Sub-11 Ironman Thread

Continue your discussion from the old site here.

Did I ever tell you about that one Ironman I did? :stuck_out_tongue::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::crazy_face:

Ooh! Itā€™s nice here.

Iā€™m not sure Iā€™ve heard your Ironman stories, any chance of a recap :rofl:

Jeff

It would take too long

  • or is that the title of the race report?

So 11 weeks until Ironman Switzerland and for the first time in a while, Iā€™m feeling that things are almost back on track. Since November Iā€™ve been consistently averaging 8hrs a week and that includes two very low weeks owing to illness. I know thatā€™s not massive but as things stand Iā€™m pretty happy with my swim and bike. Still plenty of work to do but my aim of a 65 swim and a 5:30 bike seems reasonable.

Running and being dogged by minor injuries is still my main hurdle. I can clip along comfortably at the sub4 pace when my legs let me, but Iā€™m only averaging a couple of short runs a week and I really need to start getting 3 runs in with a long run. Realistically, Iā€™m looking at getting my long run up to a couple of hours and if I can do that before the end of June, Iā€™ll be very happy. Iā€™ve bought a new pair of Clifton 5 Hokas as my old ones were trashed and could well have been part of the injury problems.

I was having a look at my Outlaw times yesterday and I didnā€™t realise I spent over 15 minutes total in transitions so thereā€™s some pretty low hanging fruit to be had there.

Anyway, 2 big blocks of training planned before the taper. Pretty confident a sub11 for me is on but to paraphrase Wellington, itā€™s going to be a damn close run thing.

Shouldnā€™t this be sub 10? :thinking:

When did Chrissie say that? :wink:

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Mate, one thing at a time :smiley:
Happy for you to start the ā€˜Sub 10 ironmanā€™ thread on tritalk 2.0. Every tri forum should have one.

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So completed the Cotswold 113 in 5:01. Disappointed not to duck under 5 but it was a pretty steady effort rather than balls out, so I think thatā€™s given me some confidence to go under 11 hours in 6 weeksā€™ time. I under-biked (2:40) but as a result, had a much better run than expected.

Interesting comments on the Training; what training thread about predicting IM performance from a HIM and using 70.3 x 2 + 1hr obviously keeps it pretty close.

I was most disappointed with my swim at 35 minutes. I genuinely thought that I would be a good 2-3 minutes faster. Iā€™m not sure that in the time I have left Iā€™m going to make any significant gains, but Iā€™ll keep hammering away at the intervals in the pool. Probably need to get some more OW time in too.

Happy with the bike. Again, a few more long rides and TR intervals will see me right. My weight is coming down which should make Heartbreak Hill that little bit easier.

I was really pleased with my run and was undoubtedly due to underbiking somewhat, but I was losing form towards the end, and as the temperature crept up, so did my heartrate. Whatever happens, if I want to go under 11 hours then Iā€™m going to need to run sub 4. Possible, but I need my legs to hold up and get some longer runs in, over the next month.

All in all, hopefully looking at;

swim 1.10
Bike 5.40
Run 3.50
Transitions 10 mins
10.50 total

Frankfurt? Good luck with the weather! Itā€™s normally pretty toasty there. Bike course is pretty fast tbh, and mainly very good surfaces apart from the city centre. Make sure everything is well secured to your bike, as there is a cobbled section on each lap, plus the tram lines early on as you enter the city.

The run has very little shade from what I can remember; mainly (good pun eh?) along the River. I wish you some good downpours on race week, to keep it wetsuit swim :wink:

Iā€™m sure I can remember more in due course. Oh yes, ask me about logistics - thatā€™s a right faff if you get it wrong. Finding the road that takes you to the lake is a complete PITA if you miss the junction off the B road (itā€™s basically accessed from an ā€˜expresswayā€™ single carriageway that I found extremely hard to navigate to, because I missed the turn-off. The fact that it was over 35 degrees for the days before the event literally sapped me before I even got going. Even the drive down to Frankfurt was bad - I accidentally drove into Brussels in rush hour. I have no good memories of that race, apart from completing it without ending-up in the Med tent.

If the temperature is under 30 for you, youā€™ve lucked-in!

Hope to join this thread one dayā€¦
It wonā€™t be this year thoughā€¦!

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Frankfurt is the only time Iā€™ve not been sub-11ā€¦ I was 12:05! 1:05 (non-ws)/5:22/5:31!!

N.I.G.H.T.M.A.R.E.

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4:39 half suggests might not be that far away? Yes Deva faster than Bolton, but maybe not completely out of thought?

I did 4:50 for my 1/2 at Windermere same day, 11 looking like a good target now. All down to the bike:

Swim: 0:55
Bike: ?? 6:30-7:00
Run: 3:30

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2 * 70.3 plus one hour is conservative.
It allows for the run blowing up in your face :rofl:

Double plus 40 minutes is far too kind; thatā€™d have me at 9:35.

For a nice estimate, Iā€™d do;
Find transition times for the race youā€™re doing and people finishing around your target range and age group.

Swim - simply double this. 1.9 and 3.8 should be the same pace at our level.

Bike - use BBS and feed it a race/training session youā€™ve done similar to the IM. Use the nice photo thatā€™s been floating around. The TSS backward calculation one.

Run - you now know what you have left to complete it in. Does it look realistic?
If youā€™ve ridden to power, taking into account RPE and HR all day, this should be workmanlike.

My powermeter is the best thing Iā€™ve ever bought for the bike. Far better than wheels for speed.
I was wondering how times have got so much better.
The answer is quite simple: power meters and Zwift (or similar indoor training)

Pretty much describes what I do.

You can generally get a feel for whether a swim is ā€œfast or slowā€ from prior year times, but theyā€™re generally all going to be within a fairly narrow window. Tā€™s are just a case of being as efficient as possible, but factoring in any long run parts if applicable. BBS for the bike really helps.

The only bit I built in some variability on was the run ā€¦ I had no idea how Iā€™d react to 42k the first time in a triathlon. As it was, I came in about mid way between what I thought was optimally possible, and what I thought should be relatively comfortable.

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Switzerland, not Frankfurt. But I think itā€™s been pretty toasty there, too.

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I wish Iā€™d had a powermeter last time round :see_no_evil:
And BBS was available.
The tech available now takes so much of the guesswork out of it.

Iā€™ll do an hour ten swim at least,
30 kph around that loop is probably beyond meā€¦ but Iā€™ve never been on it, fresh, full race set up, taper, no traffic and raring to goā€¦
Iā€™m running well at the min, but itā€™s my first fullā€¦

It is what it isā€¦

Loveislandrocks!

Five and a half hour runā€¦?!
Hot?!
shit. S. !?
Jelly belly?
Alien abduction?!

At least you finished ā€¦

I had to lie down in the shade for an unspecified amount of time; started getting very lightheaded. I also walked, a lot.

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