I have to do Hoffman indoors today due to poor air quality and I’m so not looking forward to it.
I was wondering yesterday what the odds are of races getting cancelled or postponed if the air quality stays this bad across the western US and Canada:
Has that ever happened?
Stud…you probably gained more mental strength than endurance adaptations!
Completed my first triathlon today (JerseyMan). It was similar - but not exactly - Olympic distance. Write up below if anyone interested. As always, feedback welcome!
Lead up:
I packed what I needed for the race and had everything necessary. That was great. Had what I believe to be appropriate nerves going into the race. Definitely felt nervous but not overly scared or what have you.
Pre race
Got a good spot and set up was relatively easy. I did a walk from the water to the bike to make sure I know where it is. All was going well until I discovered that my timing chip was broken which created a bit of a mad scramble to get a new one, get into my wet suit, and get out there for the swim. 2 casualties: 1) forgot the pre swim gel I intended to take and 2) didn’t get to do a swim warmup. That said, wet suit went on easy and magic 5 goggles worked a treat.
Swim:
Definitely got flustered and overwhelmed at the swim start. A few factors: 1) we had to swim through seaweed which was weird 2) had a small fright looking down into water and realizing can’t see anything 3) cold water. Windup was I took a very indirect line to the first buoy (well past it). BUT, then I got the swing of things, calmed down, and the swim honestly was pleasurable. The wet suit is magic. I was totally in control. Got ran into and ran into some people but overall good amount of room in the water but nothing crazy. Biggest issue: I suck at sighting. Will send a copy of my watch map which shows I’m zig zagging a fair bit. Ended up swimming an extra 150 yards because of it. All in all, very successful for first open water swim. Was not a catastrophe. Stood calm. Made the swim. Learned some lessons. Have some confidence moving forward to continue building swim. Honestly, swimming with wet suit feels like cheating - feels like all of the pool technique doesn’t matter and actually I’m streamlined anyway. Which is not to say I’m not hungry to build technique - just that it’s a proper advantage.
T1
Got the suit off my top half super easy. My feet are little baby feet and don’t love running on rocks / chip seal to transition. Found bike easily. Struggled getting my legs out of wet suit and got dizzy. Had to sit down and collect myself. Eventually got wet suit off and got ready. Overall, 4:50 is ~2 mins slower than it needs to be for this race but not a terrible T1. I do think I may get dizzy in future as I sometimes get light headed standing up and I can imagine that happens when you go from horizontal to vertical. Welcome tips for getting legs out easily. Anything to lean on? Not going socks in cycling shoes seemed like a good decision - got my stuff and left
Bike
Multiple storylines here. Coming out of water I was passing everyone. I was only passed by 2 people (maybe 3). Definitely took ground on people whenever road tilted uphill and lost on people in TT bikes elsewhere. Would say the field was 70% on TT bikes. Forgot to start the bike computer for like 9 miles (doh) but eventually started it. Power was really strong. On Lachie’s advice, I road to a NP of 240 (~80%) and honestly felt in control entire time. Definitely not easy but also not crazy. I think 230 or so is a fair target on 70.3. Tri suit felt great and no saddle issues (which is amazing given how thin the chamois was). Eager to put this into BBS and see what CdA it calculates. This course was very rolling 2300 ft on 32 miles) and very few drags where you could just get aero and put down watts. (Will add screen shot of elevation). Overall speed was 18.8 which I was disappointed by but that’s why I need to put into BBS to see what I should be going for in terms of speed on a less rolling course. Fuel was okay - but maybe slightly not enough. Took 2 500ml bottles with 30g of carbs (60 total) + 1 PF90 gel + 2 clif bloks (-15 carbs). So for ~2 hours that = 165. Then finished remaining bloks on run (35g carbs) for 200 total on 3 hrs. Will continue to tinker a bit here - I think this is not far off but still some dialing. I have 2 hrs at 70.3 race pace next Sunday (230W) so might be good to try that then.
T2
Got bike in, racked. Overall time was ~230 but it took me too long to get my tight feetures socks on. Any tips? Had everything organized and got going. Also no speed laces which I’m okay with. Opportunity to get a minute back but also not bad for first.
Run
Lord this was a tough run course! 388 feet on ~6 miles. Always either going up or down, including one very steep dirt road. Started out feeling heavy breathing but tried to ease into the run and follow Lachie’s advice re negative splitting. Finished first loop in 16:24 and started to find a rhythm. Second loop was down in 31:40 or so, meaning the 2nd loop was ~1 min faster. Then burned home. Splits were 745, 729,727, 721,711,709. This was probably a bit harder than I could run for 21k but this was also a very on/off run with either heavy work getting up a hill or trying to float down. Overall pace of 724 off bike = solid
Overall finished in 2:59. 3rd in my AG (though that’s misleading because it’s a small race and I would have been first in 30-34 and off the podium in 40-44 
I have clear areas to improve (swim sighting, T1) and BBS estimates my CdA as 0.37 which is probably the biggest thing that can be changed. But not ready to take on a new bike just yet (need to ensure I am committed to the sport)
Also thank you to @giventotri who inspired me to write this with his reports
Awesome job. Hard to believe that was your first since you didn’t make any newb mistakes. 
I wouldn’t worry about the lightheadedness in T1. Probably a bit too much adrenaline going off in the swim.
I’m not sure if I’m doing the drafting in swim correctly. Every time I do it, I end up, getting kicked in the face. How far back does one need to be?
Practically touching the toes for optimal effect, which does mean you may get kicked.
One thing to remember is that if you are following a marginally stronger swimmer then your effort will feel really easy, or you will bump into them. You have to be lucky to get one strong enough but not too strong so that you are near your optimal effort.
Experience in race swimming should help. I swap until I find myself behind someone I can keep up with, or move to the lead.
Great first race! Sounds like a lot of fun.
Check out the video in this post
Question for the group—Looking at LV full distance build/specialty TR plans—has anyone had success swapping out some of the longer Endurance rides for shorter Endurance rides of same PL level, but at higher IF (still in Endurance zone)? Extreme Example: swap Vogelsang–4 hrs at .64 IF (PL Endurance 6.0) for Sandy Bay–2:15 at .72IF (PL Endurance 6.0)?
I realize some of the desired adaptations come with the longer rides----just know that many 4-5 hour rides likely aren’t real feasible for me in the next few years w/family commitments—3 young kids. I could likely do a fair amount of 3-3:30 rides and a few 4+ hr rides.
Is there a minimum # of 4-5 hour rides you’d recommend prior to race day?
For background reference—training for my fifth 70.3 (PB of 5:05), training ~9-10 hours/week currently.
I hear that! I have three kids and a busy job, and I’m literally struggling with it right now.
As it’s your first it will be different as I’m on my seventh I think. For my first, I did long commute rides all z2 HR (I didnt have a PM) 2hrs to work, 2 hrs back. Two or three times a week. Sort of stealth training but I often fell asleep eating dinner. I finished in a respectable for a newb with no athletic history (I think) 14.5hrs.
Last year I decided to do HV Olympic training to avoid the big sessions and I liked it. An hour in the morning, and hour at lunch or in the evening. That’s 2-3hrs in a day you can work around family.
This year I’ve done similar but with 70.3 plan, and literally just switched to long course for the final 7 weeks to race day. Last week I had to plumb a 4.5hr ride in and it was a real struggle. Next week I have a 3hr run a 4.5hr ride and a 3.5hr brick to squidge into a working week…but at least I’ve only got a handful of weeks to beg excuses. We’ll see how I do on race day, but theres no question of not finishing due to training.
Extrapolating from your 70.3 PB, and depending on a similar course, you can aim for an 11-12hr Ironman without being outlandish. Plan what you can reasonably do, rather than be unreasonable to meet a plan. You’re going to finish. No one will care about your time except you. And for you it’s going to be a PB anyway 
In my opinion, 2.25hrs at 0.72 is not an equivalent workout to 4hrs at 0.67. I’d recommend two options for substituting
Get in 2 or 3 in the 90-100 mi range and you shouldn’t have a problem finishing comfortably if you’re getting in a decent number of 3-3.5 hour rides.
If you want to excel and chase that KQ (NQ?), then for go longer more often, but don’t loose that balance against family life.
Thanks so much for your feedback. This gives me hope that a full distance race may be more feasible in the semi-near future ('24 or '25) than I’d originally thought.
I appreciate the guidance on substitution options. I’d actually enjoy the 2-2.5 hour tempo rides at 80-85% and I could swing some 3-3.5 hour rides as well. Thanks for the tip on 2-3 90-100 mile rides–I’d make sure to get those in.
Glad to hear that should be sufficient to set myself up for a decent run off the bike (considering I nail nutrition, bike pacing, etc.).
Some reflections and key learnings on my first Ironman at Port Macquarie 2023
Kudos to the team at TrainerRoad for providing me with a quality training program which adapted with my progress or lack thereof. I really enjoyed the experience and I’m looking forward to getting back to winter road racing here in Melbourne. Next summer I will do a few triathlons with my boys and hopefully my wife for a bit of fun, but nothing as serious as an IM for a while.
Enjoyed the write up!!
Nice write up, good job on a hard day out.
I was wondering about your run drin mix but then you had it quite detailed below which was awesome! Carrying it in a bottle belt?
4hr at 0.64 and 2hr at .72 aren’t the same.
However I felt very strong on the bike in my IM from doing 2 x 3-3.5hr tempo/upper z2 rides every week plus some sweet spot and occasional 4-5 hr rides. I think I did 2 or 3 rides over 4 hrs over a 16 week cycle.
These guys are awesome.
thanks for the feedback. No bottle belt (I hadn’t trained with one and knew better than to try something new on the day) . One in my hand and one in my pocket. I used those small drink bottles that get used as ice packs in my kids lunch boxes.
Anyone have use HED wheels?
I am looking at the JET RC PRO (6 for from 9 for the back).
Are HED wheel tubeless out of the box?
Are the RC6/9 $1500 better than a set of Zipp 302 (what I currently have)
I have the disc versions. You can’t go wrong with HED wheels. The specs are on the website. RC pro is tubeless compatible but I don’t want to put my foot in my so just shoot them an email or call.
As for comparison to zipp. I’ll take HED jets or vanquishes over any zipp wheel you send my way. A lot of wheels have tested faster than zipps but they have a reputation
I really enjoyed reading that! 12hrs as a 1st is phenomenal. Those huge power spikes on the bike will always kill you on the run. I did the same mistake in IMWI one of the years when they were doing road construction and a detour route had a 1/4 mile 15-20% grade hill on it. I powered over it but quads started cramping in the run and other muscles followed.
Well done again, Ironman!
Need the community to pester Jonathan into joint the roll call for Ironman Cozumel… 
