swim, bike, run ... it'l be fun!

Short splash to try out swimming in a wetsuit in OW. Much more comfortable fit once they get wet, and very bouyant.. it will take a little bit of getting used to! Swimming with a tide pushing you about gently makes swimming in a straight line hard, I was really all over the place.. had to keep looking up to sight. Also found it much easier to breathe to one side only rather than doing breaths on opposite sides ever 3 strokes. Still, overall seemed grand.

SWIM: 500m with lots of stops to see where I was.

All my swim training until now has been trying to get the distance up to par. We did one 750m timetrial at the end of the TI new to tri sessions, and I came in at 20mins 41sec. Since that session I havent swum the 750m distance in a single go again, nor have I tracked any of my swim times.

Yesterday I got a watch so that I could time myself in the pool, and despite feeling a little weathered after a birthday party lastnight went off to the pool this morning.

Current swim time for 750m is now down to 16min 51sec. And I cut my finger during it, so lost a few seconds there trying to figure out if I needed to stop.

Times per 50m were : 1'0, 1'04, 1'06, 1'07, 1'07, 1'07, 1'10, 1'10, 1'12, 1'11, 1'10, 1'10, 1'17 (cut my finger), 1'07, 1'0

Now I need to figure out what I need to do to start improving the time, aswell as increase the distance to olympic

SWIM: 1k. 4x50m warmup, 750m, 50m cooldown.

Hey Krusty_Clown, It was a shark in the deep end. Well.. a shark-teeth-sharp chip in a tile on the side of the pool :rolleyes: . I blame the canoeists that get to use it during college term time!

I'm very happy with the swim time, I didnt believe MCOS when he said to just keep at it, that it would come good in the end. He was on the money! Even recently I've been struggling with knocking out 200m.

I managed to pull something in my leg yesterday and have been limping about a bit not looking good for two weeks time now at all...

Went off for a nice easy swim, swum in a lane with someone else doing lengths that was a lot slower than me to keep the pace down. I never do it, so counted the number of stokes it took me to cover 25m. Averaged to 23 initially (used to be about 26, which depressed me so I stopped counting). After putting a little bit of effort into stretching on entry + a bit of a glide I had it down to 21.. and managed a few lengths with a count of 19. No idea how far off 'reasonable' that is.. will have to go check it out. All at a very slow easy pace.

Whatever I pulled in my leg is back niggling at me, as was the side of my right knee.. so think its time to find a physio. Hope its not too late

SWIM: 1k. 10x50m, 1x200m, 1x100m, 4x50m.

One trip to the physio later and it turns out my Gracilis had tightened up and needed to be released. I have no idea how a physio can hone in and find something very sore that you didnt even know existed. Was sent off for a swim and a cycle to see how things faired and have to call back to get the OK for the triathlon this weekend depending on how I got on.

Swim yesterday went OK, but leg was a little tender after the visit to the physio earlier in the day. Was a bit scared to give a proper kick, so was all fairly lazy. None of the original pain afterwards though!

Cycle today was grand, but depressingly slow (50mins for 20k). Will see how I am tomorrow.. hopefully will continue to be fine!

SWIM: 1k. (4x50, 2x100, 1x200, 2x100, 4x50).

BIKE: 20k. 50mins. average hr 130.

I survived my first (sprint) triathlon in Athlone today! Finished in 1hr24. I claimed I'd be happy if I got a good swim; Well I'm happy, but I couldn't really call it a good swim. Other things went well fortunately

SWIM: Initially I tried to swim regularly, taking breaths every 3 strokes. That wasnt going to work; I was veering off to the right, and with the excitement of imminent drowning needed to breathe more often, so I ended up breathing every two strokes to the same side. I just sort of followed the crowd during the swim, I couldn't sight very well without my glasses, nor track where everyone else was until I was almost swimming into them, so had to stop and tread water once or twice to get my bearings. Happy I didn't drown, but I'm annoyed that I wasn't fully 'in control'. Clearly I need to do more OW swimming!

T1: This went pretty well, but I really wish they had swept the road leading in/out of the transition area. The loose gravel was a killer on bare feet. Got through T1 in 4min20 (gained nearly 80places within the category here :eek:); My big concern before the race was whether to attach bike shoes to the bike or not. In the end I did; I duck-taped the velcro straps opened so they wouldn't get caught in the chainring, and given it was my first attempt at a transition it was all quite smooth.

BIKE: Nothing much to say here; did the route and just kept at a speed I knew I could maintain so that I'd be strong for the run. I haven't done much bike training, so wasn't expecting anything fantastic to happen. (Overall I lost about 50 places within the category). My speedo had the route at 22k?

T2: This was also pretty fast, even if I was cursing as I ran back in barefoot over the loose gravel again; then I'd to stop to use the toilet making it take almost 5mins Came out of T2 without moving too much within my category rankings despite the pitstop.

RUN: Well, this was going to be the one part where I was strong. Gained 30 places within the category. There's no way the course was 5k though; on a good day I've to work pretty hard to knock out a time under 20mins, and my time had me well under that.


Overall I'd a good day, and the atmosphere about the place was great, people were a lot more friendly than I was expecting tbh!; going through one race I've learned a *lot*. I need to do more OW swimming to get comfortable outside a pool, it really is quite different. Cycling needs to get added to my weekly routine; I dont think I can ignore it for too much longer. Run was grand. Transitions were the one thing I think I did pretty well; very happy with them, aside from the toilet stop. I wish I didn't have a huge blood-blister on my heel from running barefoot though them though; oh well :cool:

SPRINT TRIATHLON: 1hr 24mins. (bike: max hr 169, av 153. run: max hr 178, av 163)

Thanks folks; Given I'm not training iwth a club Boards has been invaluable with getting me there, so cheers to everyone that gave me encouragement with the swimming and answered my silly tri-related questions!

Krusty_Clown: I came in with a 13min swim, 44min bike and 17.5min run.

Finally built up the motivation to get out cycling today; and thankfully the rain held off till I was out on the road. I've got no muscles for cycling.. nearly killed me during the 10mins 'hard' (which I suspect was still incredibly easy given I couldnt even maintain a 140bpm heartrate) to keep things going.

BIKE: 30k, 1hr18mins. 10mins warmup, 3x(10mins easy, 10mins hard), 10min cooldown.

Hmm... trying to juggle 3 different sports is hard, I'm always neglecting one! My status in the 1000mile thread hasnt budged much since the edinburgh marathon For the 10k tri run I think I need to start doing some work again. I'm contemplating entering the Dublin 10mile race (A friend is doing it at 8min 30sec/mile, so would fit in as a nice LSR), just to force me not to forget about running entirely.

RUN: 5.2miles (38mins, 7min 18sec/mile. average hr 144, max 164).

No sooner than training finally starts to go well than I end up sick again. Argh! Yesterday was a scheduled day off, today I've a sore throat and the makings of a flu, so looks like I'll be taking it easy for the rest of the week.

Was in with the doctor yesterday; should be sorted to be back training by mid week. Should have gone to see them sooner! I'm worried that 2-3 weeks isnt really enough to get me in good shape for an olympic tri now though

Plan B isnt looking good.. I was looking for another olympic race in mid september, but theres none.. so then I was looking to see if I could substitute it for a couple of sprint tris before the year is out, but the only one that I liked the look of is lough-key and is already sold out. Starting to wonder if I should continue training for tris but maybe swop training over and see if I can get sorted for the DM instead....

Hey MrCreosote, thanks for the suggestion -- not too sure what counts as a 'all terrain run', so ill need to look into it a bit more , but its definitely an option!

I've come round to the idea of seeing what I can do in the next three weeks... I set out with the goal to *finish* an olympic tri; ive already paid for the dublin tri, so there's no harm in waiting to call the final decision a few days before I guess. I lightened up on things after I finally got out for a run...

RUN: 5.2miles.

Finally got to the pool yesterday for a stretch, and thankfully I could still swim (unlike the last time I was off sick for a few weeks).

Was meant to be doing an OW swim this evening but it was cancelled so I headed to the pool to see if I could cover the 1500m distance. I was planning to attempt+time it next week, but brought it forward as I had no other plans for today.

I had to swop lanes after a few lengths as the lane I was in was swimming a little bit too slow for me, and I did stop after 750m for 6-7 seconds to check the time and grab a few mouthfulls of water.. I'm still considering it to be a continuous swim though Total time was 38mins. Reasonably evenly spaced as the clock had 20mins on it at the halfway point. I 'sprinted' the final 100m, breathing to one side only, to see if I could sustain a bit of a stronger swim at the end and it was fun to finish strong.

Its about the speed I reconed I'd be at when I had to estimate the time a few months back when I registered for the race.. I think I can go faster in a pool (I wanted to go at a pace I was happy I could sustain), but I'd say the swim upstream and other conditions in OW would counter that and maybe slow me down a bit again. Still, I think I can do the distance now inside the cutoff

SWIM: 1200m. 6x50m, 6x100m, 6x50m
SWIM: 2000m. 5x50m, 1500m in 38mins, 5x50m

Moment of madness.. Im registered for the dublin 1/2 marathon . Its been way too long since I've been for a decent run. The sensible side of me says I didn't plan on entering the dublin marathon so I should skip it (I haven't been running much lately at all), but I can fit in the training for a decent 1/2 before the end of next month.

Was a bit tired+sore after the run (!duh, shouldnt be making new PBs during a training run!). Went to the pool two days later and splashed out a messy 300m before calling it a day, and opted for a few days of stretching+core strenght stuff instead. Rested up and went for a cycle to checkout the route in the park yesterday and turned it into a bit of a brick session. Running off 20k was OK... running off 40k felt like i was running backwards!

CYCLE: 40k (1hr45, including time stopped at traffic lights en route to the park), average HR 139.
RUN: 1.5miles (10mins 38sec), average HR 153, max 161.

Another lunchtime swim today. Technique was still a bit off, but a lot better than yesterday; I'll aim to do one more short easy swim between now and the weekend and hopefully things will come back. Brought my watch with me today to see how I was doing at an easy continuous pace in the pool.. 50m splits in seconds were 63, 68, 65, 67, 66, 67, 64, 66, 71, 64, 66, 67, 66, 70, 71. Not very consistent at all. Ran out of time so had to call it a day at 750m. Need to start swimming in a group session/take more lessons or something.

SWIM: 950m: 4x50m warmup, 1x750m (16mins 41sec).

Done nothing for the past two weeks.. runners never made it out of the bag during the roadtrip for work, and I picked up a cold on the flight back. Jetlagged+sick for first 1/2 of the week, and just tired now.

I am however signedup for my replacement triathlon 3 weeks to go! Cant wait to get back training after this weekend.

Managed to drag myself out of bed early thismorning for a swim, and out for a run in the vening then too. Was planning to run a bit longer but just wasnt feeling the love so turned back early. Was feeling very jealouse of all the people out training for the marathon (at least I assume thats what the masses were up to!).

SWIM: 1k. (4x50,2x100,1x200,2x100,4x50).
RUN: 4.6miles, 37mins (8min 2sec/mile). Average hr 137, max 157.

I didn't drown and had a great day out on Sunday

Scoped out the course on Saturday: seeing the swim course as a single continuous setup in a lake (rather than just 60 lengths of the pool) didn't scare me as much as I expected, probably because it was all reasonably close to a shoreline. At least there wouldn't be currents to worry about. The run course mostly looked OK, until I saw 'Hill 60', the evilest hill I have ever seen in my life. Aparantly it's notorious in all the xc-races in the area. There would be three laps of the run course, and my calfs were tired when I walked up the hill fresh. Promptly blocked that from my mind . Drove the bike route and was quite happy until I saw all the hills at the north end of the course where you do two laps. Any notions I had of doing a fast run were gone. Still; nothing like a challenge, and I had set out to finish.

On sunday got up at crack-of-dawn-o-clock and off to setup transition. I upgraded from duct tape to elastic bands for attaching the bike shoes to the bike this time round.. and found it much more practical than the hackerey I'd come up with for athlone! The route from the side of the lake into the transition zone was much nicer on bare feet than in athlone too, so my backup plan of using compeed plasters wasnt needed.

Swim went well; I was in the first wave with all the other people with swim times of 38mins+. First half went well, but for the second half my goggles had fogged up enough that I had to stop and pull them up to sight occasionally. Got out at the end and nearly fell over during the first 5m of running towards T1.. didn't expect to be quite that light headed :rolleyes:!

T1 went great, in+out in about 44seconds.

Cycle: Settled into it and enjoyed the first flat sections.. got to the hills faster than I expected and just kept on them at a comfortable pace. Nearly hit a drain at speed going down a steep downhill bendy section of the course, which gave me a bit of a fright. On the next lap round someone had ended up on the opposite side of the road there and ended up getting medical attention (I slowed to see if he needed help, but two other cyclists had already dropped out to help out). Quads did feel the burn during the hills, but the weather out was great so at least I didn't get cold during my slow crawls uphill in my lowest gear. Overall the cycle wasn't as bad as I was expecting; I took a gel at 25k and again at 35k, using about 500ml water over the entire route (I think). Very impressed with the lack of drafting during the entire course.

T2 again went well, although I arrived at my spot with a little too much speed and almost went on my ass on the damp grass. Recovered nicely and didn't take out anyone which was good. Minor faffing as someone else had racked their bike in my place, ending up with a t2 of about 1min 30.

Out onto the run and for the first few mins my legs just weren't there. They eventually kicked in, but just before Hill60 -- which instantly took them back out of action for the next 1/2 lap. Every time round the course the hill creamed my legs for 1/2 the course, and then I made up time on the second 1/2 which was relatively flat before coming back downhill gradually again. My only gripe was there was no waterstations during the run. The pre-race info had one advertized on the run course, so I didnt bring a bottle with me for the run expecting there to be some available on the course.

So. That's that. Delighted to have finished a standard-distance triathlon, pretty much hit all my expected times (40min swim, 1hr40min bike, 40min run.. give or take half a minute here or there -- Ill pull down the full times later), ending up with a time of 3hrs25seconds. A bit disappointed I didn't go under 40mins on the run (which I think wasn't a full 10k, making it all the more disappointing), and would have liked to come in under 3hrs. Not feeling the same glory as with the marathons, but thoroughly enjoyed it!

Oh, and someone nicked (possibly by accident) my goggles and swim hat from transition :rolleyes:

Cheers to everyone that's answered all my triathlon questions during the year -- I've now hit all my goals for the year, thanks for all the help!


SWIM: 1500m, 0:39:04, average hr 157 max 211 (so presumably it messed up logging).
BIKE: 40k, 1:39:08, average hr 155, max 175
RUN: 10k, 0:42:10, average hr 168, max 178

I've been thinking of updating this log for a long time now. I'll fill in some information on what I did last year for continuity; the log kicked off from me learning to swim, and in 9 weeks time I'll hopefully have my first Ironman under my belt. My OCD tendencies cant let me skip the 2010 year of updates without filling in some info on what I was doing.

My 2010 goal was to finish a half ironman in <6hrs, and do a good few olympic distance races (ideally getting under 2hrs30 in one of them).

My biggest limiter was still swimming, as I never really felt confident in the water in 2009 (or had any sort of speed). I joined a tri club and spent the winter in the pool; after the initial shock of actually working during a swim session I improved a lot. In retrospect I shouldn't of waited to join a tri club; I thought you'd need to be ridiculously fit and pretty dedicated to the sport before you'd want to, but its a great way to meet folk and really enjoy some of the training sessions.

The middle distance tri I did was in wales (Bala), my first race of the year, and I finished it in under 6hrs. That was what I was training towards, and was pretty happy with the result. I think my swim was about 36mins for 2k (i was really happy with this), the bike was slow (i'd done a good few long cycles, but never improved my speed), and I had an ok run (1'50 for 20k).

The weekly hours I put into training from jan 2010 until the race were:
2,3,4.5,2,5,5,7,4,5,7,7,6.5,5,6,7.5,7.5,5,8,4,10,11,(taper - i didnt track this).
I'd various niggles during training and had to do a lot of running on grass. The longest bike session I did was 100k. Overall I trained more consistently than the previous year, but the structure was pretty erratic. Looking at the weekly totals now makes me cringe a little, they seem really low -- but thats what I was able to manage at the time, and I managed to (mostly) hit my goals off them.

I did a few olympic trathlons then too (hell of the west, beast of the east, dublin city, blacksod point) but missed my goal of < 2.30 by a couple of seconds. The other fun event I did was the escape from ireland swim, where they drop you to Ireland's eye on a boat and you swim back to howth.

It was a fun year and I really enjoyed both training and racing.

Run: (missed an interval session, plan was 8x4mins @10k pace)

Swim: 900m warmup, 2x(2x200m sprint, 400m sprint, 2x100m sprint, 100m easy). With good rest between each. Badly paced this lot and suffered at the end, 200s between 2'50/3'15, 400s were 6'15/6'35, 100s between 1'25/1'35.

Thanks jackyback; fingers crossed some of it transfers to the open water and I havent just improved my kick off the wall!

LSR: 2hrs, 25k. 4'49/k. Average HR 129. Normally find the LSR nice and easy but legs just weren't happy tonight, calfs quads it-band and glutes all complained during it.