All the best. Out of interest, based on all the above what are the key takeaways you've got from all our posts?

I guess I always wonder how much benefit people get from the time we spend sharing thoughts.

Not sure why most here are telling you that you should ride 2;30 to 2;40+ or so. You already found out what riding that pace does to your run, so basically wasting your strength. You do need to ride, and a lot between now and race time. Swimming 3 times a week for an hour+ is also a must, just so that you can get through the swim without killing the next two events.

If I were you, I would ride 200+ mile weeks with some good targeted hard pacing, like 20+mph for much of it. Get comfortable on the bike(get a proper fit) so that you can kind of cruise 20mph in the race and have that an easy effort. There is no reason that a 1;25 should not be an doable run for you, and you won't need a ton of miles to get there with your background.

So you already swam a 35 minute swim, now just make that a lot easier on you, maybe chop a couple minutes off it too. Make the ride a controlled hard training ride, and eat and drink all the calories you will need for the run there too. Maybe a couple gels on the run, but that's really all you will need. So ride about a 2;50 and get off really fresh and you will have plenty of time to break 5 hours. If you ride a 2;30 at this late stage, probably have the run like you did last time, and you know how shitty that feels. Just use this time to grow some bike legs, you dont need great ones for a 20mph 1/2 ride, just some hours in the saddle...

He went 5:46 with a 2:11 run.

That leaves 3:35 as his combined swim bike and transitions time.

To go under 5 he has to make up 46+ minutes and we already know he's 59 minutes down on his best run time.

I'm sure there's an expert on here that can tell us what his "in race" time should be, my experience is that its' 15 minutes on a half. So lets be kind and give him goal of 1:30 (+19 minutes). He's already said in his other post that he used the run in previous races to get back to the FOP. So he needs run legs after the bike.

He's got 5 minutes to find to beat 5 hours.

It's my (racing and training) experience that Swimmers can't run and Runners can't swim, but they can both bike.

Depending on the philosophy of , "work on your strengths" or "work on your weakness". I have never seen a slow swimmer improve by 5 minutes in a few weeks (only manage the effort better), because that's at least a 10% improvement, but 5 minutes on the bike is possible (because that's just 3% ) if you aren't bagged from the swim and you can learn to manage the power so you can run after.

So train like a mad bastard on the bike and get off with good legs.

easy peasy.

But then I'm a little ray of sunshine.

Well this wouldn't be the first time my math was a little suspect.
And you are right with the math corrected it's even more doable.

I see the OP has posted that he's not altogether unfamiliar with Tri so he is aware of many of the basic tenets of the sport. His original post and subsequent post indicated he was an AG FOP competitor in Sprint and Oly distance and tried going elite. But didn't have the swim or bike performance. Although he did not say which was better (or worse).

My bet is he's a better biker than he is a swimmer.
I have said this before, so I'll say it again, swimmers can't run and runners can't swim....he can run.
He won't find the time he needs to make up in a 40-45 min swim, but he if can manage his legs better on the bike, he can run better after.
Ergo train like a mad man on the bike.

🖖

Just looked at the Strava account. Dude is fast. Too bad he didn't train.

Ocean swim, no wetsuits, rolling bike course and temps in the upper 80's. I'm going to go with, won't happen. Can't really see improving over 5:45 much in a month. Could even make him slower if he doesn't taper.

Last year I biked 56 mile in 2:45 and 35 for 1.2 swim with about 3 weeks of actual training. I usually do a few bike rides as cross train. My weakest is the swim.




I noticed this on another of his posts.


If he gets even close, he's off the bike and through T2 at around 3:30. It really comes down to whether he's trained enough on the bike to go 1:30 on the run.
It's tight........be interesting to see how close he gets.

LOL, are you trying to kill him? Dollars against nuts that compliance with that plan would be < 50%, kind of defeating the purpose.


A non-wetsuit swim and a hot run, ouch.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you go under 5. Most are giving you too little credit.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

I'm with you. My message to him is just do the work. Enjoy the process. It's not happening overnight. There are no shortcuts as you should have realized with your 2:11 HM blow up. It is hard and it does involve being good a three sports on one day. If you put in the work there is a good chance you'll get there, but have some perspective and respect for the sport. 6 weeks to drop 46+ minutes from your PR is a big ask and not very realistic. Maybe see if you can achieve it in 12 months. That would be a realistic goal.

Well, you guys are taking about the 5:45 as if it was based solely on Hector’s ability level and as if his absolute max today was 5:45 which he needed to cut by 45’.

We really don’t know a lot though. We all have good days, average days and days on which we blow up like a Russian oligarch’s business. Maybe he didn’t eat. Maybe he overbiked big time. Maybe he didn’t drink. Maybe he was on a rusty mountain bike. He pretty much walked the run. A 1:12 half-marathoner. You sure he’s going to walk again without going through a six-month training regime?

There’s a range of results we can get at a given fitness level.

We also don’t know where is bike fitness is today. You’re filling gaps in knowledge with assumptions.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

If the bike killed your legs into running a 2:11 then you need to train the bike the next month, or ride easier, or fuel better. Going into a 70.3 without taking in nutrition will do that to you.

Post race results here after its done.

You're the one making assumptions off a 1:12 stand alone HM. I'm basing my thoughts on facts. He had a 5:46 HIM. He had a 2:11 run split. He has 6 weeks to take 46+ minutes off his PR.

Yup. He may need to develop his bike legs or he may have over biked. Building power in the saddle takes time.

If he's been keeping his Strava workouts/stats up to date you can clearly see where his bike fitness is.

stop running (except small brick runs, at easy/mod intensity). bike a lot, swim a lot, go for broke!

Based on his Strava he's doing a few short bikes. He needs more balance with more swimming and biking and longer bike rides. I'd say he should be doing at least one 2 to 3 hour ride every week to build sustainable endurance on the bike.

Looks like he went 5:33 via 33:31 - 3:01:25 - 1:54

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'22 IMMD, '23 SwimRun MD

 

The recap thread is here:

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...p_P7719651/#p7719651