1:17 half off the bike?!
Outstanding run!
Congrats!
LEGEND!! Nice work. Sent you a follow on Strava.
Anyone else want to follow me as well as I only have 30 or so people currently. Have to do the accept as I don’t need “work” people getting access to my activities. Got the 1040 solar and will be putting it to use next week after I fly to my parents for the summer for some really nice riding.
That is class, well done Ben 
Do you have a time or position goal for your full distance races?
I’m also now following you on Strava.
Cairns 70.3 write-up/ excuse reel;
Swim was slow even by my standards, but actually exceeded expectations. I’m usually not a swim hater but after nearly 6 months off save for a couple of abysmal pool sets my only goal was to make it through pain-free. (Also really hoping the croc sightings might come through and have it cancelled, but no dice.) My coach also pushed me into seeding a zone that I was pretty convinced was WAY too fast based on my pool times, but somehow ended up right in the middle of the time bracket with a relatively conservative effort and some general wonkiness.
First half of the bike was about the same, numbers feeling easy and making pretty good time despite being on the roadie in a bunch of borrowed equipment that was…not comfortable. The latter came back to bite me when I realised I’d jettisoned all my nutrition fairly early on. Grabbed what I thought was a Gatorade but turned out to be water, and snagged a bar at the next aid station , but I think I was too far behind at this point and the wheels started falling off at about 60km just in time for the headwind. Weird time dilation. Final 4km along Esplanade feeling like approximate Earth-sun distance. Insult to injury as I hobbled it in with very squished toes. I swear the shoes weren’t that small in training.
Chose “embarrassingly long T2” over “certain death” and limped out onto the run 7min later slamming a concerning amount of caffeine and contemplating ragequit. Knew I wasn’t coming back from where I was so decided to run it to HR which I think was a good move- surprisingly on pace for the first 8km before dropping 10-15 sec/km and holding there. Managed to catch a couple of training buddies and everyone who rode away from me which lifted the spirits a bit 
Not happy with the times obviously, but given the fitness and prep weren’t there to begin with I can’t be too upset about that. Happy with the execution and mental game all things considered…excited to get some good solid months of training under the belt and nail the next one!
@JoeX how did your friend go?
Well done, you knew it was going to be a tough one and you found a way to make it work. I hear the weather was good maybe a bit warm for racing.
Chris was in the full distance and looking to go sub 9. Crazy I know. Swam himself past a male pro, had a good bike and ran across the line in 4th overall AG a blistering 9:03. 14th overall. Chip time it would’ve placed him ahead of all the FPRO except Sarah Crowley and into the MPRO top ten.
He had a similar summary to yours, didn’t quite have the fitness going in but happy with the execution and overcoming the mental struggles.
I’d love to give you a race winning strategy and claim I coached you to victory 
The swim is just the swim, if you’re fast solo it, if you’re not take advantage of the draft.
From those few I know at the pointy end of races it’s slightly different in that you need to remain in contention. So while most of us will focus purely on watt ranges and RPE, you’ll also need to weigh up sticking with the front bikers against your ability to marathon off the bike. Then if you come into T2 in a group coming out it’s likely someone will run past you and you’ll have to guess whether they can keep that pace up or you can reel them back in with patience and running your own race. I think a lot of guys burn matches out of T2, when it’s generally accepted that the running race doesn’t start until 30km are gone and you know for sure where your pacing and nutrition has got you.
And nutrition will be as important as pacing, more so than 70.3.
I’ve given you a follow 
Thanks and anyone that sent me a follow I sent one back. Heading to my parent this Sun and will post some beautiful photos of my rides.
Edit: sent and accepted follows from everyone who recently sent. Thanks and motivates me even more when I see some awesome training on here and Strava.
Took me a week to filter my results. Over the past 10 years i have done six 70.3 races, this was my second fastest. However of the six this was my most disappointing race. The Sunday before at mile 7.62 of a 10 mile run my left hamstring got sore and never recovered.
Looking at last years race results I was shooting for a sub 5, podium, and possibly a Worlds Spot. With the injury those went out the window, and even health the only one would have been the sub 5. There were some fast old dudes out there. The winner of my age group averaged 24+ and then ran a 1:32 half.
Swim hit my goal time but dissatisifed, I could have done better.
Bike fast ride, probably my fastest at any distance, rode faster than 1060 who out swam me.
Run came off the bike feeling strong, cruised along to just before the first aid station and the hamstring starting hurting, I walked, took a bathroom break, then just ran to each aid station which I walked through. I was able to still run a 1:55 half which 10 years ago would have been a great run.
I am taking the rest of the month of June off from running, hoping I will be fit enough to race Agusta with the same goals as Eagleman.
The line for getting our gear out of transition was insanely long.
I only ate half the chocolate cookie after the race, I left it in my car overnight and on the drive home. I ate it when I found it in helmet during unloading. It was delicious, it was like it just came out of the oven. People on FaceBook were offering rewards for the recipe.
Bill
Hamstring issues are the worse. My not huge hamstring injury took 6 weeks to get better and another 2 tone weeks to get to the point that i could run mostly pain free
Best of luck on recovering
No time goal, just want to run at a consistent pace for the marathon.
The bike course is very rough roads, hilly, and technical. Can’t really even look at past results as the course has changed. I just kown that the speeds will be slow across the board. But on paper, a tough course should fit my light build better than others, or I hope.
Position wise like to think I should be battling for the lead but that requires me to execute well. Just as likely to mess up pacing or fueling and underperform massively.
Thanks for all the Staffordshire support! I had a good day, please to finish 2nd in the 40-44 age group with a time of 4:33:53, 31:44 swim (71st overall), 2:28:27 bike (14th overall), and 1:27:13 run (16th overall). Gutted to lose AG 1st place by just 13 seconds, if only I knew the gap during the race… I’ve taken a World Champs slot so need to get on with booking flights & hotels; any recommendations most welcome.
I’m disappointed with the swim time, was hoping for <30 minutes but the conditions were a bit lumpy and I got a off course at one point. I like the rough conditions and moved past a lot of people/groups, don’t feel I was overtaken much. I self-seeded in the 30+ minute start group, but wondering if I should ‘play the game’ next time and shoot for a faster time and hope to sit on a fast group?
I’m happy with the bike, ate and drank well, held decent power throughout, maybe faded a little in the last 20km but didn’t want to push anything. Think I can optimise my position so going to look into further that, otherwise it’s time to get back on the training plan & strength training!
The run was fairly chilled, following my own pace and trying to run well within myself until the last 5km. I definitely lack experience and confidence of knowing what I can do on the run, but I come away from this event with a baseline and I can do better. Despite lots of practice in training, fuelling needs a bit of attention: I had 1 SIS Beta gel (40g carb) and feared having my 2nd gel incase bad things happened.
Strava for anybody interested: Signup for free to see more about Andrew..
Cheers,
Andy
First middle distance race for 4 years in the build up for Wales in September.
Titan Brecon which is quite different to Wales but equally lumpy.
Heavy rain made for a tough bike leg.
The run is normally my strength but not today.
Finished 6th and 2nd vet.
I’ve done that last year in Slovenia and it really is a gamble. I usually swim around 29 and accordingly seed near the back of the sub30 block. In Slovenia however I thought I did that, but the space in front of me never filled up and I was first wave into the water. The upsides are that you’ll be surrounded with guys who can sight, swim straight and have enough spatial awareness that contact is minimal. You also don’t have to sight much as you can trust most feet in front of you. You’ll get in some peoples way, but not that much. The hardest part is making the call on which draft to catch, there are still some very fast people coming by. I surged several times to catch a group that turned out to be too fast for me. But in general for the competent swimmer I’d say seed with confidence and optimism, always. Much easier to let a fast group go than surge past a pack of marginally slower athletes.
Hi all
Well what can I say… For starters not enough toilets at the start line and due to the mess of buses between start and end point, I ended up being right at the back of swim by that time the wind picked significantly and what was meant to be a nice 45mins 1.8km swim ended up being a bloody hard 2.4km swim 
My plan was to sit on the heals and not have to think about it…
Transition was a waste of time as not enough time in the morning due to bus shenanginans (my own fault i know) So spent more time that i should have setting the bike up. As for the bike itself it was fine (thanks TR) but yet again due to my own stupidity I took the TT bike with the massive front 80mm front wheel and I can tell you now i was just happy to come out the other side alive due to the wind, not my best time ever but 03:40 i will take.
The run was a utter shambles… first 8-10k was fine then I get the problem of feeling likes lots of energy but no strength in my thighs, an appalling time of 07:59:29.
The Stafford 70.3 Course itself is ok, I don’t like the logistics of an alternative swim start as its alot of buggering around the day before. The swim is WIDE open, the bike is like a gravel ride for the first 10 miles appalling roads and the run is fine apart from the long long false flat upto the castle and then back into town. Still 30mins to spare, it was a roll over from 3 years ago and I kind of lost interest in it. but it got done at least.
It was my first 70.3 and i think its a quite a nice distance to get stuck into, now i just need to lose another 10kg and turn back the clock 20 years instead of being 51
My condolences to the family of the athlete who sadly passed away on the swim.
I think it depends on the race. I was in a small 70.3 last weekend, (200 finishers). 2 people enter the water every 5s. The fastest sign was <35. I ended up going 31:30ish (really wanted <30 like you), but the couple of people I started with ended up going mid-20s, way too fast for me to hang on their toes. I ended up gapped to the group of fish in front of me and pulling the group behind me (at least by perception mid-race and the limited number of people that had strava fly-bys enabled). Had I been a bit further back, I might have been able to go the same 31ish pace, but drafted and saved a good bit of energy. Doing it again, I would have started another 10-20 people back.
Yes, those toilet lanes at the start were bad. What was it like 15 for 2000 athletes? Always going to be a problem when everyone wanting to go before the start.
Also agree they should change the start of the bike course. Those single lanes farm roads are just silly for an event let alone one of this scale.
Well done on the win by the way, I believe you was 20miles into the bike course before I even entered the water
Always depressing when you have just started the run and the finishers are walking back down the canal path with a Itchy T-Shirt and medal around their necks
Ben this was an superb performance. Da iawn!
Bolton will also be my first IM but we’ll be at very different ends of the results field! Now following on strava too!
Cheers, On the topic of the full distance. Would anyone experienced at the distance be able to advise me on how you carry the required fuel on the bike? (Let me know if this should be a new thread altogether or has already been covered well)
Here is my current thinking: 120h/hr for 5.5hrs so 660g carbs on the bike as a best-case target.
Start with 2x80g 750ml bottles on the bike (one between arms, one behind saddle) drink as 1st fuel / 6 gels (27g 70ml) in a 450ml frame Aerobottle / 3 gels in bento box / 4 gels in my skin suit back pocket.
Feel like that is pretty loaded up but still only at around 511g. So a fair bit off my target.
After the 2 x 80g bottle are drunk, I would be picking up water at aid stations to refill or replace them often. To help the gels digest. But don’t plan to stop for personal needs.
Not only is this already short on carbs but not even looked at Sodium needs yet. There are no on-course gel hands outs only bars, bananas, Gatorade & water. Maybe the bars or Gatorade should be my solution to the deficit.