Hi, @JoeX. Would you mind adding me to the roll call?
Des Moines 70.3 (June 11)
USAT Nationals (Aug 4)
IMWI (Sept 10)
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Getting ahead of the roll call, but last month was mostly good, stayed consistent with running and cycling, and had a big breakthrough with my swimming—I think I finally figured out the right way to do the early vertical forearm thing and immediately shaved about 10 seconds off my time. Amazing how a small adjustment to my catch seems to have made such a big difference.
Unfortunately, I also seem to have pushed off the wall in an awkward position and jacked up my right knee, and I haven’t run in a week hoping that the pain will go away on its own. Couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment on such short notice so I’m hoping icing, ibuprofen, and rest does the trick. I have Ironman 70.3 St. George on Saturday, too late to cancel my Airbnb, so I’ve already downgraded my goals from “sub-6” to “just finish” to “enjoy the bike I guess” 
I’m trying to take it in stride but… goddammit.
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Harvest Moon Boulder 70.3 Sept. 16th
Ironman Arizona Full Nov. 19th
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(Best of luck with the knee- if you just tweaked something small rest and ice will probably take care of it, hopefully you see some improvement before race day!)
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To be fair, a 10 second improvement for me means I can maybe self-seed into the second to last group instead of the last one 
I did an hour of slow jogging on the treadmill today and it felt sore but tolerable, hopefully a couple more days of rest before the race will do the trick. At least I think I’ll be able to walk it in if I have to.
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Congrats on the improvement!
Swimming is silly that way.
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Wanting to beat the roll call. April was a tale of two halves.
- Total Time: 33:27:30
- Total TSS: 1790
- Bike: 27:10:06, 773km
- Run: 4:09:18, 37.9km
- Swim: 2:08:06, 5944m
First part of month was great, felt good, progressed into some VO2 workouts. However, caught COVID for the first time mid-month and its hanging around a while, so taking time off to recover. With loss of fitness and upcoming vacation in summer, this is putting August goal races in jeopardy. Oh well…life…
Stay healthy and good training everyone!
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sorry to hear about the knee but 10s per 100m is huge. How did you crack it? Have been trying my best but not cracked it, appreciate any cues/drills/workouts/things to focus on that might help me get there!
April: a few life obligations (business trips, stag do, birthdays) but happy with the training overall. Starting to find a bit of a rhythm and managing the fatigue, soreness, etc okay:
- Total Time: 47:05:00
- Total TSS: 2638
- Bike: 26:08:00, 741 km
- Run: 15:42:00, 183 km
- Swim: 5:14:00, 17 km
Regarding the TR plan, I now have 2hr30+ runs almost every Saturday. Anybody got a view on this? My concern is running that long with fatigued legs could really increase risk of injury. I’m wondering for instance if it might be better (every other week at least?) to spread that volume across a couple of separate runs of ~16-20km each. First time training for an IM so appreciate your wisdom.
Henry
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Here’s my $0.02.
Without knowing more about your goals/history/background, long runs in the 2-2.5 hrs are the sweet-spot for the long run and valuable for all distances of triathlon. As long as you can recover, the more of them you do, the faster you’ll be. I wouldn’t worry about pushing much longer than 2.5 hrs for an IM except maybe once or twice and avoid anything longer than 3 hrs.
That said, if your goal is just finish instead of optimizing performance, regular 2.5 hr runs would be excessive.
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After a lot of other life stuff getting in the way, I’ve got a couple of races now in the plan.
Outlaw full July
Ironman nice September
Probably try to fit a 70.3 in before outlaw but it’s going to be a C \ D priority race as I’ve got a fair amount of work to do to get into the shape I want for outlaw.
Bike race on Sunday and training begins after that! Time to get back in the pool….
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Good luck in Nice! I’m really curious how this inaugural WC goes there.
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Thanks - me too!
Nice was always on my ‘to do’ list anyway so getting to do it as a WC was a bonus.
It’s hard to say, I don’t have a coach so it’s been a lot of trial and error for me. I’ve spent a few sessions working out the “imagine throwing your arms over a sideways barrel” thing, experimenting with various arm positions. I think ultimately what did it was really stretching out my arm after water entry to maximize my catch, making sure I don’t cross the centerline, and tweaking my elbow angle so my forearm was actually vertical. Trying to keep my elbow at 90º or even slightly wider seems to have helped a lot, I think I was bending it too much and making my stroke really inefficient. Once I did that, the difference was really noticeable.
(Also not to sound like a FORM goggles shill since I’ve already mentioned them a bunch in this thread, but having my splits and pace in my eye after each length helps a lot because I can get close to real-time feedback on whether or not what I’m trying is having any effect, without having to stop to look at my watch.)
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Been a right sh*tty few months but slowly making a comeback, so I think it’s time for me to pick a suitably stupid and lofty goal.
Possibly full distance time for me. In December. (Headed into winter now and I don’t like the cold.)
Tossing up between Busselton and Taupo. Busselton would be easier logistically speaking, plus there’ll be a ton of people from my club going and having the support/experience during the lead in Is fantastic. On the other hand I’ve always wanted to see Taupo, and the course would suit me better… 
(now wait for them both to sell out while I decide.)
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I don’t think any races sell out anymore aside from Kona and Roth
I’ll catch up with a roll call when back home…
But I raced St George 70.3 today. What an amazing course!
If you do get the opportunity I’d recommend it 
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Actually, IM California just sold out and IM 70.3 Portland sold out in January. I thought the same until I went to register for 70.3 Portland last month.
Ok. Besides west coast races then. I think Oregon is new right? Usually new races sell out 1st year or 2.
Anyone done midnight man?