That really sucks. Hope you figure it out. Back problems are so debilitating
I did 70.3TX last weekend. It went ok. I barely slept due to work the couple days before it. Forgot my Assiomas in the charger at home. Had to drive back home midways through my trip and barely made it 10 min before transition closed. Strap on goggles broke right before jumping in. Ended up borrowing goggles from the table where they gave extra timing chips. Weather to me was awful. It wasn’t the hottest day and if you look at the temps, 75 deg, it’s not bad. But there was absolutely no wind and humidity was 90%. It was really heavy air.
Swim- the lack of wind made for still waters. I thought I was swimming really nicely. Started out in a wave I didn’t want to because of being late but I passed a ton of people. I was a bit disappointed when I saw almost 41 min on my watch. I was expecting to be 5 min faster since my swim training was really good. Seems like no matter how good or bad my training is my time is always 40 min on the swim.
Bike- if anyone knows the course, it’s pretty much 28 miles out and 28 back. Usually the out part is with a good tailwind and back against a headwind. There was almost no tailwind this time and my visor kept fogging up. Twice I ended up stopping to wipe it so I could see. On the way back the wind picked up some and what happened was no wind out and slight headwind back. Plan was to go 200W on the outbound and 215-220W on inbound with 100g carbs per hour and 1200mg sodium per hour. I executed the plan to perfection and legs felt strong and I was looking forward to the run. 2:37 for the bike. Again 10 min slower than expected. Transitions were 6 & 4 min each.
Run- started out the 1st mile at 8:20 pace but right before the 1st mile marker I got severe spasms in my L back, R Achilles, and under my L foot. It was really painful and I had to walk for a bit. I am not sure where this came from. Maybe back spasm from from not riding outdoors in aero much? Achilles didn’t feel like my tendinitis and it didn’t feel like calf cramps, and I have no clue why under my L foot was spasming? But I had to resort to an old man shuffle for a while. I drank and salted more at all the aid stations and by mile 4 the spasms disappeared and I could run again. For some reason the heat really got to me. I was running 8-8:20 pace and had to take walk breaks to cool off my core. The ice section of the runs was really popular. Just managed my way until Mile 11 when the cramps started but they weren’t too bad. Was able to shuffle again to the end. 2:33 and about 40 min slower than expected.
All in all it was an ok race. Not the race I was expecting but not the worst. The trickiest part is gonna be how to manage recovery and build up a little for the full in 2 weeks for a decent race. I have no expectations in IMTX. I emptied the tank in this race. This was my 4th time doing this race. The 1st time I had the race of my life. The last 2 times I got sick with 1 DNF and a barely finished. This one was just ok. It’s a bitter pill to swallow that at a time, my heat tolerance and my run used to be my weapons and now they are liabilities.
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Sorry to hear the struggle man. As a person living in Florida I can relate to the damn heat. I’ve been looking at races and the Florida half look like a good idea… But chances of good weather are almost non existent, so I am.not sure if I really want to do it… I don’t want to do a race where I have to run 13 miles at 80 degrees with full sun out
Seems the best place to ask…
Anyone had issues with TR importing multi sport activities and then taking power PR from the run portion?
TR pulled in a recent duathlon and with the garmin run power metric being imported this has now impacted all bike stats…
Is there a way round it, or delete and re-import as single activities?
I lived in FL for for 11 yrs. I think I did the 70.3 in Haines City 3 times. It’s definitely hot and the course is hilly but that’s when I could run and the heat didn’t bother me.
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TR calendar pulled my multi sport into the calendar as a single bike ride. I sent a ticket to support and they said nothing they can do. They said there is a way to have the watch save the activity as 3 distinct workouts. I have not found that setting. If anyone does, let me know how
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IMHO that humid/“heavy air” feeling is way worse than just heat. I’m a sweaty little guy that prays for stupid hot race days because I cope way better than most, but humidity just feels sluggish and terrible. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if it slowed you down a fair bit.
(but then again I grew up in the part of Aus where we’re lucky to have water in the ground, let alone the air lol)
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No, but had the same as Alen
Likely delete it, then look for an online source to split up a multi sport fit file?
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Really does man. Hard to stay positive … haven’t been on the bike since mid-December. Not sure I’ll ever be able to return to tri again.
Good race in Texas! I’ve found cutting it close to swim start is a good way to eliminate pre-race jitters haha. Looks like you were around 6 hours? Good luck on the full!
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End of the last YouTube/podcast episode he runs through it with some useful commentary from Hannah Finchamp
Says he’ll be posting spreadsheets and power files on the forum.
March was a solid month of training…work and related-travel picked up so volume dropped a bit.
Bike: 24:58:00; 723km; TSS=1306
Run: 7:40:00; 70km; TSS=487
Swim: 4:03:00; 11,000m; TSS=300
Gym: 1:00:00
Reflections:
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Travel just plain sucks nowadays and continues to throw obstacles to any sort of progressive training plan. In three instances I had a workout planned for after I arrived at a work location, only to be disrupted by multi-hour delays, flight cancellations, etc., getting in hours late, disrupting sleep (getting to hotel at 1AM), etc.
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My planned State Championship TT and Criterium participation are off the table now due to two last minute trips that I can’t avoid. Oh well…
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Rolled my ankle pretty badly at the start of a 10K (stepped on a small branch in the dark), and like an idiot I kept running and finished the race. Swelling afterwards for 3-4 days, nothing broken but def strained a few things. A few days off running, easy start back into jogging, and pretty much back to normal.
Adaptions:
- I’m foregoing, for the near future, any expectation for a progressive training plan. Rather, I’m using TrainNow to pick an appropriate workout. I’ll pick up a plan once travel settles leading to fall races.
- I’m foregoing, for the near future, any expectation for a traditional weekly structure to training with rest days, etc. I’m training when I am not traveling, and using travel days as rest days.
In a nutshell, trying to be more flexible with my expectations re: training-life-work, compared to last year when I just gave up when things didn’t work out as expected. Will see how this all plays out!
Good luck everyone!
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Sorry to hear that, good luck on the recovery and settling the lifestyle down. 
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Ain’t that the truth with travel?! Seems like every flight is delayed now. They should build gyms with showers at the airports!
How did you do in your 10k? The ankle will heal. PR’s are forever 
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Hi Guys,
I’m just checking in from the roll call… Apologies for the delay.
Swim - 3:13
Ive not been as consistent as I’d have like to have been with this. I’m finding it hard to make a routine stick for various reasons. I’ll turn the corner with this and knuckle down… I will have to! One swim a week isn’t going to cut it in terms of where I’d like to be. I think my issue here is that I am not seeing improvements and should really have my swim assessed. Only technique changes will make a dent in my times rather than muscling through sessions I feel
Bike - 14:35
I have really fallen off with the bike. I’ve struggled to be motivated to get early sessions in at home on the trainer. That said, the weather is getting better and getting outside is becoming more of an option. That said I do not feel in a great spot on the bike. I’ve 3 weeks left of training to sharpen things up and I have decided to switch my routine up which hopefully will aid consistency.
Run - 11:47
Whilst my run volume has decreased I have added in a bit more intensity. I feel that my run is currently my strongest suit and I’ve had a bit of success with a ‘long run’ and feeling pretty good after.
Overall I am feeling waaay unprepared for my 70.3 in May. I’ve no doubt I’ll get around but I am far from convinced that I will feel great during it.
I plan to add intensity over the next 3 weeks before flying out. I’m starting to get excited about the race now which is no bad thing!
I’ll keep chipping away!
Watch this space 
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I would do 3-4 sessions per week of swimming for the next 3 weeks. There is no point doing anything else if you DNF the swim or come out of it all spent. I would make that top priority.
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Swimming only once a week, you’re not going to see meaningful improvements (technique or fitness). I can see how the cycle can go and kill any motivation. If you’re really technique limited, frequent, short swims where you stay fresh all of the time will help more than longer swims. There is no shame in 20 min swim and 1000yd swim sessions. There is likely more harm than good in doing 3k sets and ingraining poor technique.
See if someone at the pool can take some video of you with your phone. Above the water from the front and above the water from the side for a couple of laps can tell you a whole lot. Even better if you can get some underwater shots. Post them here, reddit or on slowtwitch and you’ll get lots of opinions on what can be fixed.
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I have heard from good triathlete swimmer 3x to maintain and marginal gains… 4-5x to gain…
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March i have increased my running and bike has been consistant. Need to get into pool. Now i have a week off at FDIC so hope to get some runs in but not holdingmy breath as it is a full week of training. hopefully wont fall back too much in training, i did incorporate it into the plan so i will trust it.
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Started April with a 10km race, new PB. But also having had some issues with pain in the knee I have not been running. The pain is not there while running, but becomes bad after a session. Trying to hold back now and let it recover before having to start training for the full distance.
Thinking it could be my hip flexor, because it has been extra tight the last few days 
Will do a 70.3 “calibration” with 120 minutes at racepace followed by 10km brickrun this saturday. Looking forward to it 
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That’s about what I’ve experienced. Depending on your baseline and quality of sessions you can improve on 3x, but sooner or later there’ll be a long plateau. Staying focused on good form, avoiding long intervals and cointually rerevaluating form and technique are absilutely necessary. Mindless yardage will yield little improvement even on 4x.
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