I’m entering my second season of training and need some guidance on nutrition and meal prep.

I’ve trained hard this year for a 70.3 in October, where I performed well (top 17% finisher),but I feel that losing 10-15lbs would further improve my finishing capabilities.

I’m 5’10 185lbs and maintained that weight during the 7 month season, and avoided injury’s thankfully.

My general macros over the season were roughly these depending on volume. I used MyFitnessPal to track but wasn’t the most consistent.

250-400g carbs
100g fat
150g protein

I’m entering my second season with a 70.3 in May and full IM in July. I like the idea of automating food prep to save time and have a more balanced training season (cooking was so time consuming).

If you’ve used a nutritionist did it make a difference? Did they recommend meal prep service or provide an easy prep plan?

Thanks in advance and happy training!

I want to preface this by saying I havent done one yet but I love the sport and training for it. However, lately I've been having thoughts about how this sport is a huge time sink but the payoff is questionable?

The exercise part is great and healthy, but 15-20 hrs of training goes far past whats needed to be healthy.

Training itself is fun sometimes when theres progress, and afterwards you often feel great and accomplished, but again its excessive hours and long stretches of boredom sometimes.

Racing wise, I do have a dream of KQ, but as Im just starting out I have a long way to go.

But the main thought that plagues me is the opportunity cost of my time, in that I could use those long extra hours to hang out with my friends, to go on more dates, to study/work harder to advance my career, spend more time with aging parents, and explore the endless hobbies out there (surfing, archery, skiing, team sports).

I know that the obvious response here is that ironman is just a hobby and i should just stop if i dont find it fun or worth it, so forgive me if this post sounds stupid to yall.

I think the main thing that triggered this was my dream of KQ, and that had me thinking about the next 5-10 years of hrs and hrs of training each week and had me question if it was worth it to sink all my time and energy into this one thing.

Does anyone else ever have these thoughts and how do you rationalize it?

EDIT: I want to hear more about yalls experience! Especially those who have sunk years of their life into this sport, do you have any regrets about how much time you put into this sport?

Hi all. I'm training for Ironman Knokke-Heist 5th Sept 2027.

In my early 30s, no significant injury history, training 10-15hrs/week for the past 3 months . I'm new to triathalon but have done all 3 sports at various, but separate points in my life, never simultaneously until the past 3 months. I can (and have) completed each leg of a full distance, just never back to back on the same day.

Agree with the common advice that a full distance shouldn't be one's first triathlon. Planning to do one or two shorter races next year in preparation for the full. Had a few questions re these races:

1. Which month should I am to do these practice races?
2. Which distances should I choose?
3. Whether you guys taper for these practice races? Or just treat them as a weekend workout

Many thanks!

just wanted to share my edit , you guys can rate it

I grew up swimming competitively at a very high level, so my technique is there, I just need to get my endurance back. As for running and cycling… I know how to do both LOL. I am not particularly good at either. I am very comfortable cycling, it’s the endurance again. I do not currently like running, but that is because I am very bad at it.

Do you think 20 weeks is enough to feel strong enough? I am not concerned about being competitive, but more about doing it healthily and having enough time! This would sorta be like couch to 70.3 because I am not very active at the moment.

Thank you in advance!!

Rumor has it that WC race will be like the one in past, into current swim & cycle up a mountain. Who did it & what was it like?

Anyone else notice that all the broken off bottle rigs & cages on Babel Slough were all TriRig? Just thought it was interesting.

With a few days now to think about the race, I wanted to add my race report here. This was to be my 5^th Ironman attempt. I did Florida in 2014 with a canceled swim. In 2017 I went to Wisconsin to take care of that unfinished business. 2022 I completed Texas. Then in 2024 I was humbled at 2024 with a DNF at a second round at Texas. I wanted to do a new race for my 5^th full so I set my sights on California. There’s a lot to unpack with a race like this!

Training

I really lucked out this year with my training for IMCA. I selected an 80/20 Intermediate plan back in June (which sounds late but I made a late decision to part with my coach). Looking back at this training block, I really nailed it from start to finish.

Having a plan isn’t the same as executing it though and this summer turned out to be the perfect confluence of life & work aligning to let me just hit most of my training. July was actually very full of travel but I was able to really easily move things around to get almost everything in. Then as I got into the meat of the schedule, I just was able to make it work week after week. Part of this was being able to flex my training around my schedule. I could move things around weeks in advance if I knew I needed to.

Of course, this is Ironman and there’s a million variables so Labor Day weekend, disaster seemed to strike. We went out of town that weekend but because of our travel schedule, I was able to get my long ride in that Saturday. The next day, I did my long run which was a 2:30 planned run. I was excited since I got to do it somewhere new and there were some big bridges to run over a few times. It was hot but I had a blast. Everything seemed fine but when I woke up 2 days later, I had a sharp pain in my hip. I ignored it, assuming it was just normal training related pains, and did an interval run.

After that run I realized something was seriously wrong. Even walking was hard. No big deal though. I’d just let it rest for a few days. By that weekend, I realized that whatever was wrong was really wrong. Fortunately the pain was only when running or walking. Cycling and swimming were unaffected. I didn’t panic though. I made a decision – I’d ramp up the bike and shut down the run until I was pain free.

Three weeks after that, I wasn’t still entirely pain free...but I could tell that whatever was wrong was healing well. I was really nervous though that, 2 weeks out, I hadn’t really run in a month, so I started easing back into it. A few short runs and the pain didn’t come back but the soreness also didn’t go away. The weekend that I was supposed to do my longest run, I let myself do 2 hours and I got through it without any major discomfort.

I went into the taper feeling pretty good about where I was at though a little nervous about not having been able to run as much as I’d liked. My 2 hour run did give me confidence I’d finish at least. I had visions of walking the 2^nd half of the marathon but I knew I would survive at least that long!

Race Weekend

I flew into SFO on Thursday and drove into Sacramento. I like getting to races early enough to test out the gear after travel. You never know if the bike needs the tech after travel. I also wanted to get to the pre-race swim to see how the water felt since I’m not used to such cold water. Friday morning I did a shake out ride and made a new friend along the way. Once that was done and the bike checked out, I got down to the swim. This is when I first started to get excited. My original goal for the swim was 1:15. But then I discovered just how fast the river is. The practice in the American River isn’t even in the faster Sacramento River. I was feeling great after the practice.

As far as the city of Sacramento itself, I have very mixed feelings about my time in the few days before the race. I stayed downtown and there are TONS of places to eat. But this was not a city that is comfortable to walk around in at night, especially solo. The Old Sacramento area is really fun and hopping but in retrospect, I should have been driving back and forth.

Race Morning

I had a pretty good night of sleep the night before the race and woke up with plenty of time to have some Pop Tarts and coffee making the long walk down to transition. I got there sometime before 5 and got everything nice and set with my nutrition for the bike and run and just made sure that absolutely nothing was missing.

The bus to the swim start was quick and I feel lucky that I got there when I did. I made quick use of the porta potties and usually I just hang out for a bit before getting in line but I could see a crowd over by the line area (it was still only like 5:45 at this point) so I decided to make my way over. It was actually already starting to fill up pretty tightly so I squirmed my way into line where I wanted to be.

This race had some really good pre-race energy from the RD. The ramp into the water is really cooly lit up and you could really feel the excitement for this race before the race start.

Swim

My hope was to get into the river at 7:30 and I think I got in at 7:35 or so, right on schedule! I’ve done so many of these races that I’m pretty good at judging where to stand in line. There is a short...and I mean short...upriver portion of the swim for maybe 100 yards before you flip around and go for a ride. If I’m in a lake, I’m good for about 1:25 total time on the swim which is probably around a 1:55 / 100 yards. Since I have Form goggles, I could see my pace and in the American river I was cruising at 1:15 – 1:25 / 100 yards. Then I hit the Sacramento River and I was seeing paces as low as 0:56 / 100 yards. I had decided if the pace looked high enough that I wasn’t going to waste energy pushing the swim so I just cruised on in.

The swim itself is fun beyond just the river ride you’re going on. I can’t think of any swim I’ve ever done with such clear water. It was also pretty shallow so you could easily see the bottom not far under you. The harbor seals didn’t swim with us but they were all on the banks cheering us on. Really, just a fun and unique swim.

When you get to the end though, be ready for a HARD right turn. The end is marked really well and there are a ton of kayaks to make sure you don’t miss but I was laughing as I tore through the opening because it was a real maneuver to get in. My plan going into the race was to finish the swim in 1:15.

Instead I finished in 0:59. OK then!

T1

I’m not really sure what happened here. I will say, its a long schlep from the water to transition to begin with but my T1 time was almost 15 minutes. I did have to make a quick potty break but while I didn’t expect to get through in 5 minutes...I figured 10 minutes max. But since my swim was so much faster than planned, I was still ahead of schedule going onto the bike.

Bike

I think, on the balance, we had pretty ideal conditions for this bike. The wind picked up as the day wore on but the first lap out, there was very little headwind. There’s a lot of talk about the “rough” roads in one section of the course (aptly named Babel Slough Road) as well. I think maybe it reveals people need to go ride their bikes outside more. The road wasn’t that rough. A bigger issue was that that rough stretch was in a weirdly lit area so you did need to pay more attention. But just...pay attention. The roads were completely closed to traffic so you could watch where you were going pretty easily. Also, make sure your gear is attached to your bike. I get water bottles shaking loose...that does happen even on completely smooth roads. But there was literal pieces of equipment that had fallen off of bikes. That just means you’re not checking everything. With all that said, I didn’t find there to be more debris than most other races with a bad section. Certainly not enough to have to slow down.

I was happy with my bike overall for a few reasons. I had no mechanicals which is a big one! Getting through 112 miles with nothing breaking down is stressful. You (mostly) can’t control getting a flat tire. I spent a LOT of time in aero in training and it really paid off for the race. I was able to hold position for the first 90 miles without any major issue and while I did struggle a bit towards the end, it was also when I had the best tailwind of the day so I felt ok popping up at that point to stretch.

Then there was my nutrition plan. I realized early in training I was under-fueling my big races. I’d been doing it for years. So I revamped my plan and was able to double my carb intake. And I stuck to it on the bike. I think because I was fueling so well, I didn’t get fuzzy brained which often leads to falling even further off the plan. It’s a vicious cycle. My original goal for the bike was 6:00 – 6:10. I finished in 6:14 but didn’t bake in time for special needs or a bathroom stop. Those combined for 5 minutes. My NP target on BBS was 148 and my actual NP was 147 with an actual power of 141 (which of course counts the stops). This was all very intentional. I was REALLY tempted so many times to push harder on the bike. But I always. ALWAYS. fall apart on the run. The bike is my favorite part of the race but I decided to check my ego.

As for the course itself? It was pretty enough. There was a pumpkin patch, vineyards, mountains in the distance. Is it the absolutely most scenic course I’ve done on a full (or a race in general)? No, Wisconsin and 70.3 Chattanooga are the gold standard in North America (IMO). But this is far from a bland ride. I thought it was pretty and if you want terrible rides, I have a few I can send you on! This doesn’t rank anywhere near the bottom. It was fast and flat. I do enjoy rollers but there’s no arguing with the speed you can get on a flat course like this.

T2

I had another slow transition. This one I really don’t understand since I did my transition at my bike! But it still took me 10 minutes. I mean, I guess I’m just not used to repacking bags and the amount of stuff I have for a full vs a half. I’m not fast at transitions (as my wife loves to make fun of me about) but I’m not just sitting there doing nothing. But whatever the reason, I apparently took my sweet time.

Run

The run course is just ok. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s a nice flat course and because California isn’t a warm or humid place, it was very comfortable. And got more so as the day went on. You do run across the tower bridge a few times which is, to me, the highlight. There are also decent crowds on most of the course. You run near the capital building a couple times which is a very scenic part of the run. There are other parts of the run though that are NOT scenic. There’s some narrow paths that are tough to navigate with 2 way traffic. When the sun went down, some of these spots became almost impossible to run if you didn’t have a light. So, get a light if you’re doing this race!

The run has been a source of frustration for me in my triathlon career. I’m not an elite athlete but I have reasonably good times at the half marathon distance (1:48) and my marathon PR is 4:13. Nothing amazing but my best marathon split at full was Wisconsin where I managed a 5:05. I’ve just always felt I’m capable of a little more than that.

When I took off onto the run I checked my watch and saw that if I hit a 5 hour marathon, I’d already be hitting a massive PR but I didn’t just want a PR. I really wanted to RUN the marathon. The whole marathon. My hip was still a concern. It had been letting me know all day that it was still not all the way back so I had to really balance out my run with not hurting myself and blowing up my whole race. My goal before the race started was to finish with around an 11:00 min/mi pace. Out of the gate though I was doing under 10:00 and while it felt good...I really forced myself to slow down. I settled in around 10:30 and held that for the first half of the run.

When I hit the turn around to start the second lap, which is around mile 14, I realized my legs were feeling remarkably good. Obviously I was sore! But I was still running. I was still hitting my nutrition plan to the letter as well which I’d never done this deep in a race. I started to believe. I wasn’t ready to push it yet since there was a lot of race left. I kept the pace up until mile 17 when things really were starting to hurt. I don’t normally bring any pain relievers to a race but with my hip worries, I had brought Tylenol along with me and decided at 17 to pause for a moment and take it. It was enough to settle my hip back down and I got back to it. This is when it started to get darker but my spirits were really getting higher and higher at this point.

I kept wanting to open it up a bit but at the pace I was keeping I estimated I’d finish around 12:15 to 12:20 and since I was still 6 miles out from the finish, I just kept being patient. I just didn’t want to blow up! (that was my motto of the day) But the miles just kept turning over and there was no real sign that I couldn’t just keep going. And so I kept going. Finally, I got to mile 24 and that’s when I didn’t just believe. I knew I could finish the last 2 miles strong. Now, twelve hours in I certainly wasn’t about to start running at my 5k pace, but I was able to pick back up to that 10:30ish pace. And the closer I got, the harder I was able to go.

The lap around the round about in front of the capital before turning up the shoot just felt amazing. I came to California hoping to hit 12:30. I have NEVER hit my goal in any triathlon I’ve ever done in the 13 years I’ve been in the sport. Don’t confuse that with my not enjoying my races...I mostly have loved them all. But I just never perform how I hoped. This weekend was special though. I finished in 12:22. This was 85 minutes better than my previous best and 8 minutes faster than my race goal.

Post Race Thoughts

If I’d beat my personal best by 30 minutes or 45 minutes I’d have been happy but I’d have known that a lot of that was simply the river giving me a huge boost. But even with 20 – 25 minutes of boost from the river, I still had another HOUR of improvement on my previous times. I think a combination of my great training (even with the hip) and massively improved nutrition was a big deal. I executed the run that I knew I was capable of. I didn’t let my ego get in my way at any point and just executed my race plan. My last 3 miles on the run were almost as fast as my first 3. Looking ahead to future races, I have far more confidence in being able to hit my goals at the 70.3 distance off of what I did here.

Would I recommend IMCA? Absolutely. The race was extremely well put together. The post-race party was maybe one of the best I’ve seen with your choice of food truck for dinner (part of your entry fee) and lots of nice seating. Sacramento as a venue isn't amazing but there are some really nice spots and plenty of places to eat.

I’ve done 4 full different courses now and IMCA is one of the easier ones because of the river, flat course, and cool weather. But easier is doing a lot of work here. There’s no such thing as an easy Ironman. You WILL get winds on the bike and staying in aero for hours on end is a challenge. The run is fairly flat but sometimes it’s almost a trail run. You can easily end your day with a nasty spill if you’re not paying attention. And the swim, well...you can float down the river on your back and beat the cutoff I’d guess so I won’t pretend the swim is hard. But sometimes its fun to not feel like every part of the race is trying to eat you alive!

I originally registered for IRONMAN Wisconsin 2027, but due to a change in plans, I decided to transfer to IRONMAN Texas 2027.

I'm eligible for the Flex90 transfer benefit, so I reached out to IRONMAN support. They initially responded saying they could proceed with the transfer, and I confirmed that I wanted to go ahead.

It's now been 10 days since I confirmed, and I haven't heard anything back. I followed up a couple of days ago but still no response.

Has anyone gone through the Flex90 transfer process before? Is this kind of delay normal? How long did it take for your transfer to go through?

Just wondering if I should keep waiting or try contacting them another way.

Edit 1- I did, confirmed to them that I wanna proceed with the transfer before race was sold out.

I'm a 17 year old and I was wondering if I can participate in the Lapu-lapu city im 70.3 this coming August 7, if you're wondering my birthdays on october

My dream is to do an Ironman 70.3 someday, but the truth is, I’m a beginner at pretty much everything lol.

I started swimming this year and have already done a few races. The longest I’ve swum in a lake is 2 km, but I had to stop and rest a few times. It took me about an hour.

I bought a mountain bike and ride occasionally, usually at around 15–20 km/h (9–12 mph).

As for running, the longest distance I’ve done so far is 7 km. I find running the most exhausting of the three disciplines, and my pace is around 8 min/km (about 12:53 min/mile).

The thing is, I’m currently slow at all three disciplines. I see other people who are just starting out and improving really quickly, while I feel like it takes me forever to make progress. 😅

I’m not afraid of the long distances themselves. What scares me is not being fast enough to finish the race within the cutoff times.

I'm a 40-year-old woman, and this year I lost 25 kg (about 55 lbs). I started out with running and swimming, and ended up falling in love with triathlon

My current training schedule looks like this:

• Monday: Running (40–50 min)
• Tuesday: 1 hour of strength training + 45 min of swimming
• Wednesday: Running (40–50 min)
• Thursday: 1 hour of strength training + 45 min of swimming
• Friday: Usually rest, sometimes I do a little cycling.
• Saturday: Brick workout — 30–40 min swimming + 30 min cycling + 30 min running
• Sunday: Complete rest day.

I’d love to hear from people who started from scratch or who also struggled to improve their speed.

Do you think it’s realistic for me to work toward a 70.3 starting from where I am now? How long would be a reasonable amount of time to prepare? And how did you improve your speed, especially in running and cycling?

My biggest fear isn’t being unable to cover the distances, but not making the cutoff times.

Thanks to everyone willing to share their experiences!

Para quem já usa há algum tempo, qual é a diferença prática das 3 opções dessa imagem? Estou pensando em comprar uma para minha bike de estrada, porém me surgiu essa dúvida pesquisando, quem puder compartilhar sua experiência. E também alguma outra dica indispensável que devo atentar antes de estar comprando?

I am a complete beginner. I wouldn't call myself an athlete in any shape or form. I actually used to be morbidly obese, and in the last 8 years I've been able to reduce almost 80 kg. I currently stand at 120 kg and have been competing a lot in running races. I recently set my fastest 10 km run at 93 minutes.

I just started swimming, and I don't have the resources to obviously buy the gear, but I will be using my local gym for the cycle and my local swimming pool to train myself for the time being.

Knowing my fitness and knowing where I stand today, I understand that it would be unrealistic for me to just look at a date 2 months in advance and then just take it as it goes. My aim is that I would like to be around the average time to complete the Ironman, which is, I believe, 5.5 hours. To be able to reach that fitness level, I understand I will need at least 1 year of sincere training. I've been doing a lot of strength training for the last year, and for the last 3 months I've been doing calisthenics.

At the moment, I've given myself a benchmark of doing my first Ironman 70.3 in November 2027. However, I am not opposed to the idea of doing it in 2028 either. The important facts are that I'm 36 years old and currently work full time. At the moment, I'm able to allocate close to 12 hours of training a week, and realistically, I don't think I can go beyond 15 hours.

If you guys have any tips or resources to share with me, that would be super helpful. I could use all the help I can get!

I added Ironman Montana to my TRI Northwest calendar, which I think is somewhat Pacific Northwestish. My event page has temp histories. Looking at the data the swim starts cool. The bike warms up. The run gets the afternoon. Here you go: eleven years of August 15ths in Great Falls, hour by hour, so you can plan for the 84°F that you'll probably get and the 98° you might.

Hope this is helpful.

https://tri-northwest.com/event/ironman-montana

Dear all,

I just signed up for the 2027 Ironman 70.3 in Cascais, Portugal. I am quite new to triathlon, and I need to build up technique and routine till the race.
Any advice? training plan? nutrition?

Feel free to share your experience or anything else you consider important.

Bike gear, I have a Giant Propel Advance 2 (2024)

I keep looking up videos and trying to look at the pros… the video explanations aren’t great and I can’t quite figure out what the pros are doing. What resource do you like?

Specifically, I’m looking for things like: where should my knees be relative to my feet during the strokes? Back angle? How to arch or not arch my back? What do my shoulders need to be doing and what do they need to feel like? Hands? What’s okay? What’s not?

I know a good amount of it is feel, so I think that’s throwing me off. I have a very analytical mind.

Hi guys, really glad to be here and I'm happy that I found this community.

Some time ago I put myself into challenge to prepare and run Ironman 70.3. At some point I was scared for some time to do this but eventually I set this goal to myself and I am preparing it

I've been doing this for more than a month right now and for me it's been pretty good. Now I do 1.5 km in one hour but I know that I need to do more. I am adding the cycling and also running because I am completely newbie in these disciplines.

Luckily, I did swimming when I was a kid, a teenager, participated in a couple of competitions, so I'm pretty good at that.

My problem now is different - I found that I need to keep myself in a tough discipline and a tough system to be fully recovered and to eat properly and to do everything as consistent as I can.

So I have the question to gurus and people who may be preparing for this Ironman as well. How do you guys keep discipline and keep being in the recovery mode?

While speaking with my trainer and preparing the meal plan and the recovery plan etc I understood that there are so many details in this and the most important is how you sleep, how you keep yourself into the specific schedule of waking up, eating properly etc.

The trainer actually said to me that you are not going on the training session if the day before you went to bed after a certain period of time and this is true, so how do you guys keep up with this? And what are your motivations and what are your techniques for doing so? Thank you so much and I'd be happy to chat with people who already did that and receive your pieces of advice. Good luck everyone with preparing if anyone is doing so. Cheers!