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.
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
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)
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!
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.
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…
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!
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
I’ve heard theres a level of form to that advice too. So just adding volume is much more useful if your threshold is say 1:40-1:50/100m than 2:20-2:30 where you need to prioritise technique over volume.
“Little and often” is generally a good rule for a learning any technique or skill.