Tri / Triathlon / Triathlons - do they float your boat?

Are those printed risers for their extensions? That is putting a lot of faith in a 3D print.
I'm currently working on a triangle box to mount down by the BB. I could put my spares in a saddle bag for the Olympic, but I think for a 70.3 I would mount a second bottle behind the saddle and put the spares elsewhere.

I suspect they are fairings to mate the risers to the wattshop angled spacers as they are massive and an unusual shape…

Overall it’s an impressive amount of 3d printing, most of which I can see how it’s probably pretty aero, I’d like to see some data the derailleur thingy, given how massive it is!

I'm not particularly familiar with home 3DPrinting materials.... but if one was going to those measures for aero gains, surely they could have stretched to a black filament for aesthetics?

Unless they are trying to gain attention for a fledgling business…

At least it’s all the same garish colour!

Part-time triathlete here.

Any good recommendations for a multisport app for the more basic Garmin watches (eg vivoactive 4), but with decent Open Water capabilities?

That bike is brilliant(ly awful). I both love and hate it.

No idea about the watches sorry. I use a Garmin 935 which seem to be going for nothing second hand at the moment. I wouldn't advise it without a chest strap though as its not very accurate on the wrist.

I'm in a weird limbo as I decide whether to move forwards / sack off long course for good.

I made my A goal despite being injured and not really running beforehand, so if I was to carry on I'd really want to aim for significant improvement in the run (like a sub 10-10.5h on a flat course). I'm certain if I can get running fit I can easily cut off well over an hour on the run. I felt fresh off the bike and didn't min-max the aero in the end (socks, helmet etc) so could almost certainly find easy gains there. Swim I just need a better fitting wetsuit and some technique work.

But (a big one at that) I'm just plain unable + unwilling to put in as much time / though / prep as I did last year... I was my overriding goal to the detriment of life. And also I wont be able to prioritise a minimum 8.5-9h sleep a night I was getting.

How do you guys fit the long course training in around life? Does it ever get easier?

From what I’ve seen with club mates they
Spread training over more than a week so eg do a long run and long ride plus all the other bits over 10 days and even 2 weeks rather than cramming it into 1 week
Really they only up the volume and focus on the race for a short period so of time, maybe 12 weeks, and outside that maintain good ‘I could race an Olympic easily’ level of fitness
They seem to focus on 1 sport and do less of the other 2 for a period, whether intentionally or not, eg enter a 100km gravel race so do more biking in the run up, enter a marathon in spring so do slightly more running

Personally I don’t see how you fit in the training for Ironman, work, sleep and have family!

Personally I don’t see how you fit in the training for Ironman, work, sleep and have family!

And yet I have a mate who did Triple-Deca Ironman off 10-12 hours training a week, with a full-time job and a young family. During the Trip-Dec, he broke the standalone record for Deca-Iron twice, at about 20-22 days into the competition. Guy's a freak though.

Oh yeh those people can do it! Or the people who will get up at 4am for 6 months to train, then train again at lunch and bedtime. Doesn’t fit into my schedule but good on them!

On that note I’m after a simple training plan for a 70.3 distance that I can adapt and put into a calendar format I can use easily. Anyone recommend a specific plan? The ones on triathlete.com seemed ok for shorter stuff

Yeah... I don't intend to try and imitate that. I prioritise my recovery and general happiness more haha. Minimum 7-8 hours a night... until there are more than 2 of us...

I'm quite tempted by the only pushing for the last 3 months or so / just training 10h like last year but not getting injured. Fits well with my schedule and as long as I train the run all the way through without getting injured that's 90% of the gains.

Maybe 1 long ride a week, 1-2 "long" runs (as long as I can manage within rehab), 1 short speed work runs and then 2 swims.

Rest of the riding will just be commuting 20-30mins each way 3-5 days a week with a few intervals thrown in every now and then.

I guess I can see if my motivation will allow the above or not. Without an event to train for its debatable though

That’s basically the Taren method, whether you agree with his ideas or not I do think his training is sustainable. Build the long ride and run up slowly over the year and then ramp up the extra stuff with 12 weeks to go seems sensible

I’ve started using Humango the last few weeks. The individual workouts aren’t as detailed as you might get from an actual coach but it does seem to work well if you give it some decent input. Free for the first month or so…

And yet I have a mate who did Triple-Deca Ironman off 10-12 hours training a week, with a full-time job and a young family. During the Trip-Dec, he broke the standalone record for Deca-Iron twice, at about 20-22 days into the competition. Guy's a freak though.

I genuinely don't intend to disparage your mate (about whom I know nothing), but I wonder how his family feel about the balance too. I mention because I'm topping out at about 4hrs a week and on occasional weeks might sneak 7 - that's with a full-time job plus family etc. I know other people with similar commitments who regularly get double-digit weeks but seem to do none of the childcare. It's not for me to say one approach to family life is better or worse, but when I see people who seem to "do it all", I know that they have a balance that I wouldn't want and that my wife wouldn't tolerate.

Re rear loading the training. That is how I used to do my IM training, and even my rowing training before I started triathlon. In my case, it was usually a result of poor planning and panic training in the last 12-16 weeks but I got some good results (~9:5x:xx). The last few weeks would include a lot of intensity and even the generic rides would be "as fast as I can for xx duration" so included a lot of high Z3, and low Z4. But I would say that I also got a lot of overuse injuries. I'm sure a steady build is far more stainable and is what I'd aim for if I ever had time for more serious training in the future.

Sounds like a man of my tastes. I love a good overuse injury (or rather my body just detests running no matter how much rehab I seem to do).

I agree I think there's no way I could do it with a young family without cutting hours and sleep significantly (which would just increase my injury chances).

I'll just do 2 casual runs and swims until November and re-evaluate.

My only real aim is not to get injured. Easier said than done as the previous injury flared after only 4km on a social run on Monday. I'll just take it slow and build 1km every few weeks...

Edit; and continue the neverending rehab cycle

I’ve been there, good luck with the injuries. I’ve found non of mine really go away but I can manage them a bit and I’ve learnt what hurts but doesn’t get worse for running etc, and what’s a warning sign of getting worse. When you’ve been permanently injured for 15 years you get really good at spotting warning signs!

I genuinely don't intend to disparage your mate (about whom I know nothing), but I wonder how his family feel about the balance too

Among ultra-guys, he was a freak in doing so little training. Partly because he was also a physical freak, who regularly got invited for tests in Swedish universities, because when he hit the hammer, lactic didn't hit him for about 10 times longer than 'normal' people.

He lives on a small farm outside Stockholm, has a pretty basic job, spends most of his time at home with the family. Just pops off occasionally to do a Triple Deca Ironman.

Having said that, I know plenty of ironman/other ultradistance guys who are nowhere near as good as him, and have much more demanding jobs, and who absolutely neglect their families to get their stripes. And when I was in that world, I absolutely encouraged them to train with me for days on end and neglect them more. I'm much more of a cunt than he is.

Just finished my next 'aero' 3D print project. Attaches to the lower two bottle bosses, small cutout for the FD, and lid that's held in place with a half-turn latch.
It's just big enough for 2 tubes, CO2, multitool and tyre levers. Pretty happy with how it came out, this was only the second print.

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Signed up for an xc duathlon in November. Did my first brick session on Tuesday, the run after the bike felt great. My back the next day....not so much. I'm stiff as a board!

Maybe slow down at first whilst your back and legs get used to running again? I found the ride after the first hard run a killer too! Where is it?

Been phasing the running in, but it's hard to do more than run one run a week around cyclocross and commuting anyway.

I've not tried run then bike yet. I don't have a cross race booked for next weekend, so I will do a run, bike, run day then to see how it feels.

The race is at Afan at the end of November. Course is hilly, so I will just do my best to not lose too much in the first run, pull back as much time as possible on the bike, then try to hold on.

I’m sure you’ve heard but everyone goes too hard on the first run, so you’ll soon be passing people on the bike

I did a duathlon at the weekend... 5k/20k/3.5k.

As someone that does a lot of TTs, I was in the top 5 or 6 on the bike portion. But it sure was demoralising seeing everyone running away from me from the start line.... there I am blowing gauges to hold 5 min/km, while they're all doing 4s and 3s. I was close to 7 mins behind top 10 before I'd even gotten on the bike.

I'm not an unfit guy, but as a non-runner it blows my mind how folk can run that fast.

I was a non-runner turned triathlete and like you thought I was as fast as I could get maxing out at 5min/km, but am just beginning to taper for my first marathon and the gains I have seen in that 8 week block are impressive. I’m now running my <145bpm 60-90 min easy runs at about 5min/km and comfortably cracking out 15-20 miles at marathon pace (4:45min/km).

Tldr; if you want to improve your run, focus on it for 8-12 weeks.

Also, both swimming and cycling lend themselves to W/CdA rather than W/kg, whereas running will make you painfully aware of every extra kg you have on you.

Yes very much this! I was wondering the other day how much difference it would make if I lost say 5kg in a controlled manner. I reckon my knees would be chuffed if nothing else