should, although again I did change up the seat/fit a bit and wore a baggy jacket. Got a 2:11 on the bike. Not too bad bike but slower than I would normally do considering the course profile. I somehow pulled out a 1:33 run though which I was over the moon about! And I totally raced it in a “comfort zone” where I didnt ever go deep until the last maaaaybe 1km, if that. Just had a blast and basically RPE 7/10 for 85% of that run, including the hills! So huge improvement for me (my previous PB 70.3 HM were 1:40+ range). I think having the injury sort of “helped” as I literally haven’t ran in like 3 weeks since my last 70.3 a month ago. While the injury obviously impacted my day, I think I was going in rested and I almost think I over train my run because I just enjoy running so much. Next year I plan to try a JD 2Q plan for a marathon leading into full Ironman training, then use the TR plans and use the JD paces for the TR runs. I really want to try and sub 3:30:00 the run on my next full.

I realized how my Watts/kg really benefit me on hilly courses and flat courses its harder to keep up to the powerhouses. I have a 4+ W/kg but my absolute power differential seems to really show when the flat courses are there (I weigh roughly 70kg). Also really eye opening how much the jacket seemed to slow me down. Either that or my bike is not nearly as great as I thought it was! Hahaha!!! My HR was pretty low for what it was worth so I didn’t really gut myself.

I finished with a 4:24 (goal was just to sub 4:30). I think I know where the easy “low hanging fruit” is (yes swimming is obviously the lowest but lets be honest thats not gonna improve any time soon) so I look forward to cutting some time off the bike and run and eventually getting to your speed. However, next years goal is at IM Penticton. I did get a roll down to worlds but eh, as a 20 something I aint got money to fly to NZ with my bike and blow the bank for that race! Hahaha!!! Good luck at worlds!!

Well done on the race! You were flying out there!

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Congrats on the finish! That was a fast crowd out there and the conditions were challanging. I know a ton of people that struggled on the swim. Was really physical and I swam half the swim with half my goggles filled with water Hahah! I usually hate Australian exists but thank God for it this weekend, as I was able to clear the water after the first lap

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@Achin Good luck at Penticton! Hubby insisted that we enter the draw for slots but luckily we don’t seem to have won LOL

Thanks @JoeX and @Alen. Already thinking about how to get more watts for next year.

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Nicely done too! Hadn’t done a race in the rain before so I went the naive method and just put on fingerless gloves haha. Don’t feel the rain slowed me down but I’d probably put on at least some toe covers next time. And thank goodness I didn’t have to change a tire. I did bring a jacket but it’s definitely not aerodynamic. I can imagine a jacket just sucking up the watts, but it’s a trade off definitely. I averaged about 250 W on the bike, which was just below my target 255. At one point I didn’t know if my legs were starting to cramp, or if I was just loosing feeling in them, so I did dial it back slightly.

Penticton 2020 certainly looks tempting, but I haven’t done a full yet and I think I’m going to give it a few more years. Good luck! I simply don’t have the time to put in the amount of training I would want to do for it, but I might do the Calgary Marathon next year to check that distance of the list.

With NZ being in the end of November next year it makes next year a long season. Haven’t decided what races to do next year. Did Indian Wells, Victoria, Calgary 70.3, and then Lake Chaparelle in the last year. Will probably stay a little more local this time… I don’t really have the money to be doing all this traveling either haha, but I try not to worry about that :crazy_face: Maaaaaybe Coeur D’alene.

After Nice in a few weeks I plan on going back to the TR low-volume Base plan and include a little bit of gym work and slow it down over the winter. It’s been a busy training year to say the least.

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Hadn’t done a race in the rain before so I went the naive method and just put on fingerless gloves haha. Don’t feel the rain slowed me down but I’d probably put on at least some toe covers next time.

Yeah for sure its a risk, plus I was a little b*tch this weekend; with nursing my legs and being wet I just kinda broke before the race and decided to just have fun. It ended up being warmer than I thought it would be and I did regret putting on the jacket once we were around 40 mins on the bike but cest la’ vie. IMO you made the smart race decision to not wear anything with that gamble! Next time try some thin gloves (I just wore running gloves). The 250W is pretty impressive though! For me, holding 220-230W is a good day.

Although not gonna lie, I had the funnest race experience in recent memory this weekend. I was just yelling positivity and high fiving as many people as I could while rocking permanent finger guns on course. I got some boss race pics to boot that I am too cheap to pay for lol! I had an absolute blast. No question. Had some fun banter with some other runners too hahaha!

Will probably stay a little more local this time… I don’t really have the money to be doing all this traveling either haha, but I try not to worry about that :crazy_face: Maaaaaybe Coeur D’alene.

Yeah I have no idea what my next year is going to look like either. Other than ITU worlds in Edmonton and Penticton 2020, I have no plan. Might return to GWN again and do local ones. Also considering CDA and more running races to try and work on my run.

My race pics from the run are horrible haha. Face covered in bugs looking like I’m about to keel over.

I’m a little heavier than 70kg though… haha

Hahaha yeah that was disgusting. I think all the front peeps got some serious protein that morning though :nauseated_face:

image

My pictures make me look way too happy to be running a half marathon! But hey, if your not fast, ya might as well look fast amirite!!

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Nice work. Did you just follow the cycling or all of the workouts?

Accomodation for IM Copenhagen sorted.

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I followed all the workouts for the most part. I typically do the weekday runs during my lunch hour at work, so sometime I have to shorten them or make some minor changes to fit with my schedule, similarly with the swims, I do those in the mornings and sometimes I need to shorten them. :sleeping_bed:
Almost all my bike workouts are inside, with only some of the 3 hour + long ones outside.

Also, in Calgary in the winter it can sometimes be hard to run outside. My mind can’t handle long runs on the treadmill so the winter months see less than perfect following of the training plan… some shorter more intense runs on an indoor track nearby, and some I’m okay with missing.

One thing that I did change halfway through is in regards to sleep. Even the mid-volume plans can be a lot when you factor in real life (and a 1-year old daughter) and at the beginning I was cutting short sleep to make sure I fit in all the workouts. 10pm-11pm rides… next morning up at 5am to swim. I’ve tried to change that, which sometimes means missing some workouts, or rearranging my rest day, etc to make sure I’m getting enough sleep.