By all accounts sub 10 is damned good going for age group athletes so fair play to your man for being capable of doing that time. Sadly the misses has put the kibbosh on a future iron man for myself as she says it's for men with huge ego's and something to prove. Just shows you how well women know us. Looks like I'll be sticking to the plan if I can get off the stout and whisky.

CAPT - F

Hope you had a good day & enjoyed it.

834
846
847
854
846
838
900
919
926
948
844
914
913

offical time 1 57 30

adrenalin/fellow runners/crowd/ hilly training key for me

very happy roast dinner at 4 -5 aside at 7- then 10 pints of carling

thanks for your kind words onslow/rob

yes rob love it all late 40s early 50s

Anyone else keeping up the running and stuff?  Did a half in 1:34 in March (well happy) and Brighton mara in 3:38 the other week (wanted to go under 3:30, but just glad to finish in the end). 

Would be interested to hear Eeternaloptimist (amongst others) thoughts on this....Bought a second hand tri bike off a mate yesterday for £675.  The wheels on it are worth £600 off the shelf.  First practice on it last night up at the outdoor velodrome and loved it, spent 40 mins in the aero position pushing 20mph.  I am doing an iron man on 31 July and really want to use the tri bike for it as it is a flattish course, but I need to get practice.  Any tips on maximising efficiency?  Biking is my weakness by the way, now marathon training has finished I am doing long(70mile +), normally hilly, bike rides on a Saturday morning but that will be on the road bike.  Is velodrome practice and midweek sprint tris going to be enough practice on the tri bike?  I have a flat half IM(56mile bike) in 4 weeks' time which will be a good test of how long I can sustain the aero position.

Always interested to hear other people's progress.

Good to see it going well Rob. Thoughts are that a tri bike will give you 1-2mph extra over a traditional set up but few can keep in the aero position for the length of time of an iron man. I'd say don't go too low to get sheer speed on the bike because you'll never hold that position for six hours.

Certainly for your first go I'd be conservative and set your handlebars in a higher more comfortable position whereby you'll get a bit more speed but a lot more comfort. By mid June if you can't comfortably do a four-five hour ride in the aero position then I'd give serious consideration to whether you can realistically do an iron man on a tri bike at this stage. Which will put you roughly in the same position as about 80% of the field.

Two other tips are to know exactly what you can eat which gives you enough fuel but doesn't cause you intestinal problems and if you're like most of us then within reason every pound you take off in weight from yourself which causes about 80% of the wind drag you experience on the bike will benefit you for both bike and run.

Good luck.

Good effort at Brighton Rob,  I did London on Sunday for the 14th time. Not as quick as last year's 2:44 but still pleased enough to be well under 3 hrs now I'm in my 40's.

I know from most triathletes I meet, that the bike is the place to make (or lose) the most time. So your focus is in the right place, but don't neglect the running altogether. Best of luck. Which tri are you doing?

Eeternal:  Is it considered catastrophic, aerodynamically, to use a tri bike not in the aero position?   I mean say I'm knackered after 4 or 5 hours is it disastrous to then spend, say, 50% of the final 2 hours in the upright position?  Will that cost me so much as to take the point out of using a tri bike at all.  Bearing in mind Saturday just gone was the first time I have ever sat on a tri bike.  So when you say 80% of the field will not be able to maintain the tri position, well I would estimate at least 80% of the field (probably 90%) will be far more experienced on the bike than me.

We are doing a bike recce of the course (2x58mile laps) in a few weeks' time, if I can't get round that, 90% of the time in the aero position, in close to 3 hours then I will perhaps have to reassess.  That and the half IM the following Sunday.

It's trial and error Rob. Most people, even very experienced and fast, use a road bike with clip on tri bars for an iron man. The more hills and difficulty navigating the course the more likely people are to opt for this because there are more positions to get into on the bike and the loss of speed isn't felt as keenly. On a flatter more out and back type course the best amateurs and pros do tend to opt for a tri bike partly for speed and partly for the transition to running.

That's something to practice after a very long ride. Practice your transition to running because a few of my mates have made reference to the iron man shuffle where they literally shuffle along in the first couple of miles off the bike.

There's nothing catastrophic other than not finishing when it comes to the iron man. It's a judgement call. A lot of people who ride a road bike will spend a lot of time on the hoods which is similar to what you'll be doing in an upright position on the tri bike.

The two biggest things which will cause you loss of time are poor pacing and poor fuelling. These can be the difference between finishing and not. Everything else is an odd on.

Not getting too technical but in relation to your pedalling technique most people in racing advocating spinning. So you use an easier gear and spin your legs more. It takes less out of your legs for the run. There is research and indeed some of the top iron man athletes do the opposite in iron man races. They drop their pedalling speed (cadence) and choose a slightly higher gear. Apparently once you go past about 3 hours cadence cycling is less effective.

Just don't do anything in the race you haven't prepared for.

Good luck Capt F.  Aim for 1:55.

akabula     12 Oct 15 00:32   

The only triathlon I do is Bookies, Pub then Chippie on the way home.

Ironman Maastricht done on Sunday in 12:29.  1;18 swim, 6:25 undulating bike, 4:36 run.  Pretty much everything went as planned. I trained hard but.still can identify a hundred areas for improvement. Next one will be The Outlaw 2017(flat course) for 11:00(1:10,5:45,3:55)

Well done, Rob!