Yes, that is frankly shit for someone over 50 
I remember Outlaw 2017 when a female over 50 TONKED past me on the bike, she went 9:4* iirc.
Insane. But also feels #notnormal
ETA - Gill Fullen did 9:44. Superhumanā¦
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Yup. Had a chat with her on the run last year.
She was part of a relay team for her local club 
Sheās pretty bloody inspiring 
(And Iām RARELY inspired by anything/anyone)
But Roth - Iām taking it in context.
Slow years.
Temperature seems to add 20 minutes 
Thanks for this and putting your goal out in open- selfishly I really like following these endeavours, learning and applying that for myself - so I hope you donāt mind the odd question along the way.
@Poet - I think thatās an awesome race set session to work out race paces. I have done this set before to work out race pace but have not adhered to advice in here and āoverā swam it and then over swimming in race and paid for it later in day.
Iāll save all my bike + run questions as you progress towards the race. But you clearly have the aerobic engine and bike legs to ride the time requiredā¦ā¦
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Iād prefer something much closer to @Poet example session (although he lost me by breaking pattern and swapping the 4x100 to 4x50, even if it does make it 3.8km). I think something like 40x100 is too ego flattering, compared to 20x200 or 10x400 which will make sure youāre swimming them easy enough to be a realistic race pace. I reckon I could probably do 40x100 off 10s rest, and hold ~4s faster than I would on race day. Thatās partly due to short repeats, and partly due to the difference between pool and OW as @explorerJC hints at, and only experience will tell you what you pool-OW difference is (might be in the opposite direction for some).
I think we pretty much reached a consensus though that you want to be looking to hold a 4km set, maintain ~goal pace with 10s rest per 100m. Yet looking back at 2019 logbook, I did next to none of this, and much more ~2km sets holding faster pace. My main sets in the last 4 months, with a raceday pace of 1:18:
- 12x200 on 2:45, averaging 2:25-2:27s depending on fatigue - Close to once a fortnight, effort pretty much best sustainable to make the last one the fastest.
- 100-500-100 pyramid on 1:25, holding 1:14s
- 3x: 400-300-200-100 on 1:25, descend as 1:16, 1:14, 1:12, 1:09 per 100m, with a 3 minute recovery between 1000s.
- 9x300 descend 1ā>3 on 1:30, swimming 1:19ā>1:12 per 100m (ie ~3:57, 3:47, 3:37 x3)
- 4X: 2x100 Max Effort on 1:15 (67-69) 500 Pull Band,Buoy,Paddles (1:18), 100m Easy on 2:30
- 5,4,3,2,1 x100 on 1:25 (1:12s) with 500,400,300,200,100 Pull (BBP) on 1:30 between (1:18s)
This year, will do some like this but shift towards sessions aiming to hold 1:15-1:18 off 1:20-1:25 base.
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As for bike and run, Iām much less sure. Would like to see thoughts on training targets that are hard enough to be thought of as a benchmark, rather than something like a 3-4 hour max effort TT that can only be done once and have recovery cost?
My thoughts for now on the run, but hope others develop them better.
This gives me some confidence, given a 1:17 half 3 months ago. Iām having a mini-confidence wobble currently, but I think Iāve got the raw speed to do a 2:45 open run. What I donāt have is the endurance. More time on feet/bike needed for a good IM leg. I target 3:05-3:10 based on a previous 3:19, with a 5 minute half pb since then.
Will have a proper look back through 2019 logbook at some point to see if I have anything to add, but I think I was doing my long runs as ~25-34km at ~5:00/km, but with blocks like 5x2k at 4:40 (ironman goal pace) in the back-half. I seemed to benefit physically and mentally from this and will probably try to emulate.
As for bike training, I have even less idea. Back then I was doing weekly indoor work like 4x10 FTP or 4x4 110%, 2x20 90%, and long rides were the beginner philosophy of gradual progression from 100kmā>180km just trying to complete the distance, with lots of practice on the race course to work out a sustainable pace.
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I did mine in the special shoes last year.
Oh - and placebo compression knee length socks.
For recovery purposes = no battered feet or legs.
They all felt easy and done as 9:1 run/walk.
Pace came out at 4:46 - 4:55/km, depending on temperature. I ran the same route for all three 32km jogs, which was 4 x 8km loop, passing my house and a bottle drop at 4km.
Made it boringAF, but made nutrition super amazing 
Had Maurten and their gels, which also worked a treat.
Recovery shake and slept in placebo compression leggings afterwards.
Wednesday PM was long run, Sunday long ride.
Left a nice block of recovery time.
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Do you think you just had a freak bad day on the day last year with asthma, or in hindsight now is there anything youāve reflected on from the training block as the reason why you didnāt go under 9:30?
Sorry if thatās a blunt Q, just wonder in hindsight if thereās anything youād change, as youād seemed to be flying and weāre insisting you were doing everything appropriately easy, which was my concern at the time.
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Yeah - I have zero idea with bike training, too.
I did 2 x 20 @ 100% this week.
So that shows how little I know 
For Cotswold back in 2019, I knew the course was flat, so I just strung together my local TT course and went out for 3 hours and rode at my target power (227W)
I did that Friday AM early doors.
Did a hilly group ride on the Sunday and (turbo/shorter hilly/TT) ride on Tuesday.
For IMUK I just recceād the course at BBS race pace.
Then did a few 200km group rides and three solo 161km TT rides, all at race pace.
Did a bit in between, but nothing ātargetedā at all.
Ended up riding a 5:14 at Outlaw, which was great for me
I think Iād be more like 9:40-9:50
I should join a tri club and do squad sessions, plus more racing. The OW swim was awful, I felt much better at IMUK 
Hereās my swim lead up, Iād change nothing there.
Cycling? Again, Iād change nothing.
Apart from losing my bottle at 15km and staying with the group. Iād stop and pick that up.
Iād also stay with the peloton who went past me on the last lap. They all rode 5:05ish. Seem to have put 10mins into me over the last 70km 
I didnāt read the race information properly and assumed the aid stations would be the same as 2010-2012.
They werenāt. I think there were two, which were bloody miles apart
Run? Hmmā¦Iād run more frequently, but shorter. Like 2-3km after riding. Also do some hills for strength work and some double run days to run on tired legs. Would also pepper in some faster stuff (4:00/km ish) just for the stress.
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Yep, something to build towards. Our top squad Monday staple is 40 x 100 off 1.25 holding ~1.10, generally they find it easy, one of them said he could easily do 60. Get them doing 10 x 400 holding ~4.40 off 5.40 and theyād find it harder. Partly concentration goes around 250m in so form drops and the extra effort to overcome this takes its toll.
I would add that a straight swim of ~ 45mins, just settling into a rhythm, focus on form, is a decent thing to set a benchmark from. OW or LCM. Bit too dependant on turns SCM though
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For someone who struggles to put 4 or 5 100m/1.55 efforts together in a session, Iām very impressed. 
If only surfing was part of Ironman, Iād have something to add. 
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Erm, isnāt that a thing in Oz?
Ironman = surf lifesaving?
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Did I ever mention the time I won a bronze medal at the British Surf Lifesaving Champs?!
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haha yeas it is. It becomes confusing, so I rarely mention it it but what they do isnāt surfing. Anyway, point being, youāre all FO fast swimmers compared to me!
Iād let him prove that 
unless heās a sub 4 400 swimmer? Think one of my best was 30x100 on 1:30 averaged ~59.2 I think.
Fair, I think 9:30 a good target, but harsh of me to suggest you āshouldā have broken it if race day have gone as planned.
IIRC You were a nailed on 1 hour swim, rode 5:14, and everything seemed like you were doing very easy ong runs to suggest a 3:20 marathon? Certainly seem to think you were running better than I was when I ran 3:19.
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I coached the session, some may have slipped out to 1.12 but all off 1.25. (33.3m pool) . Iām not sure on the 60 comment although it was after a 2k āwarm upā.
Sorry I misread, I thought he meant 60s per 100. Yes thatās much more reasonable!
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Yeah think I like this. I was doing regular 3km commutes to work just as a way of trying to get extra time on feet, rather than long runs, and nearly everything was 4:40-5:10min pace with maybe one run every 2-3 weeks of some 1ks at 10km to 1/2m pace.
I do a fair bit more than that now though, would like to keep some short reps like I recently talked about on with ejc, even if just strides or lower stress activation type stuff (eg 200-400s not all out but 1k pace type thing)
Yep, and that experience comes from practice - initially in O/W tests but subsequently in competitionā¦
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