Summer 2015 triathletes….

I have a road bike - a 4 year old Trek Lexa S. I'm probably going to upgrade next year, probably going to spend around £1500 and get something with carbon fibre and minimum Shimano 105 groupset. Will hold on to the old bike too as a winter and travelling bike.

The only real way to get faster is to train more! I found getting a good solid winter in on the turbo trainer was very helpful - doing interval sessions on it and turning the apartment into a total sweatbox! You need to get used to sustaining a bit of discomfort and get used to the feeling of pushing yourself hard - a sprint race is relatively short so it should be a fairly intense effort, generally you won't be doing one to "just finish" apart from first-timers. I've improved a fair bit since last year - I did the same tri at Eton Dorney last June and my splits were more like 17, 47, 27 with very long transitions.

Am now thinking of hever gauntlet for next year - cost of staffs 70.3 totally puts me off.
Also considering entering the snowdon race which dh just did this weekend. 5 miles up snowdon and down again! At least that'll sort me out for the hill training ...

Go on backward possum you know you want to

Well done TriJo,. You've got v similar times to what I had a few weeks ago apart from the bike being 8 mins faster! What kind of bike do you have again? Any tips for getting faster on bike?

Do it do it do it :)

That's very achievable and you'll have a lot of fun on the day!

Just saying hello - I have been lurking for a while! I did a try a tri a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but struggled badly on the cycle as I was using a rubbish old mountain bike type thing. I have since purchased a decent bike and I have a hankering to do another try a tri just to see how much better I can be. I have also improved my swimming and running a lot. There's a local-ish one on the 9th of August so I think I might aim for that. Distances are Swim 400m, Cycle 16km, Run 3.2km. I feel a bit of a fraud posting about it I'm this thread compared to some of your efforts, but I'd like a wee confidence boost before maybe doing something longer next season. :-)

TriJo, that's a whole hour faster than my first tri time! I think it was the cycling that let me down but heading to Bodiam with a better idea of what to expect and a bit more training!

Sprint PB yesterday, happy out :)

1:26:17 for 750m/20km/5km - 16:58 swim (bit shit, but was talking to 3rd lady afterwards and she was down ~90 seconds too on her usual), 40:48 bike, 25:07 run. I'd set sub-40 bike and sub-25 run splits as goals for this year, so I'm not too far away now. 29th lady overall and 15th in combined 20-39 AG.

Got my wave assignment for London Tri too - a bit unimpressed, I have an 8:30am start and I am the world's worst morning person.

whereisthenow I did the run leg as well as the swim at hever castle when a teammate dropped out....it is a hilly course, starts with a massive hill, and ends with another. Killer. IMVHO. [not a strong runner]

First full sprint tri in September. Have done the swim open water leg as part of a team at Dorney, Blenheim and hever castle before. Bike leg is worrying me the most. Have posted some questions on another thread about 1st triathlons in "Exercise"...

Excited and terrified. Start a new job next Monday, and have a two week beach holiday before I do it, what was I thinking??? When exactly am I going to train for this??

Thanks. Vitruvian also meant to be good with added bonus of being late summer = more training time.
I thought about hever too as it's near where I grew up. But meant to be quite hilly bike and run - think I need it as flat as possible!

I haven't done any of them yet but was researching them all when I was considering a HIM this year (decided not to because I lost too much training time with my wedding and honeymoon in late May/early June). Have heard very good things about Outlaw half in particular though but I was in the US when it was on this year. I had strongly considered Hever Castle too but it clashes with Ireland v Romania in the Rugby World Cup so that was a no go :) Midnightman would have been the relatively convenient option for me - relatively cheap (under £100), Dartford isn't too far away and 6pm start, but it's a bit boring course-wise.

TriJo so have you done any of those half ironmans you mention? Any particular recommendations?

Female Olympic Age Group on the Sunday.

I did 2 sprints at Eton Dorney last year - trust me I know about those winds! I'm also a bit of an aviation geek so got distracted during one of the bike laps by an A380 on approach into Heathrow

I would love sub-25 off the bike but it probably won't happen.

I would consider that a bit too expensive tbh for a 70.3 race in the UK! Cotswold 113, Outlaw half, Midnightman, Challenge Weymouth half, The Gauntlet at any of the Castle Triathlon Series events - all a hell of a lot cheaper. If I was going to spend that much I'd be seriously looking at IM70.3 Mallorca or Lanzarote and making a holiday of it.

Good luck for the weekend TriJo!
I really enjoyed my race at eton dorney on Sunday. Satisfyingly in the top third as pootlebug found also as it was women's only. Eton dorney is the windiest place on earth though, felt like I was going to be knocked off my bike! Oh and my 5k time was amazingly pretty similar to my park run pb
Have found date for when entries open for Staffordshire 70.3. But the cost - £263!! For that price I want a gold plated medal. dH has decided he wants to do it too so it's a lot out of the family budget

I'll probably go up to 60km before my Oly in August (long ride is 45-50km at the moment), so it's good to know that a 70.3 on not a huge amount more is doable!

Two races this weekend... Great London Swim 1 mile on Saturday and a sprint at Eton Dorney on Sunday. Time to finally open my tri season for this year! My running has been good lately (ran a sub-24 5k), swimming average, cycling a bit crap - let's just see how we get on!

Hmm I have thought of the mountain bike pedals before but then put off by another set of pedals and shoes. You are v brave to cycle in London btw!

I have a 4 year old Trek Lexa S, I've mentally earmarked next year's bonus for an upgrade (probably to something with a Shimano 105 groupset and a nice bit of carbon fibre, have a mix of Sora/Tiagra now) if I haven't managed to get knocked up by then. I do use clipless pedals, but use the 2 bolt mountain bike ones rather than SPD-SL because they are easier to unclip in London traffic.

TriJo I am not sure what kind of bike you have but upgrading that or even just new wheels would help?
I've only got a basic road bike, can't afford a new one. But will get new wheels over winter. Also embarrassingly I don't use clipless pedals... Have got the shoes and pedals but took them off after a few falls and now have got a complete phobia of using them