Best of luck! After Bolton and Tenby those Euro courses will be a cakewalk!
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Keep it in the UK and I’d be very tempted to join you.
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Make it Tenby or Celtman (ballot permitting) and I’ll join you.
ETA. Not sub 10 obvs!
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I always see a correlation of unstructured swimming and people that dont really enjoy it.
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I rarely set rest days for my athletes i look at it that life gives you rest days through work/family and if you feel crap, rest, if you feel good train. HRV really helps here also. Sometimes after a good uninterrupted block i will set an easier few days , especially when life hasnt served up lemons. As volume goes up and if the athlete hasnt been good at resting i will consider it more when reviewing data as you can generally see a pattern. Some athletes just want green on the TP and need you to say rest.
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@adam @gingerbongo - Lakesman. 
Or outlaw 
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Yeah, they’re the only UK options really aren’t they!
I haven’t really thought about it but Copenhagen could work for me.
I’m always up for a trip to HPP though
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@GGG I somehow missed the replies to this last week. Well done on your time, that’s excellent progress in a few years.
FWIW when I did Hamburg in 2019 I actually thought the swim was quite good, and as you mention the run was really well supported. The organisers couldn’t help the weather being 35c with a windy bike and me just having one of those days. They could have done something about the bike course though and sounds like they did, I’m guessing they missed the cobbles as well?
Do you have a Strava of the new route?
That’s a really good run off the training you’ve described, out of interest do you have a standalone marathon or half?
Some useful hints about your training and the fact you seem to keep it relatively simple, using the turbo probably maximises the bike training even more and particularly if you are on the race bike. You’ve really put the plan together and got the rewards.
As you say your background in football & rugby probably got you a good starting place as well as being 68KG
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I oddly looked for this thread to see if anyone had been inspired to have another go at sub 10 after following Chris & Matt on the sub 9 thread.
Sounds like a few are interested but to do it in the UK would be an achievement just getting the weather! Possibly a longer term project.
Doubt I’ve got the commitment to have another go, particularly for the swimming, hammerer’s comment pretty much sums it up,
I always see a correlation of unstructured swimming and people that don’t really enjoy it.
When I was putting some effort in and doing structured sessions I was generally around 65/66 minutes, wouldn’t say I enjoyed the swimming but I was focussed as I knew it would probably make the difference, e.g. if you are over 75 minutes you really need to pull off either an excellent bike or run.
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Thinking you’re a good swimmer helps, which is just a state of mind, and club swims give a bit of social with the technique. I’ve always been convinced it’s risk-free aerobic training that sets you up to be fresh for the bike/run.
I need to go sub12 before joining you though.
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Ever since I joined this site and got into tri, I’ve been intrigued by this target, but always considered it to be miles away from my ability.
However, in the last year or two it’s felt a little more realistic. I think I could do a 10.15-30 on a decent day. Whilst my cycling has greatly improved in the last 18 months, I’m totally untested at this distance, so it’s hard to confidently put a number on it.
Swim would obviously let me down. And I’d hope that my run could be a bit of a weapon still.
Tempted to give it a go though. Very tempted. From a cost perspective, I’ve now got all the big stuff - bike, power meter, wheels, helmet, tri suit, wetsuit, supers hoes etc.
The one biggy that’s missing is the tough one… Time!
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I’m the same @gingerbongo
I’d say right now I’d comfortably swim 1:10 and I’d like to think I could do 1:05/06 like @jeffb said.
I’ve definitely got a decent bike leg in me but I really need to work on reigning that in and stop chasing people up the road - also a course without 3k metres ascent would be nice.
There is however, a big question mark over my run and I can’t say I’ve ever run well in my previous 3 long course attempts. I have come on a bit since then and iM Wales in 2017 seems like an eternity ago (I ran 4:49!!
) I did bugger all training for that as we had just had our first born.
Just need to get Bolton out of the way first!
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You might get a slot at Bolton with your weapon of a bike
Run times are a bit slow, and sub-11 is generally Too 10 AG.
And slots roll down in Bolton.
Although not sure if John Thelwall and Brian Fogarty have aged up to M40 this year, so that’s your 1-2 otherwise 
Anyways…sub-10…long long been a goal of mine:
2010 Outlaw - 10:20:50
2011 Outlaw - 10:20:05
2012 Outlaw - 10:16:14
(Seven years off)
2019 Outlaw - 4:32:58 (cancelled bike leg)
2021 Outlaw - 10:49:44
What have I learned?
You don’t need breakfast. Gel, bar, banana coffee is fine.
Anything else will just come out later on.
Don’t take Imodium or painkillers or anything like that.
They’ll just return as gut issues on the run 
Swimming is key
You do not want to come out feeling like you’ve wrestled a bear. It’s a long day, you should be able to swim an hour at an easy pace, to get out Top 50 overall and be with all the good bikers (well, they’ll all pass you ten minutes down the road, but then you’ve someone to latch onto and T1 will be empty)
2 x 3km + 2 x 4km per week is good.
No need to build this, you can just keep the same swims all year round.
These days, nobody can swim quick or straight.
They all spend far too much time on Zwift and Instagram - you can’t take a camera poolside, so they’ve nowt to vlog about.
Quick transitions are key
Practice taking your wetsuit off and walk transition in your head. These new longer post-Covid transitions piss me right off. It’s more time running in barefoot/cleats, which hurts!
DO NOT FORGET YOUR INHALER!!!
It takes AGES to go back and get it
Long bikes are key
Don’t spend all of your life on Zwift, learn how to stay aero and actually ride your TT bike outside.
Ideally, I like to get at least SIX centuries under my belt before race day and after April (for a June/July race)
With at least three of those on the TT bike. These should be “fast” >32kmh at race power, or hilly (for strength) or extended (~200km) for will power.
The easier the bike is, the easier the run is. No need to gun the bike, just a nice, easy 68% here. Should feel like a cake ride.
On race day make sure you’re in a pace line.
It makes life a million times easier and less boring.
5hrs is a fuck long time to be alone with your thoughts. Make a friend, share the work and have a chat (thanks Matthew from Staffs Tri in 2021, and various TriTalkers in the early 10s)
Running - unsure
For every one, I’ve got in 3 x 30-32km runs, which I always do on a Weds/Thus and stop 17-18 days before race day. I also stop running “fast” around April/May and focus on 4:17/km and above. Just dialling in that effort as I know it gets harder on race day and what feels easy in training is properly hard on race day.
Do runs where you do the first 10km easy, then 10km harder, then try and do 5km in under 20 minutes at the end, plus a cool down. ‘Cos that’s what race day feels like.
Other Thoughts
2010 I overswam, overbiked and paid for it on the run
2011 Overbiked, paid for it on the run, it was quite windy and I just stuck to my target speed and didn’t readjust.
2012 Threw my toys out of the pram after my third 
of the day. Got bored with the lack of support and THAT DAMN LAKE in the run
2019 - Entered the race on Thursday on whim. Got lucky the bike was cancelled, I’d’ve been in for a LONG ASS day
2021 - I like to think I was in the best physical shape I’d ever been in for an IM (2020 excluded, as I’d not worked full time for six months and was feeling amazing - bloody Covid 
) but mentally I was miles away. I did the swim+bike in 6:20. But, I had a panic attack on the run, then just couldn’t run and had to walk.
Resilience
I’m mentally weak, I don’t like the hurt.
I mostly enjoy exercise, but when it starts to hurt, I just want to go home or give up.
It’s hugely disappointing missing out after putting in all of that work. Last year was draining for me. The failure at Bolton and Outlaw knocked me for six, on top of what else was going on at the time.
So you’ve got to basically clear your life and make sure that whilst training isn’t a priority (family and keeping a roof over their heads first!), it’s high on the list.
An understanding employer, generous holiday allowance, unpaid leave/sabbatical all help 
LakesMan looks like a nice quick course.
Barcelona is too late in the season for me to be arsed with.
Plus, I’m not schlepping abroad solo again - I missed my wife too much 
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Certainly a bad day for a bike split in 2019! Makes me realise how I could easily half lost half an hour by the luck of the weather. No cobbles this time round. I don’t have Strava but here’s the route from my Garmin showing speed.
No not done a standalone marathon or half but I ran 1h27 at Cotswold 113.
On the point of my weight and background, it’s always struck me that the luck of your personal history plays a huge role when you’re getting into long distance triathlon as an adult (as well as genetics obviously!). Swimming as a kid, rowing at uni, playing lots of sport in your teens etc can easily give you a “free” 30-60+ mins as well as the discipline of training. Another example is that I don’t drink alcohol and eat very “healthily”, but this is natural for me as it’s what I learned from my parents as a kid so is ingrained.
If you (not you personally but anyone!) came to tri with no sporting background whatsoever and had to make major lifestyle changes I think that just finishing an Ironman is as impressive as breaking any time barrier.
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Sorry Poet 
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Start list as of 26/5 doesn’t feature John Thelwall. Brian Fogerty is unfortunately the same age (I think) and must have his sights on another victory with no pro field again.
There are 5 further guys with some level of AWA status in M35
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Nah!
He was as mad as I was with the HUGE pack that sailed
Up the A6097 into the wind and into the distance.
Plus the sleeveless cancer survivor chap.
And many, many others.
I could’ve easily had a ~5hr ride there by jumping on.
It was miserable going up the A6097 into the wind, as it’s slightly uphill, too.
Bloody ace coming back down like!!!
We just kept swapping and chatting.
Keeping the distance.
Where’s the start list?
I’ll be able to tell who’s who…
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Daniel Lanigan (3rd in AG last year, 15th overall)
Brian Fogarty (we all know him)
James Wilkinson
Basically…convert the PDF to Excel.
Filter out people who don’t have a club/AWA status (there’s always gonna be folks who aren’t either and are KQing, but the likelihood is small)
Then just go through Endurance Data searching for them.
I picked 7 of the Top 10 M35-39 last year that way.
Turns out I needn’t have bothered, as my mate finished 83rd in his age group and got a slot 
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Nice one!
Not sure how that site has slipped by me, never seen it before.
Quite nice to see my results trend upwards there.
Anyway, going well off piste now
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