The sleeveless top & armwarmer wearers' Q&A thread

greg66_tri_v2.0

Right-o. In response to a request (you might not believe that, but it's true nonetheless), I thought it might be helpful to those who wish to pass over - even if only temporarily - to the Dark Side. Aka the side of floundering, bad bike handling and injuries. Or triathlon, as it is more commonly known.

This is the thread to ask and have answered questions about training, kit and competing. This isn't a triathlon forum, for those who haven't noticed, so you're not necessarily going to get top flight tri-onic tips and pointers. Think of it more as a collection of blind and one-eyed people, and you'll probably be around the right level. What, hopefully, you will get is tips by newbies that will help other newbies avoid reinventing the (disc) wheel, or stepping in the same freshly laid dog turd.

There's no monopoly on who gets to answer questions or ask them for that matter. If you've always wondered (to paraphrase Steve Ovett to Daley Thompson) why triathletes are no bleeding good at any one sport in particular, here's the place to ask.

Fire away. By Saturday lunchtime look for us on page three of the forum.

veronese68

Have you not expunged this particular crisis from your system yet?

rubertoe

Ghey.

stu-bim

I am a newbie to cycling and planning on doing a half ironman in April '14. That said the cycling leg is my preferred discipline. I do 45 miles most Sunday in around 2'30'' and commute 24 miles (RT) 3/4 times a week. So not fast but a good base after only 4.5 months on a CX bike. Looking to do it in 6 hours with running going to be the hardest part until I drop about 30 lbs.

Some simple advice I got from a friend was get out and have a go at some short ones and enjoy it. Any suggestions from below. Looking for some simple "Can't believe I thought that was a good idea / Wish I had thought of that sooner" moments.

Routine/ Systematic training / Recovery:
best -
worst -

One off endeavours / decisions:
best -
worst - (running the day after Marmotte must be up there)

Equipment advice / Clothing
best -
worst -

Nutrition experience (this is probably impossible as everyone is completely different)
best -
worst -

asprilla

Practice your transitions. Everyone tells you to, you nod and then you ignore them because transitions are easy and its only stripping off a wetsuit and putting in some shoes.

Transitions are hard because you are knackered and you can panic when your coordination fails you. A minute lost in transition is a lot of effort to make up later.

greg66_tri_v2.0

April? So with a taper you're about 6 months out.

Plenty of time. Both to prepare, and to get injured. Cutting it a bit close to get injured and recover in time, or so I've heard...

First thing: get a training program. Second thing, get a training program. Third thing, see the first two things. Do not rely on doing a bit here and there when you feel like it. You won't do enough, and you'll end up at the race wishing you had either dicked around for six months and had a good time, or prepared properly. Either way, you won't be thinking that you've used the preceding six months well.

If all else fails, get Ironfit by Don Fink and cut the training volumes in half. You might want a little more intensity (Z3 HR) in the program for a HIM, but you'll be 85% there using a semi-Fink program.

Big positives of Fink's program are lots of swimming and biking early on, building a good aerobic engine. Bad points include building a big aerobic engine early on, so you can run a long way on legs that don't have good technique or muscle memory. You can guess where that goes.

So for running I'd look at a 1-2-3 program instead of Fink. You run little and often, six days a week. So, say your 1 unit is 5 mins. In week 1 you run 5 mins Tues Thurs Sat; 10 mins Wed, Fri; 15 mins Sun. Mon is a rest day. Week 2, 3, 4 you increase your times by 10% week in week. Week 5 you ramp back down to week 2 or 3 volumes and restart the 10% cycle. And so on. You can run this all out on a spread sheet, and I'm pretty sure you'll end up running well over 13 miles in your long run in 6m. So adjust the spreadsheet accordingly. The key to it though is not to worry early on. about volumes or speed - those all come in time. You really dont need to be cranking out 10 miles 4 weeks in in order to run 13 miles 6m from now. Focus initially on technique. Fitness is what comes while you practise technique. And google "gazelles vs gliders". Really interesting video on IM running techniques. There's plenty more on good economical running technique all over the net. Just try not to follow *every* piece of advice out there.

Find a time of day that you can reliably exercise in. For me it was getting up an hour earlier. Whatever works for you is what you should use though.

Oh, and don't run on really tired legs. Really tired means not necessarily that they feel tired, but that they should be tired given what you've done in the previous 48h. You don't feel the really bad damage for a couple of weeks, by which time you've been hammering the injury for, week, a couple of weeks. Not good.

Bike strength is key. You've got a 56m bike leg, so plan to ride 6 or so 70-80 mile rides at HIM pace in the last 6 w of your pre taper period. It's the best way to get your legs ready to waltz the run.

I'll do some more tomorrow.

stu-bim wrote:

Routine/ Systematic training / Recovery:
best -
worst -

One off endeavours / decisions:
best -
worst - (running the day after Marmotte must be up there)

Equipment advice / Clothing
best -
worst -

Nutrition experience (this is probably impossible as everyone is completely different)
best -
worst -

stu-bim

Plenty reading there. I was planning an following this plan from end of October.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=52

Wanted to spend the next 6 weeks getting technique right and endurance up to be able to start it strong. The swimming looks heavy compared to the other training. I commute 3 times a week 24m (rt) and spend all week looking forward to a Sunday ride so need to get some speed work in during the week. Probably have to do a bit less riding to follow the running schedule.

PBo

Do I HAVE to wear a sleeveless top and armwarmers?

I what point in the training schedule do I need the lobotomy that makes me think a tri/HIM/IM is a good thing? I've already had my MLC, so that won't work!

rolf_f

You lot need to stop frequenting cafes were the coffee is made in Rapha branded machines!

greg66_tri_v2.0

Bit of stream of consciousness now:

Best training things were doing a session that I could finish, and still have enough left in my legs to know I could happily do the IM distance for that discipline if I really had to. So first 3.3k swim, first 25k run both left me feeling pretty happy that I didn't need to worry about having a jelly legs/arms episode. Ditto bike, although the key workout there was first time coming off the bike after 100+ miles without feeling like I needed immediate massage therapy before I could walk/straighten. Big psychological stepping stones.

Equipment advice is all about (a) get yourself sorted with your race equipment as early as you can; (b) use your race equipment often. You really don't want to have to think about anything more than is essential on the day. Chafing, leaking googles, aches, blisters etc should all have been addressed and banished long before the big day. The only way to do that is to practice in your race kit. You might feel like a right dick wearing a TT helmet on a Saturday afternoon, but if you find out the ventilation isn't good enough and your brain boils, it's worth it.

Race day: try and find a couple of mass start open water events to do pre race day, esp if you're not a confident swimmer. A surprising number of people have real difficulty keeping their HR/breathing under control in that environment, and if things get out of hand, it will be a very short day. You need to work out where you're going to swim (front/middle/back of pack), and how fast you're going to go off from the start line. Also practice getting used to how big the illegal drat zone is on the bike. It varies, I think, but 4 bike lengths or 7m was what we had.

Nutrition. For a 6 hour race this is easily manageable. I'd go for 1200-1500 calories of slow release stuff between 2 and 3 am. Sweet potatoes, if you can get them down, are good. Fruit smoothies with oats are good, but make sure you don't just overload on fructose. Eat something in T1 - it doesn't need to be massive - an energy bar will do. On the bike it's all about regular but small amounts of food and electrolytes. Some people like to live off the feed stations. I prefer to carry my own. Find something that your gut likes, and set yourself a timetable of 3-4 mouthfuls of drink and a bite of a bar every 15-20 mins. This is something you can hone in training rides. On the run, aim for gels, water and perhaps electrolytes. Carry the gels on a race belt and live off water from the feed stations. Solid food on the run is not generally recommended unless you like stomach cramps.

If I can think of anything else, I'll put it up.

fat_tail

rule 42, nuff said.

greg66_tri_v2.0

PBo wrote:

Do I HAVE to wear a sleeveless top and armwarmers?

I what point in the training schedule do I need the lobotomy that makes me think a tri/HIM/IM is a good thing? I've already had my MLC, so that won't work!

Yes, it's the rulez, and as early as possible. Forward planning, see. It's never to early to get risk of pesky cognitive functions that will warn you off the whole enterprise.

tgotb

Good thread - I'm not intending to go right over to the dark side, but keen to do some running over the Winter, and your suggestions for getting started (particularly for people who already have the cardio fitness and want to avoid injuring themselves) look very sound.

More generally for experienced cyclists looking to get into triathlons, how do you go about unlearning your bike handling skills?

greg66_tri_v2.0

TGOTB wrote:

Good thread - I'm not intending to go right over to the dark side, but keen to do some running over the Winter, and your suggestions for getting started (particularly for people who already have the cardio fitness and want to avoid injuring themselves) look very sound.

More generally for experienced cyclists looking to get into triathlons, how do you go about unlearning your bike handling skills?

Buy a blindfold.

Offset your stem to the left by 10 degrees.

Seems to work pretty well.

tgotb

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Offset your stem to the left by 10 degrees.

Makes sense. Do you retighten the stem bolts, or just rely on the preload bolt at the top?

stu-bim

Signed up for ironman 70.3 in san juan, peurto rico

http://www.ironmansanjuan.com

let the real training commence, sleeveless top on order too

greg66_tri_v2.0

stu-bim wrote:

Signed up for ironman 70.3 in san juan, peurto rico

http://www.ironmansanjuan.com

let the real training commence, sleeveless top on order too

Good lad!

You will *love* it!

itboffin

this thread needs moving to BB where DDD when you actually need him?