The Ironman in 2019 thread

[JulianM]

There’s no real rocket science involved. If you feel the longer ride will be of benefit to your training you get on and push on the pedals until it’s finished

Chamois cream, decent nutrition and entertainment helps but ultimately it’s down you you seeing value in the ride you are planning and getting it done. It does get uncomfortable but then again so do the races we choose to do…

I’ve got a 5hr ride in my calendar for tomorrow and if you were to ask me again after that you might get a different answer though

[Alen]

I will also add that I try to do my long rides in aero. Less of your weight is on your ass in aero since some of it (30-40%) is supported by your elbows and shoulders.

Make sure your seat is not too high. That’s the most common problem I see with saddle discomfort.

Tilt the nose down a couple degrees. Too much will put excessive weight on the shoulders.

After the first 2 hours, I get off the bike for a few min every hour to 90 min to go pee. So that helps.

[ericallenboyd]

Thank you @Alen @JoeX @JulianM (5 hours holy!) and @mcneese.chad for the advice and tips. I have a 2 1/2 hour planned for Sat or Sun and depending on the weather I will be on the trainer.

I like riding outside but my setup with trainer and treadmill is so convenient and actually like the trainer. The aquatic center is very close when I start swimming again so that is a plus for me but would be nice to have my own pool so I dont ever have the leave my house.

[Scheherazade]

@ericallenboyd

my setup with trainer and treadmill is so convenient

Now that both of us have signed up for IM and given what our prairie winters are like, buying a treadmill has DEFINITELY crossed my mind.

[ericallenboyd]

Remind me which 70.3 or full you are doing?

I bought a True PS800 just about 2 years ago now and love it. Wife and I have put a bunch of miles on it. It was between that and a Landice which would have been a great mill as well. No regrets for sure and the convenience is so nice.

[Scheherazade]

Just did Calgary 70.3 last weekend. Now registered for IMC in Penticton next year. What about you?

How much maintenance do you find you have to do on your TM?

[Bioteknik]

I just got a fit on Wednesday and asked about this since i don’t have a proper tri bike. Getting the bike fit for aero bars would then mean it would not optimally fit for riding on your hoods, but you should be able to achieve more comfort in the bars moving your seat up a bit and changing the tilt of the seat down a bit to try and open up your hip angle. Imo, it’s got the be pretty flat, or have flat stretches where you don’t have to shift much. Not sure how much of an advantage you still have needing to come off the bars frequently to shift or something to focus on when shifting. I’m still going to get a set of draft legal bars since you don’t come as far forward to get on those and for my race only the last 10-20 miles are are finally at mild enough grades for them.

Edit… i realize you weren’t asking the question, just responding to your post.

[ericallenboyd]

70.3 CDA June 20 next year. Did Chatty 70.3 in 2018 and was fun. My bro wanted to do a 70.3 and figured might as well sign up with him.

[mcneese.chad]

@Bioteknik

Getting the bike fit for aero bars would then mean it would not optimally fit for riding on your hoods,

• That is where the Redshift Sports Dual-position seat post is so handy. It allows more optimum setup because you have a road position (back and down) as well as an aero position (forward and up), all with a quick push or pull on the saddle.

• I’ve been using one since their original Kickstarter. I’ve also sold and setup many for our road/tri customers over the years.

If you have a road bike with a 27.2mm round seat post, it’s totally worth considering. Larger size can also be shimmed, but you still must have a round post. ShockStop Products & Accessories – Redshift Sports

[Bioteknik]

Btw, thanks to your advice in the fit thread we made very little changes to my position. For some reason the roubaix has a setback seatpost so my seat needed to come up a bit as i was a bit wary of putting it all the way forward. Well we moved it all the way forward now, but knee isnt quite above pedal axle. Ive got a syntace p6 high flex from my old bike I’m thinking of swapping that with the spesh one so ive got more adjustments possible for my fit. I was also able to find a decent saddle they are letting me demo. Looks like the material of construction on my old one was making it easier for me to slide forward when in the drops (fake leather).

[mcneese.chad]

Good deal.
Fitting is a bit of black magic and experimental, but it’s great when you final start getting the position dialed.

[flyinryan]

Was hoping to get an opinion/shared experience. This being my first season of training and first 70.3 next weekend, is the final week of specialty Half LV a reliable taper for us newbies? I know it’s highly individual, but I have an 80 minute base run tomorrow (roughly 9 miles) and on Sunday, 45min OWS followed by Slide Mountain (3x10 at 85%). Seems like a little too much stress to carry into the final 6 days before the race. I want to trust the process but last minute doubt is creeping in.

[Bioteknik]

In taper weeks, if i think a workout is too hard i make it easier. Usually doing a few less intervals than prescribed, but try to keep duration of activity the same.

[mattstewartonline]

Do you use TrainingPeaks? Or another program that estimates your fitness,fatigue and form? I’ve found the combination of TrainerRoad and TrainingPeaks to be real helpful. On TrainingPeaks I target a race day form of +5 to +15 and putting in all the workouts leading up to the race it lets met know if I’m going to hit that or not (if I need to reduce stress or add a little more).

I’ve found though that following the TraininerRoad plan is pretty close to spot on, but it is fairly personal. If you feel like you’re already got a ton of fatigue heading into your taper weeks then maybe shorten the durations a bit, but keep the intensity as prescribed. Just listen to your body though. You’re not going to be losing fitness by shorting a couple workouts leading up to your race.

[JoeX]

I think the run 8 days before a half is fine, and no prob with the OWS/Slide Mountain but agree with bioteknik to do what you’re comfortable with.

I see taper week more as limiting your sessions so you don’t over do it - I tend to run/walk my last few long runs.

[flyinryan]

Thanks! I’ve been using the Elevate chrome extension with strava. It’s been useful tracking my form, currently -1 heading into the weekend.

[flyinryan]

I’ll be sure to keep it real easy on the long run tomorrow. I do feel as though I’m peaking at the right time. A few PBs on the bike and run this week and legs feel great.

[mattstewartonline]

Yeah I find the easiest thing to cut back on in that last week are the runs. Running puts the most stress on your body so those are usually the things I cut short if my stress is too high. I usually just make sure to do a little bit of speed work in the days leading up to the event to keep loose.

Also, as a learning opportunity, note what your form is going into a race, what you did leading up to it and note how you felt during the race. Some people perform best still a little fatigued, some need lots of rest. It’s good to make sure you learn from each race.

[flyinryan]

Good tips, thanks very much. This is definitely a learning experience for future races. Trying hard not to get caught up in time goals and expectations.

[octopusx]

Hi everyone!

Finally checking in again, damn is this thread busy! All you guys are doing great work it seems, it’s amazing to read all the stories!

So, my A race for the year is completed, my first ever half ironman.
It went better than expected and my feeling is I could not have done it anywhere near as well without trainer road and the support of the forum community

The race was Ironman 70.3 Gdynia. A sea swim, a single loop rolling bike course and a 3 loop city course run.
The water in the Puck bay was very calm on the day, the weather was warm but not too hot (mid 20s C), at least not until the run leg, and the run course was well supported with plenty of water sprinklers.

Goals:
A: Do not miss the cut off time on the swim (I am a pretty poor swimer)
B: Finish below 6h30m
C: Finish below 6h

Splits:
Swim: 43m
T1: 8m
Bike: 3h 7m
T2: 4m
Run: 1h 54m
Complete time: 5:56:39

I was overwhelmingly happy with how it all went. It was the most fun I’ve ever had racing.
The swim went very well, the buoys were big and easy to spot. The water was warm (20C) and swimming in a wet suit made it very comfortable. The bike leg was very fun. The beginning had a lot of climbing, which I am pretty decent at for a beginner triathlete, being a smaller, lighter rider (63kg, 230ftp), and the second half had plenty of descends, the race course very pleasant overall. The temperature started climbing in the afternoon when I entered the run course and I definitely felt it was liming me, but I paced the bike well enough to only loose about 10 minues on the half marathon vs my last standalone half marathon time.

So yeah, I’ve done it and soon after crossing the line I started thinking about finding more 70.3s to race next year and coming back to Gdynia too.

And here is some high caliber photography from the event:

Hope you enjoy reading my short report. Let me know if you have any questions about the event or anything else. I can definitely recommend Gdynia if you haven’t done it before!

Thanks for reading, and speak to you all again soon!