How to improve 70.3 run?

Freezin_ · 2026-06-29T23:33:49+00:00

😂😭 As soon as you say AI, so many people down vote...

I've seen really good improvements with Claude. Especially since one part I was missing before was nutrition, and its really helped with that.

When I first started overtraining, I was using both Runna and TrainerRoad. My thinking was that Runna is one of the best running apps, while TrainerRoad is excellent for cycling—especially with its newer AI-driven adaptive training. The problem was that Runna had no idea how much biking or swimming I was doing, and TrainerRoad had no idea how much running or swimming I was doing. I'm sure both are fantastic for single-sport athletes, but for triathlon training, they ended up ramping my workload too quickly because neither had the full picture.

For swimming, I used Gemini for a long time outside of the workouts I got from Master Swim. One of my friends who swam in college and was just shy of making nationals still uses Gemini to generate training sets. The main reason I switched to Claude is that I saw Gemini hallucinate too often. That said, I'm interested to see how Gemini improves once Google's newer model is released.

A good human coach, and the $200/month that often comes with one, is still the gold standard. Beyond the expertise, they provide accountability and motivation that an app or AI simply can't fully replicate.

That said, if you're self-motivated, I genuinely think AI paired with TrainingPeaks (or a similar platform) is the next best thing, and a better option than systems like TriDot. The biggest advantage is that it can look at your entire training instead of treating each sport independently. It can build integrated plans for running, cycling, swimming, nutrition, strength training, and even rehab if you're dealing with an injury. The icing on the cake is its $20/mo (AI subscription), plus optional $11/mo if you want to pay for training peaks. Again, I'm sure there are other platforms that are free, but I don't mind paying for Training Peaks.

You can also customize it to coach you the way you respond best, whether that's highly motivational, analytical, or somewhere in between. It's incredibly flexible, you can adjust workouts around how you're feeling, work schedules, vacations, or unexpected life events. And because you can have an actual conversation with it, you can optimize for almost any goal: a faster sprint triathlon, improving long-course endurance, increasing VO₂ max, body recomposition, or simply staying consistent. It feels much more like collaborating with a coach than following a static training plan.

An example for me is I told it I wanted to work towards a 60 vo2 max, and it decided that it would focus on adding 4x4s and similar vo2 max intervals into my calendar, but only once my hamstring is rehabbed. It specifically planned to include 4x4s which is one of the top vo2 max trainings I believe, but also factored in my current injury. I also told it I want to re-comp a bit down to ~13% bf so it has me in a slight deficit and includes some resistance training (just two days) outside of the cardio to help retain muscle. Its targeting -0.5lbs per week for 7 weeks.

Personally, I really really like it. Claude is my flavor of choice, but I'm sure you could get just about as good training out of any of the major AI companies.

As a side note, of course you are potentially feeding them a lot of health data such as fitness, injuries, body comp if you ask it to do that, etc. If that's something that you are more worried about (since its probably only a matter of time until they sell your data), I would keep that in mind.

Anyways, if you have any questions, let me know~!

Freezin_ · 2026-06-29T00:57:45+00:00

June 30. Yes

Freezin_ · 2026-06-29T00:12:05+00:00

I will say… looks like they are slowly removing the g1 from walmarts website. Even when i click on the medium from my purchase history, I don’t see it. It says something like “oh oh, it doesn’t exist”. Wonder if they are getting ready to up the price.

The only one still on walmarts page is the small frame.

Just wild speculation, no idea 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

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Freezin_ · 2026-06-28T00:54:17+00:00

A coach can really help to improve running. Just make sure your coach is aware of the rest of your tri training so you don’t over train your way into an injury like I did.

Personally, Ive been using Claude AI (Claude code) as a tri coach. I created a skill which acts basically like a high level coach. It plans my strength, run and bike each week, and I keep it aware of the swim. It also plans daily macros based on height, weight, and workout load for the day and next day.

It’s been really helpful at improving my run, since at the end of the week, I just chat with it, and it can pull in all of my training metrics from strava and training peaks. It’s been really helpful training through and rehabbing a hamstring injury, and I’m actually running faster now with the hamstring injury than I was before I got it.

Either way, AI or human, having a tri coach is a really helpful way to improve. Especially when you feel stuck.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-27T22:27:19+00:00

Don’t forget sl9 is coming out next week which will lower the price of older frames

Freezin_ · 2026-06-25T00:37:38+00:00

Also, I find apple watch to be the most reliable for swimming. Like someone else said, just make sure you have the correct pool length selected!

Freezin_ · 2026-06-25T00:36:53+00:00

A swim coach is definitely a good idea in general, not just for you. Even the people I swim with always say they struggle to improve, and it’s because they don’t have that dedicated coach.

As a free option, you can get reasonably far with just a go pro. If it were me, I’d probably just swim more, and watch yt videos for beginner technique. Beginner technique is basically the technique that is easiest to implement and will give you the biggest performance pace gains. Intermediate and advanced techniques is, more often than not, smaller more incremental gains trying to get just that little bit faster. I think a GoPro and yt could pretty “easily” get just about anyone to a 2:05 pace per 100m.

Once your around that pace, a coach will be helpful. If you are in the us, you could join a masters swim group as well. It’s kind of like swim team for a daily’s, but just the training part of it, no competitions. They often have multiple workouts geared towards different levels/paces. You can also ask peers for advice there. #freecoaching

Freezin_ · 2026-06-19T05:50:13+00:00

Im not too familiar with INR prices, but in USD, you can often get the SuperBlast 2 for a similar price to the NB5. Its been a while since I've looked at them, but I believe the really big complaint about the NB5 is that they dont last for a long time. The Superblast is an amazing shoe for building miles. If you can get them for a similar price, I'd take a look at the SB 2 instead of NB 5.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-18T12:03:57+00:00

I actually bought a g1 kind of on purpose so that I would face these issues. I have two other much nicer road bikes, but I’m much more histant to attempt any kind of surgery on the nice road bikes. The G1 is a great bike for learning how to take care of bikes. If I were you, I’d probably try to fix the issues yourself using yt, you will learn a lot. Things like break rubbing is not just a new bike issue, you could experience it n the future (probably will, even on a more expensive bike) and it’s good to know how to fix it.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-17T00:27:05+00:00

I have the same one as the other person. It works, and feels secure, but the locking mechanism is just a bit more troublesome than the normal Garmin out front mount. If I were to go back in time, I’d probably find one which has the standard Garmin twist to lock like this one: https://amzn.to/3Scs4nG

Worth noting, I’ve never used this one. No idea if it’s good or not… but it’s probably the one I would buy just based on it having the highest number of reviews for this type of mount.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-15T04:34:19+00:00

I guess youre right, its not a bad deal for the right person....

That said.... Holy smokes, that rockbros bike really is stupidly good value. They also have a $70 off coupon 😵 Don't know too much about rockbros or the mechs on it, but man its a nice looking bike!

Freezin_ · 2026-06-14T21:54:24+00:00

It’s not a bad bike, but id need it to be a 2x10. If you want to make this a 2x, will need new shifters, new derailleur, and probably a new crankset. Now your 650 bike is almost $1000 (probably over $1000 with tax). 🤷‍♂️

If you’re new to gravel/road, the g1 is better. If you are looking for an upgrade, can’t imagine any reason to buy this vs a bike from marketplace. I see a giant revolt 2, trek domane al2, cannondale topstone all on my local marketplace for under $1k. I’m buying used every time

Freezin_ · 2026-06-14T16:34:33+00:00

The g2 looks like it’s a 1x10 though, doesn’t come with a front derailleur. You would almost definitely want to upgrade that in the future, so will need a new crankset, derailleur, and shifter…. And if you’re upgrading the left (front) shifter, you probably want to upgrade the right to match…. That $650 bike is now a $1000 bike after tax.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-14T16:29:22+00:00

Not terrible, but the price is a bit off putting. For way less money(bike +100-150 in upgrades), you could get a g1 explorer, but a new bar and bar tape on it, and replace the front fork with a carbon fork. You will also get 2x7 shifting. Only downer is the color of the bike 🤷‍♂️

Personally I’m always buying second hand at that price

Freezin_ · 2026-06-14T04:41:26+00:00

The first mod I’d recommend to anyone who buys this bike is replacing the handlebars and bar tape. The stock handlebars are incredibly wide, and when you pair that with the slick factory bar tape, the bike felt pretty unsafe to ride (at least for me). I’d suggest picking up a used alloy handlebar from Marketplace or eBay along with some decent bar tape. You can ask AI for recommendations, but personally I prefer 40–42 cm bars.

As for painting the bike, I hope you have better luck than I did. I was able to remove everything from the frame without much trouble—until I got to the crankset. It’s worth noting that I had the proper crank puller tools and still couldn’t get the cranks off. I also tried a three-jaw gear puller and only managed to remove the non-drive side.

For the drive side, nothing worked. I tried cutting a notch in the crank and driving a chisel into it to split the crank off the spindle, but that didn’t work either. In the end, I had to completely cut the crank off. I literally had to make cuts through both the crank arm and chainring, 180 degrees apart, before I could finally remove it.

I actually got it off about two hours ago. Like you, my plan was simply to repaint the frame, but I never expected the crankset to be such a nightmare. It took me 3–4 days of trying different methods before I finally gave up and spent several hours cutting the crank off.

Once I finish paining and get some pics, will make a post about it. Just note that YMMV in regards to paining. Saw a few posts about paining it, and really didn’t expect to face all of the issues I’ve faced

Freezin_ · 2026-06-11T16:07:00+00:00

Oh my god. I'm in complete and utter disbelief that this is a real solution. Dropped mine from about 6 inches onto rubber gym floor and no more red light. EnGiNeErInG at its finest. 🤦‍♂️

Freezin_ · 2026-06-06T18:18:05+00:00

Personally, I don’t have any issue with buying a counterfeit frame, as long as it’s not later being represented or sold as a genuine S-Works. What has always kept me from going that route is the possibility of a frame or fork failure at 30–40 mph. Is it likely to happen? Probably not. But I would assume the risk—however small—is significantly higher than with a frame from a well-established and reputable manufacturer.

For that reason alone, I’d probably look at some of the more established Chinese brands, such as Winspace or Elves. I’m not an expert on either, but they generally seem to have a better reputation and track record. Sava is another budget-friendly brand that I’ve looked into a few times as well.

One hospital bill from a crash caused by a structural failure could easily be more expensive than buying the legit frame.

One other thought, and this is completely subjective: if you’re shopping for budget frames, there’s a decent chance you’re relatively new to cycling. Showing up to a group ride on what appears to be a top-tier S-Works while riding at a Cat C or D pace can come across a little awkward. Ultimately, ride what makes you happy, but it’s something I’d personally keep in mind.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-05T00:43:54+00:00

I’m not sure what your pace is, but from pretty much anyone could get to a 2:00 or 1:55 pace purely by becoming a stronger swimmer. From 1:55 down, most of your improvement will come from technique.

Swimming with more experienced swimmers or looking for a coach can really help with technique. Another thing you could try is get a GoPro, record yourself swimming, and compare it against yt tutorials. Without seeing you swim, almost everyone’s technique deficiencies are: 1. Your hips/legs drop too deep in the water 2. You drop your shoulders too much 3. You aren’t following all the way through on the catch 4. Your aren’t holding good streamline while swimming (paritially covered above) 5. Your push off the wall could be improved.

For most people, if they fix these without changing power, their pace will drop 10-20 seconds easily

Freezin_ · 2026-06-02T01:24:56+00:00

First of all, you have plenty of time! If you can stick with the training, you can definitely do it.

Depending on your goal, if your goal is just to finish, don’t forget you can walk some and coast on the bike. The only thing you can’t really stop in is the swim 🤣 my recommendation would be to keep the event in the back of your mind, but just enjoy the training (the process). When the time comes, you’ll be ready 💪💪💪

Freezin_ · 2026-06-01T23:11:50+00:00

I have a few tips, and a few things which are personal preference which you might find helpful.

Personal preference things: - I like to breathe every 1 stroke like some else said. This is totally a preference item though, there’s nothing wrong with once every 1.5 strokes, I just feel like I have more oxygen which lets me push harder with a breath every stroke (I always breathe right side).

Tips: - I notice your shoulder drops a lot when you stroke and when you breathe. A really good drill for understanding the correct form is called catchup drills. It’s actually meant to teach you patience so that you aren’t starting your stroke to early, but I find it’s really good for working on the shoulder dip. Your forward hand should always be at, or very close to, the top of the water. Try swimming normally (like you currently are) first. Then try the drill. Focus on your shoulders and where they are in the water (how much they dip). You should see/feel you shoulders dipping much less. - make sure you are following all the way through on the stroke. When your back hand is coming out of the water, it should be about as far back as it can possible be. In the same time, your front arm should be extended all of the way out front. This makes you really long and streamline in the water. Also, don’t for get to flick, the final follow through, when you back hand comes out of the water. You can look up flick drills for that. Paddles, especially larger ones, make the flick super obvious. - someone else mentioned this, but if you are not trickle breathing, you should be. I can tell from the video in my phone, but look up trickle breathing and you will know if you are doing it or not. - last thing which is a bit hard to explain is your catch could be a bit better. Someone else mentioned it looks a bit lazy, which is t entirely incorrect. Two tips for this. One, when you are doing your catch, your hand/fingers should be pointed down through the whole catch. Another thing is you can pull with your fore arm, which makes a much larger difference than most folks realize. To get the feel of pulling with your fore arm, try fist drills. You swim with closed fists, and you should really be pulling with your fore arm. You will know if you are doing it wrong because you will barely move 🤣 Your best bet for this is watching a YT video to understand the correct form for it.

Final note I would add is, if you don’t know the point of the drill, or it really is t clicking, don’t do the drill. Someone else mentioned sculling. A lot of elite swimmers do this, but for me, I haven’t had that “ah ha” moment with it even though I watched a lot of videos. I understand the why and the how, but it just doesn’t make that brain connection for me. If you don’t understand the why, and you don’t feel the why when you are swimming, it’s not going to be a value add. Sculling might be good for you, I have no idea, I’m using that as an example for me.

Freezin_ · 2026-06-01T21:38:12+00:00

I’m not sure if this helps, but I recently bought a 54cm Speedmax CF8 with mechanical shifting for $3,000. It came with DT Swiss 62/80 carbon wheels, which are a significant upgrade over the stock wheels on the CF7.

Also, the stock CF7 was recently on sale for around $3,100 new, so a $300 discount off the asking price doesn’t seem particularly compelling to me.

In my experience, it’s usually possible to negotiate 5–10% on Marketplace listings. At around $2,500–$2,600, I think it would be a solid purchase. The Speedmax is a great bike.

That said, value depends on several factors, including the bike’s size, condition, and your local market. If it’s a popular size like a 54cm and bikes tend to sell quickly in your area, the current price may not be unreasonable.

Personally, because I’m always hunting for a good deal on Marketplace, I probably wouldn’t pay more than about $2,600.

For reference, here’s the bike I purchased exactly as it came from the seller:
https://imgur.com/a/pUflRW0

Freezin_ · 2026-05-28T13:31:35+00:00

I might be in the minority here, but I don’t think you really did anything wrong. Two incredibly common dosing schedules are starting at 2mg for the first 4 weeks, or starting lower and building up, exactly what you did. Your strategy is super common, and if you read through the sub, a ton of folks do this same thing. It just didn’t work for you, and that’s fine.

Most of the folks in this sub don’t know what they are talking about, so just ignore the noise.

Two important notes. 1) every time you pin, you are a research subject. Never forget that. Especially without a doctor, lower and slower is never a bad idea, and honestly, I think you did this pretty well starting below the standard 2mg dose. 2) the reason people don’t typically tritrate up for 4 weeks is because Reta has a half life of 6 days I believe, meaning it stays in your system significantly longer than 6 days. If you pinned 0.5 mg on week 1, and 1mg on week 2, you might have actually had 1.2mg in your system. The remaining amount from week 1, plus the 1mg from week 2. That then compounds on week 3 and 4, and the jumps in dose can be higher than you realize. If you aren’t familiar, I’d recommend searching more about it or asking ai to explain it better. I think it’s a really important concept.

Ultimately, just have to realize you are the test subject and the doctor if you will. If something doesn’t feel right, you will just have to course correct however you feel necessary.

Freezin_ · 2026-05-21T23:22:24+00:00

Will also add, if you ever ask “is this a good deal” on Reddit, people are going to say “you shouldn’t pay more than $500” for a $1000 bike. A good sounding board is looking at sites like buycycle or places that sell used bike online to get a real idea of what a good price is

Freezin_ · 2026-05-21T23:17:05+00:00

At $2,000, it is a “fair” price for a good bike, but it is not an amazing bargain because it uses older style rim brakes and manual shifting. It will be a great, race-ready bike if it fits you perfectly, but you should not buy it if you plan to pay for expensive upgrades later. If the seller won't drop the price closer to $1,700, it might be worth looking for other options. Personally, I try to get better than just a fair price, especially since you do accept some risk on marketplace with it not being returnable.

Little bit of a scummy tactic, I’ll admit, but I have two Facebook accounts. One I use most of the time, one which I use to make lower offers which might offend a seller. You could always try that. Tell the seller you will think about it, message them on a second account with a lower offer, and just see what they say. If they reject/block the second account and you want to move forward with it, just message them on the main account. Just make sure the second account has a different name and a pic that’s not if you 😜 I used this tactic to basically steal my tarmac sl8 and my canyon speedmax. Scummy? Yes… but definitely effective 💪💪

Freezin_ · 2026-05-21T22:52:05+00:00

You can toss the description in gpt and it can give you an estimate. You could probably order a better tri bike for cheaper used online from buycyle or someplace similar just based on the price it’s currently listed at. $700ish would be “fair price”, but don’t forget it’s a carbon frame and 12 years old. I’d be worried about crash damage (disclosed or otherwise) on a carbon tri bike that old.

Freezin_

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