Tri Till You Cry

[fimm]

OK, here's some links from the triathlon forums.
A very long thread about last year's Double and Triple iron-distance races.
http://www.tritalk.c...pic.php?t=60476

This is this year's equivalent.
http://www.tritalk.c...pic.php?t=68870

There's a lot of chat and banter in those, I'm afraid, but if you can be bothered to work your way through them there is good advice about training for and racing these super-long events as well.

A couple of race reports from last year's triple:
from "Big Ted"
http://www.tritalk.c...d93210bf95fe816
and "The Reverend Graham"
http://www.tritalk.c...r=asc=
- just to give you an idea of what you've let yourself in for - "Big Ted" in particular is interesting on the mental side of this sort of racing.
And one from "Putt Putt" on a deca - that's an ironman a day for 10 days...
http://www.tritalk.c...pic.php?t=64199

If I was you I'd consider registring on TriTalk - they're very friendly on there and there are people with a lot of experience.

(Sorry about pasting in the long links - the inteligent link adder disappears off the side of my screen).

 

[darkstar]

An important aspect to consider is distance. You have to complete the 3 sports in 2 hour blocks, but does the distance traveled play any part in the final standings, or is it simply who can last the longest? That will influence the training regime.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Sam and Fimm have covered bricks and nutrition. I especially endorse Sam's comments on making sure a product suits you before the event. I've learnt the hard way - halfway around a half-Ironman (on Arran - a great day).

Keep a close eye on your early morning heart rate, it's your early warning system for over-training and illness, so if it's up more than 10% on the average, take it easy for a couple of days.

Watch out too for "junk miles". Only cycle to work if it fits into your training and is making you stronger, otherwise you're at risk of just getting tired without actually getting fitter. Too many people put the hours in without getting the benefit out. Talk it over with your coach and make sure the commute works for you.

I want to talk about the pastoral side a bit. You are going to be more knackered than you have ever been while training for this. Think "small baby" knackered, with the added wrinkle that you know you can't stop having a small baby, but you could stop training for this event. Go to bed earlier than you would normally. No, earlier than that. If possible, plan for a nap during the day - even 15-20 minutes will help. You'll start being short-tempered and prone to errors, so watch it. Loved ones are members of the team too. Lay off junk food (you don't seem the type, actually) and make sure you are getting sufficient good quality calories, including protein just after training.

Oh, and watch out for the emotional come-down after the event.

Sounds great, FM. I hope you have a good time.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Fimm, I know the Revered Graham. He's a sweet guy. Must drop him a line.

 

[buggi]

i watched a documentary recently about a bloke who died in the 1940's in a dance-athon. He basically danced with his partner for over 36 hours and then just dropped dead on the dancefloor. (and they were given something like a 10 min break every couple of hours i think)

It wasn't even vigorous dancing, just the usual stand with your partner holding each other and shuffling your feet. Something happens in the body (can't for the life of me remember what) which produces some kind of effect and this eventually gave him a heartattack. apparently, doing this sort of endurance stuff can be quite bad for you.

Just saying

 

[Fiona N]

It strikes me that compared to an Ironman, refuelling will be quite difficult as the cycling where it's easiest is relatively a smaller part of the 6 hour block.
Given that refuelling while swimming is not going to be much of a goer (unless they allowing treading water while draining water bottles) and you're probably fairly limited in what you can do during the run - think of it mainly as maintaining hydration/energy - it does put a bigger than normal burden on the cycling leg which you'll need to use for refuelling after the swim and in anticipation of the run as well as for the cycling itself. Not an easy task and I'd definitely be practicing stuffing my face on the bike especially if you normally need to eat a fair amount to cycle for long periods.

I used to do a fair amount of endurance (24 hour) orienteering events (continuous - not like mountain marathons where you camp overnight) but there was always some 'down time' when you weren't actually running but searching for checkpoints etc. when you could scoff something before jogging onto the next CP. Even so I never really ate anything like my energy expenditure and there was nothing like having to cope with a 2 hour swim every 6 hours.

Altogether an interesting challenge - rather you than me though

Good luck with the preparations.

 

[Brahan]

WOW! Your trainer is AWESOME! Good luck with your training mate.

 

[fimm]

Fimm, I know the Revered Graham. He's a sweet guy. Must drop him a line.

I don't really know him, to be honest - I've only met him the once, when my boyfriend was doing the Double IM and the Rev was doing the Triple.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Thank-you for some solid advice and good links, people...

I think that the food side of things will be covered but I will make absolutely sure a long time in advance. It's a weird event as far as tri's go, as someone pointed out, as it is not done in distances and there are no cut-offs or distance requirements; it is purely about endurance. And as it is in equal time blocks, it makes the swimming (my weakest starting discipline) relatively more important and the cycling (my strongest) much less so. For my coach, the swimming part will be where she 'rests', for me that will be the cycling part. Right now, my goals are to get through the swimming, run a slow and steady 8-10kmph and similarly cycle 25-30kmph. Those are more than comfortable and I don't need to do more than this.

I have decided that I may do a number of other events this year, including a few 10ks, the local MTB Marathon (7 hours) in mid-July, our local triathalon (the long course is Swim 2000m, Bike 56.2km, Run 15km) at the end of July, the Mine Over Matter off-road triathalon (Swim 1km, Mountain Bike 18km, Trail Run 8.5km) in late August - which looks really good fun - and our local marathon or half-marathon (depending on how I am feeling) in October.

At the end of the year I will decide whether I will try to take this further or do something entirely different. To be honest, my natural inclinations are more to off-road challenges - something like this: http://www.transrockies.com/trc/about or maybe even this: http://tourdivide.org/ - and adventure racing - things that involve a bit of canoeing and carrying your own tent too.

 

[Ravenbait]

25 - 30kph? Seriously? That's the sort of speed the moderately good ladies in my Age Group category are doing during the 20km of the sprint. I aim for that in order to leave myself something for the 5km run at the end (or the 10km, if it's an Olympic -- I only have two speeds on the bike, unless I'm riding with my Mum), running being my weakest discipline. I think that might be overly fast over two hours if you're planning on resting.

May I humbly suggest that speed is irrelevant as it's purely about endurance -- time lasted -- and don't give yourself a speed goal so much as an easy effort goal. I'd be looking at a heart rate target for the bike rather than a speed one.

Sam

 

[Flying_Monkey]

25 - 30kph? Seriously? That's the sort of speed the moderately good ladies in my Age Group category are doing during the 20km of the sprint. I aim for that in order to leave myself something for the 5km run at the end (or the 10km, if it's an Olympic -- I only have two speeds on the bike, unless I'm riding with my Mum), running being my weakest discipline. I think that might be overly fast over two hours if you're planning on resting.

May I humbly suggest that speed is irrelevant as it's purely about endurance -- time lasted -- and don't give yourself a speed goal so much as an easy effort goal. I'd be looking at a heart rate target for the bike rather than a speed one.

Sam

I will not doubt be slowing down my estimates as things go on - those were just off the top of my head right now. My big problem is trying to do things too fast.

I'm getting the heart-rate stuff sorted out quite soon. I've already started to be monitored in the pool. It turns out I have a ridiculously low resting heart rate (thank-you, years of cycling) and very fast recovery from peak rates. I will be doing a lot more of this. It's not something I have ever bothered with before.

 

[darkstar]

If speed is not important in the slightest, if I were doing the event I'd do backstroke for every swim session, Can go for miles without getting tired. Have a slow kick pattern and you're sorted. In fact I'd use the swim to rest, sounds odd but it makes sense. There's no let up on the run, and depending on the course little when cycling.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Did 36 lengths (900) (in a mix of crawl, backstroke and breaststroke) yesterday, followed by 40 minutes of intense static bike intervals. Did some heart rate measurement. Apparently I have a very low resting rate (high forties), and the max I got to on the toughest intervals was 170. I was usually about 163 during these.

 

[Ravenbait]

I'm a fast beater with a fast response time and an adaptation curve. In other words, most of the time my HR is insanely fast. I could show you some hair-whitening graphs. On long endurance events, though, after about an hour and a half to two hours my body says "oh, all right then" and drops from an average in the 160s to an average in the 130s and stays there. My RHR, when I'm fit, is around 58.

My max posted is 205, although I haven't had it above 195 in a couple of years.

I use the Suunto memory belt for tracking my HR in the pool. It's not as interesting as you might hope.

Sounds like you'll be just grand, FM, if you can curb your more enthusiastic tendencies!

Sam

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Sounds like you'll be just grand, FM, if you can curb your more enthusiastic tendencies!

Damn, that's my best feature! Seriously though, that's exactly what my coach says.

I am concentrating on long slow strokes in the pool now, so that I can breathe every 3 strokes as opposed to every 5 as I do now... it's quite interesting because, as we are working on one aspect at a time, I manage to integrate the lesson and start to be comfortable with the new variation I am doing in my next solo session. Then come the next technique session, she starts me thinking about something else and it's like I have to rebuild again. But it works. I am already light-years ahead of where I was two weeks ago.