I’d go entirely with your subjective feeling. I’ve always found the TR recovery and taper weeks to much volume. I bet for some it’s great, other might need less volume and more intensity. The best advice I can give you is to experiment for yourself. Right now your goal is to get in top form and that is as much a mental thing as anything else. Do whatever you need to do to feel great. You will not gain anymore fitness, you will not lose much as long as you keep those legs turning somehow.
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Trust the process. You have been following the plan up until now. So, why go and second guess it? Relax. Those three workouts are a week out from race day. Keep the run really really easy. Same for the swim, warmup and swim easy. 3x10min@85% will be over before you get warmed up. You’ll be fine! Relax this next week, eat/sleep well, and do not overthink things! 
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Brilliant! 
Goal achieved and nice pics to go with it 
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Thanks man, I really appreciate it 
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Just did the 2 hr Boarstone -1 today with my aerobars on with slight adjustment tips from everyone and all good. Was able to be in the aerobars for 1.5 of the 2 hours so very happy and comfortable the entire ride. Thanks everyone for the help.
With any luck will work my way up to 5 hours (way down the line) like @JulianM mentioned in a reply to me before.
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Congrats. You do look like you’re having a lot of fun.
@ericallenboyd, nice going. The more of those 90-120 min rides you do, the less daunting it feels. Pretty much I’m at point that 60 min workouts seem like I just started my warmup and did a couple short intervals.
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I know soon enough 2 hours will feel like nothing. I am having fun but also want to improve my performance and increase my sustained power for long endurance rides. I did Chatty 70.3 in 2018 (first ever) and while it was a great learning experience and did ok despite being almost 100F during the run (walk run due to that) I want to really improve my fitness and time for 70.3 CDA in 2020.
My plan was over the next 16 weeks was to do 4 TR endurance z1/z2 base training rides (maybe 1 sweet spot of the 4) weekly for around 6 hours riding along with 4 days of running under 141bpm. Swimming will be in a couple of months due to work travel. I doing different workouts makes more sense I am all ears as I believe there are some very experienced triathletes on here.
2 hours + on a trainer is painful no matter how much experience you have haha. I would say lots people still struggle sometimes to stay in aero on the trainer that long. Come race day though, all that struggle pays off and the adrenaline + the fact that your outside on the road makes it much easier. Using things like a rocker make it feel easier on the trainer but they’re not necessary.
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Absolutely hear you in the boredom at times and position. Feel pretty good after the minor adjustments but need more saddle time now for longer rides. Netflix has been treating me well with new season of mind hunter.
For a change of pace you can always try a set of rollers. Great core workout and improves handling skills. I try to do 30-60 min once a week as a recovery spin
Finally got to my “A” race of the year: Ironman Copenhagen. And, well, it did not turn out the way I planned.
First, there was the almost-DNS and then 1.5mi into the bike, an almost-DNF. Third, I was racing against time-of-day as much as “race time” because my wife & kids had to leave that evening to return home (kids had school activities on Monday morning before the first day of school on Tuesday) and my daughter was to put the finisher’s medal on me, but I needed to cross by 6:30p (7:10a start). No problem, except…
The times:
Swim: 57:47 (10th AG (50-54), 90th overall or 2700 finishers)
Bike: 6:36:06 (with a “moving time” of 5:13, see below)
Run: 4:51 (with no motivation to dig, push, or otherwise work hard, see below)
Overall: 12:37:02
Bike check-in on Saturday had miserable conditions. Raining, sometimes hard, and high winds with strong gusts. But on race day, clear and calm. Light rain was forecast but not happening at the start.
Start & swim
I arrived at transition race morning about 6:15 with plenty of time to prep and warm-up. Except, I found my rear tire was flat. No problem, I’ll change the tube. Except on the rear wheel, I need a valve extender and the valve on the spare isn’t coming out and I don’t have pliers. I go seek the mechanic. Nowhere to be found, volunteers say they haven’t seen him. Back, and another racer who was watching me try to loosen the valve with me teeth offers a tube with an easily removed stem. TY! Ok, tube replaced & filled, time to remount the wheel. Where’s the f-ing nut for the rear skewer? Found the spring right there below the bike but no skewer. Looked and looked and crawled on the grass. Again, go look for the mechanic. Now he’s here and near. One comes over, helps me look. No joy. We go to the other end of transition to the construction/officials/no competitors section. They look for a bolt in the construction boxes. There are 10 bikes for staff / officials here (T1 and T2 are separate by the way if you’re thinking about race officials’ bikes for the run) but only one has a QR skewer, the head ref’s bike. The mechanic calls him and at about 7:25 (my red cap wave, 1st AG wave, started at 7:10), the mechanic says he’ll take the bolt from the ref’s bike and install it on mine and I go to the swim start. I still had my white bag (post-race clothes) as I had been thinking I was a DNS. Another mechanic took that from me and they let me go to the swim start. I went through the corral filled with pink caps getting ready to start corral where only the last remnants of the light blues remained to enter the 6 or so start gates leaving every 5 or so seconds (I had no time to pay attention to those details).
The swim was self-seeded, but you chose your seed at registration by picking the color cap for your predicted swim time. Red was <1:06, light blue was 1:06-1:11, pink was 1:11 to something slower, and there were one or two more colors after pink. I like this system because you’re accountable (and you were kept in your group) on race morning.
My first contact with the water – 7:27a, 15min later than planned – was the run-in at the swim start due to the mechanical issue. I had no idea how cold the water was going to feel, but it was absolutely perfect for me (18 C / 64.5 F) and I enjoyed a good swim. I got through all the blue caps and caught a good number of red caps. There was no drafting of similar (or faster) swimmers for me that morning. I felt better and more energetic getting out of this swim than at the end of any other swim I can remember. Awesome start, I think, even if I’m behind schedule (by time of day).
Bike
Out of the water and I see the family at the swim exit. Yay! Transition… where are my socks? I put my socks in my T2 bag (which is at another location)… have I not done an IM before?! Sockless, ok, I raced that way 20yrs ago in Tri shoes, these are cycling shoes. I stress about blisters (no blisters at the end, but my feet are blackened by the black interior of my Lakes). Whatever. I’m off on the bike and I feel great!
At a mile and a half… I feel a wiggle in the back. I pull over. The rear wheel is flat. My heart drops. Ok, just do… Check the tire. Check the value. Clearly a leak at valve stem-extender junction. Pull the extender tool from box, crank it down. Some CO2, leaks right out. No plumbers tape on me, but electrical tape (holding my aero bottle shut). Try it. CO2 trigger/dohicky gasket blows out when trying to fill the tire again. “Really?” Someone walking by offers a pump. We joke that I found it (can’t take outside assistance) as at this point I’m thinking DNF anyway. No joy with the electrical tape. And I place the pump back on the ground where she retrieves it like a spy drop.
15m away is a volunteer. I walk over. “Can you call a mechanic?” “Yes. he’ll be here in 5min.” Ten minutes later, “what do you think about calling again?” 70min later, the mechanic shows (about 10min after the volunteer’s supervisor comes over and is upset the mechanic hasn’t shown up and tells me I should complain to Ironman). Now, I accept the mechanical is my fault, we’re self supported, and I could have done a better job of prepping the spare (preparing the extender, have the extender already on the spare, etc). So I can’t get mad at the mechanic. I know that and I’m not mad at him. Considering I was 1.5mi from T1 and not on some backstretch, I did expect assistance sooner than 70 minutes, though.
The mechanic shows up and recognizes me. “You’re not having a good day, are you?” “Nope.” He pulls out a spare tube with an enormously long stem and I realize, I need to find and buy several of those and forget about extenders. Once he arrived, he had me on the road within a couple of minutes. A DNF is thankfully averted because of him.
After watching nearly the whole race, it seemed, pass by (some “3,000” started the race, 2700 finished), I’m off. And I’m flying.
Because of the 70min pause at the side of the road, there are two realities. First, my time-of-day deadline of finishing is totally toast, done, gone. I’m 90min behind schedule regardless of race time. I lie to myself that maybe I can make it up (while knowing I can’t). I don’t figure out the actual time of day, I don’t bring it up on the watch or the head unit. I don’t want to know. I just want to race the bike. Second, everyone my speed, or faster, has an hour or more head start on me. I’m cranking pass people and it feels good.
According to my head unit, my ride time was 5:13. But that’s a meaningless value. My official ride time is one hour and twenty-three minutes slower. My 70min wait plus my effort to repair and my walk to volunteer, etc. Oh well.
Run
I see the wife and kids as I exit T2. I feel great. I’m on fire. (And now I’m wearing socks.) I stop and chat with them. They have no idea why I was so late though they suspected a mechanical due to the “5mph” average speed of the first bike segment. I apologize to the family for being late and to my daughter who, I accept now (mostly) will not be able to hang the finisher’s medal around my neck.
The run started great, in part because I feel awesome and in part because I’m still lying to myself that maybe they can still be at the finish. Maybe there was a later flight (I knew there wasn’t) or maybe I’ll crank the run (or both). The thought of bailing on the run crossed my mind on the bike as I wouldn’t get near my goal time and the family wouldn’t see me finish, but I came here to finish so I will. During the run, there was a fair rain which kept everyone cool and the spectator wet.
By mile 11, I knew it was over. A mile or so later, I saw the family and they had to say bye. My spirit was broken and the pace fell like a rock. I already knew I would not get the race time I could have achieved and I wouldn’t see the family at the end. There was little desire, or value, in digging deep and laying it all out there. It was now just about finishing, the medal, the t-shirt, just getting it done. My last 1000m showed I still had some serious energy left in the tank, but I didn’t, wouldn’t, and couldn’t tap that before. No motivation to do so.
Ultimately, I’m happy with “12:37,” even if it included the pause, shivering at times, on the side of the road. Despite the almost-DNS and almost-DNF, it was not a bad day. Any day you can finish an Ironman isn’t a bad day. I had a well-executed, it seemed, nutrition plan. There was good weather. A great course and spectators. Another medal.
Recommendation?
I strongly recommend IM Copenhagen. It’s a great event in a great location. There were some minor quibbles that could be better. The “race brief” being a Powerpoint loop every 30min was not very helpful, but this meant flexibility to attend the brief; no mechanic’s tent at T1 before race start, just the mechanics with a toolbox, who apparently showed up late per supervisors; showers were a relatively long walk away from the “athlete’s village” and were too few & flooded swamps; the “race hotel” was equally inconvenient to T1, T2, Finish (about ±3mi to each, easy metro from finish to hotel); bad info from race hotel on morning shuttle to T1). Overall, though, it was very well executed with truly great volunteers. The bike and run courses were great and really both were a lot of fun. Do it if you’re considering it.
You may recall that I said I wanted to focus on cycling next year: gravel and sportives and generally enjoy the riding here in Switzerland and nearby Italy, Spain, and France. But even as I rode on Sunday, I was pondering whether I should do an Ironman next year as I knew I was going to feel there was “unfinished business” with this race. If I were a betting man, I’d bet I’ll do another IM next year and not exclusively focus on cycling. Right now, on Tuesday, I don’t know what I’ll do.
On whether doing IM Zurich precisely four weeks before Copenhagen was a good or bad idea, in hindsight I believe it was a good idea and an effective training event. If I had to travel for IM Zurich, my view might be different if the transition wasn’t less than 5mi from my home and I treated that event as a training day.
Pics
Swim exit, on the bike before the flat/almost-DNF, and on the run. My daughter is holding the bell at the left and cheering, I see her and a huge smile on my son, and a cheering wife.
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Kudos for a brutally fast swim and for soldiering on. I can not imagine how it must have been sitting by the roadside waiting for the mechanic. You really wonder why it takes this long, even for the pros the wait times are sometimes ridiculously long.
Anyway, well done. And thanks for the extensive report!
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Sorry to hear the tale of woe, but there are more than a few positives in there methinks…
Racing with a family time pressure isn’t ideal, my only DNF was similar, a mechanical + expectation of attending my daughters show. Decided the show was more important than a weak finish.
I had wave coloured caps and the looped race brief at Staffs 70.3 a few years back - both were convenient imo.
Love the swim and bike splits 
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I’m thinking that you’re going to want to settle that unfinished business. Tough situations out there, but way to stick with it. Funny thing about your swim exit picture, there are still plenty of red caps there with you at the exit, even though you started 15 minutes later!
I had quite the victory on Saturday at my ‘C’ Oly race. Literally. The plan was that I was going to try really pushing myself on the swim just to see what I felt like on the bike, then coast home on the run to save myself for training later that day and the next day. The swim went OK, but was a bit longer than usual, pushed myself harder than I usually do. I then felt great on the bike, passed a number of people, and when I got into T2, it was empty on the Oly side!
My ‘C’ race instantly morphed into an ‘A’ race.
I tied to conserve what energy I did have without going too slow so I could respond if anybody caught up to me. But on the 2nd loop, I was still alone and opened the throttle a bit to make sure. I ended up in 1st, 3min faster than the 2nd place guy. Never won a race before in my life aside from maybe in middle school track. I can’t tell you how cool this feels!
…The next day was a 3hr trainer ride because I can’t rest now.
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Back of the net!
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Great write up @mountainrunner. Interested in your thoughts re Zurich before and your assessment is certainly fair as you saw it as a training event.
Next year can be decided later, you clearly have motivation for those long hours of training if you go for it.
I was in Kalmar this weekend and we got heavy rain Sunday night was worried CPH got bad weather so least it held.
Times for CPH were quick this year and certainly some speedy folk racing Kalmar too. Will do a race report but it wasn’t half as exciting as yours.
Currently feet up recovering from Taku -1 thinking how on earth did I race for 5 hours on the bike!!
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Enjoyed reading all the race reports in this thread! I’m off to ITU worlds in Switzerland next week followed by my first 70.3 at Challenge Amsterdam 2 weeks later. Followed the TR mid volume half plan which i’m happy with. Thanks for sharing though, i’ve picked up some useful advice.
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Hi All, keeping up with training here. The wattbike was a game changer for my offshore ironman training mission and i was able to keep it up during the last two weeks. Motivational level is good, I had to go creative on the nutrition side to find whatever food they have onboard to use as nutrition. Luckily they have tons of biscuits and crackers around that i can take with me.
Tomorrow i have gibraltar + 1h long run. The day after it is a 4h long ride to finalize the week with a 2h long run. In other words, between tomorrow and sunday should spend ~9h in the vessel’s gym while working 12h night shifts 
Wish me luck!
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