Nice race report and result!
What was your bike volume prior to september? Die you know you had some room left for going towards 4w/kg? I also look in bumping up my FTP but still looking for best approach. Cycling is my best discipline of the 3.
Kinda low compared to when I utilise TrainerRoad. Was still getting out on the bike, but not with any specific purpose. I had entered a couple of sprints and one oly distance, but my main focus seemed to be entering random long distance run and trail events on a one way street to injury.
I only started all this malarkey back in the summer of 2023, so definitely knew there was room to grow each discipline individually. Was tough going over the winter though… all that work just to see a number increase a bit every four weeks. Definitely need a TV in front of you with Netflix etc. First outdoor ride in the new year made it all worth it though. My Strava segments was awash with gold. Not sure I would commit to that volume again though… not unless I had a run/swim injury.
Issue now is as others have mentioned in the thread… trying to tame the ego. Im training harder on the running as that was lagging, so should be scaling back the intensity on the rides. But FTP prediction is flirting with me.
I had my first tri back in yrs (Cross nationals) 
i forgot how much i like tri and then immediately was considering just entering IM Jax on a lark. Probably just as well I realized I’m working that weekend LOL!.
Time for this month’s roll call, how’s everyone’s training going? And for those who raced in April, how did y’all’s races go?
(I think I got the table up above up to date but let me know if I missed anyone.)
| Sport | Activities | Time | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swim | 4 | 2:43:58 | 7.3 km |
| Bike | 26 | 35:24:12 | 1,200 km |
| Run | 9 | 7:26:29 | 81 km |
| Total | 39 | 45:34:39 | — |
I had a minor bout of illness that knocked down my volume quite a bit in April but at least I got my swim volume up by a whopping 100%! (i.e. two more swims). AI FTP is holding steady and I’m still feeling strong on the bike, so at least that didn’t set me back at all. I’m also finally starting to get my running mileage up; I logged a 20 km run yesterday and felt great, but I’m starting to get a little nervous about the Alcatraz swim, so that’s gonna be my focus this month.
45 hours is solid! I’ve been focusing on increasing my weekly volume by time with a very rudimentary ladder. No swimming, and no race commitments… just having fun being outside right now. Structure has also left the chat and i’m just out enjoying the nature.
April Totals
| Sport | Activities | Time | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swim | - | - | - |
| Bike | 17 | 29:38 | 519 mi |
| Run | 9 | 5:44 | 35 mi |
| Total | 26 | 35:24 | 554 mi |
Well…After 2 months out with running and time getting short before my full IM I had to defer my IM towards next year. Could not take the rest not begin able to run on race day. Ironman is to expensive to just go out and noodle around will not being 100% ;-). Too bad because form was getting good but I think I took the best decision.
Refocused and goal next 3 months is to use TR AIFTP for increasing my TT Bike FTP and try to get it more towards road bike FTP. Focus also on keep on swimming 3x a week and start my running again with easy work. If all good, maybe do an half Tri end of july or half september.
Hard choice, and not one everyone makes, but it sounds like the right one 
I’m teetering on assuming I’m as fit as I was three years ago, but waiting for the training to pan out, or hold fast for next year.
Ten years since my first Ironman, so it would be nice to perform at one this year.
I was thinking about doing the same but then I remembered I have booked the flights and accommodation. Still got time to defer though and time to turn things around and fit in what I need to do.
Hopefully you’ll be in a much better position next time.
I finished my first 70.3 on Sunday, a time of 5:35:55.
46:23 swim, there was a rope under water connecting the buoys which made following the route easy, 12th in my age group for the swim.
2:38:32 bike 166W AP, 176W NP, HR in the 140s, the route was a succession of long drags, nothing steep, I stayed in the aero bars pretty well, 10th in my age group for the bike.
2:02:00 run, the run course was 2 kilometres short, so I was much slower than the close to 2 hours time suggests. It was 30 degrees C and overheating was a massive problem. They had set up cold showers round the route and I stopped at most of them to cool off, 18th in my age group for the run.
I completed it, didn’t end up in hospital with heat stroke and finished in under 6 hours, so I have to be satisfied. I was 13th out of 35 finishers in my age group.
Well done! It’s always part fitness and part survival, and runnning in 30° never gets easy
Great splits for you first outing! That heat sounds rough…
Did Wildflower 70.3 a few weeks back. I always wanted to do this race, then it got canceled. Then brought back. My son is at Cal Poly, he told us he would be working aid stations with the CP Tri club so I signed up!
The festival was pretty cool! It’s not a cheap weekend, but it was a lot of fun.
The swim was great!
The bike was tough!
The run was awesome! Loved the run course. It was also quite challenging.
I hope to have a 70.3 PR, as the only others I have done have been on tough courses at elevation (Lakte Tahoe and nearby Donner Lake). I should have checked the course profile before getting that ambitious. After signing up, I realized this course was going to be HARD. The bike is a rolling course, with one long STEEP climb, with a total of 3700’ of elevation gain. The run is mostly on trail, but exposed in many places and it was hot, with just over 1000’ of elevation gain.
I finished the swim in 40 minutes flat. Not my best swim by any means, but got it done.
Completed the bike in 3:20, with a NP of 159 and a IF of .74. I was very happy with how the bike went.
The run took 1:59 (I wanted to finally break the 2 hour mark and I did).
Somehow, the total finish time of 6:08 got me 3rd place in my age group (18 athletes). Happy with that. Also, learned they may be discontinuing the race after this year so glad I got it done while it was still around.
A DNF at Chattanooga. There is a pin in the rear derailleur that allows the derrailleur to pivot, according to my mechanic it is machine pressed. The pin fell out at mile 35, i was able to mess with the derailleur enough that i could soft pedal, walk up hills, and coast to the aid station at mile 45.
My mech and the owner of the shop said they had never seen this issue before.
That’s bad luck 
I’m such an idiot. I put off doing a shakeout open water swim until yesterday so I only realized then that my sleeved wetsuit doesn’t fit me anymore, with Escape from Alcatraz ten days away. Now I gotta figure out if I can get a new wetsuit shipped ASAP and try it out before the race, or take my chances with my sleeveless wetsuit in SF Bay. Not sure how stupid of an idea that is, but I’ve raced St. George in a sleeveless wetsuit in 60ºF/15.6ºC water and it was fine.
Any vendors doing suite rentals at the race? That could be an easy fix.
Not sure what vendors they’ll have at the merch tent at this race, but I don’t want to risk not being able to get a wetsuit a couple of days before the race, since they’re mandatory. Roka has one-day shipping so I’m just gonna bite the bullet, get a wetsuit overnighted, and try it out this weekend.
may want to order more than one if you are iffy on sizing, return the one that doesn’t fit. save you some back and forth this close to the race.