How many folks here base their IM/triathlon training on the TR plans, versus using a cycling-specific TR plan (e.g., Sweet Spot base and build) combined with a different non-TR running and/or swimming plan?
I use the sweet spot base plan to fill my off season and mix in my own running and swimming. Currently following a garmin coach half marathon program alongside SSB low volume. I will switch to a TR triathlon program in January as I get closer in time to my competitions. Did this already once and it worked great for me.
And that is a wrap on the Mont Blanc Man for me this year. I’m sitting on the deck in front of my little AirBnChalet and figured I write up a quick report while it is still fresh. For the TL;DR crowd: I completed the Mont Blanc Man half distance somewhere near the front pack. It was the perfect race. Spectacular views. Perfect event.
Preparation
Swim training was tres horrible. Swimming is the first thing I ditch when things get busy and so I only swam the final 8 weeks, on average 1.5 times per week. I had some very discouraging open water sessions, but in the final week it all came together.
For the bike I focusedm on w/kg. I figured that I’ll bring the road bike for this course and so did all my training on it, 80% indoors, the rest on the road. SSB, sustained power build and climbing road race, all LV. In the final weeks I modified CRR and replaced some of the punchy workouts with sustained sweet spot and threshold efforts. I realized that low volume training will only get me so far in terms of raw power and so I made an effort to drop a few pounds during build. Eventually I arrived at the start line at 4.1 w/kg and I am feeling absolutely great at my current weight. Never thought that would have such an impact.
Running was difficult. I started into this year full gas to have the tiniest shot at a BQ in April. In March I was in the form of my life. Then work hit me with a few international trips and very thirsty clients. I exploded like a Christmas cracker and it took me months to recover. My run form came back when I finally adjusted my long run pace and accepted that I basically needed to rebuild.
Race Plan
Have fun and enjoy the scenery. I knew I could race, but did not plan on burying myself completely. There’s a ten hour drive waiting for me tomorrow morning.
Race day
Bestest race day morning ever. My chalet was in walking distance. Checked in the bike, warmed up in the water, marveled at the scenery.
Swim
A good old mass start in a christal clear lake, 22C, wetsuit, clear morning, easy out and back course. Perfect conditions. I did not expect much and positioned somewhere in the middle of the crowd and when the gun went off i just dived into the washing machine. Good thing about these crowded swims is that you needn’t sight much, just stay with the pod. And so I did. About 700m in things thinned out and I made a short push and dropped the group i was in. At the turnaround the front group bunched up and i managed to join them. From there on I drafted the first chase group, floating effortlessly through the bubbles. Now I don’t swim much and I don’t like it, but that final kilometer was sublime. It all clicked. Exited with first pack at 30:xx, maybe even a 29:5x.
Ride
This is where I felt the most confident. Still I was planning on staying within myself the entire race. With 1800m of climbing, with several sections above 10% I knew that not being careful could be costly. So the plan was to keep it below 250 at all times and above 200 on the flatter parts. The course starts with a 10% gradient right away. I immediately congratulated myself for getting a 32/11 for this race and watched maybe a dozen riders or more blowing past me. Stuck to my numbers and hoped to catch some of them later on the run. First climb flew by and I felt really strong when we hit the first descent. A few minutes in I had to stop and put in a new contact as the other one had just left me, lost maybe two minutes. While I was standing I half saw a guy crashing in a switchback. This race is nothing for a weak stomach, the descent were fairly technical and the roads were not closed. This meant that if you’re willing and able to take a few risks in corners and overtaking maneuvers you can make up some time. Both big downhills were a blast and I never had that much fun during the bike leg of a Tri. I had one close call when a car in front of me stopped for oncoming traffic but it turned out a cyclist fit between the two. I arrived back at transition in 2:55, judging from the number of bikes there somewhere in the high 20s overall. 5 minutes slower than predicted by BBS at 201 NP.
Run
In the past this is where my races fell apart. I’ve run open half’s in 1:26 but never got my 70.3 close to the 1:30s. Figured pacing must have something to do with it. And so I did what worked so well on the bike and paved meticulously to RPE, breathing and perceived HR. The course is pretty tough. It is flat, but winds through the woods on bumpy rooty single trails. I actually welcomed the diversity of the course and the attention it required. It kept me from going to all the dark places and kept me busy almost until the end. First lap was unremarkable, second lap was somewhat remarkable that I was running with no one else in sight, third lap I was hoping to pick up the occasional explosion. For lap bands they gave out loops of string, intended to be worn around the neck. I did not like the idea. On my final lap I took them and stuck them in my tri suit to not inspire any chases if I happen to catch runners on my lap. And catch some I did. I crossed the finish line in 1:48. Looks not incredibly fast, but on that course I think it was still not bad, because I easily got a spot in the massage tent.
Results are pending, but I think there is a remote chance I made top 20 overall which would put me over the moon!
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Sounds great - course and performance , thanks for the write up. Well done!
I’ve used TR tri plans for the last three years
Well since I haven’t been posting as much in the what workout did you do today, I will post up here about the pre-ride. 4.5 hours of total time, about 4 moving time to preview a HIM course. Talk about going big or go home. I did try out 3 race pace segments, first one was the full 20 min, 2nd one took 19 minutes till we got to a major intersection and I was riding with some people who weren’t riding at that effort.
Cool thing is I made it up the wall section of the first big climb, cool to see who else was on this year’s top ten list:
Looks like Cam does a few rides/year in the area after doing the race in 2016 (and blew up during the run after gunning for the course bike record)
34x32, 65 RPM was an average of 390 watts. That’s pretty steep!
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I’ve used TR for bike workouts and other swim and run plans in the past and will probably continue to do so.
My 2019 70.3 journey is over, and I’m happy with how it all went. I’m especially thankful to be sitting here the day after the race with no injuries, just really sore legs!
TRAINING
I started training for this race in December 2018. Prior to starting I had never swam more than 25m, had only a few 15-20 mile slow bike rides under my belt, and around 350 miles of total running in my life (I’m 31). So I basically started from scratch. I bought a second hand Felt Road bike and a Vortex trainer and got through SSB LV I and II followed by Half distance low volume base, build, specialty. I stuck to at least 90% of the bike/run workouts but followed swim workouts from swimplan.com. My starting weight was around 205 and this morning I’m 185, so I’m happy with losing 20lbs. I ate pretty well throughout training with no intention of losing weight. My starting FTP was 180 and finished around 260. My average run pace started around 10:45/mile and I brought it down to 9:00/mile. I didn’t test my swimming paces nearly enough but I’d say I started around 2:20/100yds and got it down to 1:45. Overall, my training went great with only a few foot issues that kept me from running a couple weeks in May.
RACE PLAN
My original goal was to go sub 6, and as I got closer to the race I thought sub 5:40 was possible based on some longer brick workouts. The overall goal was just to enjoy my time on the course and smile as much as possible. I did not hit my time goals, but I still had a blast, so it’s a win.
RACE MORNING
This race sold out faster than any 70.3 ever has, something like 15 minutes after registration opened. So hotels were hard to come by. I ended up staying about 5 miles from the start. It was a pretty hectic morning. I had to park about a mile away and only had 15 minutes to prep in transition area. All good though. I set everything up as best I could, threw on my wetsuit so that I could hurry up and wait at the swim start. I got a quick warmup swim and got to watch the pros start.
SWIM 39:38
I seeded myself into 37-40min. I had done some one mile open water swims in training around 35 minutes so I figured I’d be okay. What a rush running into the water on the rolling start. It was pretty hectic throughout the whole swim, but I held a pretty straight line and felt comfortable. The water was a perfect 70 degrees and so clear. I had a few tangles with other swimmers but no face kicks or grabbing. I came out of the water just under 40 minutes feeling strong and ready for the bike.
RIDE 3:02:28
T1 was a good quarter mile from the swim exit and I decided to walk it to make sure my heart rate was nice and low for the start of the ride. I took off on the bike and right out of the gate we had a 3 mile climb rising just over 500ft. I kept the watts around 240-250. Got through the climb just fine, but the bunching was really bad. The first half of the bike was mostly just passing on the left. It was impossible to follow the drafting and passing rules, but I doubt anyone received any penalties. My original goal based on BBS was just over 200 watts avg getting me in at 2:50. Well, I averaged 204 (216NP) and my time was 3:02. I was disappointed, but what can ya do. The second half of the bike with most of the downhills was straight into the wind, and with how crowded it was, I never really fell into a groove. Also, the course has ZERO flat stretches. It’s hills the whole way. Beautiful course, though. Traverse City is basically the Napa Valley of the Midwest, so I knew the scenery would be great.
RUN 2:13:12
Running, my weakest sport of the three. The course was relatively flat but it was not easy. Like the bike, it was super crowded and most of it was on a skinny path with two way traffic, almost impossible to ever get into a groove. I felt bad for the faster athletes having to dodge everyone. The original plan was sub 2 hours, so right around 9:10 pace. I figured I’d ease into it the first few miles, and that’s exactly what I did. 4 miles in I was averaging 9:20 pace. I figured I would pick it up on the back half. Well that never happened. My heart rate was never unmanageable but my legs would not cooperate. My pace fell to 10 so I started walking the aid stations. Then it fell to 11 and calf cramps started. I had to run/walk the last few miles, unfortunately. About a half mile from the finish my left quad seized up and now I was limping. But I walked it off and was able to finish strong. The finish chute was nothing short of epic. It was on the main street of downtown and the crowds were so great. I got a little choked up as I finished. My wife and parents were there and it was a great moment. I’m not sure what I’ll do next. I don’t think a full is in my future but who knows. I’d like to dedicate some significant time to running as that’s where I need the most work. Thanks to this thread for all the help the last several months!
TOTAL TIME 6:06:10
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I just completed the Olympic Base Mid Volume Plan after not having any real great running background. When the runs were sub 50 minutes and my pace was more around 9:30/mile I could generally go with just pre-run hydration. Now that I am more like 8:30/mile and doing hour plus runs (kicking off HIM low volume base) I have really started to feel like I need something during the runs (talking RPE 4-6).
What do you all normally use to carry fluids and at what point do you normally start run nutrition during training?
I signed up for 70.3 Wisconsin next year so feel free to tag me in the 2020 thread.
Thanks for the Roll Call.
Well Race is done. I have to say I am happy with how it went considering how little training i did. (looking back at the totals, its crazy how under trained i was, 5 hours of swimming for the entire training block… yikes!!)
Swim: Went well considering, was about 6-8 mins slower then I wanted.
Bike: Due feeling not ready, i focused on a low IF, to save myself for the run. Goal was .64, ended up with .645 (so that was a success!) But i did have some massive foot pain in both shoes, I have done short outdoor ride and long trainer rides in these shoes without any pain. But the longer climbs had me having massive pain on the outside of my foot (I think 5th meta…)
Run: first few km, i had to walk as my feet were in so much pain they couldn’t take the force of running. Slowly they came back to me and started my run walk program. Finished feeling strong, ran the last km, and next day wasn’t too sore (felt like maybe i should of tried harder)
But the main thing is i finished, faster then i thought, and felt good enough I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year.
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all booked for IM copenhagen 2020 looking forward to hearing you are an ironman once rather than you are an outlaw.
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Hey I’m doing IM 70.3 NC as well! It is my A race so I just started HIM specialty plan. Challenge Daytona looks awesome I might put that on my schedule next year. Good luck with training and racing.
You will like Copenhagen. Get your hotel / accommodation sorted early then no stress. It is a bit of a logistical faff with the swim being away from the main base of the centre but no worries. Enjoy the training!!
Hotels already sorted, close to the finish although a bit of a trek to the swim but my family won’t come to that.
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Excellent work my friend!
@jdmccoskey might be useful to know whereabouts you live, would affect advice.
Southern Hemisphere inhabitant here, so currently end of winter here, usual running temps are between 4-14 C.
Personally I don’t take any nutrition or fluids with me on the run. Generally anything under 90 minutes you don’t need anything, even my long runs >2 hours I won’t take anything. If I’m doing anything over 2:30 hours then I’ll take a couple of gels (usually SIS as you don’t need water) and have a SpiBelt with the gels in it. If I head off road will take my Osprey Duro as I want to carry my phone, car keys, etc.
Usually start run nutrition a month out from my main event, but that’s usually limited to a gel or two. I like the SIS one’s as you don’t need water, but will also use the GU Roctane one’s as I can get them cheap and like the smaller size.
I’m from Michigan so nearing the end of summer here. It has been 25-35 C for most of my runs the past 6 weeks. I do my best to pre-hydrate, but any outdoor run I am drenched and wont sit in my car without changing.
25-35 C
I’d still see if you can make it through 90 minute sessions with just hydrating beforehand. Maybe plan your routes so you go past some drinking fountains so if you feel like you really need it you’ve got it.
I’m not a big fan of taking my running vest as it’s a bunch of admin to clean etc, so only use it on long long runs. I’ve been looking at getting something like this as a happy medium but can’t really justify having yet another bag.
I have had the naked running band for over a year now when I just need to carry one soft flask and minimal items. I also have a Salomon advanced skin 12 that I use for long runs. It is so comfortable. The naked bands owner is a good guy but if you do go that route make sure you talk to him and get the right size.
No affiliation to either, I just like the products.
https://www.nakedsportsinnovations.com/shop-online/naked-running-band
I live in the southern US and it is very hot and humid right now. I usually don’t need any water for a run under an hour. If it is longer than that I will usually leave a water bottle outside my house (I live in a quiet neighborhood so this works for me) and do a 3 mile loop around my house. When I get bored of running circles around my neighbor I will carry a water bottle in my hand and venture out further. I would prefer not carrying anything but it’s manageable. I prefer not wearing any vest or backpacks as I feel it traps in the heat.
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