I do okay at local races - generally AG podium, one 3rd overall. I finished 32nd in M 35-39 at Sprint Nationals.
30th fastest swim (11:45, 1:25 per 100) - probably would have been a little faster with smarter starting position
31st fastest bike (32:25, 23mph)
34th fastest run (20:27, 6:34s)
This was my first year of truly having a balanced program. Previously I was fairly run heavy due to convenience. Probably the greatest improvement came in the swim this year, both in terms of time and freshness getting on the bike.
Judging from Nationals, I’d say I don’t necessarily have any particular area of strength or weakness. Is this accurate? Sort of like a slow Freddie Van Lierde?
I don’t think of this as a problem. Is there any reason to focus on one particular area? All have room for improvement, with the bike having the most potential low hanging fruit. I’m definitely not maxed on on volume in any discipline.
I agree. I’d say you fairly well balanced… however, unless you get stronger in one of them, you won’t move up the places more. You might see better results really focusing more on one and see how much you improve, and do more maintenance on the others. I suggest the bike, but I’m a bit biased there.
which discipline do you enjoy the most?
if you want to get faster, then perhaps you could focus on the bike for a few moths, then on the run for a few months.
but if getting faster isn’t the goal, then just go and work on whatever you like doing the best.
You might consider looking at the delta between you and the podium for each discipline (not necessarily the podium for the race). That info could lead to more clues as to an improvement area.
From the splits I’ve seen for elites and top AG’ers at the races I participated in a high 5 minute mile pace and getting your bike avg mph to 24mph+ will get you podium in most races with the swim you have now (you can easily make up the 1-2 minutes from the fastest swimmers if you don’t give up any biking time and chase them down on the run).
I do okay at local races - generally AG podium, one 3rd overall. I finished 32nd in M 35-39 at Sprint Nationals.
30th fastest swim (11:45, 1:25 per 100) - probably would have been a little faster with smarter starting position
31st fastest bike (32:25, 23mph)
34th fastest run (20:27, 6:34s)
This was my first year of truly having a balanced program. Previously I was fairly run heavy due to convenience. Probably the greatest improvement came in the swim this year, both in terms of time and freshness getting on the bike.
Judging from Nationals, I’d say I don’t necessarily have any particular area of strength or weakness. Is this accurate? Sort of like a slow Freddie Van Lierde?
I don’t think of this as a problem. Is there any reason to focus on one particular area? All have room for improvement, with the bike having the most potential low hanging fruit. I’m definitely not maxed on on volume in any discipline.
You went backwards through the field after the swim. So if you want to place higher you need to improve the swim greatly or
Improve bike and run so as to move up the field…i think there is lots of room on the bike and run.
I would focus hard on getting stronger on the bike and getting the run to closer to 19 minutes.
Very well balanced, indeed. Most triathlons are weighted towards the bike. In your example it is about 50% of the race. Without knowing any more about you, I would say more emphasis on the bike.
Without knowing anything about your bike, position, and training I can say with complete authourity, you have to get better on the bike. :0)
(this is Slowtwitch ya know)
Your swim is above average and you can actually run.
Most swimmers can’t run and most runners can’t swim and you have that covered.
But the bike is at least 2 - 3 kph slow (unless this was a mountain course)
Why is it slow?, well you have the aerobics, the rest is training.
So back to training, position and equipment.
And as rhayden mentioned, you went backwards after the swim.
Only fat fishes usually do that. And by your own account you’re not a fish.
(although knock 5 seconds per 100 off and you are getting closer)
And you don’t look that fat
Definitely not a fat fish. More like a swimming giraffe - 6’4", race around 170.
I was leaning towards hammering the bike as well. Probably the most convenient one to do (with the trainer), so no reason not to hit it hard this winter. Trainer Road would be a good place to start, and I’m sure there are cables to clean up, etc.
My Nationals bike was somewhat impacted by the bridge, but it wouldn’t have been too much faster.
19:24 is my open 5k pr, but I’ve never gone under 20 for 5k off the bike. Probably could get closer to that open time with more bike fitness.
My experience is that the most effective way to improve ones triathlon performance, for the least amount of time, is to:
increase the intensity of bike workouts
increase the intensity of run workouts
It would be hard to monitor ones progress, and over-training is likely, if you try to do both things at once.
I would thus:
Spend 12 weeks gradually increasing intensity on bike, while holding running and swimming constant. (Make sure you have some system to measure improvement).
Spend 12 weeks increasing intensity on run, keeping bike (at the higher level).
This makes a lot of sense. I’m running a half this weekend and have focused on running since mid-September. I’ll probably carry that through November and end with a 5k, then go into a bike block.
Very balanced. As others have said improving your bike or run will give you the most bang for your buck. Focusing on the swim would likely present too much opportunity cost. The bike as noted would get you the most time as it’s the longest portion of the race. One question is if equipment or fit improvements could help you get some “free time” on the bike. Don’t know if bike improvement would necessarily improve your run times by that much as you seem to have a fairly normal drop-off from your open 5k time, but you certainly should be able to get 2-3 minutes faster over that distance on the bike. As for how to train that, well that’s another question.
The only advantage of having a weapon is that you can target races that play to your strength. Ex. Alcatraz is good for strong swimmers, not so much for bikers; Wildflower favors strong runners and bikers.
The downside is that many key races and championships may not play to that strength (see above).