I’ve had a bit of a mixed bag at our local half / state champs. Measured by the number of learnings and useful data points for IM CPH a very good race. In terms of finish lines crossed not so much.
Very chaotic swim start. I forgot to look up my start wave (3 waves 15 mins apart) and panicked when I saw all yellow swim caps in the water. Decided to jump in, literally in the last minute before the gun went. No warm up swim, goggles not prepared, very bad starting position. And a mass water start, so utter chaos for the first 400m, a lot of fighting for position, plenty of surging past others and hoping to hang on to a good group. Also, foggy goggles swimming into the sun. A fun experience and useful reminder to take it easier for a full.
The bike was mainly about testing position, new gear and nutrition. I decided to push my fueling further than before and aimed for 105-110g/ h of carbs. Which went down okay. I had some sensations of fullness when I downed the first bottle a bit too quickly, but over the course the fueling seemed alright. I had all my carbs in a pretty thick drink on board and completely failed to pick up additional water, which would soon become my undoing. But the bike itself went fine, probably my best half distance ride ever and a course PR.
Off the bike and onto the run my legs felt good. My stomach however did not and my watched crapped out. A mix of poor pacing and the lack of water / high concentration carbs drink led to terrible stomach cramps and a really awful first lap of two. I walked the aid stations and took as much water as I could get and things began to straighten out by the end of lap 1, but I didn’t have anymore fight in me. Before digging myself too deep a hole and ruining another week of training I tapped out and went home. Lots of learnings to process now. But I got a cool photo!
This is why I get annoyed so much when people on line encourage under trained people to attempt tris, I am not saying that the person who died was under trained but people need to take our sport seriously.
My wife and I did Eagleman as well this weekend, was my first triathlon and first ironman for her.
We started TR plans late September (HV and MV) but I had trouble with it after February while being injured (hip) and having difficulties running. Got flu early May which forces me to completely stop training for 4/5 days and my hip recovered but then I got covid 10 days later, mild symptoms stopped training again for 4/5 days and stopped intensity for a week. First TT outdoor ride I crashed due to my front tire exploded while riding at 30mph. Hopefully only got road rashes and no major injuries. Back on the bike after 2 days, running 2 days after and swimming 10 days later. So I was kind of forced to taper for the moth of May !
Then come the race a week later.
The weather and water temp were very uncertain until the morning of the race, but in the end it was wetsuit legal and we did not get thunderstorm and no continuous heavy rain.
We didn’t know what to expect in the swim so we started in the 40min and 45min groups but ended finishing faster than we were expecting.
T1 went good, felt strong on the first half of the bike and tried to maintain the avg speed during second loop while pushing less watts. I started to feel a bit of gut discomfort late in the ride so I knew I will have to stop to the bathroom at T2, which took me an additional 3min or so. I blame sodium bicarbonate for that
Started the run with gut cramps so I had to lower the speed for the first 3 miles. Felt better after and finished strong.
Finished 4th from my AG in 4:27 and got a spot for WC 2022 at St George. My wife finished in 6hours.
Overall we both had a lot of fun and really enjoyed this race.
Yes I had a very good bike level, trained last year 20/25h weekly. Run was ok, but never trained high volume, and never trained for swimming as I didn’t really enjoy swimming
I bought a TT bike in December but did not train that much on it, bike handling is pretty scary at first but confidence comes fast. But TT position is another story, I lose a lot of efficiency and I think I should spend much more time on it to allow my muscles to adapt.
Other than that I hope I can enjoy more running without getting injured again, not sure if this was initially due to treadmill training, ski fall, or the start of training in TT position.
I also want to practice swimming on a more regular basis, 4/5 times a week instead of 2/3 times, even if the sessions get shorter at first. I am also planning at least 1 open water swim every other week.
I also have a short (25min climb) family race I would like to peak for, early August, so I will need to bring in more intensity into the plan.
It wasn’t poorly worded I said exactly what I meant to. If people have not done the training they should not be encouraged to race. We aren’t like running or even cycling, you can’t just pull over easily and take a breather in the water.
If its not now when we have clear examples on the dangers of our sport when there are people encouraging people to race under trained then its never going to be the time. As for the place this is an internet forum of people who want the best for our sport, there’s no better place.
A little disapointed in my race, well at least my run. Picked up a hamstring issue the week before the race. Will write more later, thanks for following.
Curious what the TR hive mind thinks about structuring the final ‘big’ rides preceding IMLP. Where I live it’s pretty flat so I have two choices:
25 mile flat ride out. 60 miles of intermittent climbing (6k total, lots of 8-13% grade). 25 mile flat ride back.
15 mile flat ride out. 95 miles of intermittent climbing (5.7k total, all 4.5% grade via 18 loops of the same 300’ hill). 15 mile flat ride back.
Or does it not matter at all? I did the full length of the IMLP course on the trainer last week and just can’t mentally do that again, too boring haha.
I’d be a bit more careful to assume that the deceased was undertrained. Could be. But for all we know he/she might as well have been a top end pro suffering from an undiagnosed heart condition. Think of Tim O’Donnell who suffered a heart attack in a race, the year after he made the podium in Kona.
Especially on a forum full of enthusiasts and serious athletes it is important to acknowledge the risks involved in our sport. Blaming the undertrained in these situations deflects from the fact that heart health is something we should all take very seriously. We may feel invicible but we are not. Tim O’Donnell and Richard Murray are two recent examples from the pro ranks that opened my eyes to the fact, plus a few scary anecdotes over at slowtwitch scared the crap out of me.
Whatever led to that poor souls premature death, we might take it as an opportunity to read up on heart health and become familiar with early symptoms of heart conditions instead of assuming the deceased must’ve been at fault.
This is pretty much how I trained for IMWI last year. ~1 hr flatish to ease into it, then spiky short climbs followed by a valley to the next one. It’s kind of like doing a 10 x 2 mins of VO2 work in the middle of a 5 hr long ride. For WI, it simulates the course pretty well. Not sure about IMLP.
This might be worse than the trainer to me.
Put me in the camp of “it doesn’t really matter”. Course specificity is nice, but is secondary to getting in the long ride. Ride both and see which one you makes you more likely to go out and ride it again.
OMG @TheGuil 4:27 with a 2:13 bike split. That blows my mind. I was feeling great about my race until I looked up your results haha. Congrats on a great race and a WC spot.
Personally I had a great day. Its awesome to know at least someone was checking my tracker! Its greatly appreciated.
Swim: 35:21. 8 minute PR.
Bike: 2:41. 27 minute PR.
Run: 1:41. 12 minute PR.
Overall: 5:05. This was a 45 minute PR.
I’ve been ‘participating’ in triathlon for about 13 years, but honestly feel like the last 6 months is the first time I’ve actually trained appropriately. Because of TR and Tower26 swim program, I’m finally on a road that results in actual improvements lol. It has me excited to keep building on my training and improving.
Because of a run injury 2 weeks prior, i was worried i wouldnt be able to participate in the run. I decided to just keep it super conservative and open it up the last few miles (if i made it that far). Luckily I did. This also has me excited as i think i have the injury figured out, and I left a ton of speed on the table in the run.
So I think very generally speaking the TR zeitgeist is to become more race specific as you get closer to race day. IMO I dont think it really matters at Ironman unless you have one of the extremes; Lanzarote, Wales…Norseman…
You’re looking for a consistent power output over hours and hours and being able to run for hours afterwards. This can be done indoors if you have the experience of successfully holding back on hill climbs.
If fitness is fine but race day execution is your problem, then absolutely ride routes as similar to race day as you can find, or use the Rouvy/Fulgaz simulations.
Thanks, @JoeX . I think I’m just in my own head. I can do 5-7 hour trainer rides w/out issue and can replicate the same outdoors without issue. I actually find outdoors to be easier as my legs do get a few more breaks (that and there’s stuff to look at and my butt doesn’t bother me as much so time flies). Think I just need to get these 3 last big rides in and get settled for race day.
Hi, Congrats to all that raced last weekend. Some great results among the members of the page.
Just wanted to a big thanks for the congratulation messages.
My Race went pretty much to plan.
Came out of the swim with a manageable gap (2 mins). Closed the gap on the bike (30s ). Then take the lead and close it out on the run. Between 10-20km I was worried I had gone out too fast & would fade but held on to the line. Have linked to the Strava data if anyone is interested.
Next up Ironman Uk in less than 3 weeks. My 1st full. Pacing will definitely be the thing that could wreck my day. Any advice is welcome?
but then I got covid 10 days later, mild symptoms stopped training again for 4/5 days and stopped intensity for a week. First TT outdoor ride I crashed due to my front tire exploded while riding at 30mph. Hopefully only got road rashes and no major injuries. Back on the bike after 2 days, running 2 days after and swimming 10 days later. So I was kind of forced to taper for the moth of May !
