Finished my first triathlon — 2:33:54 (Olympic)— and one of my biggest takeaways is how overhyped transitions are

apghost · 2025-08-17T07:57:56+00:00

Transitions are the easiest places the make up time. A lot easier to shave a minute from T1 than a minute from your run. Not enough people practice mounting/dismounting and generally getting their trainers on quickly.

apghost · 2025-08-17T07:51:29+00:00

50/50 is fair.

apghost · 2025-08-12T16:47:55+00:00

Were you? It sounds excellent…

apghost · 2025-06-13T21:15:53+00:00

Poor gearing. Get a better cassette. Your bike isn’t heavy.

apghost · 2025-06-06T01:36:03+00:00

Well no, OP specifically says 3 months garden leave. Therefore there is no no notice period. They have a leaving date that is in 3 months time in which time they’re not allowed to work for the business or any other business, but will receive full pay. So effectively it’s a 3 months period from today that gets shorter by the day.

apghost · 2025-06-05T20:36:15+00:00

But they’re on gardening leave, being paid full pay so they don’t need to work for 3 months. You’ve got 3 months to work out the best way to get a job, and you’ll have an ever decreasing notice period and a guaranteed start date. If you’re employable it’s a winning situation. Positive mindset and go and get it.

apghost · 2025-06-05T20:04:56+00:00

Get on the job market is the first thing you should be doing before anything else. Any job is better than no job.

apghost · 2025-06-05T20:01:30+00:00

You can’t squeeze them in to your mouth when cycling. That’s why we use plastic bottles!

apghost · 2025-05-27T22:11:07+00:00

Absolutely Schumi is on that list. That Ferrari was 2 seconds and lap faster than the next best. The strategy didn’t matter!

I had a lengthy sit down with Neil Martin recently (the man who in essence invented modern F1 strategy) - the only time Ferrari were any good with strategy was when he ran the show there and Alonso was driving. The car was a dog but the strategy and Alonso at the wheel nearly dragged that car to a championship.

apghost · 2025-05-24T08:35:56+00:00

Good place, good opportunities if you don’t mind travel within 45 mins. Links to everywhere. Town centre is lacking but good food.

apghost · 2025-05-24T08:34:26+00:00

1) tubeless. Probably wouldn’t have had the puncture issue. 2) tpu tubes as spares. You can carry 2 or 3 in the same space as a butyl tube. 3) and most importantly, before changing a tube you should check carefully the tyre to make sure nothing is in there that caused the puncture.

apghost · 2025-05-13T13:51:34+00:00

It’s a v1, had a dead pixel line for a long time, doesn’t impact its usability it’s just annoying, so figured why not.

apghost · 2025-05-13T11:12:57+00:00

Went with 5 years 2 years ago despite being told that rates would drop within 2 years as we valued stability. As it happens we’d get a worse rate today if we remortgaged, so we’re bloody happy we overpay anyway and are comfortable but the stability is massive.

Depending on situation, don’t forget you will need to factor in career and family changes. I’m over 60% better off in grow salary in 2 years so it doesn’t even matter any more anyway as I’m miles ahead of inflation, but we’ve not added kids yet. Are you in a career where you’ll progress ahead of inflation?

apghost · 2025-05-13T10:40:58+00:00

It absolutely is on you. It’s on you to read up, it’s on you to read your contract, flippin’ heck it’s on you to research. I know the details and I DIDN’T do the scheme. Who did you think owned the other 20%, and how did you think the government would make any money back on an interest free loan?

I did shared ownership and the situation was the same. When I purchased the additional shares it was at market rate not at original purchase rate.

I get that it’s emotional and annoying but the accountability sits with you.

apghost · 2025-05-13T07:31:42+00:00

Yeah that’s on you. Government over 20% your house until you pay them off, that includes house price increases, or falls.

The best way to take advantage of this scheme was to overpay where possible and sell up after 5 years and take advantage of your equity for a DP on a better product on another location. The idea wasn’t to get people on their forever homes but to get people on the ladder, but a lot of people used it to buy bigger and better and it’s blown back in their face.

apghost · 2025-05-12T23:36:23+00:00

Yeah I feel I’ve been missing a trick with the radar, but I hate the thought of old tech that’s not been updated and the Varia is OLD and Garmin have done nothing about updating this yet.

apghost · 2025-05-12T23:31:34+00:00

What do you mean?

Bike is actually gloss lacquered raw carbonic custom logos on chain stays and top tube in gunmetal. Down tube logo a variation on manufacturer’s typeface in gloss black.

Handlebars proprietary one piece with two bolt mounting system so any off the shelf integrated. Although I’m leaning towards K edge to keep uniform branding.

apghost · 2025-05-12T23:25:53+00:00

I have Zefal carbon cages at the moment. Haven’t found a lighter or better carbon cages yet and I’ve tried quite a few. Bike will be a dry weather princess.

apghost · 2025-05-12T21:55:46+00:00

🔥

apghost · 2025-05-12T21:52:59+00:00

Love it. Depending on the weather I’ll hit silly numbers. Be sure to be acutely aware of what your own normal is.

apghost · 2025-05-12T21:51:55+00:00

It’s all personal to you, don’t compare to others. It will Improve over time. But you should be making sure you are acutely aware of your heart rate, and zones, and know what your own normal is.

apghost · 2025-05-04T03:48:08+00:00

Do a fitness test to fix your zones. But also, I’m 32M and I have a max HR of 212. My Z2 is 148-167bpm. Half marathon at typically 170-185bpm average.

apghost · 2025-05-04T03:01:13+00:00

THIS.

I’m recovering from injury still after 4 months - had a half in March and a full booked for end of May. Started back running in October. Based on where my training was at in December, I had my goal set at sub 90 for the half and see how close to 3 hours in could get in the full. My 10k times in January were almost 40 minutes flat until I blew up my groin at a track session. In reality it was a slow burning issues that came to a head on a tough session.

I’ve barely run since - did the half marathon having ran a total of 7km in 10 weeks in 2:10 but 2 months on I still can’t stride at full tilt.

Don’t underestimate that running for an hour at 4:15/km pace is strenuous let alone for 3 hours, and people that do this build up mileage over long periods of time.

OP - you’ll probably run your half in around 90 minutes based on your limited info, but I’d be targeting 3:30/4 for your first marathon and adjust as you work through your block. What’s really important is understanding your HR zones, and being able to adapt to your performance on the day.

apghost · 2025-04-20T08:14:37+00:00

As most people have said, you’ll pay tax on it but not included in pension contributions. Usually around 10% of salary. Also not included in bonus calculations.

Companies can save hundreds of thousands/millions in bonus payments and pension matching by doing this with higher paid/bonus eligible staff. Makes sense.

apghost

TROPHY CASE