The Ironman Training 2020 Thread

The only easy swim I have is the 400 warmup. After that I’m always focusing on some thing or grasping for every oxygen molecule in the air. I couldn’t imagine listening to anything. But if you ever find gills in the aftermarket, I may join you. Lol

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Swimming for a non-swimmer like myself is always a struggle between fitness work and technical work. Its kind of a ying and yang. Opposites but can only be understood when coupled.
Better technique and you can get away with less fitness, better fitness and you can get away with worse technique.
If I am getting a lot of fitness from the other 2 sports and S&C, my main focus has to be technique.

So… what is the most successful path I found for myself?
It is a reverse periodization model in which I take at least a couple o months doing a lot of 25s and 50s with good rest ratios and at least a monthly video analysis.

Only close to a B or A race I introduce the long work (together with sighting, open water and some intervals where the “rest” is just leaving the water and running around the pool).

I always aim to get into the pool minimum 3 times per week even if one or two of the sessions are just sneaking a mere fast 200m after a run workout. Frequency is the crucial variable to keep the feel for the water.

This kind of approach is the best speed bang for my time buck. 3 to 4 months with 2 hours per week at most was more than enough to get pool PRs from 25 up to 3800 meters last season.

I should add that I have always been an avid consumer of video analysis from youtube and I swim in a pool where getting underwater film is very straight forward.

My main source for proper technique is

Brenton Ford publishes a new video analysis every Friday and the clues and tips I got from those were priceless. Unfortunately they do not run clinics or camps in Europe where I am.

If you combine it with some Swimsmooth and Tower26 philosophy, you can self coach yourself easily and the journey becomes very enjoyable end creative.

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Its not reverse periodization. Its simply periodization for an IM. Non specific building to specific for that event

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I have sympathy and I’ve considered myself, but no.

‘Being present’ I think is the phrase Gerry Rodriguez T26 uses, and it is important during swims, even the long sets.

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I have the Finns headphones. I’m not a good swimmer, and I don’t really like it to be honest, so for me to justify the longer 2-3km practice swims I “treated” myself with that purchase. I find it works good, not great but not bad. I wouldn’t bother with them for a 30min swim but for that 1-2hr I like them.

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<78% is recovery and warmups
78-82% of my critical power is my easy run zone
82-88 is for long runs/overdistance work [during the season)
88-92 is marathon target
92-96 is Half target
96-102 is threshold
102-105 is 5k
105-110 are quick interval work
110%+ sprints and peak strides

I like music on the pool deck so i can get in the zone during my brief rests or during kick sets. Otherwise, I just get into monk mode.

Thanks for sharing that chart. looks at last 70.3
173 TSS, 2:33 time, and 0.82IF. In the “Good range for most age group athletes with good preparation” block, and I pulled off a 1:35 run split, which is pretty good for me. I’d say my n=1 review of the chart says it’s spot on!

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I think that and the previous one are good guides if you’re lacking any direction.

I’m mindful that some people are way below some of those targets. We tend to assume the elites all push to the right of those graphs, but one of the KQers posting here was the other way - iirc he had gone only 68 or 69% for a ridiculously fast bike split!

Agreed. Effortless swimming is great and Brenton even helped me out with recommending a club to join while i’m in Sydney, what a top guy!

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Hey guys, I have been getting a bit of numbness in the man areas after about 30 minutes in aero position.

What might this suggest about my position?

I’ve been thinking I could move my seat forward a bit, which might mean I am less stretched out and put a bit more weight back onto my sit bones. Does that sound right?

I will say, I haven’t had a fit, but plan to next month.

What saddle are you running? That usually has the biggest impact.

How low are you in the front end? You could be having issues rotating over and putting pressure on the boys. This might be a mix of running your pad y too low and having a seat that does not allow you to rotate your hips.

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It’s a Selle Italia NT1, circa 2010 ( I bought the bike second hand a few months ago)

Hmm, so maybe should make that bike fit a priority?

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Yes

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Booked one for Saturday. I’m in Perth, Australia and it was honestly hard to find one that was not charging $300-$400. Which was my hesitation all along. Hopefully this basic one does some good…

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Sounds like you’re on a roadie? Sounds daft but it took me years to learn how to sit on my bike properly, and I’m not alone.

Getting comfortable on a TT bike on a TT saddle is something I’m still working on, but particularly on a trainer I think you need to remind yourself to move around a bit, and shift to a climbing position say every fifteen minutes to a minute - before any discomfort starts to grind.

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Nah it’s a TT bike, albeit an older one. Merida Warp 5. I’m going to double check the seat when I get home.

I generally sit up for a minute or so every 10 minutes to wipe sweat off my face and arms, and that helps for a bit. But it I do a session over an hour, it seems to be inevitable. I think @Achin could be onto something with bars being a little low forcing me to rock forward. My seat doesn’t feel high in terms of my pedaling/legs.

Ah, then I would definitely be trying a snub noses saddle, something like:

As @achin says, you need to be able to rotate your hips forward. Those two prongs go under your sit bones so there’s no weight at all on the perineum.

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