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

First tri of the year this weekend and they are threatening non-wetsuit swim. I have a swimskin (blueseventy pointzero3) from 2011 when I was fast(er).

Are swimskins legal in tri these days? The pros at kona look like they are wearing something equivalent but I have a vague recollection they got banned?

They are legal in European IM races but not in the US ones.

All the IM I’ve taken part in have been in cold locations so I’ve never seen anyone try to enforce the rules.

I’ve seen them used at IMChina. But that was some time ago, and China.

yep, they are legal, my mates who did IM austria last year have dusted theirs off!

presume its the cotswold classic?

Super, thanks all...

@Sainsburys_Ed yup, cotswold classic. Anyone else doing it?

good luck, have to commend the organisers working so hard to get it running...

yeah they've clearly put an enormous effort in!

I have a question...around transitions
Are there any recommended resources for helping to train for these?

Right, time to get properly fit rather than talking about it and this time I really have no excuse.

I've got 6 months off work.

My local pool opens again on 12th April and I've already booked a few slots, shouldn't take too long to be back doing a solid set of 45 minute swims (the sessions aren't really good for doing any kind of drills or anything other than a single solid block, doing 1:10/100m sprints with fins is not going to win you any friends).

The leisure centre doesn't have spin classes going until May but you can book a bike in the usual room for individual use (they've taken out half of the bikes to make more space) and I've got records from my Garmin from all of my previous classes (including power), so I can pick one of the programmes and try and replicate it (having a good memory helps). I'll also start going out on the bike again for lower intensity stuff, I've got a load of Veloviewer tile bagging routes that need doing for Z2 work.

And I'm a good few months into regular running again.

No specific targets in mind, have promised myself I won't enter anything until my weight begins with a 7 (it's currently ~93kg) but I'm hoping to do a minimum of a half iron in 2022 and then a full one either later in the year (Weymouth?) or in 2023.

End of the final week of the current meso cycle (weeks: recovery, easy, medium, hard).

Running: 25km (should have been more and some should have been harder but meh)
5-a-side: 1h40m
Swimming: 7km (not bad as I started from nothing on 12th April having last swam mid-Dec 2020).
Cycling: Barely anything, only 20m or so.

Have 5.8km of swimming to do this week, and 24km of running (but all at a gentle pace), hopefully only 1h of 5-a-side. No cycling planned. Also have my first vaccine jab that might throw this plan off.

Will start to add some cycling from the week after that with a trip to the shitshow that is Richmond Park, but hopefully it won't be too bad during the day mid-week.

Spin class (haven't been doing much, if any, cycling in the last 12 months) and then 1900m swim and I'm broken.

A friend of mine convinced me to give Triathlon a go which was this weekend, Olympic Distance at Dorney Lake.

I was aiming for an optimistic 02:30:00, considering I've not swam regularly for over 15 years and never done any OWS before I started training this, but I'm confident on the bike leg and running comes quite naturally.

I only managed about 5-6 swims before the event, 4 of those in open water, so not nearly enough. The lake was pretty weedy towards the far end which was a bit of a struggle, I got passed by most of my wave so was just happy for it to be over. Took me a frustrating 36 minutes.

T1 was fine, wetsuit off quickly, decided to put shoes on in transition and not try any risky mounts and off I went. Cycling is my main sport so felt confident I could make up some time, I had some clip on aero bars which I should have used more throughout, I spend most of my time training for crits and spent too long in the comfort of the drops. Course is just around the lake so pan flat but windy in sections. Got round averaging 37.6km/hr, 243 watts, taking an hour and 8 mins. Room for improvement.

T2 was super smooth.

I've been running once or twice a week for about 6 weeks, so again probably not enough but I got a 5k PR last week at 00:18:58 which I was happy with. It was just about plodding through the 10km, it was about 5km in that I realised I was probably going to just miss my target so I just concentrated on getting to the end. The course was just 4 laps of 1.25 km up a path and 1.25 km back, pretty boring and gruelling. Got through it in 00:45:52.

Total time was 02:31:47 which, all things considered, I'm happy with. I think there's lots of easy wins, especially in the swim, to bring the time down. The atmosphere was good and I enjoyed how inclusive it felt, there were people on hybrids and mountain bikes doing the shorter distances.

Will probably tri again next year, this time with more swim training.

I've been running once or twice a week for about 6 weeks, so again probably not enough but I got a 5k PR last week at 00:18:58 which I was happy with.

This is a pretty good time in anyone’s book. I’ve been running for years and consider myself to be a decent level club runner (~3hr marathon) and my 5k pb is only just under 19min. Sounds like you have quit a lot of untapped running potential.

Thanks, certainly something I’d like to spend more time on. Finding the balance between training for bike races and the other bits is the challenge!

Yes, I did a couple of tris last year but really in the last 2-3 years the absence of a convenient swim venue means I’m basically a cyclist/runner. Focusing on two disciplines separately means I’m definitely a “master of none” in that I’m mid-back pack in cycling races (depending on discipline… again I’m a pathological dilettante) and mid pack runner. That said, I’m a better runner than most cyclists and a better cyclist than most runners and I have a good Diesel engine so I do ok in most Tris.

I’ve entered my first tri in April. Pool swim, sprint distances and relatively flat so shouldn’t be too bad.
Anyone recommend a ‘beginner training plan’ I could adapt?

Just ensure you can comfortably do each of the distances individually.

Give some thought to your transitions, you can ship plenty of time faffing.

Occasionally run a mile straight off the bike.

Have fun.

Yeh did a quick run off the rollers today and it was ok actually. Swimming is my main work on but I’ve at least started this now! The run and bike distance will be no issue so I can work on just getting faster at those

I'm thinking of easing back into multi stuff next year with an Ironman (but not M-dot branded) - any suggestions for a decent one - probably UK or Europe?

Outlaw gets good reviews.

Can you train for Swim with a local masters group? Best thing I did to improve.

I've heard good things, though it does apparently sell out in minutes.

Look at that as a race in itself...

Challenge Roth

Loved it

If you can get an entry. You think Outlaw sells out fast…

Anyone doing XBourne next weekend?