davem

OK, so you are not a newbie to swimming. Was about to retire and take up tiddlywinks out of inadequacy. When I used to pay someone for a training program, she gave me a 5.3km swim for the one day including a whole of drills. After I decided to skip that one, I realised I was just another cut and paste customer. The best investment I have made for my swimming was a Garmin Swim. Being able to see what you are doing makes the training so much more relevant and you focus so much better.

Mental arithmetic...mmm....8x500m is 4000m @ mmm...1m 48s per 100m (used the calc for that one) Are you Chad le Clos or something?

Entered yesterday, damn. Sorry about the leg. Did you fall off your bike? Heal quickly.

The swim is in the canals which were crystal clear. Also a nice venue for first triathlon for those who are daunted by the swimming. The canals are only chest deep so you can stand up if you get into trouble.

Definitely not. Wind resistance is an exponential factor. Double the speed, the resistance squares. At lower speed the wind resistance factor is far less, unless in a raging headwind (then hide behind your water bottle). I base the sit-up conversion point on my cadence, once I lose that nice smooth cadence and have to grind the pedals, it is time to sit up. Sitting up opens the chest so you get more air into your lungs. In fact on a tough climb, slide back on the saddle lengthen your arms and get your chest open as much as possible. The extra oxygen will help you keep your heart rate in control.

On the bike position and effect on muscles, I don't profess to be a guru but I understand the basics are: A TT bike has a steeper seat post angle (76-80 deg), compared to a road bike (72 deg). This rotates your body forward. Your head comes down, your handlebar/cockpit can be lower and you present a small footprint to the wind. It does close the hip angle as well which does make breathing different, particularly if you belly breathe as you belly can touch your thighs as they come up. I understand this recruits your leg muscles slightly differently for your pedal stroke (compared to road cycling) and in such a way puts less stress on the muscles that are used for running (again as compared to a road bike position) The effect is an improved ability to run off the bike. How much,who knows, but that is the theory. What is definitely of benefit is to spin your legs out towards the end of the cycle. With 2km to go, up your cadence significantly and go to an easier gear. You will slow marginally due to the gearing but the benefits will pay off on the run. It will make those first few hundred meters of the run a lot easier. On the question of using specific muscles, learn to pedal circles. Do single leg drills in a spinning class. On the road, concentrate on your technique all the time. Do hill climbs on big gears staying seated, it will teach you to keep the power going throughout the stroke. Standing, while giving you a sudden power boost, consumes energy at a vastly increased rate. Rather use it only for stretching out the back. Learn to do all your hills sitting down. It will use less energy and keep the heart rate in a comfortable zone. Hope this helps.

To para phrase the rules on drafting. When you are passed (someone gets their front wheel in front of yours), you are obliged to drop back the draft zone distance (10m). On a uphill this presents a practical problem, because all of us are just trying to get to the top and to actually drop back 10m when the overtaker is only going 15kmh is impossible. The refs take a practical view that if you are nice and low in aero position and behind someone, you are probably trying to gain unfair benefit and will get a penalty. If you are however sitting up will your hands on the hoods or bullhorns,chances are you just trying to survive and probably going slow enough not to gain an unfair advantage hence they are more tolerant of the 10m rule. On the way back to town, the pace picks up and groups form. When a group is going fast up a hill, you will not get any leniency for sitting up and sitting on someones tail. This is based on what I have observed and what has been explained at previous briefings, don't use it as a defence. There are some explanatory videos on Youtube on the WESA (World Endurance SA) channel.Check these out as part of your prep. They are basically what gets said at the briefing but it means that at the briefing you can concentrate on the finer points.

Cycle course thoughts: TT bike will always help, so will an aero helmet and deep section wheels. If you want to ride under 3 hours, make the investment, otherwise use a road bike. (personal opinion) Clip ons are better than nothing. You don't get the same running benefits as with a TT bike. TT geometry uses slightly different muscle groups. The return leg is exposed to the wind for a few kms so you can get some strong cross gusts which may be challenging if not used to deep section wheels. This is normally when they start to give their best benefit so know how to handle gusts. Even in the terrible conditions of 2011, the Pros stuck with their disks. Pace yourself, the ride back is a lot faster, that doesn't mean it is easier. It is not all downhill on the way back. The hills after you leave the freeway and turn back towards the start will kick you if you haven't left something in the tank. Make sure you have the right cluster at the back. 25 minimum unless really strong, 27 if you are challenged by hills. (assuming a 53/39 chainring) The hills are not the worst you have ever seen, but they are long and just keep coming. The worst one is early on, going past Hemingways Shopping Centre. Use Google Earth to understand the course. Find a profile on MapMyRide. There are two water points before half way, dont go Tri-mad and load up three water bottles on your bike. That is 2.5kg of extra weight to drag up the hills. Take enough and refill. Learn to take a bottle from a Volunteer. They give out the BonAqua Pump bottles. They are well trained and know how to hand it to you. They use a flat hand with bottle standing on it. The nozzle is open so it will crush as you take it, which makes it easier. Don't ride in the yellow line as you are more likely to puncture. They sweep the slow lane for sharpies with their machine so keep to the left of the slow lane. Use slime in your tyres. Far better than sitting changing a puncture and watching everyone go by. Triathlon does not have the accelerate/decelerate of road cycling, so the slight extra weight in your wheels is an advantage (rotational mass) Understand what the non drafting requirements are so you don't get a penalty. If you do, say Hi to Garfield in the penalty tent. He will almost certainly be there. Don't block other riders by sitting out to the right, you will also get a penalty for that. If you sit up (not in aero position) on the uphills, you will unlikely get a penalty when the field slows and squashes up. Road surface is very good but highway is a coarse chip tarmac which does sap more energy that a really smooth road. I use a Polaris bike box. Lightest rigid case at 6.7kg. R3000 at Solomons Cycles Woodmead. R4000 at Northcliff Cycles. (Explain that one). Works fantastically well. Does not fit an integrated seat post. Will add if I think of something else.

Check out the Dabulamanzi Canoe Club website for the latest water quality report: http://www.dabulamanzi.co.za/

That is quite flat too normally Not so fast...

The best training for T1 at 70.3 would be try taking your wetsuit off in the middle of Xmas shopping at Cresta on 23rd Dec. Complete chaos, nowhere to sit down. Lots of people running past jostling you while you are trying to stand on one leg.

Standard Distance and Olympic Distance are the same: 1.5km swim 40km bike 10km run Standard Distance = No drafting Olympic distance = Drafting permitted 5150 and the Jhb Tri Series are all Standard Distance races.

But Garf, are you sure they have satellites in Bloem?

Hi Garf The Suuntos and the Garmin 910XT use an engine developed by FirstBeat Technologies. www.firstbeat.fi A normal heartrate monitor basically counts your heartbeat, the Firstbeat technology measures the full electrical cycle of the heart and is able to measure the load of your training on your cardio system through measures like VO2 Max, EPOC and Training Effect. I attended a presentation at Sandton Medi Clinic two years ago where one of the doctors/exercise physiologist (forget his exact qualification) reckoned the Suunto engine was within 1% of the full oxygen mask apparatus used for measuring these things. Only recently have I started to delve into planning my training based on the load from the previous cession using these stats. I am very pleased with how it works. Before you make your choice, I highly recommend you go through the Firstbeat site. They have a number of articles on how to use this Training Load data in your training plan.

Well done Garf. Great time. My best in a 70.3 distance is 5:50 so I guess you own me on two fronts! Need to up the training. You have now given me a target for 70.3 in Jan to redeem myself.

Nice bike though. Really nice bike. Damn this bike envy

Brad I am concerned about your disk going sideways for 600km. Think of an umbrella is a 120kmh storm. Put your training wheel on for the drive.

Thanks for banter. Good luck Garfield and Seeker and the rest. Suddenly feeling a little jealous. Drive safe and enjoy yourselves.

Lol. Have you entered 70.3? It seems I need to redeem my honour!

Dear Admin Please will you change Garfield's status from Ultimate Hubber to Master Drafter.

Haha. Have fun at the race guys. Don't worry Garf put me up to it with your number. I actually gave my bud his number, 648.

Hi Garf. Had a chat with my mate who is one of the refs. Told him to look out for you #583. He thinks it is funny that you get so upset with them. He promised he has had his eyes tested recently. He will be wearing one of those black and white striped outfits. So listen out for his whistle, he said it is a new one and really loud. He also said his new scooter runs really quiet so he can sneak up on you. I promised him a beer if he catches you.

Entered. Now just got to learn to swim fast enough to get ahead of those dtafting packs.

Joburg, even the Cradle would be difficult to get road closure. EL and PE do it because it has such massive tourism revenue relative to city size. The residents welcome us, because it makes them all a little better off. Plus it gives a taster for longer family holidays and more spend. A dynamic that Joburg can't really offer. Because 50% of IM and 70.3 athletes are already from Joburg, you would unlikely get the reverse travel with coastal guys travelling to Joburg. Besides you got Midlands Ultra in KZN twice a year.

Garfield, what is your race number. we need to tell the refs to keep an eye out for you.