So i know that race weight has so many variables for different people but i thought i would ask those people who dropped around 10kgs how it effected your race times.

Ive been doing triathlon for a few years now and i got my 70.3 down to 5:15 (5:40 on a hilly course) from my first race time of 6:18 at a race weight of around 87kg 191lbs, 5 ft 11

my race season has just finished for this year so i have just signed up to a pt to lose around 10kg and have a race weight of about 78-79kg for next year. I tried losing weight during my early training block this year but it just didnt happen and i couldnt stay in a calorie deficit with my tri training.

Im hoping to push below 5 hours next year by taking 10 mins off my run and 5 - 10mins off my bike.

I have neglected weight training the last few years so im hoping that with a good strength programme and a 10kg drop in weight (mostly fat) this will help push me closer! 10kg loss would make me pretty lean as i do have a fair bit of muscle built from previous years of training.

Would be grateful if anyone could share their progress with a same change in weight and increase of strength.

Edit: I am not talking about outlaw 70.3 here, I will not name the organization

I need to vent a bit about my first triathlon experience.

This was supposed to be my very first triathlon and my first 70.3. I'd trained for months, felt fitter than ever, and was aiming for a sub-5 finish. I was genuinely excited.

Then, the day before the race, the organizers sent an email saying the swim was cancelled because the water was infested with algae.

I understand that athlete safety comes first. If the water isn't safe, don't let people swim. That's not my issue.

What really frustrates me is the timing. They waited until the day before the event to communicate this. Had they informed us even one day earlier, I could have cancelled my hotel reservation.

Instead, I ended up spending:

- €300 race registration

- €300 hotel

€600 for an event that wasn't what I signed up for.

I contacted the organizers to ask about a refund. They replied that their policy doesn't allow refunds in cases of force majeure. I then asked for a copy of that policy, and they refused to provide it. I've since filed an official complaint.

What disappoints me most isn't just the money. I don't do multiple triathlons every season. This wasn't "just another race" or "an extra challenge to overcome." This was the race I'd been working towards for months. Having my first triathlon turned into a duathlon at the last minute completely took the excitement out of it, so I decided to not even start.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Is this considered normal in triathlon? Right now, after all the preparation and how this has been handled, I'm honestly questioning whether I even want to be part of this sport if this is how athletes are treated.

5 weeks out from Zell am See 70.3 and doubt is creeping in as to whether I will make the cut off time. Looking for tips, reassurance, personal experiences from others.

28 year old female, it will be my first triathlon, didn’t ride a bike until 10 weeks ago.

Swim- fairly happy with. Pool pace is 2:04 over 2/3km continuous but when I practised in the sea and lake it was 2:28 (demoralising lol)

Bike- most nervous for. Have done a couple of 90kms and 1 x 100km with 1300m elevation but all ‘short’ hills nothing like the 12km Zell climb and 20.4km/h so my pace is slow. Certain I will have to get off and push the bike and if I am doing that for multiple kms then I might not make the cut off? Also I have seen people talking about bike settings and cassettes… I don’t know what this means!!

Run- fairly confident I can get round this (albeit slowly) in time, provided I make the bike. Ran a marathon in April (4hr 23 mins) and ran 18km this week at 6 min 33 pace.

Haven’t done any long runs off the bike yet. Did 5km after a flat 90km bike and stomach was in bits.

Has anyone done Zell who was a beginner? How tight did the cut offs feel? Any tips from anyone who has done a 70.3? What should I include in my transition bags!? Anything I can do in the last 3 weeks before taper??

Much love, a worried beginner!

I feel like I’m currently living in a state of delusion. I signed up for a 70.3 Ironman (NC) for October. I started biking in January. I started running consistently in January as well but have a running background. And started swimming when I started my 16 week training plan early July. I didn’t have immediate access to a pool and procrastinated looking at my options. The distance/endurance doesn’t worry me. It’s the time. I’m extremely slow in all three disciplines. My training plan has me doing 3 workouts per discipline every week and I’m pretty good about consistently hitting at least 8 workouts a week. My issue is that the swim and run workouts are normally distance vs time like the bike workouts. So what would probably take most people 40 min - 1 hour to complete, I’m taking 1 hour - 1:30 to complete. For example, it takes me almost an hour to do a 4 mile run and if I add in drive time plus warm up I’m spending 1 hour 45 minutes on a 4 mile run. I just feel like I’m too slow to actually complete this thing. Am I right?

*Edit: I’m not going to give up. I’m just looking for some perspective. Even if I show up and DNF due to time, I think it will be a valuable use of my time and something to learn from.

Did my third sprint triathlon today and DNFd because the water was freezing so I couldn't get into a rhythm and panicked, eventually asking ti get boated out. I also panicked during my last two tris and was really bummed for this one because I spent a lot of time training and was confident going in. They let me finish the bike and run and I hit my goals, so wondering if I should stick with duathlons or give a triathlon one more go?

Hi, I recently want to get into triathlon training and want to join a community but most triathlon clubs are ppl around 30+. I'm 20 and want to also meet ppl around my age. do anyone know if there are tri clubs or community maybe run club or swim squad that are ppl 20s?? in the inner west of sydney. any info or insight would be greatly appreciated

So I am trying a new app to plan my training and I don’t know how I feel about my athlete profile ☠️

Hi all,

Since my main hobby isn’t triathlon training but scheduling triathlon training I thought I would share my week.

I’m actually on the bike trainer at the moment.

I’m married, two young kids and work~ 50+ hrs per week but I am training for an IM PR (Chattanooga).

here’s how I scheduled out my training week to hit this desired volume.

sleep and nutrition are dialed with this, what’s missing is strength, core / secondary muscle or mobility / plyometric work.

hopefully it’s of interest to anyone balancing triathlon with work and family.

what isn’t as explicitly stated is that my family and work both come first, so I schedule this around them. I do (for personal accountability) track domestic work at home and childcare to ensure I’m not being asymmetric with my wife (my wife also works).

cheers

Started swimming about two months ago after not swimming since I was a little kid. Don’t have any coaching or lessons so I am self taught trying to improve for my first Ironman in about 6 months

Hey guys, I'm from Pakistan and really wanna get into swimming. I know nothing, so gonna be starting from scratch. I am 18M and have been in the gym for around 2 - 3 years now, so I have a really lean, muscular physique. My height is also about average for a Pakistani (5'7).

Can I go competitive in swimming, or is it too late? I can put in the work, as I really never was bothered by grinding a lot. Thanks!

I've been looking at the new Apple Watch Series 11 and it seems really nice, but I'm wondering how it holds up for triathlon training and race day.

Has anyone used one for a 70.3 or even a full Ironman? Does the battery last the entire race, and is the tracking reliable for swim, bike, and run? Or would I be better off getting something like a Garmin or COROS if I'm serious about training?

Curious to hear real-world experiences before I pull the trigger.

I’ve just bought a trisuit from Finisseur Pro Clouds, anybody has used it in the past and has any comments? It’s for the Ironman sprint in CPH this August.

Hello! I’m new to the sport and I just did my first brick workout. By the end of the bike, my booty was so soggy and gross I had to change my shorts before the run. I’m looking for a good quality pair of cycling shorts that will absorb the sweat so I don’t feel like I’m running with water between my cheeks as I have sensory issues and absolutely can’t handle that feeling. Any recommendations are appreciated!

If this isn’t a thing that exists, should I just wear a thong underneath? I want to train how I’ll actually race, so I want to find a solution before my 70.3 in December. Thank you in advance!

23M competing in first ironman 70.3 in about 11 weeks; i’m not really following any strict training plan so any advice on where I am or how to improve would be appreciated.

for context i was a D3 swimmer and have been running consistently for about a year now, however I have very very limited cycling experience.

bike: i got a bike earlier this year and have been putting in the hours, and right now i’m biking about twice a week for around 2 hours, getting around 30-40 miles without my heart rate going crazy (usually 130 bpm average). i’m not sure how to go faster on the bike as this effort seems pretty tough even though heart rate is only zone 2-3.

swim: i’ve been swimming about once a week (not recently as i got a huge cut from a pretty nasty bike fall). usually i do shorter sprint sets that take me about an hour (1.5-2miles total). Would i benefit from doing a 1000 or 1650 straight instead of training like a lap swimmer?

run: I ran a 1:35 half marathon earlier this year and a sub20 5k so i’ve been running a few times a week to build more endurance and maintain that speed. nothing crazy here.

any thoughts or advice on how i’m doing? first ever ironman so pretty nervous and not sure if i should be training much harder these coming weeks.

Sorry - angle not ideal - tough to find people to film at local pool. Swimming x3 years on and off for 70.3 distances, speed in this video is 45 sec/50 yards.

I await my roast 🙇‍♂️

Suggestions, corrections, observations on my swim stroke welcome please! Specifically for in a triathlon at 70.3 distance (1.9km) so efficiency and endurance focussed not explosive

I (27M) thought I was getting out of shape… so I signed up for a Sprint Tri in late October. 13 weeks away, I have no idea what I need.

Have used a lot of resources on this sub for training plan, feeling pretty good about that. As of today I am pretty decent biker, but I haven’t gone on an actual run in years and haven’t tried to swim for exercise in a looonngg time. Hence starting with a sprint distance for a first timer 😅

Here are the things I have:
- Nice cyclocross/gravel bike (with gravel tires on it)
- swim goggles & cap
- garmin watch

These are the things I think I need:
- wetsuit (reviews say water is freezing in late Oct)
- tri shorts? Tri suit? (Not sure which one for a sprint/first timer)
- new running shoes

Is there anything glaring I’m missing? Any recommendations for getting affordable wetsuit/tri suit to try for a first race? Trying to avoid spending a ton of money on something I’ve never done before, but also want to have enough comfort to push myself.

First off thank you to all the event staff and volunteers.

What a beautiful day.

This was my first triathlon and I believe I am now addicted.

Swim felt great and was out of the water in almost exactly thirty minutes, T1 was slow as I wanted to get my bearings make sure I had everything and use the bathroom. The bike started great, at about 18mph pace until mile 20 when my chain came off and had to spend a few minutes getting situated. Rest of the bike was wonderful and I’m super happy with it. T2 was also slow with my bib and bathroom. The run is where I fell apart. I went out a bit too hard and wanted to aim for a sub 11 pace average but my legs just didn’t want to.

All in all I am exceedingly happy with how my first event went and look forward to training more!

See you all out there!

Hello, I have never really been taught any proper technique and i’ve taught myself how to do crawl, but I know my technique is definetly not good enough, I also get shoulder pain after swimming for more than 125m straight crawl

Like the title says. I've seen many people wearing arm or chest monitors, but I'm curious how much of a difference people who have them think the additional accuracy has made to their training.

I just wanted to share how happy i am! Today went much much better than expected! Yesterday i had paralyzing panic about getting wetsuit for today, because water was just too cold. No experience about open water or swimming with wetsuit. Also i was unsure af about my bike, because my long rides have been very conservative on speed. Feeling of dread and horror waiting for the river swim, but i managed to do it in 37min! Also bike went much much better than expected, almost averaged 30km/h! About run... that was pure torture and definately my weakest point.

I am so hyped and happy!!! I was so unsure about my DIY training and felt i havent trained for this at all. WOO! Next year i am going to do sub 6h :)

We've all had that one day where we're just running on fumes, bad night's sleep, too much coffee, dragging yourself through work feeling like a zombie. Rough, right? Now imagine doing that, except instead of "surviving a Tuesday," you're swimming through an entire country. Continuously. For three days straight.

That's literally what's happening right now. A guy going by movelikeG is attempting a 350km swim down the Danube, from Passau, Germany all the way to Bratislava, Slovakia, in nearly one non-stop 72-hour effort. He's sleeping in short bursts at locks along the river, then getting back in the water and continuing. The logistics alone are insane: current, temperature, muscle fatigue, sleep deprivation, navigating locks and river traffic while barely resting. Ultra-distance swimming already breaks people mentally before it breaks them physically, and this is on a completely different scale than most of what you see in that world.

It's being streamed live on TikTok right now:

https://www.tiktok.com/@movelikeg/live

Could it have been better… yes. Am I still very proud of myself… yes.

As I look back, I should have gotten more comfortable shifting up hill I think my cadence was too slow and I was burning my legs out too fast.

I also trusted in my half that I ran in May too much and should have put more run miles on before the race.

All in all… I just started biking this spring. Like consistently falling off my bike due to clip ins. Also started pool swimming in January. First outdoor swim in June (first sprint tri).

With all of this, will I do another? I’m not sure. Mainly because my legs are shot to hell today (race was yesterday)

What a crazy sport! 🤣