Just remember triathlon, in any format (even sprint) is an endurance sport. And endurance doesn’t come quickly. It’s built up over years and years and years.
So keep up with the enthusiasm and motivation, but just be cognisant that you will plateau after those brilliant early gains. And that’s where the patience needs to kick in to just keep plugging away, week after week, month after month.
Glad to hear you’re loving it though. Keep posting your progress!! And once you’ve feel a bit more settled into the tri lingo and world make sure you jump on the other threads and get involved. The best thing about this forum is the breadth of opinions and advice (even though we’re all realistically in a pretty narrow demographic compared to the general population).
And watch the men’s World Championship on Facebook Live, Sunday from 05:50 until 3rd place crosses the line, that’s mandatory or you get a six month ban.
pahahahahaha - I’ve been watching re-runs of the Tour De France and Vuelta highlights whilst i’m on the indoor trainer so this sounds like the natural progression.
Most of my viewing has been on Youtube with GCN and Global triathlons giving tips, Oh and Mark lewis as it’s nice to see another giant having got through the journey
The old NBC coverage of the Ironman World Champs is quite good. If you skip the sob stories and military propaganda. High production values and soundtrack. Good length for a short trainer session too.
Oofffff the rugby is giving me sleepless nights already.
I was in Japan for the quarters and semis and they were some of the best times I’ve had! The semi against NZ was immense.
We cancelled our quarter final trip and tickets in Marseille after we lost to Fiji. Seemed a long way to go to watch 4 teams that weren’t England in the quarters
Will dip in though, always great to get some hype going before the matches
Had my first ride on the new bike today, for anyone thinking about upgrading, below are my limited experience thoughts that may or may not help decision making
Brand - Gone from Giant to Trek - Looks much nicer.
Frame - both carbon - No change
Wheels - gone from Alloy to Bontrager Aeroulous Pro 51 Carbon - felt much stiffer, the bumps in the road were definitely felt more but on smooth it was very comfy
Groupset - Gone from Ultegra Mechanical to 105 Di2 - Mech to elec felt like a huge difference, changing was absolutely seemless and quick and just felt nice. Whether this equates to better performance I don’t know but feel and enjoyment is increased.
Brakes - Gone from rim to disc break - didn’t notice any difference to be honest
Overall - Max speed was increased and comfort was increased, also changing from a 61 frame to a 58 has made it far more comfortable for me.
If I had to pick the best upgrades, I think the wheels and groupset have the biggest impact
Saturday was a rest day of golf in the morning and a soft play with my toddler which ende up being more of a work out than some of the runs!
Sunday was an FTP test on Zwift - did the shorter one but right from the outset my Thighs were feeling really weak and heavy. ended up at 204 which is 6 short of before.
Just couldn’t get my heart rate up, averaged 118 with a max of 159, my thighs just wouldn’t let me put enough power down, not sure why. Could have been the heavy strength and conditioning I did on Fri afternoon, could have just been tired, maybe the seat position on the new bike is wrong and fatiguing my thighs? All I do know is I sulked all evening and I’m in a bad mood this morning because of it
Easy 30 min run tonight round on of the lakes here so that should be about 4kish
Do you race on Zwift at all? There seem to be people like me that almost exclusively race, or those who never do! I did a rare interval session watching Nice yesterday; nothing fancy, just 2x10min at 240w plus some easy spinning. The intensity of a race could cetainly help your short hard efforts, and receovering from them i.e. out of the saddle up short punchy climbs in Triathlons. Of which there are plenty in the UK.
What tyres are you using? Wider tyres are in vogue nowadays, but they will be particularly imprtant for you at >100kg for comfort, which will = speed. Can you get 30/32mm tyres on your frame?
Training update - last night was an easy 30 minute run.
4.1k with an avg HR of 138 and a pace of 7.20/km, felt like I could push on at that pace for quite a while, tonight tis an easy ride and then next few days are intervals on the bike and run
First proper swimming lesson this morning, big reality check, managed 2 lengths of the pool before I was exhausted.
Rest of the session was drill work with the fins on, superman drill and drills working on buoyancy and keeping my hips and legs on the surface and not dragging.
Lots and lots and lots to do here, going to be logging 4-5 swims a week to get this lagging discipline up!
Had swimming in the morning then last night had a 2.5KM run where I shaved 6 mins off my time from the first run 1 month ago so really happy with that.
17th Aug - 2.5k in 21m19s
13th Sept 2.5k in 15m08s
Was so pleased when I got home that I wanted to do more and jumped on Zwift for a 13KM race where I managed to average 209W for the first time, highest average was 201W before that.
So all in all a good day, legs are a bit sore today!!!
I’ve got a swim set to do this afternoon, mostly with the fins on then this eve is a short Brick session of 30 mins on the bike 20 off which is 1 min of hard 1 min of easy then a light 15 min jog
Fri is 40k bike with my friends at 6am and a swim at lunch and then it’s a full rest until Sunday afternoon where I do my first Duathlon simulation, two weeks out from my first event
Good luck! You never forget your first triathlon event. (Cue anecdotal musings… mine was New Year’s Day and it snowed on the run. Yours I suspect will present different challenges!). Hope the swimming is going well - it’s the biggest challenge if that’s not your sporting background (because it’s the only discipline that actually requires skill ).
