I honestly can’t remember the swim so it can’t have been too bad!
I remember that they shut off a bit of motorway/dual carriageway for a fair bit of the bike.
The run was in town, certainly no elevation concerns.
Definitely make a good 2 week holiday out of it. We drove from Cape Town to Joburg along the wine route, spent a few days in a National Park and generally had a great time.
One particular heart-in-the-mouth moment being driven back to Cape Town after dinner through a township which could have gone horribly wrong, but all turned out ok after I changed my pants!
Yeah I did the full in Port Elizabeth, I think they do a 70.3 there too although I know there’s a Durban 70.3
PE was great, sea swim, coastal bike and run through the town with decent crowds.
On another note, I did a 70.3 as my first tri and don’t regret that at all. I was already a half decent cyclist at the time, had run a few half marathons etc. just needed to learn to swim (still do)
Hold my beer 
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Ok so the thoughts are that the swim is luck of the draw if the conditions are bad or not?
Has anyone done the Phillipines Ironman? This is the other option I have but am worried about the heat/humidity
Always luck of the draw with a sea swim - some get cancelled, shortened etc if it’s too rough.
Never raced in Asia, I like my tris, cold, wet and windy
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You mean your tris like you cold, wet and miserable.
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You’ve clearly never done Norseman, best race in the world. 
I also hate heat and humidity
And sea swims
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Training update - first run. First time i’ve ever been on a prolonged run. All my training with sport before has been runs less than 5 mins and short intensity burts.
Quite enjoyed it. Was a slow 2.5KM over 21 mins. HR was 147 Average and Max 166.
Felt good, my calf went a little bit after 10 mins but am guessing my body will need to adapt to luging itself around. Nothing major.
S&C tomorrow morning with a swim lesson in the eve and back to golf on Sat before an interval cycle for 30 mins on Sunday
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Ok back again 
Been a rough start to training. As I was recovering from the sinus infection I got a gastro infection and was pretty rough up until Tues. Back to health now and hopefully no more set backs.
Had a gentle 20k again on Weds evening on Zwift and last night did my first interval sessions. 5 mins holding 170W and 3 mins holding 140w on ERG mode. 4 rounds of that. my current FTP is 220.
Enjoyed it and was a struggle by the end.
Been trying to work out what my best cadence is and have been flitting between mid 90’s and high 80’s to find the sweet spot.
Been a few false starts but actually getting the first swimming lesson in this evening as well. Will see if purely theory can make a difference as I’ve watched over 100 youtube swimming vids in the last few weeks without actually getting in the pool
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I’m fully aware this is now turning into a comedy or errors, however! Had a 90 mins swim lesson today and felt great, made a huge difference just getting a few pointers, main issue is my kick is horrendous and my legs sink so got drills to fix it and planned on 3/4 sessions next week!!
Came out all motivated and promptly walked into and overhanging mezzanine floor and split my head open and now have it glued back together
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Yikes!
Are you sure you weren’t bit off a shark?
Hope it mends quick.
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+1 shark attack obvs
Cant fool us
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Ok you caught me, it was a shark attack but the boxing came in useful and it’s me 1 Shark 0 as I was back training yesterday.
Had a good day yesterday, had my first session of Bike then run (albeit I had a break in between of 2 hours but easing into it)
42k on the Bike in 90 mins in a nice group ride on Zwift
4.2k in 30 mins running in intervals of 2 mins faster and 3 mins slower (changing the pace by 1.30m/km)
Enjoyed the sessions, spent a lot of time in Zone 3 which I’m hearing isn’t great but I just can’t get my HR low enough to get the work done at the moment.
4.2k is nearly double what I managed on my first run so happy with the progression, especially with the fragmented training.
Hopefully got a solid run of training now!!!
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@G8zzaj just catching up on the thread. Let’s see where this journey takes you - it changed my life.
I was 43 when I did my first Sprint tri in 2015, I am 172cm tall (5’8’') and weighed 95kg. I did my first parkrun (5k) in June, and a sprint triathlon in mid October. I became hooked on triathlon, in September 2016 I did my first Half Ironman Distance, and in August 2017 did my first Ironman. I am now one of the top triathletes in the world in my age group, and compete in multi day ultra running and ultra cycling events.
The people on this forum are a complete pain in the arse, many are really experienced athletes who tend to speak the uncomfortable truth. However, in reality, I wouldn’t have achieved what I have done without them
You don’t need to be a fast swimmer to do a triathlon, however, if you are racing in open water, make sure you can safely swim the distance - people do drown unfortunately.
For the first 2 years, I did about 7 hours training per week on average (2hours should be swimming), this is plenty to get into the sport and build up to longer distances
Your bike choice is sound and plenty good enough to last you a long time… even if you will probably invest in a second TT bike if you decide to do triathlons more seriously
You are a big guy, so be careful with running, don’t try to progress too fast or you’ll get injured… although you will probably ignore this and get injured anyway, at least this is what happened to most of us
Make sure you get involved with the Tritalk Zwift group
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@Matthew_Spooner is something of a force of nature, and shows what can be achieved with full commitment. Incredible trajectory. Also tends to give direct, honest, good advice.
Others here are slower burners. We have been doing it for ever, but like nuns cast in concrete, just can’t shake the habit. There’s a place for everyone & that’s the nice thing.
The rapidity with which you have mastered Zwift and concepts such as FTP makes me think you may be more of a @Matthew_Spooner , but let me present the case for moderation too.
Personally, I started off as a 70kg 18 year old and fast forward 3 decades, here I am as a 70kg 49 year old & still at it. In the years between, may possibly been drunk once or twice, but have never been overweight. Or tempted to take up golf, touch wood.
There’s a saying about the power of being patient, maybe Genghis Khan or was it Sun Tzu, that if you sit by the river bank long enough, the bodies of your enemies will come floating by. That’s kind of been my accidental approach to tri. Have probably averaged 7 hours per week training over my adult life. Admittedly haven’t seen many bodies yet, but hey, I’m on the river bank and they’re in the water with the crocs and sharks, so surely it’s just a matter of time. But what I mean, while tri hasn’t dramatically changed my adult life, it’s kept things ticking over nicely so far and stopped me degenerating into golf 
.
One bit of advice, you probably are all over it, but skin. I work in health, and have seen the problems people can run into with fair skin and an outdoor lifestyle. Even before moving to the Middle East I was pretty tuned in to always wearing a hat and sunglasses and sunscreen when training, but over here consider it 100% essential. Guessing it must be the same for you? I slap on sunscreen every morning, no matter what the plan is. If running later than about 8am, I wear a ridiculous legionnaire hat with flappy bits to cover the ears and neck. On the bike, when I commute, even if it’s 40C, it’s a long sleeved top and white gloves and factor 50 on any exposed parts. Sunglasses category 4 (skiing, wraparound) not cat 3, otherwise it’s hello cataracts.
Anyway, here ends the lecture.
Enjoying hearing how you are getting on.
(Ps. Edit: wrote something about a fork in the road, what I meant was between choosing a fitness lifestyle versus a sedentary one. But reading it back, might have looked like suggesting Matt was doing too much. That’s not what I meant! Even though there is absolutely no way I could do the volume he has done, physically or mentally)
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Hey Matt - very inspiring story, hopefully I can follow in your footsteps even partially and it will be a win.
Yes, I don’t think I’m going to break any records in the swim or in any of the event for that matter but need to build up to make sure I can comfortably cover it, we are most likely doing South Africa so may be a bit choppy too.
Bike I think I’m going to invest in some TT bars as it seems that is the best bang for your buck change to make unless going all out on a new bike which I don’t think is feasible without divorce considering I only bout this one less than a month ago
Yes I do need to be careful on injuries, body is pretty beaten up from a life of rugby and I’m very obsessive with new hobbies so want to be swimming, running, cycling all day everyday!!!
Tried to join the Tritalk on Zwift but it is invite only 
@fruit_thief I’ve definitely jumped in the deep end and loving every minute of it so far!!! Actually that’s a lie, i wasn’t loving trying to hang on to the lead peloton yesterday riding above my max power on a climb! I’ve loved most of it is probably more apt!! I failed to stay on FYI
There seems to be a theme here, everyone seems to be a good 40-50KG lighter than me 
I think the patience advice is key, thank you!!! I need to temper my natural instinct to want to do everything at once and test myself constantly to see how far off the 70.3 I am, I just have to trust my coach and the process and make consistent small improvements!
Yes I’m very conscious of the sun, I don’t actually burn that easily but still suncreen up, the UV here doesn’t seem as strong as in Europe though, I find I burn far easier in Europe.
Are you in Dubai?
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up the road, Qatar. Just flew back in yesterday after a few weeks back home working on my handicap
looks like you have a good extra foot of height on the average TTer, I’m thinking bike monster potential 