That sounds like a rough course: 2 min flat, 5 minutes up, 2 minutes down and repeat. For simulating that, I still think some over/unders are going to be good or some of the 105%-110% VO2 intervals would be good on getting some repeatability with going over threshold and then recovering.
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Have you got a link for the bike course?
The seasonās final race was an āOlympicā distance race in Cape Cod. I will keep my summary short.
My pace plan was the same as my last race. I aimed for ~1:45/ 100m in the water, 220 watts on the bike, and 7:00/ mile on the run. I fell short on the bike (NP was 210), but the swim and run were more or less on target. Interestingly, despite lower bike power than my last race (220 watts vs. 210), I was 0.6 mph faster (21.8 mph vs. 22.4 mph) on a hillier course (131 ft ascent vs. 669 ft). There were fewer tight turns in this race, and the winds were low in both races. I donāt think my position changed much in 3 weeks, so I was surprised by my speed.
The only other notable event was that I got my first side stitch in 20 years during the last quarter mile of the run. At some point, I lost a gel I had saved for the run, and I only took one small swig of water at the aid station. The aid station was pretty crowded on my second lap, so I didnāt stop, and I assume both these issues/ decisions may have contributed to the cramp. I am hopeful I can manage cramps with better fueling and hydration.
Final time: 1:53:12. My splits are below (yellow highlight). The posted swim and bike distances are off. The swim was maybe 0.5 miles, and the bike was closer to 19.2 miles. The field was less competitive than in my last Olympic race. I finished 1/7 in the age group and 9/126 overall. My first AG podium and first top 10 is a nice way to close out the season.
Thanks again for all the feedback from this community. I am excited to take some time off structure, and do some rambling autumn trail runs. Good luck to you all in your final races.
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Fantastic! Well done.
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Fantastic way to head into the fall!
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Itās 2023 and very quiet in hereā¦
Is it only the long course athletes who are already training ? 
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No but they are the only ones who will tell you all about it 
Iām in a bit of a transition phase at the moment. I built out a (very excessive) home gym last year and have really been enjoying lifting things up and putting them back down. I got on the bike a while ago and really noticed a difference in the feeling of a pretty basic endurance bike ride, legs just kept on going while my lungs felt what I would have described as normal. Given how aerobically unfit I have let myself get I felt super happy with that and can really see the progress of the strength training.
I do have some races booked in but rather than let myself get really stressed out with a plan (in the stage of life with 2 kids where they are a lot of work and I know itāll get easier again some time) I am just going to train how I want on any given day and let races just kinda happen.
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So true!
Dedicated sprint duathlon/ sprint Tri athlete here and certainly am training. Currently following Pete McGillās Fast 5k book training plan to get my run times down. Love 5k and 10k runsā¦get bored with any longer!
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Thatās sort of where Iām at at the moment. Decided to focus more on our winter season in the Southern Hemisphere- mainly duathlon/running events- so mostly keeping the summer for fun training/racing.
Which gives me a few months to get my sh*t together because Iāve had an abysmal few months of training, but hopefully Iāll get a few āsocialā sprint tris in there as well as getting my ass handed to me by the actual fast runners at the uni track races 
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I am definitely a committed Sprinter as well. I like the fact that I can absolutely smash myself for an hour and a bit and then have the rest of the day free to do whatever with the family. Plus the training never takes too much time out, I am not in the position to be able to say that I am off for a 6 hur ride followed by an hour brick run. One day I will go back to being serious about the whole thing, but that day is not today!
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Sounds like weāre in identical situations and viewpoints!!!
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Hi all - HNY! (Too late for that now?)
Likewise - dedicated sprint triathlete in similar positions to @RobertSims & @simon-trimon, squeezing workouts in where I can between work, family and two active children (1 swim club 5x per week, 1 runner 4x times per week! - but enough opportunity to āhideā my own training 
).
Picked up the training in September, focusing on running early on and the recommendation for Steve Pallidino and the P3 running with power - running more consistently and further than ever as a result. Just coming to the end of the general build 3x times per week, looking at a 4x 5k plan next. Cycling, got back onto TR with SSB-1 & in week 5 of SSB-2, thinking Sustained Power build 1&2 next which takes me to May and my first planned race. Swimming, Iām trying to fit in a 3rd session somewhere, but itās proving a challenge!
Looking forward to following this thread a bit closer this year!
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Iām in for only short course this year. Iām doing age group nationals sprint distance in August and several local sprints and Olympics over the summer. I donāt think Iāve ever actually trained specifically for a sprint race. Iāve done them as āwarmupsā for 70.3ās. Iām interested to see how I do training for speed.
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Iām so glad you asked! Thereās Ironman this, Ironman that, and thatās just feb/mar! ;). Does anyone know a discount code for saddle cream?
No, Iāll live here eventually, just not yet. Iām already half convinced after ā21 that short course training make me a better long course athlete. Almost like every coach ever saidā¦twenty years ago 
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How are we all doing?
Iām still fully onboard with shorter harder races. Training fits in better with my life, and races can usually be followed with a visit to a nice restaurant.
Race calendars seem pretty fixed and Iām hoping to do Salagou gravel triathlon and Altriman Olympic distance this year. Iām also happy not to have got everexcited and signed up for the new Challenge Montpellierā¦ as it appears that they didnāt get all the required authorisations for the bike course (which would have gone right past my house) so the whole thing has been cancelled less than 3 and a half months before. Atheltes are apparently being offered a 65% refund, deferment to one of a couple of races at the end of the year in a different country, or nothing at all if they donāt choose before the end of next week. This is why pretty much every Challenge Family instagram/facebook post is currently being spammed by aggrieved French peopleā¦
For training, I did an Effortless Swimming 8-week program which helped a lot with body position and head movement for breathing, and I did most of a Garmin 10k run program by Coach Jeff Galloway. His run-walk stuff doesnāt really appeal (especially as Iām mostly targeting up to 10k runs) but my word his cadence drills and glider drill have really changed my running for the better.
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They are such hard work! I thought this was an easier plan, but theyāre like track sessions played out on the street 
Agree on the acceleration drills. Weird at first though.
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Iām still working on getting my consistency back. Since my last race in july of last year, work and other responsibilities have been making it difficult. I barely was able to keep up my swimming for that race as a temporary job rotation i was doing had lunch meetings 3 to 4 days out of the week. Then i just got frustrated about my pool as several of the regulars there treat you like shit if you try to share a lane with them even though you had to sign up for the swimming times so they should have known someone else was also booked at the same time.
So i basically havenāt swam since July of last yearā¦ i did buy a zen8 swim trainer almost a month ago, but still havenāt inflated it. This school year, my daughterās school starts at 730, so my target for getting out the door is about 715 at the latest. This puts my weekday target for finishing my workouts right around 6.
Otherwise feeling pretty good though, my 14 day cycle seems to be working well at balancing run/bike training and Iām maintaining pretty good fitness on what is still fairly low volume. Trying to make sure I keep good motivation also this year by just taking the winter consistency issues in stride so i can build up some equity for when thd weather improves abd get in a nice block before this yearās race in july.
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I am working through the Effortless Swimming 8-week program for a second time right now. I feel like the drills have helped me to better understand my body position and swimming mechanics. I have definitely gotten faster. For anyone who did not grow up a swimmer and does not have a swim coach, I cannot recommend Effortless Swimming enough.
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Do you think the program could be done in open water? I donāt belong to a pool, so all my swim training is in ocean. Temps arenāt warm enough now, but hoping to get back in the water in April. I feel like I have hit a point where I am limited by technique.
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Iāve found it pretty difficult to do anything structured in open water. If itās calm, sculling and catch up drills is all Iāve worked with.
Have you got any kind of point to point buoys for measuring efforts?
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