A first post from a long time reader; I really enjoy reading the detailed race reports so here is mine:
Background
I decided to get into triathlon and in early 2017 I signed up for Texas Ironman 70.3 (Galveston) as my first race. I started training in the January (the race is at the start of April). At that point I could not swim 25m freestyle so I joined a swimming club who taught me and soon got to the point where I was confident of making the cut off time for the swim. My bike and run training was very ad-hoc – In fact I did not actually own a bike when I signed up for the race, so I needed to buy one of those (a Giant road bike) as well as all the other ‘stuff’!
2017 Texas Ironman 70.3 Results – 0:47 / 2:56 / 2:11 (+ transitions) for a total of 6:04
I was happy with the swim and bike, but cramped up on the run and ended up doing a lot more walking than running during the final lap of the run course. However the most important result was that I absolutely loved it and decided it was for me. I decided to get more structured so bought Joel Friels book. This book led to me writing a plan, getting some clip on aero bars, a proper bike fit (which then led to getting a new ISM saddle), committed to spend more time proportionally running (dislike) and less time biking (love) and really working on my swim (indifferent).
I’m male, 37, now 175lb (down from 230lb thanks to this new sport), 6’ tall, no sporting background at all.
Goals
I wrote down some ‘season goals’ and ‘training objectives’ (as per Joel’s annual training plan), these were:
Season Goal
- Finish Austin Ironman 70.3 in less than 5:30
Training Objectives
- Complete a 3.8km open water swim (to build my swim confidence)
- Complete a 100 mile cycle ride (just because I wanted to, long cycle rides are my favorite part)
- Run a sub 20 minute 5k (seemed like a good challenge)
- Enter 1 race event per month (to build up my race day experience, can be either run or tri events)
- My run to bike ratio to be 40/60 (so not to spend all my time on the bike)
April-October 2017
I got into structured training, swimming was (and still is) the most frustrating and the gains seem so hard to make. Going from not swimming at all to swimming 1900m in 46 minutes seemed reasonably easy (‘reasonably easy’ means getting up at 5am three times a week to go the swim club!), but getting faster than that seemed impossible.
I worked hard, got up early, ate better, cut back on mid-week alcohol. I entered a lot of 5k races (finally breaking the 20 minute mark in June with a 19:52) and picked up a few AG places in local 5k’s. I entered 3 sprint tri’s which I absolutely loved, with a best place being a 4th in AG. That 4th place race was amazing, I ran down places 3/4/5 with the fastest run of the AG, we checked each other out (‘what AG are you?’), then me and one other broke away and had a proper race for the final 1.5km to the end. He beat me by seconds, but I enjoyed it more than any other result. It was the first time I felt like I was ‘racing’ – a great lead into Austin.
All was going well up to the end of August, then Hurricane Harvey hit – in short I lost my home, we were evacuated by boat and my wife gave birth prematurely to our first baby resulting in a couple of weeks in hospital for her and the new baby. All that in a few days. I had to cope with that and find a new place to live – training was not a priority. I did nothing at all for two weeks, then the next two weeks was a token effort at best. I realized that I had a new goal for Austin – Enjoy the hell out of it! There were more important things, and although I was going to give it absolutely 100% I was no longer hung up on the goal of 5:30. I really, really enjoyed the races I had done in training and that was what is important. I was back into training properly by start of October -just four weeks before the race - I jumped straight back into the plan.
The Race
I’m British and have adjusted to the Texas heat living in Houston (I moved to Houston in December 2016, but have not lived in the UK since 2013), so the race morning temperature of 38F was not what I wanted! I picked up some arm warmers for the bike the day before and also decided to go with a two piece tri suit, leaving the top in T1 – I decided I would spend a bit longer in T1, towel dry myself and put on a dry top for the bike. I figured the swim would be ok, but the first part of the bike course would be cold if I was wet.
It was a rolling swim start, I lined up at the back of the 37-40 minute section. Honestly the coldest part of the day was the wait for the swim, everything else ended up being fine. Once into the water I found my rhythm which was then only impacted by the sighting which was tough due to the low sun and the mist on the water, the middle leg was almost impossible to sight! I hit the exit and glanced at the Garmin – 40 minutes and some seconds – BANG! Done! Best ever swim to date (official time was 40:21). The rolling swim start was great, I like that setup.
T1 was 6:30 minutes; I took my time getting totally dry and putting on my dry top, plus socks, arm warmers and gloves. Then it was time for the bike. I intended to pace on power, but living in Houston I had never really ridden any hills before and after the first couple I decided it was not going to work for me pacing on power (lack of experience? Pure incompetence?) so I stopped looking at the Garmin altogether and paced on perceived rate of exertion. I was passing people continuously for the whole race (there are so many faster swimmers than me!) and really started to enjoy it. The course was not as bumpy as advertised, there were a couple of spots with a few lost bottles but nothing too severe at all. The rail crossings were all fine and any big potholes easily avoided. The downhill sections were great fun, hitting 55kph (34mph) on a good few of them. I was never cold on the bike, but was grateful for wearing gloves (some old mechanics gloves I had retrieved from my toolbox just before leaving Houston as a last minute thought). I think without the gloves I would have been cold. I had a plan on the bike to eat 1 x gel and 1 x salt tab every 25 minutes which I was really good at adhering to. I also got 2.2 litres of double mixed Gatorade inside me. All I picked up from the aid station was a couple of water bottles once I had emptied some of the Gatorade. I was probably carrying too much liquid (weight!) to start with on the bike, but I was really aware that at Galveston I had a ok bike and a poor run – which of course I now know really means I had a badly paced bike and did not fuel well for the run! By the mid-way point I realized I was on for a 2:40 bike, which I thought was a bit too quick so I conservatively lifted off a bit, I was really determined that I would not be walking in the run. I really enjoyed all the passing on the bike - I was passing people uphill, downhill and on the flats – it was great and I thought to myself, ‘target achieved – I am having fun’. I came in off the bike with a time of 2:46 which I had mixed emotions about, it was only 10 minutes faster than my Galveston time (although for me Austin was a tougher course) and I knew I had much more in me, I had done the first half in 1:20 and second half in 1:26 – did I back off too much? In the back of my mind I knew it was the right choice to save a little more for the run. T2 was 3:36 it could have been a bit quicker, but was pretty efficient, no mistakes and straight out.
Bike Time – 2:46, Average Power - 238w, Normalized Power - 255w
The run – I had mentally decided on the bike that the run was to be broken down into 3 x 7k runs. I had a pacing plan and I knew there was a danger of running too fast at the start. My plan was to walk quickly through EVERY aid station starting from the very first. I alternated a gel at one station and a salt tab at the next (I carried my salt tabs with me). I stuck to this really well. At about 15k I realized I had lost my salt tabs (they must have fell out of my pocket) but at that point I was not worried. I cannot say I enjoyed the run like I enjoyed the bike, but I never ‘went into my head’ (does that make sense? – I know what I mean) like I have on previous runs. The splits were even (ok, a little fast for the first couple of km’s but not as bad as other races). My wife was not able to join me with the baby, so every time I ran over a timing mat it made me think of her sat at home following with the IM tracker app (which by the way she says is a massive improvement over the web interface). Lap one flew by. I think that lap two is the hardest – you know where the hard bits are coming up on the course as you have done them once, and you know you still have to do them yet again! The support close to the expo was great, but on the rest of the course there was little or no support - coming into the expo area really gave you a boost each lap. I was honestly into the third lap before I knew it, and feeling great at that point (mentally, not physically! – my legs were aching from all the downhill sections). For the last lap I ran the first 4k at my race pace and then allowed myself to speed up for the final 3k - not too much can go wrong in 3k can it? I also skipped the walking of the very last aid station and ran to the finish. How awesome is it when you get to the fork in the track which says lap 2 and 3 turn left, finishers turn right and you actually get to turn right! The finish is inside the stadium, which is actually cool. You get a good 200m of running after separating from the main course, which allowed me to look around – there was a guy close in front of me I was catching, but no one close behind, so I slowed down to let the guy in front of me clear the finish before I arrived. My cap and sunglasses came off and I enjoyed every step of the red carpet into the finish – target well and truly achieved, I was loving it. I got my medal, grabbed a water, had the timing chip removed etc., then thought to myself – ‘I wonder what my time was?’. I stopped my Garmin and it seemed to say I had a time of 5:27! How could that be? I really had not added up my times as I went, I only looked at the Garmin on the bike at the half way point (I did not know my bike time until after the race) and on the run I just looked at the lap time when it beeped at me every 1km. I had enjoyed every part of it rather than endure any part of it. I really did not believe the time until I was able to check the results later. I was most proud of the run. With hindsight I probably set myself a slower pace than I was capable of (I did the run in 1:51), however I achieved the objective of enjoying it and very importantly to me I ran the whole race, rather than being reduced to a limping mess for the final third like last time – and it was a 20 minute improvement over the Galveston run time, which seems good to me. I was alert all through the run, shouting out to other competitors etc. whom I saw were struggling to give them encouragement.
I like to analyze my AG placing for each discipline to see where my weaknesses are, every race so far has told the same story, for this one it was:
- AG placing overall was 35th
o Swim was 71st
o Bike was 29th
o Run was 41st
So I am a weak swimmer, with an ok bike and an almost ok run. I know that already, but it’s good that the numbers back it up.
My wife had sent me a message the night before the race to say if I was going to spend the weekend in Austin away from her and the baby then I better really smash the race! I was happy that I had done a good job of smashing it, but in a controlled way that actually got me to the end. I probably did get to the end with a bit too much left in the tank (compared to some sprints when I really have left it all out there) however pacing over the longer distance is harder, I’m still in my first year and I finished strong all the way to the end. I think I raced maturely, but possibly a little conservatively.
What’s next?
I am already signed up for Galveston 70.3 and a time of 5:15 seems like a sensible target (based on nothing other than it seems like a nice number). I’ve got a swim video analysis session booked next week. I am also going to pick up a smart bike trainer next month so I can start doing more structured workouts (Trainer Road or Zwift? – to be decided). I have also spent time reading about BarryP running plans from this very forum, which I intend to start, I guess my 5k PB form this year (19:52) would indicate I have some further potential on the run if I get the training right – especially since that 5k time came with zero specific training. I also need to lose more weight, I have come from 230lb to 175lb, but think a little more would help.
Overall I can see obvious areas of improvement in all three sports. I also think I’ll pick up some aero wheels (Flo? HED?) before Galveston, although I know that the engine (me) is what needs more work and that fancy wheels are not going to fix that – it’s more like I ‘want’ wheels I guess, especially with Galveston basically being a 56 mile TT. Then it’s just adding in more structure to the individual sessions. Following the advice from Joel’s book, this first year I just concentrated on getting the hours in. However there was no great structure to any of my workouts, it was just ‘run for an hour’ or ‘bike for 2 hours’. Swim was the exception as they are coached sessions.
My second year is going to add in the layer of intensity and periodization into the workouts now I have got the lifestyle sorted. I am also going to do all those local sprint tri’s again as I just loved them, and I don’t care what impact they have on my structured plan. I also need to work on some ‘training objectives’ like I listed above for this year, as I felt that helped a lot. I guess a standalone half marathon (is 1:45 the right target?) could/should be in there along with adding in a weekly core strength workout which I just do not do today. I have thought about a coach, but decided I am happy for now that I can identify some big improvement areas, so I’ll think about that again for year 3. For swimming I have decided to make a step change and that does involve a swim specific coach (whom I have already identified).
I’ll also aim for another 70.3 event, but this time a ‘destination race’ (Santa Cruz?) and maybe an end of year non-Ironman one (Oilman here in Houston perhaps?), but I think Galveston being my local race will be the A race for next year.
Oh, also I should just mention – how awesome are single transition races with hotels available right on transition! With Galveston being my first ever race I kind of thought all races would be like this. Austin has a split transition and no hotels available in the close vicinity. It makes Saturday a long day… I’m looking forward to Galveston, I’ve already got my hotel booked at the venue for the full weekend so it will just be easy. Any future races will be chosen based upon these criteria, If I am going to drag the family away for a long weekend, it should be somewhere we can all enjoy!
I can recommend Joel’s book for those that are getting into this sport without a coach. I can also strongly recommending remembering to enjoy your races, especially if like me you’re probably never destined to stand on top of an Ironman podium, but you enjoy the journey.
Some numbers
We like numbers, plus I am an engineer so I have a super detailed spreadsheet that tracks everything. Below shows my monthly training hours for the year to date. You can see the hours I did prior to Galveston (Jan-Mar). You can see when I stepped it up after Galveston (April) and also when I went on vacation (June). You can also see the dip in September due to the hurricane - September should have been around 40 hours. The next two months (Nov-Dec) will be a little lighter, maybe 25-35 hours and a little more ‘fun’ than structured. Next year the three months up to Galveston (Jan-Mar) will hopefully be about 40 hours each but with the intensity portion and periodization added in as well.
Also, would this even by ST if I didn’t show a bike fit picture? The below picture is from a recent sprint, but the setup is exactly the same for my long course (except I fit 2 x bottle cages on the frame for the longer races). The bike fitter is a well-respected Houston based fitter and he fitted the bike with 70.3 in mind, especially being able to run off the bike (I have had some knee issues). Planned upgrades given time are: wheels, bottles behind the seat, maybe a bigger crankset one day? (I ride a low cadence, 70rpm). Anything else I am missing? Note - there are no plans to change the bike itself.
I know I should of course go for another fit as I develop and especially as my body composition changes, so I will do that (my fit was in April, after Galveston) - I place great importance on the bike fitter.
Anything else I should be thinking about to move towards that 5:15 target for April 2018? Is 5:15 a sensible target for 6 months from now?
Background
I decided to get into triathlon and in early 2017 I signed up for Texas Ironman 70.3 (Galveston) as my first race. I started training in the January (the race is at the start of April). At that point I could not swim 25m freestyle so I joined a swimming club who taught me and soon got to the point where I was confident of making the cut off time for the swim. My bike and run training was very ad-hoc – In fact I did not actually own a bike when I signed up for the race, so I needed to buy one of those (a Giant road bike) as well as all the other ‘stuff’!
2017 Texas Ironman 70.3 Results – 0:47 / 2:56 / 2:11 (+ transitions) for a total of 6:04
I was happy with the swim and bike, but cramped up on the run and ended up doing a lot more walking than running during the final lap of the run course. However the most important result was that I absolutely loved it and decided it was for me. I decided to get more structured so bought Joel Friels book. This book led to me writing a plan, getting some clip on aero bars, a proper bike fit (which then led to getting a new ISM saddle), committed to spend more time proportionally running (dislike) and less time biking (love) and really working on my swim (indifferent).
I’m male, 37, now 175lb (down from 230lb thanks to this new sport), 6’ tall, no sporting background at all.
Goals
I wrote down some ‘season goals’ and ‘training objectives’ (as per Joel’s annual training plan), these were:
Season Goal
- Finish Austin Ironman 70.3 in less than 5:30
Training Objectives
- Complete a 3.8km open water swim (to build my swim confidence)
- Complete a 100 mile cycle ride (just because I wanted to, long cycle rides are my favorite part)
- Run a sub 20 minute 5k (seemed like a good challenge)
- Enter 1 race event per month (to build up my race day experience, can be either run or tri events)
- My run to bike ratio to be 40/60 (so not to spend all my time on the bike)
April-October 2017
I got into structured training, swimming was (and still is) the most frustrating and the gains seem so hard to make. Going from not swimming at all to swimming 1900m in 46 minutes seemed reasonably easy (‘reasonably easy’ means getting up at 5am three times a week to go the swim club!), but getting faster than that seemed impossible.
I worked hard, got up early, ate better, cut back on mid-week alcohol. I entered a lot of 5k races (finally breaking the 20 minute mark in June with a 19:52) and picked up a few AG places in local 5k’s. I entered 3 sprint tri’s which I absolutely loved, with a best place being a 4th in AG. That 4th place race was amazing, I ran down places 3/4/5 with the fastest run of the AG, we checked each other out (‘what AG are you?’), then me and one other broke away and had a proper race for the final 1.5km to the end. He beat me by seconds, but I enjoyed it more than any other result. It was the first time I felt like I was ‘racing’ – a great lead into Austin.
All was going well up to the end of August, then Hurricane Harvey hit – in short I lost my home, we were evacuated by boat and my wife gave birth prematurely to our first baby resulting in a couple of weeks in hospital for her and the new baby. All that in a few days. I had to cope with that and find a new place to live – training was not a priority. I did nothing at all for two weeks, then the next two weeks was a token effort at best. I realized that I had a new goal for Austin – Enjoy the hell out of it! There were more important things, and although I was going to give it absolutely 100% I was no longer hung up on the goal of 5:30. I really, really enjoyed the races I had done in training and that was what is important. I was back into training properly by start of October -just four weeks before the race - I jumped straight back into the plan.
The Race
I’m British and have adjusted to the Texas heat living in Houston (I moved to Houston in December 2016, but have not lived in the UK since 2013), so the race morning temperature of 38F was not what I wanted! I picked up some arm warmers for the bike the day before and also decided to go with a two piece tri suit, leaving the top in T1 – I decided I would spend a bit longer in T1, towel dry myself and put on a dry top for the bike. I figured the swim would be ok, but the first part of the bike course would be cold if I was wet.
It was a rolling swim start, I lined up at the back of the 37-40 minute section. Honestly the coldest part of the day was the wait for the swim, everything else ended up being fine. Once into the water I found my rhythm which was then only impacted by the sighting which was tough due to the low sun and the mist on the water, the middle leg was almost impossible to sight! I hit the exit and glanced at the Garmin – 40 minutes and some seconds – BANG! Done! Best ever swim to date (official time was 40:21). The rolling swim start was great, I like that setup.
T1 was 6:30 minutes; I took my time getting totally dry and putting on my dry top, plus socks, arm warmers and gloves. Then it was time for the bike. I intended to pace on power, but living in Houston I had never really ridden any hills before and after the first couple I decided it was not going to work for me pacing on power (lack of experience? Pure incompetence?) so I stopped looking at the Garmin altogether and paced on perceived rate of exertion. I was passing people continuously for the whole race (there are so many faster swimmers than me!) and really started to enjoy it. The course was not as bumpy as advertised, there were a couple of spots with a few lost bottles but nothing too severe at all. The rail crossings were all fine and any big potholes easily avoided. The downhill sections were great fun, hitting 55kph (34mph) on a good few of them. I was never cold on the bike, but was grateful for wearing gloves (some old mechanics gloves I had retrieved from my toolbox just before leaving Houston as a last minute thought). I think without the gloves I would have been cold. I had a plan on the bike to eat 1 x gel and 1 x salt tab every 25 minutes which I was really good at adhering to. I also got 2.2 litres of double mixed Gatorade inside me. All I picked up from the aid station was a couple of water bottles once I had emptied some of the Gatorade. I was probably carrying too much liquid (weight!) to start with on the bike, but I was really aware that at Galveston I had a ok bike and a poor run – which of course I now know really means I had a badly paced bike and did not fuel well for the run! By the mid-way point I realized I was on for a 2:40 bike, which I thought was a bit too quick so I conservatively lifted off a bit, I was really determined that I would not be walking in the run. I really enjoyed all the passing on the bike - I was passing people uphill, downhill and on the flats – it was great and I thought to myself, ‘target achieved – I am having fun’. I came in off the bike with a time of 2:46 which I had mixed emotions about, it was only 10 minutes faster than my Galveston time (although for me Austin was a tougher course) and I knew I had much more in me, I had done the first half in 1:20 and second half in 1:26 – did I back off too much? In the back of my mind I knew it was the right choice to save a little more for the run. T2 was 3:36 it could have been a bit quicker, but was pretty efficient, no mistakes and straight out.
Bike Time – 2:46, Average Power - 238w, Normalized Power - 255w
The run – I had mentally decided on the bike that the run was to be broken down into 3 x 7k runs. I had a pacing plan and I knew there was a danger of running too fast at the start. My plan was to walk quickly through EVERY aid station starting from the very first. I alternated a gel at one station and a salt tab at the next (I carried my salt tabs with me). I stuck to this really well. At about 15k I realized I had lost my salt tabs (they must have fell out of my pocket) but at that point I was not worried. I cannot say I enjoyed the run like I enjoyed the bike, but I never ‘went into my head’ (does that make sense? – I know what I mean) like I have on previous runs. The splits were even (ok, a little fast for the first couple of km’s but not as bad as other races). My wife was not able to join me with the baby, so every time I ran over a timing mat it made me think of her sat at home following with the IM tracker app (which by the way she says is a massive improvement over the web interface). Lap one flew by. I think that lap two is the hardest – you know where the hard bits are coming up on the course as you have done them once, and you know you still have to do them yet again! The support close to the expo was great, but on the rest of the course there was little or no support - coming into the expo area really gave you a boost each lap. I was honestly into the third lap before I knew it, and feeling great at that point (mentally, not physically! – my legs were aching from all the downhill sections). For the last lap I ran the first 4k at my race pace and then allowed myself to speed up for the final 3k - not too much can go wrong in 3k can it? I also skipped the walking of the very last aid station and ran to the finish. How awesome is it when you get to the fork in the track which says lap 2 and 3 turn left, finishers turn right and you actually get to turn right! The finish is inside the stadium, which is actually cool. You get a good 200m of running after separating from the main course, which allowed me to look around – there was a guy close in front of me I was catching, but no one close behind, so I slowed down to let the guy in front of me clear the finish before I arrived. My cap and sunglasses came off and I enjoyed every step of the red carpet into the finish – target well and truly achieved, I was loving it. I got my medal, grabbed a water, had the timing chip removed etc., then thought to myself – ‘I wonder what my time was?’. I stopped my Garmin and it seemed to say I had a time of 5:27! How could that be? I really had not added up my times as I went, I only looked at the Garmin on the bike at the half way point (I did not know my bike time until after the race) and on the run I just looked at the lap time when it beeped at me every 1km. I had enjoyed every part of it rather than endure any part of it. I really did not believe the time until I was able to check the results later. I was most proud of the run. With hindsight I probably set myself a slower pace than I was capable of (I did the run in 1:51), however I achieved the objective of enjoying it and very importantly to me I ran the whole race, rather than being reduced to a limping mess for the final third like last time – and it was a 20 minute improvement over the Galveston run time, which seems good to me. I was alert all through the run, shouting out to other competitors etc. whom I saw were struggling to give them encouragement.
I like to analyze my AG placing for each discipline to see where my weaknesses are, every race so far has told the same story, for this one it was:
- AG placing overall was 35th
o Swim was 71st
o Bike was 29th
o Run was 41st
So I am a weak swimmer, with an ok bike and an almost ok run. I know that already, but it’s good that the numbers back it up.
My wife had sent me a message the night before the race to say if I was going to spend the weekend in Austin away from her and the baby then I better really smash the race! I was happy that I had done a good job of smashing it, but in a controlled way that actually got me to the end. I probably did get to the end with a bit too much left in the tank (compared to some sprints when I really have left it all out there) however pacing over the longer distance is harder, I’m still in my first year and I finished strong all the way to the end. I think I raced maturely, but possibly a little conservatively.
What’s next?
I am already signed up for Galveston 70.3 and a time of 5:15 seems like a sensible target (based on nothing other than it seems like a nice number). I’ve got a swim video analysis session booked next week. I am also going to pick up a smart bike trainer next month so I can start doing more structured workouts (Trainer Road or Zwift? – to be decided). I have also spent time reading about BarryP running plans from this very forum, which I intend to start, I guess my 5k PB form this year (19:52) would indicate I have some further potential on the run if I get the training right – especially since that 5k time came with zero specific training. I also need to lose more weight, I have come from 230lb to 175lb, but think a little more would help.
Overall I can see obvious areas of improvement in all three sports. I also think I’ll pick up some aero wheels (Flo? HED?) before Galveston, although I know that the engine (me) is what needs more work and that fancy wheels are not going to fix that – it’s more like I ‘want’ wheels I guess, especially with Galveston basically being a 56 mile TT. Then it’s just adding in more structure to the individual sessions. Following the advice from Joel’s book, this first year I just concentrated on getting the hours in. However there was no great structure to any of my workouts, it was just ‘run for an hour’ or ‘bike for 2 hours’. Swim was the exception as they are coached sessions.
My second year is going to add in the layer of intensity and periodization into the workouts now I have got the lifestyle sorted. I am also going to do all those local sprint tri’s again as I just loved them, and I don’t care what impact they have on my structured plan. I also need to work on some ‘training objectives’ like I listed above for this year, as I felt that helped a lot. I guess a standalone half marathon (is 1:45 the right target?) could/should be in there along with adding in a weekly core strength workout which I just do not do today. I have thought about a coach, but decided I am happy for now that I can identify some big improvement areas, so I’ll think about that again for year 3. For swimming I have decided to make a step change and that does involve a swim specific coach (whom I have already identified).
I’ll also aim for another 70.3 event, but this time a ‘destination race’ (Santa Cruz?) and maybe an end of year non-Ironman one (Oilman here in Houston perhaps?), but I think Galveston being my local race will be the A race for next year.
Oh, also I should just mention – how awesome are single transition races with hotels available right on transition! With Galveston being my first ever race I kind of thought all races would be like this. Austin has a split transition and no hotels available in the close vicinity. It makes Saturday a long day… I’m looking forward to Galveston, I’ve already got my hotel booked at the venue for the full weekend so it will just be easy. Any future races will be chosen based upon these criteria, If I am going to drag the family away for a long weekend, it should be somewhere we can all enjoy!
I can recommend Joel’s book for those that are getting into this sport without a coach. I can also strongly recommending remembering to enjoy your races, especially if like me you’re probably never destined to stand on top of an Ironman podium, but you enjoy the journey.
Some numbers
We like numbers, plus I am an engineer so I have a super detailed spreadsheet that tracks everything. Below shows my monthly training hours for the year to date. You can see the hours I did prior to Galveston (Jan-Mar). You can see when I stepped it up after Galveston (April) and also when I went on vacation (June). You can also see the dip in September due to the hurricane - September should have been around 40 hours. The next two months (Nov-Dec) will be a little lighter, maybe 25-35 hours and a little more ‘fun’ than structured. Next year the three months up to Galveston (Jan-Mar) will hopefully be about 40 hours each but with the intensity portion and periodization added in as well.
Also, would this even by ST if I didn’t show a bike fit picture? The below picture is from a recent sprint, but the setup is exactly the same for my long course (except I fit 2 x bottle cages on the frame for the longer races). The bike fitter is a well-respected Houston based fitter and he fitted the bike with 70.3 in mind, especially being able to run off the bike (I have had some knee issues). Planned upgrades given time are: wheels, bottles behind the seat, maybe a bigger crankset one day? (I ride a low cadence, 70rpm). Anything else I am missing? Note - there are no plans to change the bike itself.
I know I should of course go for another fit as I develop and especially as my body composition changes, so I will do that (my fit was in April, after Galveston) - I place great importance on the bike fitter.
Anything else I should be thinking about to move towards that 5:15 target for April 2018? Is 5:15 a sensible target for 6 months from now?