Yes it’s funny isn’t it. There is absolutely no way i’d spend that much time commuting to such a venue. I would honestly consider the 15 min each way trip to my local swimming pool to be almost enough to put me off (if/when i start to swim again).
edit - it’s actually probably closer to 10!
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It’s mainly because you have 90 mins to ‘blow’ on travel time. See what happens if you have a family 
Of course it is no distance in London, it just takes ages to cover it; that could be 35-40 miles round these 'ere parts.
There’s OW swimming at London Docks?
Where is it? I work in the area and had no idea about this
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Anywhere there’s water is a good start 
http://www.londonroyaldocksows.co.uk/
Open most evenings, and weekend mornings.
A bit rough around the edges … they’re building a pontoon with facilities, but at the moment it’s just changing in public beneath a towel whilst the cable cars go above you! It’s nice though, I like it. PLus beers on the permanently moored boat next door after is always a perk when going with friends.
It’s been going for a few years
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Cheers for that @stenard.
Had no idea. Thought it must be near the ExCel so can see why you get the tube. Grim roads to cycle on out that way.
Would be great if they opened in the morning
They used to. I’ve had work flights from LCY before and swum there beforehand early mornings in just jammers. But they now seem to just be focusing on evenings. Makes sense … the mornings were pretty quiet whereas at this time of year, most evenings have quite a lot of people swimming
Previous best 12.28 at Outlaw 13, nothing at all since Wales 14 and after 4 years of TT specific I’ve been talked around to doing Barcelona.
With a 1.30 estimated swim time, I’m going to need a really good bike and a decent run to achieve a sub 11 , but that’s the aim 
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I’ve not really got any place writing in here yet but it’s an aim and I’ll nudge the thread by doing so……
I have one IM to my name, IM Barcelona 2023, which didn’t seem as much of a draft-fest than it seems it used to be/has a name for? It was >32 degrees. Scorchio.
Overall I swam as easy as I possibly could, kept it (too) controlled and was disappointed with my swim time (1:26 when getting out the water per watch). Definitely time to be had in my transitions but they weren’t horrible.
Bike - defo some drafting early on but getting out of the water ~60th percentile in waves meant the groups weren’t that bad. They held the half on the same day and I saw some full on pelotons going the other way but for me, it wasn’t that bad. I also sadly saw someone receive CPR after a crash who unf didn’t make it which mucked with my head from the 18k mark. I tried pushing 165w (72/3kg) but felt like it was a touch too much and eased back to 130 after about 2 hours. The last 4h on the bike were fairly lonely and not enough time on my TT bike meant I sat up too much last hour.
Run - felt fine on the run but being my first I tried to stay conservative. There were so many people walking and it was v hot with no shade. I did 2* 
, had problems taking my soaking tri suit off. Moving time on Strava is 3:48 vs 3:58 actual but some of that would be aid stations/ throwing water and ice anywhere it could go. Got some cold burns on the sack but that was the best way to cool down! I’d say I put in 9/10 effort. Struggled to eke out the rest as I was petrified of walking on the run.
1:27:25
T1: 6:45
: 6:02
T2: 6:18
: 3:58
Total: 11:41
M 35-39: 92/250
M: 521/1682
Overall: 553/ 1930
In terms of other races I did 70.3 Luxembourg. Fairly hilly course. 5:25 I believe. 39 min swim, 2:52 bike, 10m transitions, rest run. Also a really hot day >31 but I sound like I’m making excuses 
I have a standalone half mara at 1h23 back (2022) when I was doing speed work, was well on for sub-3 in Chicago (2022) but got injured and didn’t run more than 50k total in the last 6 weeks. Ran 3:15 after going 1:29 first half and collapsing. Have also run 3:16 at London (2021). This was mainly as I was starting to take exercise more seriously.
So after a fairly discursive monologue above….i am hoping for 10:59-11:15 in Roth and, despite only just about qualifying for this thread at the top end of the range, however unlikely, I thought I’d chuck it in here.
Currently I am:
3 times a week. 2-2.5h.
4 times a week. 6-7h
3 times a week. 2-3h
Swim: doing what I can. Have lessons starting on Monday AM to work on technique, may still join swim squad. I think 1:15 is best I can hope for but 1:20 more likely. Roth should be a fairly easy swim in as much that: sighting easy w/ canal and modest current/waves and my OW is usually particularly shit given I’ve been lazy bilateral breathing and tend to zigzag normally.
Bike: have started to add more bike intensity and my FTP has gone up to 237 per TP, 240 per intervals.icu or….somehow 213 per Zwift. If I can hold 163w at 240w FTP = 0.68 IF. Have not looked at BBS for Roth but I think it’s a fairly fast course given its short and a lot of the elevation is rolling/can carry speed through some of the hills, or so I hear and it’s confirming my positive bias so I’ll take it.
Run: I really feel like a 3:30 / 5 min per k should be manageable but need to add some 4:30/40 running to build up a semblance of speed again so 5 goes back to feeling easy.
This builds to 17/18h a week in the peak which really sounds manageable aside from one thing: I have 2 young children and my wife is 37 weeks pregnant so we shall see!
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Imo a 3:30 run would need more strength and perfect pacing on the bike, maybe more attainable is your Mara plus 30 3:45?
How long were you swimming 3/wk before your 1:27 IM swim? Ask your new coach how achievable a 1:15 might be over six months through technique rather than volume. No need for bilateral breathing but an ability to switch sides depending on the waves and chop.
Bike gains will be what they are if you have a good plan, consistency, rest and nutrition.
I think you’ve got a reasonable goal and a good shot at it.
For what it’s worth 
And make friends with the sofa.
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That doesn’t tally with the official results there 
Looks like you were 93rd in AG with those splits.
18hr peak weeks for a sub-11 is madness 
15hrs MAX. And six hours of that is a ride, 2.5hrs a midweek jog. So it’s “only” 1hr 35mins on other days; 1hr swim, easy run/ride 
You won’t run a 3:30 if you’re doing training runs at 5:00/km. it just ain’t gonna happen. Sorry to be blunt, but even a 3:45 is going to be an ideal situation :- Do your targets around that and you’ll be happier 
Also, swim 4-5 times per week for at least 10km total. You’ll easily do 75mins then. Swimming is easy; you just gotta do more 
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I ran a 3:30 marathon ( stand alone ) 4 years ago after lots of 12 kph on a treadmill, however my av hr was 125- 130 ish for most of those sessions.
Your looking at 3:45 for Roth I’m guessing
Similar Ironman marathon time after a very tough bike, what is your pool 3.8k?
Sounds like your a better runner than biker, a bit like myself bike/ leg power looks to be a good focus moving forwards, holding a steady power / hr for 4 hours really helped on long bikes, my pb sprint, Olympic and 70.3 times are long gone at my age but I think I could beat my Ironman pb given the right focus.
Roth looks amazing some serious time to be gained if you can stay aero and off the brakes on the big downhill rollers…
Good luck, to you … and your wife !
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Thanks for the responses all. Will respond properly later.
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Yeah concur with the relative strengths, I would focus on the bike and back off on the run. I don’t think you need to be a stronger runner, but at Barcelona for a 4h marathon a relatively as strong bike would’ve been nearer 5:30 than 6. I don’t know the bike course at Roth so actual time gains may be different.
Splits from all AGs at Barca 22 around the 10:50 mark
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WDIK but maybe you could aim to shave 10-15 off the swim, 5 off transitions, 20-25 off the bike and then just need to hold on for a not worse run 
Damn long way an IM, just thinking about it gives me a sweat
edit: @joex’s table seems to agree
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It’s tough to shave some time off transitions with some races though.
Barca is a massive race with it being combined with a 70.3 too. I would imagine transition is massive
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Yeah, true, just doing some basic sums on the S+ B + R table above it looks like those guys are missing around 15 minutes , presumably their transitions?
Just have to ride even harder then !
PS this is the only IM thread I’m allowed to post on, as a one and done kind of guy - although did scrape under 11
It was IMUK 2007. Can’t remember the splits but around 1h00 : 5h50 : 3h50 + transitions
did a bit of rummaging, haven’t found the splits but did find evidence of other youngsters in the M30-35 results
couple of those other dudes need to work on their post count 
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I think that’s the big thing. The level of watts being suggested aren’t a problem. I did mid 160s for a 5:18 bike split when I went sub10, so that’s more than sufficient for a sub11. But I have historically been able to stay aero the entire ride (when I’ve trained for a full).
When I did my sub10 at Copenhagen (and from what I’ve heard Roth would count as a comparable if not faster bike course), I went past loads in the final hour who’d gone past me much earlier, simply because they were sitting up by that point.
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Barcelona ‘21
180km +1054m 145bpm 183Np/166ap 5h29
Badly paced that was, first half. Think I was around 81-84kg iirc .
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Talking to quite well known bike fitter 3? Months ago
He is very good but lives in the wrong half of the country for me.
Tt bike wise he does two bike fits one for
10, 25, 50 and in some cases 100 mile time trials all tri distances up to 70.3 we’re here seems to get similar parameters and results.
The other is for Ironman bike splits and 12 hour tt”s.
Obviously flexibility and core strength are big here, but as he said “ not as big as practice in that position”
Comfort is king when you have a marathon to run, obvious but often overlooked.
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