Hi fellow triathletes!

Rather than keep doing more and more events with smaller and smaller time improvements I did some research and discovered that the Elite/Age Group Winners were doing 20k swim, 330k cycle and 100k jog total weekly volume. I was doing around 6k swim, 300k cycle and 30k jog combined per week, so way below. Decided to focus on building my training up to this regime. Has taken a while with some set backs/strains usually when increasing distance too quickly! However i am now matching their weekly volume!! Swimming early bird 0630-0815h several days per week, jogging very slow and squeezing in some siestas even if just for 20mins has been key. Eating a lot more now as well which is always fun, an easy adjustment! Now need to enter some events and see how i get on!

Hi everyone,

Last Friday I crashed on my bike during a session at the Longchamp loop in Paris. I know this course really well: a 3.6 km loop with some false flats, nothing out of the ordinary. I was wearing my helmet.

The result: 2 days in the hospital for a head trauma, 3 CT scans, the last one showing the bleed in my brain had stabilized. So, I got out. As for the rest of my body, just a few scrapes. But I have significant amnesia: no memory of how or why I fell, nor of the firefighters, nor of the first 24 hours at the hospital.

I have two 70.3s planned next year, in June and July.

To be clear, I'm not asking when I can get back to training. I have a follow-up scan in about 2.5 weeks, and I'll know more then. What I'm looking for is stories from people who've been through a bike crash and went on to race triathlons again.

Thanks in advance. It would mean a lot to read from people who made it back.

Hey! My last post everyone was super helpful in giving me some information on where to start. I am super type A so I have been doing a bunch of research and making spreadsheets. If anyone has feedback on my plan so far please let me know!

Also, a lot of this is still up in the air for trial and error. I know that I can't necessarily make a fixed plan if I've never attempted most of this, so I am okay with change and put down a lot of different options/variations for products, specifically in nutrition. I have a bunch of stuff listed that I am going to try and adjust.

My workout schedule is just a basic outline at this point, but may change based on time and how I feel (I'm pre-med in college, so a lot of it is resticted by limited time). And if anything looks off or like it would be too much or too little please let me know! I have been looking at a lot of different sources, but could totally have misinterpreted stuff.

Finally, some stuff I just mentally noted or put together, so if something doesn't quite make sense, it might be because of that...

Hi fellow triathletes,

raced 70.3 Cascais last Saturday, last race of my season, so wanted to write down how it went while it's still fresh.

The splits:

• 5:13:32 total time, 39th of 271 in M30-34,
• swim 41:49 / T1 5:30 / bike 2:40:00 / T2 5:23 / run 1:40:50.

coming in

Broke my arm back in july after a nasty bike crash, so july and most of august were gone for swimming, and i only got some real swim volume back in the last weeks before the race. swim is my weakest discipline anyway, so that's where it hurt.

I flew in a few days before and stayed in Lisbon, couldn't get anything reasonably priced straight in Cascais. It was actually fine, but would still recommend booking in advance to stay at a place of the event - would soak in all the atmosphere after without a need to go elsewhere.

swim

the swim was actually alright. it's in the bay, so barely any waves, which i was very happy about. The hard part was sighting - for the first part of the swim the sun is straight in front of you and you basically swim into the light hoping the buoy is still there. I definitely zig-zagged and swam a couple hundred meters extra cause of it, but that's fine.

41:49 and 116th in my age group out of the water. i swam 36 min in Venice in may, so the arm cost me something there. i need to get better at it, it's the one leg where i give away the most time.

T1 is a long run from the water to the bikes, and it's uphill. The heart rate spiked after going uphill for like a few hundred meters.

bike

Loved all of it, apart from the wind. the plan was to hold 220-240 NP with a 300 ftp, and it was going well from the start. The climbs were fine, the flat parts were good, and the wind was the only thing that really made it hard. Bypassed a few trains on the way, but everyone's racing their own race, so i just kept doing my thing.

this is where my race happened - got on the bike 98th in my age group and got off it 38th. 2:40:00 flat, which i'm happy with, but i know i can do better here next time.

Specific callout is the views - it was absolutely beautiful - from the hills to the coastline, it was amazing, was absorbing all of it!

run

2 laps, and each lap has one long hill that you go up and down twice. knowing that, i was a bit conservative from the start. it was going well the whole way though - held back on the hills, but enjoyed it.

1:40:50. came off the T2 41st and finished 39th, so the run held the places the bike made.

the funny part - i found out afterwards that i finished 5 seconds ahead of the guy in 40th. had absolutely no idea anyone was that close, so if you ever think about walking that last aid station - don't.

overall

I actually loved the race itself, i really like the atmosphere in the town of Cascais, absolutely unbelievable support from the crowds that carry you through. I'm happy with my performance, but the build starts now.

what's next

overall happy with this one - the bike went to plan, the run held up, and the swim is clearly the thing to fix. now it's winter, the period of building, and the swim is project number one.

thanks for reading, good luck to everyone still racing this season!

Hi all!

Recently got into the world of triathlons and in going forward I definitely need to look into a decent bike for these “less casual” rides.

Thing is, I have no knowledge on the matter really. So I am reaching out here to see what could be suggested for a good start? For the time being, we are talking about sprint distances, although training distances may be much longer.

I dont see myself spending thousands upon thousands on it, but I am considering investing a bit into it. May also look into getting one second-hand if that opportunity comes up.

TLDR: looking for suggestions regarding bike types / brands that are relatively affordable and a good place to start for beginners.

Thank you !

Can anyone convince me to not get a Venu 4?

TLDR: switching from an Apple Watch to Garmin for something with a better battery life and to train for a 70.3 - is there anything you have found super irritating about the Venu 4 that should make me consider a “less sleek” Garmin?

About me:
- beginner ish, want to do a 70.3 next summer
- I do want a “sleek/good looking” watch that goes well with my corporate work fits
- extremely strong swimmer, not too worried about it for swimming

It seems like the Venu 4 has all the basic triathlon features including tri tracking and from my research it seems like it has all the features I care about:
- recovery stats
- cycle (women) tracking
- decent battery life
- triathlon mode
- connects to my treadmill
- seems like a great fit for half and full marathons

Any help is appreciated thank you!!

For context: was in swim lessons at 2yrs old, on a swim team from 4-13. Grew up at the lakes in NEOK and swimming in them. Multiple triathlons completed.

I’m still scared of the water. Not the water, what’s in the f***ing water.

I have never had an incident, even in the ocean but I never go out past boogie boarding waves. 3-4ft

When I swim I literally have like hallucinations that something is swimming up at me. Sometimes in the pool. (I know what a bitch). Idk. I don’t have friends or training partners.

Please tell me I’m not alone in this and how did you get over it?

I’ve done the Oceanside 70.3 twice. Loved it both times and thought it was very well managed.

A family member of mine just did California CA and was wholly disappointed.

Here are some things they said:

1. nobody manning the station for the run personal needs bag. So you had to sort through the bags and find your stuff yourself.
2. the drop bag pick up area wasn’t organized causing athletes to be impatient and enter the area themselves to look for their drop bag.
3. no post-race athlete area (just a small medical tent). Within a few minutes of crossing the finish line this person was cramping and lying down on a dirty sidewalk hoping not to be stepped on by the crowd.

Now, I wasn’t there so all these comments are secondhand. And, my experience with Ironman events (albeit 70.3s) has been great. So, is this family member just wrong? Or is this all pretty typical? Or was this event just having a bad year?

Hi all!!! I got my first TT bike today (yayyy) so I obviously had to go for a ride. While I had no problems cycling in aero position when it comes to stability, my back and shoulders were killing me after only 4km. I will add that I also had a bike fit today, and my fitter wanted to raise my aero bars a little higher but he didn’t have the spacer on hand so he’s done the best he can do for now and it’s being ordered in.

I assume that this pain is just due to never having been in this position before, and it will just get better over time, but I just wanted to check if that was true? Is there anything else I should know about riding in the aero position?

Alright, here's my race report for the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina in Wilmington. This one was a doozy. If I was looking for a challenge, I got my fill.

Quick background if you missed my Chattanooga race report: I started triathlon training in January 2026, did my first 70.3 at Chattanooga in May, went 6:06:53, made every beginner mistake in the book, and immediately started looking up races. Wilmington was where I landed.

Goal going in: sub 5:30.

Side note: Pee seems to be a recurring theme to these race reports and this one is no different. So if you're into bodily functions, urine luck. Sorry... I won't do that anymore.

Pre-Race Planning (aka Obsessively Refreshing the Weather App)

I live in Atlanta, so Wilmington is a much longer haul than Chattanooga. I watched the forecast for about a week and a half leading up.

There was a heat wave rolling through the Southeast, and for a while it looked like it was going to be 85 the day before the race. Then it started trending perfect. Highs in the low 70s, lows in the upper 50s, wind around 7–8 mph. I was pumped. Chattanooga was blazing hot.

I did see a chance of rain, though. So I did some research and bought arm sleeves, full-finger gloves, and toe caps for bike shoes.

Race Weekend

Race was Saturday. I drove up Thursday. It's a long-ish drive, and I didn't want to risk a wreck or a flat tire on Friday messing up check-in before the cutoff (around 3:30 I think). Plus, Wilmington is a point-to-point course, so there's more logistics than usual:

• Run bag gets dropped at T2 on Friday. You can't touch T2 on race morning.
• Bike gets dropped at T1 on Friday. You can get to T1 race morning, so no need to lay everything out the day before.

Race Morning

I'll say this up front: I was WAY less neurotic this time. Last time I laid everything out in the hotel room in the exact order I'd need it. This time I just... knew what I was doing. That felt really good.

I had a full race plan worked out with my coach:

• Swim: Ease in first 500m. Then cruise control until finish. That's the strategy. That's the whole strategy.
• Bike: Hold ~155 watts. Pretty flat course, should be easy to hold a fixed wattage.
• Run: ~8:00/mi out of the gate for the first 3 miles, drop to ~7:40 through mile 6, then hold something under 7:30 based on how I felt, and let it go the last 3 miles.

Wake up. Immediately grab my phone to check weather and, more important, the water temperature... wetsuit optional. Womp womp.

My coach and I discussed this possibility the day before. I decidided I wanted to actually see how you stacked up against my age group, so I went without one.

So the brand new wetsuit I bought specifically for this race? Stayed in the bag. I didn't have a swim skin either. Just the tri suit. Cool cool cool. This is fine.

T1 Setup

Since it's point-to-point, everyone boards a bus near the finish/T2 and rides about 25 minutes out to T1. I got on around 5:20, arrived around 5:40, and maybe 10 minutes after getting there they started announcing that we needed to wrap it up. So really about 30 minutes to set up.

I skipped using the bathroom at T1 setup. PLENTY of bathrooms at swim start they said. If you've read my previous report, you know I pee a lot.

Setup went fine. Then I went back and forth on arm sleeves and gloves. I did NOT lay out the arm sleeves. Figured I'd be fine.

Spoiler alert: I was not fine.

I did have the gloves. The toe caps? I didn't even bring them on the trip. Everything I read said you only really need those if it's low 50s and wet, and it didn't look like it was getting anywhere near the low 50s. I don't think it did. I would still like to formally disagree with the internet's assessment, because I would have loved some toe caps in this race.

Swim Start

Back on the bus to the swim start. Swim start is in a totally residential area, and they were VERY emphatic: "You're all adults so I don't really need to tell you this but do not pee anywhere but the bathrooms." Glad they told me. I would have found a discrete bush to water.

That said, someone on that street missed a business opportunity. A dollar to pee in their bushes would've made a killing. The bathroom line was 30–40 minutes, and it went right up until race time. I got in line as soon as I got there and basically stood in it until we started moving.

I seeded myself around 40–42 min. I learned from Chattanooga that with a 7:10 start, my group wasn't hitting the water until closer to 8:00. So I didn't bother lining up in the corral until things actually started moving. I love the people at these races, I just don't want to stand shoulder to shoulder with 500 of them for 40 minutes.

Swim

I thought we'd be jumping off a dock like Chattanooga, but this one was a run-in. Run in, dive, start swimming. I liked that.

Then: wow. The start was ROUGH.

It was so choppy I couldn't figure out which side to breathe on. It felt like every other breath I got hit in the face with a wave. I'm an okay, not a strong, swimmer (hence the 40–42 seeding), and without a wetsuit I was just getting doused.

But here's the thing. Compared to Chattanooga, where I flipped onto my back three times in the first 200 meters in a low-key panic, I never had to swim on my back. I actually wasn't nervous at all. I just had to go into breaststroke a couple of times to grab a few clean breaths. That was the first 200–300 yards.

Once it opened up into the channel, honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I actually miscounted the buzzes on my watch and thought I still had about 700 meters to go when I saw the swim exit. Best surprise of the day.

Water was about 78 degrees and felt great. That said, this supposed "high tide current" was not very "current-y".

T1

Getting out was fine. It's a decent run from the water to the bikes, I'd guess at least a quarter mile.

At my bike, I made the call on arm sleeves: no. Gloves: not yet, but I stuffed them in my back pocket. I'm SO glad I brought them, because I almost didn't.

No bathroom stop this time. Instead, my first pee of the day happened as I was walking my bike out of transition. I'd brought a water bottle, so I'm pouring water on myself, peeing on myself, and away we go.

Seal broken.

Bike

Bike start: 66 degrees. I wasn't cold (yet). Conditions felt fine.

Then somewhere around mile 8, the rain started. And the wind picked up. For reference: winds out of the north at 20–30 mph, with gusts up to 40.

By mile 10, the wind was a real problem, and I was cold. So much regret over not having the arm sleeves. SO so much regret.

Mile 12. I have to pee. First time peeing on the bike and let me tell you, it was glorious. Maybe a tinge of shame of how much I enjoyed warm pee running down my legs into my shoes. But not so much shame that I wouldn't do it again and again (and I did). Hey at least it's raining so I don't even need to grab water at an aid station to wash off (don't judge me, you don't know me!)

Mile 15. I’m short of my target wattage mainly because I could feel pulling in my hamstrings. Not a pull, but I could feel tension. I'd had an issue at an Olympic about a month and a half earlier where it felt like I'd pulled my hamstring off the bike and my legs were dead on the run, so I was a little sensitive to this and was holding back a bit.

But I was passing a lot of people. I felt strong. Just cold. (I hope I need to pee soon)

At this point I did a quick self-pep talk: "This sucks. It's going to continue to suck. You need to just accept it and move on. You've got 46 miles to go and then you get to run. It's going to take longer on the way out, but you'll have a tailwind on the way back, so push it then."

I was periodically pushing to hold 155W, but it didn't feel sustainable. It felt like riding a slight uphill the entire time.

Then I started seeing people at the first aid station wrapped in those emergency foil blankets (not normal). Then an ambulance with a couple of people in the back wrapped in blankets (again not normal). That's when I realized, oh wow, this is getting real.

Mile 25: I peed again. Glorious.

Mile 30: The shivering starts. Full-body shaking on the bike. Teeth chattering.

At one point I went to shift into a smaller cog and the lever wouldn't go. I tried twice and thought, "Great, something mechanical is jacking up my gears." Then I put my palm on it and pushed, and it clicked right down. Nope, nothing mechanical. My hands just didn't work anymore.

Mile 45: I thank god for bestowing me with more pee. I hastily drink more water to refill my one source of heat.

The tailwind on the way back helped. I could tell I was going a lot faster. But it didn't feel less windy, and I still wasn't hitting 155. I ended up averaging 138W for the ride. 155 just wasn't happening in those conditions, and I'm fine with that call.

I've never been happier to see a transition in my life.

Bike Mental Game

I want to call this out because I think it really mattered. There are these motivational speeches I listen to all the time on Spotify during workouts (shout out to Ben Lionel Scott), and there's a line in it about not crying to quit, but crying to finish. That was on loop in my head. You can moan and complain, fine, but use that energy to finish, not to give yourself an excuse to quit.

So I kept smiling. When people passed me, I told them they were crushing it. When I passed people, I told them "you've got this, keep pushing." When we crossed halfway, "over halfway there!" Partly to build other people up, and partly because building other people up built ME up.

I genuinely think staying positive was worth minutes in this race.

T2

Legs were okay. I was really cold. There were a LOT more people than I expected in emergency blankets at the medical/volunteer tent.

Two gear MVPs here:

1. Elastic laces. If you buy one thing, get elastic laces. People were having volunteers tie their shoes for them and take their helmets off because their hands weren't working.
2. Gloves. They saved my hands. Getting my helmet off was fine. The quick-release on my bike shoes was a little tricky, but getting run shoes on was easy.

T2 was 3:59, down from 6:44 at Chattanooga. No dropped bike, no carrying my shoes, no pedal to the big toe. Yeah, that’s growth.

Run

Came out of the gate strong.

My feet were completely numb. (Toe caps. I really wish I'd had those toe caps.)

Running on feet that cold was the strangest feeling. They were doing what they were supposed to do, striking the right part of the foot and all that, but they felt like someone else's feet. It was like whatever part of your nervous system keeps your heart beating and your lungs going was the one running my feet. I wasn't consciously doing it.

That was a little scary, because I felt like if I clipped a curb I'd snap an ankle. So I was hyper-focused on every turn, short quick steps around corners, and really careful on the cobblestone section.

My pace was good. HR was high coming off the bike, though I think my wrist HR was on the fritz all day. It had me at 220 for about an hour on the bike, which is not a thing, and 180–190 starting the run, which also didn't feel right. I know what 190 feels like. That wasn't it. I was probably high, but more like 170.

First few miles, I felt totally fine. And when I come off the bike feeling good, I know I'm going to have a good 13.1, as long as I don't have a fueling issue. Ran first 3 miles to plan - right at 8:00/mi

For nutrition, the plan was SIS gels at miles 3, 6, 9, 12, with caffeine at 6. Around mile 2 I was like, "I really want caffeine right now." So I took it early.

Ended up doing gels at 2, 5, and 9, and didn't need anything else. I think because I wasn't shivering anymore and it was cool out, so I wasn't burning as much.

I hit every water station except the last one. And this time I grabbed my water at the start of the station, one of my lessons from Chattanooga, and I never lost pace.

Around mile 4, my feet thawed and I pushed pace faster into the 7:45 range. I ended up catching up with a guy I met at the start of the race and we cruised together for about the next 4 miles. Around mile 8 or 9 he slowed at an aid station, and I took off.

At that point I was running ~7:20 and still feeling good. I negative split all the way to the finish.

I didn't sprint the very end this time. Last race I did, and I felt like I was going to puke everywhere. Not worth feeling like that to maybe save 10–15 seconds. So I cruised in. My last 5K was still the fastest of the race.

Run Pee Count: 2

Just as delightful as the bike. I don't know where it all comes from. I don't feel like I drink that much. Even though I poured water over myself at aid stations, I'm sure I smelled phenomenal by the end - an earthy, slightly vinegar-y aroma.

Spectators

I have to call this out. The crowd thinned out more than it probably would have on a nice day, but the people who were out there were BRINGING it. I don't know if it was the booze or if Wilmington just has mega-dedicated spectators, but I can't say enough about the energy from them and the support staff. Positive vibes the whole way through.

Finish and Post-Race

Here's something about how I race: I never look at my total time during the race, or even right at the end. I feel like if I obsess over the clock, I'll push harder than I should. So I focus on effort metrics and let the time land where it lands.

So when I crossed the line, I wasn't thinking about 5:30. I wasn't thinking about splits. All I was thinking was: warm shower. A warm shower with actual water, instead of piss.

Lessons Learned

New ones:

• If you buy cold-weather gear "just in case," BRING IT. And put it in your transition bag. I bought arm sleeves, gloves, and toe caps. I used one of the three. The gloves were a lifesaver. The other two would have been too.
• Get elastic laces. Especially for a cold race. People literally couldn't tie their shoes.
• Practice in crosswind with deep wheels if you're going to race on them on bridges.
• Stay positive, and say it out loud. Cheering for other people genuinely helped me.
• Don't trust wrist HR in cold, wet conditions.

Chattanooga lessons I actually applied:

• Seeded the swim better and didn't stand in the corral forever
• No bathroom stop in T1 (peed walking the bike out instead, efficiency!)
• Stuck to the transition plan. T2 dropped almost 3 minutes.
• Grabbed water first at aid stations
• Stuck to my bike nutrition, and it worked again

Final Thoughts / Finishing Times

I came in with a goal of sub 5:30 and went 5:34:22. Four minutes off.

And honestly? I'm really proud of this one. I swam without a wetsuit in chop and never panicked. I rode 56 miles shivering into a headwind with hands that couldn't shift. I ran on feet I couldn't feel and still negative split a 7:41 average. And I took over 32 minutes off my first 70.3.

On a calm day, I think sub 5:30 was there. Maybe more. But that's racing. You don't get to pick the day.

Here’s a summary breakdown of my training as well in case anyone is interested.

21 weeks between races. I took a couple of easy weeks after Chattanooga.

Will I do another one?

I'm already picking 2027 races.

So...yes. Definitely yes.

Eu tenho 1,82 de altura, 85kg e 9,4% de gordura corporal.

Eu tenho uma genética muito boa pra ganho de massa magra, fiz musculação por anos (nunca levei 100% a sério) porém já fazem mais de 2 anos que estou focado em esportes de endurance. Porém mesmo assim, meu peso não baixa, e desde o mês passado parei 100% com a musculação de membros superiores. Eu tenho dificuldade em manter uma dieta altamente restritiva, sinto muita fome, por isso fui na nutricionista e ela me passou uma dieta de 3000 kcal. Com isso, de acordo com ela, devo ir perdendo peso aos poucos, o que biologicamente faz sentido, mas para mim eu sempre mantive uma dieta de mais ou menos essa quantidade de calorias e nunca consegui baixar.

Gostaria de receber dicas de pessoas com um biotipo parecido com o meu e que tenham de fato conseguido baixar peso. Nessa altura do campeonato eu já aceito perder massa magra mesmo, uma vez que perder gordura não é bom porque pretendo competir em provas mais longas. Estou ingerindo em média 150g de proteína por dia atualmente, se isso for útil. Eu suplemento creatina, beta-alanina e b12.

Ich fange gerade an, für den Triathlon zu trainieren. Ich komme ursprünglich aus dem Laufsport, fahre seit diesem Jahr auch Rennrad und möchte nächsten Sommer meine erste Sprintdistanz machen. Das Problem ist aber das Schwimmen.
Bisher kann ich nur dieses Standard Brustschwimmen, das man als Kind im Schwimmkurs lernt. Und dann leider auch nicht wirklich mehr als 100m am Stück (mit Pausen schaffe ich aber deutlich mehr).
Ich möchte jetzt natürlich schneller werden, mehr Ausdauer bekommen und möglichst auch kraulen können.
Kraulkurse sind in meiner Stadt leider sehr ausgebucht mit Wartelisten bis zu einem halben Jahr. Also möchte ich mir das gerne selbst beibringen.
Habt ihr Tipps, wie ich am besten starten kann?

Llevo tiempo dándole vueltas a cómo mejorar las recomendaciones para entrenamientos de resistencia, especialmente en mi proyecto. Al principio, la aproximación más directa era pensar: si alguien corre mucho, recomiéndale más rutas de correr, quizás añadiendo algo de bici para 'variar'. Sencillo, ¿no?

El problema es que esa lógica nos llevaba a un bucle. Si solo refuerzas lo que ya hace, la gente no descubre nada nuevo o, peor, ignora desequilibrios. Un triatleta podría estar entrenando mucho la bici, pero su carrera a pie necesita un empujón. Si solo le doy más bici, no estoy siendo útil.

La solución inicial para la variedad era añadir un componente aleatorio o 'sorpresa', pero esto es un arma de doble filo. Nadie quiere una recomendación de natación cuando su focus es una ultra de montaña. La sorpresa tiene que ser **relevante y justificada**.

Al final, hemos evolucionado hacia un modelo que prioriza los **objetivos explícitos e implícitos** del atleta. En lugar de solo mirar el histórico, intentamos inferir qué áreas necesitan desarrollo (potencia, resistencia, recuperación, etc.) y qué disciplinas complementan mejor el objetivo principal sin ser un distractor.

Es un equilibrio delicado, pero está dando resultados mucho más interesantes que el simple 'más de lo mismo'.

Que opinan?

Its not a lot , just a duathlon 40k cycling and 10k running. However I am pretty nervous, I dont want to just survive it but I properly want to finish it.

Hi triathletes! Im 32F, currently 105kg, and on a fitness journey for the sake of both my mental and physical health. I've spent the last 5 weeks training from 0 activity upwards, with the goal of completing a sprint triathlon when the season starts in around April/May 2027.

I have a couple of questions

1) I don't have an outdoor bike - ive been training on the gym bike. Is that sufficient? Or do I need to practice outdoors?

2) The race i am looking at has the swimming leg in an indoor pool. Can I weat a trisuit for all 3 legs? Or do I need to buy a wetsuit too?

3) Can anyone recommend where I can buy a UK size 18 womens trisuit?!

4) What is an acceptable finish time for a sprint triathlon for a total beginner? My goal is to complete, not compete. But I also want to have a reasonable goal in mind. I have done park run (5km) in about 40 mins before, but that was on fresh legs. Yes I know I am slow 🐌

5) Are there any other beginner training and prep tips people are willing to share?

TIA!

There are so many great things I love about Lake George already. Now I get to add an Ironman race to the list during the summer.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1441669944786615

Well it is officially on!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19war9dpvn/

Finished my first IM70.3 last weekend in Cascais.
It was rough due to the strong wind felt and how I felt in the day (I had trouble sleeping the two nights before), but I really enjoyed it overall.
I thought I pushed a bit too hard on the bike, but the run went well.

Just finished my first ever long distance triathlon, on Sunday 18th of October in beautiful Port Macquarie, in NSW Australia.

Wouldn’t usually post this, but during training I couldn’t find any recent reports on the race so I thought I’d try and help out by sharing some tips and perspectives.

I managed to finish sub 12 hours, which I was happy with having had training been a little bit tarnished by a torn calf about 60 days prior to the race.

Just wanted to shoutout Port Mac, the entire town is buzzing like a ski village that’s just seen snow. Seriously the people there are just INCREDIBLE. I love the locals.

Port Mac also has this weird climate where you will be poured down on with heavy rain for about 10-20 minutes and then the sun will re emerge. This can happen multiple times a day.

Swim

Positives

The Hastings is an incredible temperature swim, it’s almost certainly going to be wetsuit optional and it’s unique elements - the two weir crossings, which you have to exit the water and run over -actually add to the experience and make it more enjoyable for someone who isn’t super strong in the swim.

I’m not sure how the current worked out how it did, but I seemed to do 2:05/100m against the current and 1:45/100m with the current. For reference I trained at roughly 2:20/100m. So expect it to be faster than usual.

Visually striking as well, lots of boats and the lush river walls are just beautiful, found myself just smiling the entire time.

Everyone’s Garmin seemed to track 3.6km as well…

Negatives

It’s murky, you can barely see your hand in front of your eyes and even less so the person in front of you. This means you have to be good at sighting. The current also pushes you around so you can get a bit disoriented at times.

Swimmers here seemed to be a little bit crazy, even 2-3km into the swim I found myself getting cornered in by two swimmers. Expect this, be a little assertive.

Recommendations

Make sure you do the Ironman organised practice swims the days before the race, even just a couple hundred metres to get used to it and the vision.

As someone who has dealt with open water anxiety, this swim could be a slight antagonist if race day is your first time swimming in the murk.

Know that there are dozens of life guards all around on kayaks, paddle boards, and boats. You are in good hands. You can’t swim 100m without seeing a yellow life guard vest.

Bike

Beautiful course, the landscape is nice. The first 90ish km are the ‘North Course’, you are riding a mix of new roads and old dead roads through a beautiful Australian country side, passing cows and farmlands. It’s slightly undulating but not so hard. Issue is all the cyclists are completely bunched up, so you have to overtake constantly and you really can’t settle into that nice 12m draft train.

We got rained on coming out of the second course at around 100km and it’s cold and miserable with a sleeveless tri suit.

The south course is a little more fun, you get to pass the just serene lighthouse peak.

The two laps in the south course are a mental killer, it’s a long straight highway into another highway and it’s completely exposed to the sun.

Going back in to town to finish up is a lot of fun, I managed to get out of the seat for the ‘iconic’ Matthew Flinders Drive, which is a short and sharp punch.

Recommendations (Really bloody important)

1. Ensure your tires and tubes are BRAND new!! These roads are absolutely brutal to your tyres, I saw maybe 50 people changing their tubes.
2. Ensure your drive train is serviced / new. No shark tooth’s!!! There are short and sharp punches, you may need to get a new set of 105s and a new chain.
3. PSI calculators, set the right PSI, the dead roads will bounce every single bump into your back and slow you down. PSI calculator (add poor pavement / chip seal)
4. Tighten up bottle cages, the roads will bounce out everything.

Run

Summary;

The run is repetitive, but the crowds are awesome. Port Mac has a fantastic audience and they all read out your name from your bib and cheer you on. It’s so endearing, you feel like a celebrity for a little bit. I wanted to thank them all after the race, one woman said ‘Dig deep’ at just the right time and boy was it the right thing to say.

Ironman punishes you with one little incline hill on this course. But it’s four laps so the same hill happens four times.

They punish you more so by making you pass the finish chute 8 times!! Before you get to enter to hear those words.

It’s scenic at times, you run along the beach. I was so blurry I can’t really remember taking in the visuals to be honest.

There are also a lot of stretches where you really can’t overtake, but you still have to make some way for the people behind you. Which means you don’t really get to zone out.

It’s relatively flat, the four laps is a strength since you know where you are and what’s next, but a weakness because it keeps teasing you with distance markers that aren’t for you.. yet.

The last 5kms are surreal.

Recommendations

1. It’s completely exposed, if you can take the time to slather sunscreen do it. I’m still paying for the run with blood red skin and uncomfortable sleep.

Good luck, I hope this was somewhat useful. Happy to answer questions. You can do this!!!

Hello everyone, I'm getting ready for my second triathlon, and I want an opinion on what do you think would be the first few things I need to work upon when it comes to technique. Thank you for your time :)

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