I’m ready for an ultra-half-Olympic distance race.
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Ultra swim, Half Bike, Olympic Running?
the distance tho…sounds weird…73.3?
I think is a typo…
anyway…
If anyone is interested in a non IM race, that doesnt cost a fortune… this is a pretty good one…
If they keep the 1/3 I think is a great training race for half… and the 2/3 is a great training race for full distance
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There is an over abundance of fonts and a dearth of grammar in that poster.
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Finally got to do my first official 70.3 down in Arizona Sunday. It was a great first experience, I’m happy with my execution on a number of things, but plenty of room for improvement.
TLDR Summary : Swim was as good/as expected, bike was great, run was below expectations… I think I need to run more (groan).
Overall : 4:42:34. 4/94 in mens 35-39, 19/777 male overall. My base goal was a 4:40 so slightly over that.
Prerace : I have been following a modified TR high volume half distance plan, I ran and swam less then they prescribe and rode more. Average for the plan was 8.5 hrs bike/450 TSS, 2.5 run /150 TSS and 2.5hrs swim (don’t apply TSS). I tapered in and did a 48 hour carb load.
Swim : 31:10. 7/94 in AG, 35/777 male: The swim was pretty much as I thought it might be, the extra help of the wetsuit being offset by my lack of open water/sighting experience. I can swim this time without a wetsuit, so with good sighting I imagine I can improve this time perhaps by a minute or so, but all in all I am OK at this pace as long as I am conserving energy. I took one gel 15 minutes prior.
T1 : 5:23 - it’s a relatively long run up to T1, from past results I knew most guys were in the 4.5m range, I put my cycling shoes on so that adds 30s, but I think make up for it by being able to immediately put power down.
Ride : 2:22:30 2/94 AG, 7/777 male. 246 NP, 239 avg power. On a road bike (Madone with clip ons). My base goal on the bike was 2:27 so I was very happy with this. My power was right where I expected it to be, I immediately passed a number of people and felt like I was in a good position overall, once you’re onto the second lap with more people on course you’re constantly passing folks, so it was much harder to have a relative idea of what was going on, my wife yelled some updates to me so that was helpful, and I looked at my computer every lap, knowing that at 23mph I should be building a buffer into the run. Seems like many didn’t like the course, but as a road racer I personally enjoyed the turns etc. I would be curious how much a Tribike would change my results. I consumed 6 gu’s and 2 bottles (my torpedo + refill bottle) of scratch, so figure 65g carbs/hr.
T2 : 2:25 - Concerned about a side stitch I made a quick porto stop on the way out, could have been slightly quicker.
Run : 1:41:05 4/94 AG, 19/777 overall. My base goal for the run was a 1:35 so I was most disappointed with this part of the race. I knew I was in second place in my AG going into it, all I wanted to do was run fast enough to maintain a podium. The good part is, I had no stitches or cramping, the bad part was my second lap was significantly slower that my first. Had I maintained my pace on the first half, I’d have been 3rd in the AG. I knew I’d slipped in the positioning and was going slower on the second lap, and by mile 10 it was getting a good bit warmer out, the last 3 miles were a real mental effort to just not walk, to keep going no matter what, so I’ll take some pride in that I suppose. I had 2 gu’s and took water every other aid station just to keep my mouth wet and dump over me for cooling.
Overall : I think the takeaway is I need to get faster at running off the bike - I think my main question is whether any of that can be solved with more fuel (get closer to the 90/100 grams of carbs/hr, or it just comes down to training and potentially shedding a few lbs. I paired back the prescribed running for a few reasons: A- I like riding my bike (and still want to road race) B- In the past I’d felt like I was coming close to injury when I ran too much (hamstring/achilles/planters tightness), put perhaps was over cautious here and C - I thought 3 runs a week - a base, a speed session and a brick would suffice. In reflection it seems like this isn’t going to get me down that 4.5hr range I really want to shoot for. I have another 70.3 in Napa next weekend, hillier course, I think I am just going to play with fuel and see what happens. Then have Indian Wells in December.
Any thoughts or things I might be missing in terms of how to think about my performance lwould love to hear, also if there is a run plan people are using in place of TR would love to know.
Thanks for reading,
Stu
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Highly recommend the BarryP or a 3/2/1 plan. Run6 days a week, but at slow paces and most runs are short. I suffered from the same litany of injuries as you…Achilles, PF, ITBS, stress fracture in my heel, high hamstring tendinosis. Once I got on the BaryP plan and learned how to work it, my injuries largely went away.
Great race….did you nab a slot for 70.3 Worlds?
First of all well done, great performance and got the planned result
I think you have the theory right, 2.5hrs running is unlikely to be optimal. The other indicator that this is the case is that you’re not keen on running, we tend to avoid the workouts we’re weaker on 
I’m not sure on triathlon running frequency to be honest, as you say it’s a balance between the reward of performance and the cost of the risk of injury, and as you have experience there be guided by that. But on 2.5hrs in 3/PW I would suggest that your long runs aren’t long enough.
Also, what’s your olympic run or open half like?
Great results!
congrats!
Thanks, unfortunately I didn’t get a worlds slot. Regarding running 6 days a week, my concern there would be that it would hamper my ability to complete my harder cycling workouts, or because they’re mostly easy runs perhaps not? I’ll look those up. Thanks!
Yup…that is the key.
The nutshell is that you have 6 runs / week and they are broken up as follows:
- 3 easy, short runs (schedule these runs on your hard bike days)
- 2 Med runs (again, done at an easy pace…at least for the first 3 months)
- 1 long run (easy pace)
Those runs are based off some unit of measure (time or distance) and the distance for each run is the reverse of the number runs / week. So if you measurement block is 1 mile, those runs above break down like this:
- Three 1-mile runs
- Two 2-mile runs
- One 3-mile run
So to start on a 3/2/1 or BarryP plan, take the mileage you are currently running per week and divide it according to the breakdown above. You are not increasing your volume (yet), but you are increasing your frequency, which is the key. If you are running 20 miles / week, it would be:
- Three 2 mile runs
- Two 4 mile runs
- One 6 mile run
When I was doing tris, my week schedule looked something like this:
- Monday: recovery
- Tuesday: Bike intervals, Easy run #1
- Wednesday: Swim, Med Run #1
- Thursday: Bike, easy run #2
- Friday: Recovery bike, Med Run #2
- Saturday: Long Bike, easy run #3
- Sunday: Long Run
Tacking on a 1 or 2 mile run after a bike workout is pretty simple…you can do it as a brick or just knock it out at lunch or later in the afternoon.
Just google BarryP Running Plan and you can get all the details…
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Thanks Joe. Yes, 
on avoiding our weaknesses 
.
Haven’t competed in Olympic but have done a number of olympic size brick days, when pushing it I can run 6:50, 42:30 10k. Likewise haven’t competed in a half in a long time, but have run many 90 minute, just sub 90 minute halfs. In training I’ve done long runs of 16/17 miles ~7:15 pace. Is there any round guidance that competitive 70.3’s would give, ie a good 70.3 run is usually 90% of open half pace?
Thanks, appreciate it!
Thanks for laying this out there so explicitly! This 3-2-1 program is the opposite of what I formerly did (if it was less than 6 miles it wasn’t worth my time 
), but I have been trying it the last 3 weeks. Wow. Huge difference in pop, mechanics, core coordination with the more frequent runs. Big fan so far.
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I think the “rule” is that a 70.3 should fall somewhere between your MP and your HMP.
So 90% sounds about right.
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Thanks, this is super interesting, like HMG I have fallen into the, why get my running gear on if I’m not running at least 10k. Especially as a cyclist who’s minimum duration rides are 90 minutes, it takes some mental rewiring .
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Yeah, it takes awhile to break that mindset…especially early on in the program where you may not even have a run long enough to reach what you would have previously thought of as “worthwhile”.
But as you work through the program and slowly add distance each week (I usually did 10% / week), the mileage starts to increase, run volume goes up and frequency is off the charts. In my IM prep, I actually ended up doing 7 days / week running a fair amount. Those 3 runs are essentially recovery runs.
I always scoffed at the idea of “recovery runs”…“your legs are still taking a pounding, so how are you really recovering” was my thought process. But the problem was my legs were so fatigued by doing longer runs all the time, that “recovery runs” weren’t possible. That all changed once I got on the BarryP plan.
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Questions on TT/TriBike benefits.
1- If you’re riding in my range, sub 2.5 70.3 ride - any guidance on how much faster at the same power I might achieve on a TT rig?
2- Other than being faster, does the position help you at all from a conservation of energy perspective? I mainly ask this for the running side, ie would the more open hip angle help preserve muscle use at all going into the run?
What are the other benefits (other than built in storage)?
Lots of variables…
But as an example of how much faster a properly fitter TT bike can be…
I was riding @ 150ish W this morning… I was hitting 18-19 mph.
Then did a few passes of HIM power (~200) and was hitting 21 mph…
I am 5’6 and 155 ponds…
Granted. I am riding a particularly “fast” (some call it super) bike, that I think is WAY too much bike for me…
But if you get a TT bike that is sized correctly and fitted properly at your wattage you could probably cut 5 to 10, plus in theory your legs should be in better place for a run.
The “perfect” run leg would be half +10-15mins (70.3) and mara + 20-30mins (140.6) , from what I’ve picked up…but that’s quite a broad statement, obviously. Nevertheless, it’s not indicating that you’re over biking which is why I asked.
Depends on your position…if it is optimized, probably not much. But few people have an optimized TT position on a road bike, so your gains could be substantial since you will be able to achieve a superior aerodynamic position.
Yes.
They look fast AF and are really run to hammer out the miles on!! 
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