r/triathlon

Ironman Texas was a great experience as always. But my one gripe was the lack of rule enforcement as usual.

On the bike I was riding and then all of a sudden a clearly organized peloton of about 16 bikes, many of which were wearing the same kits, passed by me. I could have joined this group and drafted freely off of them but I stuck to the rules and called them fucking cheating fucks as they rode by and some of them flipped me off.

I kept a legal distance from them for a few miles and then I saw a couple of Ironman crew on a motorcycle and asked if anyone was going to do anything about the draft pack up ahead and they said no because we aren't race officials. Then a while later race officials drove by me on a motorcycle and told me to let them do their jobs and stop barking about the draft packs or I will get a card for unsportsmanlike conduct. In other words, stop pointing out about how we aren't doing our jobs.

I get that the focus is on the pro race but they have race ranger. I understand that with 3000 athletes that there will be some unintentional drafting but that is not what this pack was - it was clearly organized and tightly packed.

Also, something really needs to be done about swim start corrals. I lined up in the front of the 1:00 to 1:10 corral for this race. I saw by far the largest contigent of athletes lining up in the under 60 corral I have ever seen. The athlete next to me said there was no fucking way all these athletes were going to swim under an hour, especially in a non wetsuit swim and I agreed. It took me 15 minutes after age group gun to get in the water - last year I lined up in the middle of the 1 to 1:10 corral and was in the water in less than 5 minutes. The entire swim was a minefield of slow swimmers infront of me that I had to swim over or tried to draft off of but abandoned quickly after I realized they were slow. I was looking at the swim times at those who started ahead of me and there were lots of 1:20 and 1:30 swims. A guy I follow on Strava whose Ironman swim PR is 1:21 started 5 minutes before me so he chose to line up in the under 60 corral despite never coming close to that in the past and he swam a 1:31. An overweight guy in a speedo was in the under 60 corral infront of me and I passed him as he breaststroked away in the first 300 yards and I looked him up and he swam a 1:42. There needs to be some kind of system to ensure these corrals are actually representative.

And don't get me started on Ironman looking the other way when it comes to doping and PED use in the amateur ranks. They were promoting the steroid using BPN influencers at Ironman Arizona on the Ironman social media pages and there is a girl who openly admits to doing steroids on her social media who took a Kona slot at Ironman Malaysia.

I think these issues can be fixed by implementing an elite amateur division where those who are in this division are drug tested, mass start on the swim, and get race rangers.

I have two trisuits from decathlon, sizes S and M and I dont know whitch to choose. Im right at the limits of both sizes acording to the size table. I feel like they are both tight fit, there is nothing really hanging free on the M size, it's just easier to get into.
I dont feel like the smaller one restricts my mobility , it just feels really tight. i know its supposed to but how tight is too tight?

In the end they both feel really similar.

Thanks

I am curious on how custom, a custom training plan really is.

I am currently paying $400 a month for a top tier coach.

The coach can always be contacted, workouts become visible in training peaks at the beginning of every week for that specific week and some feedback is given on specific workouts a few hours after the workout but this is few and far between.

When I say "become visible" I believe the coach creates my entire workout plan at the beginning of the month and the coaching training peaks dashboard gives the coach the ability to "show" the workouts at a specific time and day.

I have noticed that if I miss a hard weekend workout due to travel or something else, come Monday my schedule will show a recovery day or easy day as if I hit those workouts, showing that the coach might not be paying attention to what I completed. Now if I text the coach that I missed something or need a change, they will make that change for me, but this must be initiated on my end.

What I have struggled with is how custom this training plan is to me. I follow a lot of the coaches athletes on Strava and I see that a lot of us are all doing the exact same workouts week to week. I was also on a bike ride this weekend and met an athlete that told me that they and their friends (4 people) were coached by this person and were all doing the exact same workouts every week.

For college athletes (I was not one) I believe that these athletes follow the same workout or similar every day with some customization. If you have 20 swimmers in the pool, they are all following the same programming. This sounds similar, all of the athletes are following the same programming with small tweaks based on their race schedule.

I have been in the tri scene for almost 10 years with multiple IM WC, and podiums and have seen a lot of success with this coach. I am looking for some input on how custom a top tier coach training plan really is.

I live in Florida. Anyone have water bottle recommendations for their bike? For training. I’ve seen steel water bottles that seem to keep water and ice cool. Anyone use them or have other recommendations?

Hi everyone,

I have an interesting question and I’m curious if anyone knows the answer.

How is it possible that there is no Ironman race in Bavaria, Germany? Triathlon is quite popular here, especially around Munich, and there are many beautiful lakes that would be perfect for races. Bavaria is also the strongest economic region in Germany, so it seems like it would have the resources to host such an event.

On top of that, Erdinger is heavily involved in triathlon, sponsoring Patrick Lange and many races and athletes.

It just feels a bit surprising that such a strong region for the sport doesn’t have its own Ironman event.

Does anyone know the reason behind this?

Thanks!

I have worked hard and want to treat myself to a new bike! Trying to decide on a powerful, fast road bike I can use on 70.3 and potentially a full distance in the future.

So far, my top options are a Factor Monza or a Specialized SL8. I would welcome all suggestions! I am looking for comfort and a slick-looking bike! Thank you.

Edit: context. I live in the US and meant 8k USD.

Basically I want to know which hair direction is best for preventing hair loss in the front of the head. I have a full head of hair, in my late 40s, never wear any kind of hat, and I'm not experiencing any hair loss at all. But I am starting to worry since the swim caps are so tight on the head.

So hair forward or hair back when putting on swim cap? Thank you!

Like 1 day off in a week?

I'm sure I'm the millionth person to ask this, but any recs on a wetsuit and trisuit that isn't 10 trillion dollars? I do want them to be decent quality, but I've never bought either before so looking for any recs. Thanks

In the market for a power meter for my bike. I am by no means high level athlete but did a 70.3 last year without once and unintentionally cooked my legs. As I get up for IM Canada this year I'd like to have some insight into my power output to maintain better effort. I am not looking to blow that bank but find something that simply works. Facebook Marketplace in my area seems to be lacking in the power meter secondary market.

Can someone please help me decide or figure out what configuration I need for a power meter on my bike? I have an Argon18 E117 Tri with aero bars. I have a coros watch. What else do I need to be set to see my power output during rides?

So my current treadmill its great, but its older then me by a long shot (its a precor 9.33 from 1997) and I want to have my eye open on another treadmill that would last that long 😂. The current one i have works but im curious what everyone else has treadmill wise so when the time comes and I have to sadly retire the treadmill. Any suggestions to a good treadmill from what you may have currently.

I’m not sure what flair this would really fall under but feel free to correct me if I’ve chosen incorrectly.

I got into triathlon in 2017 and fell in love with Lionel Sanders after reading about him on Slowtwitch and seeing a few of his crazy YouTube videos pre-Talbot.

Then Talbot came around and got me super stoked about training. He eventually helped start Tim & Rinny and then came along Lionel in 2018/2019? Lionel was a super hero and crazy like I was. He is a former drug addict and fell into triathlon after catch the bug in Louisville. All just like me.

I raced Oceanside several times to try and catch Jan and him duke it out in real life only to go when he was hurt or decided not to race. I was hooked at that point and only wanted to catch a glimpse of my hero in real life.

I’ve been hurt the last year and haven’t been as disciplined or motivated to train and I started watching his videos again. He was back. He’s never been sane but we all know that his training would end up a bit deeper than it should have. Especially a week before the race to test it out.

This time was different. At least it was supposed to be. Not sure what happened but the race didn’t work out. And I’m kind of bummed. 50th place is a tough slap in the face after having so much confidence. And to lose it to Kristian… has got to be tough.

That all said, I am confident he will win again; he’ll be on top of his game again… he’s got to.

Not really sure why I’m writing this either. Perhaps like a crazed football fan or a bummed soccer fan, I’m shouting to the clouds with the hope that someone from the team reads this. I hope that he reads this.

I just want him to know that there are literally dozens of us that feel the same way and want to see him succeed. Keep trying man! See you in Oceanside…one day.

Thoughts on this bike comp compared to garmin? Never had any computer

Hey there!

I‘m planning on doing a full distance Ironman next year. This will be my second one, did my first long distance last year and have been into triathlon specifically for 6 years now.

Quite a lot has changed time wise since then. I started working as an orthopedic and trauma surgery resident (Germany) in the beginning of the year and my training has suffered since.

Since my upcoming rotation will have a pretty nice work schedule (no 24h shifts, no nights, on call on weekends probably twice/month) I figured now is the time to start training for my second long distance.

My commute to work is a little more than an hour with public transport one way or 27km one way by bike = more then two hours a day spent commuting.

After work there is still a lot of catching up on literature and upcoming surgeries (especially with the new rotation coming up).

I‘m wondering if I should spend my time commuting by bike primarily in spring/summer/fall to built bike endurance or if I should safe my energy for race specific training.

Any tips from my fellow triathletes regarding training with having a busy work schedule?

And how’s your social life going?

Would love to hear from your experience!

I’m apprehensive about buying a trisuit because I’m not certain if I’ll do another triathlon after this

Since my race is so short could I wear biker shorts and a sports bra or athletic swim top?