The Ironman in 2019 thread

I use my Apple Watch, its usually fairly accurate, maybe a touch optimistic - when it isn’t, its wildly out so you know to ignore it…my 10km swim in a half iron race for example(!)

I’ve done two 1900m sets in January at 1:51 and 1:50 pace so I’m fairly confident I should be seeing something just under that. It’s like FTP testing, it can be a bit of a crap shoot sometimes. :laughing:

Swim training zones is not something I have figured out yet. I can just about toggle between “easy” and “hard” but even that varies wildly and I’m probably swimming in the “grey zone” most of the time.

If you can hold 1:50-1:51/ 100m for 35 minutes that is likely closer to your CSS than what the calculator is showing. There are a few reasons why this might be. You could have started out too fast and the last 100-200 was significantly slower than the first half. It would be useful to know your 100m splits. Another reason could be that as you try to swim faster your stroke becomes more inefficient. Meaning you might have been working at or above your lactate threshold but due to poor technique your times didn’t reflect your work. Or you just had a bad day. If you are sick or over trained that could affected the result too.

Edit: Or you counted wrong. I do that all the time.

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If those times are accurate then something went amiss with pacing, do you have your 100m splits? The CSS calculation penalises you for a significantly slower 400m TT as it indicates a lack of endurance.

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Thanks for the bump @JoeX and sorry for the late reply.
Things are going quite fine.

I have almost finished LV FD Base and nailed 100% of the workouts. 4 days before Christmas I became ill(which really sucked since I am a pastor (but thank god I was fit again just in time :smiley: )), but I could easily repeat the half missed week, because I planed the Base Build Spec cycle with 3 additional weeks for illness/work/whatever.
Last week I got a bike fitting for my Canyon Speedmax. Since then I try to do more and more Trainerworkouts on the Speedmax and not in the Roadbike anymore.
The position is quite different, especially in the aero position, but I can still hold most of the vo2 intervalls although I kept my FTP at 300 from the Roadbike position.
I find the long workouts on the trainer quite challenging due to the huge amounts of sweat I loose. But the entertainment side works quite fine thanks to the Punisher and super league on YouTube.
Anyways I am really looking forwoard to the warmer temperatures outside!

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Yup. The CSS calculation isn’t without fault as it relies on the relationship between the 400m and 200m time rather than the absolute times.

Last time I did a CSS test I improved both my 400m and 200m time and my recommended CSS went up :grinning:

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My swim training is all one speed because as soon as I try and speed up my stroke falls apart and I just try and fight the water out the way and as soon as I slow down my legs sink. I can swim a sub 7 400 when fit and continue to improve so I don’t see that much of an issue with it

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What do people on here use to carry hydration on the bike?

I was thinking about getting an aero hydration system because I have to leave the aero bars to have a drink

I use one of these: FC System Bottle Kit | Profile Design
Lots of volume, easy to drink from while riding and trivial to refill. Has a little mount for your computer/watch too. Don’t put anything other than pure water in it though because if you’re riding anything slightly rough it leaks like a sieve through the straw and refill ports :sob: Don’t get sticky sports drink all over your headset/brakes! Also I’m really not sure what the point of the little storage basket on the back is. Nothing fits in there neatly. Nothing wrapped in any case - you could put loose clif bloks in there but that’d be kinda gross :laughing: . I just took removed it.

Also the aero extension mounting kit has terrible stability and expects your extensions to be level. Get the base bar mounting kit instead if you can fit it, then you can set up your extensions however you like.

Ahh whatever I have I want to be able to put either isogels or energy drink in

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Hubby and I both run xlab torpedos and are very happy with them. He used to have a profile design and it was awful with all the leaks.

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@JoeX out of curiosity, what app are you using to calculate your CSS? If you have the first 100 split of your 400, I can plug it into SwimSmooth and see what they give as comparison. It’s the only I’ve found that takes the first 100 into consideration. Same for you, @JulianM

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Hey JoeX thanks for the shout out, my plan is going fine thanks. I am just finishing SSB 11 and plan to jump onto the long distance tri build plan when the SSB ends. I have been messing with the SSB and chucking in some heavy (for me) run and swim sessions also so I am pretty happy where I am at the moment & looking forward to getting into some more structured tri trg in the next few weeks.

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Are you being coached or are you self-coached?
I’m a swim instructor (22 yrs) & find that most people who have the same issues need to work on their body position (being able to balance in the water) and getting a feel for the water. Unless your body fat percentage is extremly low w/ high muscle density, that is.

Check out the book Total Immersion Swimming, it has some really good content. It changed the way I taught my students.
Totalimmersion.net

If you’re having trouble slowing down w/o sinking it could mean you stroke efficiency & technique isn’t as good as it could be.
I’d have to see video of it though.

Good luck.

I see a coach in an infinity pool about every two months, mutidirectional cameras ect.

The speed issue is much more than the leg, if I swim slowly I have to concentrate a lot more on my body position but if I try and do anything like hard efforts then all I am doing is plowing through the water and generally I don’t get the point, I’m never going to have to sprint in a race I want consistent form for minimum effort.

Checking in:
After getting home, my tooth abcess returned & I had to go back on antibiotics. Female athlete reality: having your period makes me extremely tired, lowers my immune response and my anxiety gets worse. So my tooth abcess came back at the same time.
I’m looking into getting the injection that pauses mestruation so I can keep training and not have to deal with my hormones messing with my training. Gross? If you’re a female it’s what we have to deal with and consider. My husband works with Olympians and he said they’re all taking birth control so they can train & perform to the max ability.

I’ve still having issues getting up to train in the morning, and seem to need a lot of recovery; so I suspect being able to do all the workouts of the low volume isn’t realistic right now. I have been increasing them, focusing on the bike and run, since I’m a strong swimmer. (Strong, not fast, let me clarify. I could swim for an hour straight & not drown.)

To reset my sleep, I tried sleeping pills but they leave me too drowsy to get started. They also take a few hours to kick in apparently. I have a light therapy lamp beside my bed that I used today & it helped me wake up, but I’m having stomach issues, as in water’s goinng right through me. I’m frustrated at this, but I’m sure once I sort through everything, it’ll settle down.

In terms of stats, my FTP is up a little even after a few rides. So I’m happy.
I switched my running to a track (I live in a hilly area & it wasn’t a good indicator of my pace), and while it’s boring, it’s given me a confidence boost because I see faster times. I also have done my runs right after I coach instead of when I get home; I found myself wanting to just rest if I waited after I got home.

My challenges have to do with my severe anxiety, so I envy you who are able to go and do your workouts.
I have been progressing though and my training load is increasing.
I found a journal entry from November 2015 the other day & it described how I was spending my days stuck in bed, I didn’t leave the house for over a month straight, didn’t bath or shower for ten days straight… so I’m in a much better place now.

My first race is in five weeks, a stardard distance pool triathlon. It’s the main event for the mental health advocacy campaign and race team I founded, so I’m excited to be doing in again :slight_smile:
I was accepted as a Nuun ambassador, so that helps the journey!
I’ve also been asked by my supplement sponsor to speak at a wellness show this weekend; I’m excited to be able to talk about my love of triathlon.

I’m loving the workouts and can’t wait to see my improvement.
FTP is very low compared to most (102), but I have to start somewhere. It will be interesting to see how much it improves.

Don’t take your ability to train for granted, it is a gift. Every workout is.

Cheers!

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For a standard distance pool tri how many do they have in the pool at a time, I’ve done loads of sprints in the pool but by standard I am assuming oly and when times are going to range from high teens to 40min + for some then the pool could get very crowded

I use a bottle between the arms for water in a Profile design HC mount and a 600ml aero bottle on the down tube with gels squeezed into it and topped up with water.

I used the swimsmooth website calculator.

Looks like it’s bled some of the rest time in, so I’m afraid the individual splits aren’t much good.

I’ll just test again, it’s no bother. :+1:

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I tend to use the Swim Smooth website if I’m online and a random free iPhone app I picked up. The last two CSS tests I’ve done have been a 6:07 400m (first 100m was 1:31ish) and a 3:00 200m which gave me a 1:34 CSS speed.

The last one was a 6:04 400m (first 100m was 1:29) and 2:54 for the 200m which calculated as a 1:35 CSS.

As long as the trends over time are going down I’m good with that!

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