Official NSC Triathlon Thread

[Indurain's Lungs]

Thanks guys, I will see when cycle2work is available again and check out the Boardman.

Depending on your confidence on the bike, I'd also look at getting some tri bars. Quickest and cheapest way to make yourself faster. Take some getting used to though.

 

[JoePrecious]

Did 2:49:11 at the Dambusters at the weekend - pretty pleased with that. The bike course had a few nasty hills which seemed to slow most people down quite a lot!

Has anyone done London before? I booked in for the Olympic on the 9th August but wondering what the range of start times tends to be, as don't get back from holiday until the day before.

Also, has anyone driven in an parked? Seems the easiest way to get there but wondering how long to allow.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Can someone recommend a watch which is good at tracking open water swimming distances? Cheers in advance

 

[Bad Ash]

Can someone recommend a watch which is good at tracking open water swimming distances? Cheers in advance

I don't think any watch is brilliant if worn on the wrist, a lot of people wear them in their swimming cap. Obviously this is fine for training, but not so much for racing. I don't quite know how they attach them when worn under the cap.

I wore my 920XT the other weekend for a 113, I have nothing for the swim recorded (given my time I'm not too disappointed). I have noticed before with Garmin's that you need to wait for GPS signal before you start recording. If you start recording before GPS is picked up then it seems not to record anything at all, in my experience.

To reply the IL, the 113 was a bit of a disappointment, but in hindsight I was hugely under prepared for it. It was pointed out to me that before the event my Strava bike YTD was 23 miles (a 10 mile TT and a 20k sprint tri), which I think is the extend of my outdoor rides this year. Unsurprisingly I died horribly on the bike. 2nd lap was about 6 minutes slower than the first. That did include a pee stop where a got off, clogged up my cleats and couldn't clip back in again On the plus side Di2 was nice, and being able to change gears while climb hills was a much more pleasant experience!

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I don't think any watch is brilliant if worn on the wrist, a lot of people wear them in their swimming cap. Obviously this is fine for training, but not so much for racing. I don't quite know how they attach them when worn under the cap.

I wore my 920XT the other weekend for a 113, I have nothing for the swim recorded (given my time I'm not too disappointed). I have noticed before with Garmin's that you need to wait for GPS signal before you start recording. If you start recording before GPS is picked up then it seems not to record anything at all, in my experience.

To reply the IL, the 113 was a bit of a disappointment, but in hindsight I was hugely under prepared for it. It was pointed out to me that before the event my Strava bike YTD was 23 miles (a 10 mile TT and a 20k sprint tri), which I think is the extend of my outdoor rides this year. Unsurprisingly I died horribly on the bike. 2nd lap was about 6 minutes slower than the first. That did include a pee stop where a got off, clogged up my cleats and couldn't clip back in again On the plus side Di2 was nice, and being able to change gears while climb hills was a much more pleasant experience!

That's a shame. I'm eyeing a half iron for next year and I feel like I'd need a lot of solid 3/4 hour rides logged on the bike before attempting it.

 

[Bad Ash]

That's a shame. I'm eyeing a half iron for next year and I feel like I'd need a lot of solid 3/4 hour rides logged on the bike before attempting it.

I've been moving house this year (done in 2 parts as we broke the chain), plus work has been hectic, which I guess I've used as an excuse not to train.

Hopefully it'll be a learning experience for me, and it's definitely highlighted the importance of the bike leg, both in terms of pacing it and training for it. Definitely need to log the longer rides like you've suggested. And you need to pace the bike based upon your current ability, because if you do over bike you not only pay for it towards the end of the bike, but then the whole run.

I've got another 113 in mid August (the Vitrivian, which is the longer sister race of the Dambuster that [MENTION=13467]JoePrecious[/MENTION] did), so I'm hoping to log plenty of miles between now and then. But I still have a lot to do on the house, sore today after ripping out a fireplace yesterday!

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

First open water swim with the "gps under swim cap" technique. Seemed to work well and confirmed that I'm definitely quicker in open water than a pool.

Gps tracking seems quite good -

http://app.strava.com/activities/332586886

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I had my first swim in this today. It's an effing brilliant wetsuit. Loads of Neoprone making it stretchy, no chaffing even without body glide ( I swam 2.5km) and 3 minutes quicker than the previous time I did the same swim. The obvious downside is the price but if it can please a miserablist like me it must be good.

http://huubdesign.com/products/huub-archimedes-2

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I had my first swim in this today. It's an effing brilliant wetsuit. Loads of Neoprone making it stretchy, no chaffing even without body glide ( I swam 2.5km) and 3 minutes quicker than the previous time I did the same swim. The obvious downside is the price but if it can please a miserablist like me it must be good.

http://huubdesign.com/products/huub-archimedes-2

If I had the money then maybe.

My current cheapo speedo suit chafes the back of my neck to pieces. Having never had another suit, of course, I have no frame of reference!

 

[Bad Ash]

If I had the money then maybe.

My current cheapo speedo suit chafes the back of my neck to pieces. Having never had another suit, of course, I have no frame of reference!

Are you using any glide/lube? I need to order more, mines run out and I just get scratched by the plastic case when trying to apply it, which probably results in a worse rash.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Are you using any glide/lube? I need to order more, mines run out and I just get scratched by the plastic case when trying to apply it, which probably results in a worse rash.

A but but obviously not enough. Next time I'm going to slather it on!

 

[JoePrecious]

I had my first swim in this today. It's an effing brilliant wetsuit. Loads of Neoprone making it stretchy, no chaffing even without body glide ( I swam 2.5km) and 3 minutes quicker than the previous time I did the same swim. The obvious downside is the price but if it can please a miserablist like me it must be good.

http://huubdesign.com/products/huub-archimedes-2

I was just thinking today that I'll probably treat myself to a new wetsuit for next year. My £100 Foor Classic has done three years now but I've had to repair a few splits and I suspect it is starting to restrict my swimming speed as well. Unfortunately, but budget would probably only get me about half of one of these!

Also, I got the Asics Gel Noosa in the end. Only done a 5k in them but didn't wear socks and they seemed very comfortable, also very light. They come with normal laces but you also get elastic laces in the box which is a nice bonus.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I was just thinking today that I'll probably treat myself to a new wetsuit for next year. My £100 Foor Classic has done three years now but I've had to repair a few splits and I suspect it is starting to restrict my swimming speed as well. Unfortunately, but budget would probably only get me about half of one of these!

Also, I got the Asics Gel Noosa in the end. Only done a 5k in them but didn't wear socks and they seemed very comfortable, also very light. They come with normal laces but you also get elastic laces in the box which is a nice bonus.

To be honest, I am an Open Water swimmer rather than a Triathlete (My tri bike is a £200 mountain bike and running 5km kills me). I am swimming Lake Coniston in September (5.25 miles) so a decent wetsuit is an absolute must for me. I've gone through 3 wetsuits very quickly, a cheap Orca one around the £100 mark which was hopeless and lives in the Garage as a momento to 'Buy cheap, Buy twice' the first Huub Archimedes where the Zip went. Huub, however, had an 18 month warranty and agreed to send me the latest suit for the difference in value between the 2 so it 'only' cost me £149 quid.

To actually swim in a suit which didn't restrict my arm movement, no chaffing, natural buoyancy, no breathing problems (sometimes I get 'tight' breathing caused, I think, by the suit restrictions) and knocks off tonnes of swimming time was a Eureka moment after struggling through suit after suit. Can't recommend it enough.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

To be honest, I am an Open Water swimmer rather than a Triathlete (My tri bike is a £200 mountain bike and running 5km kills me). I am swimming Lake Coniston in September (5.25 miles) so a decent wetsuit is an absolute must for me. I've gone through 3 wetsuits very quickly, a cheap Orca one around the £100 mark which was hopeless and lives in the Garage as a momento to 'Buy cheap, Buy twice' the first Huub Archimedes where the Zip went. Huub, however, had an 18 month warranty and agreed to send me the latest suit for the difference in value between the 2 so it 'only' cost me £149 quid.

To actually swim in a suit which didn't restrict my arm movement, no chaffing, natural buoyancy, no breathing problems (sometimes I get 'tight' breathing caused, I think, by the suit restrictions) and knocks off tonnes of swimming time was a Eureka moment after struggling through suit after suit. Can't recommend it enough.

Great, more stuff to chuck money at!!!!

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Great, more stuff to chuck money at!!!!

The amount of money I've wasted this year is obscene. My favourite purchase was a £40 pair of goggles that works in either bright sunlight or cloud cover or so said the marketing blurb.

The first swim I did in them, I swam directly into bright sunlight and couldn't see a thing. Absolutely nothing. As a turned away from the sun, they steamed up and no matter what I did, they steamed up again and again. They went into the bottom draw never to be seen again next to the £60 running shoes which gave me blisters and have never been worn since.

I pray I don't get addicted to biking. My brother in laws bike is over 2 grand. Talking to my sister at the weekend, she mentioned that he paid a lot of money for his bike '£800 I think'

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I pray I don't get addicted to biking. My brother in laws bike is over 2 grand. Talking to my sister at the weekend, she mentioned that he paid a lot of money for his bike '£800 I think'

Ha! £800 is definitely in the "budget" category. 2 grand is fairly standard for a decent bike but you could (very) easily spend that on wheels. The problem with triathlon (rather than sportives etc.) is you want aerodynamic and aero costs money! The difference between a standard road bike (endurance style bike) costing around a grand and a full aero setup with disc etc is probably 5-8 minutes over 40k.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

2nd tri and first standard distance this morning, with my first open water swim.

Swim was eye opening, didn't mind the people around me but my technique went to pot. Don't know my time yet As I'm waiting on the splits.

Bike was good and given my swim, it felt like i overtook about a 100 people. About 55 minutes for 35k then 45 minutes for 11k run in the wind and rain on trails.

Never doing the no sock option again - feet were a bloody mess at the end!

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

2nd tri and first standard distance this morning, with my first open water swim.

Swim was eye opening, didn't mind the people around me but my technique went to pot. Don't know my time yet As I'm waiting on the splits.

Bike was good and given my swim, it felt like i overtook about a 100 people. About 55 minutes for 35k then 45 minutes for 11k run in the wind and rain on trails.

Never doing the no sock option again - feet were a bloody mess at the end!

2.08 as it turned out with a 24.51 swim - must have been overtaking the sprint wave that went after us but only did 1 swim lap!

 

[Iggle Piggle]

2.08 as it turned out with a 24.51 swim - must have been overtaking the sprint wave that went after us but only did 1 swim lap!

How far was the swim?

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

How far was the swim?

1500m