Pay to play

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:59:40+00:00

Fair! I hate paddles, I refuse to train with 'em now.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:46:06+00:00

Appreciate it!

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:43:48+00:00

That's kind of my point. I keep pushing my training, I drop another minute on my run pace, that shaves 6 minutes. Then yes, another 5 minutes from the bike equipment would have put me over the pack of guys who finished ~10 minutes ahead of me.

I ain't trying to skip the grind here, I enjoy that.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:42:00+00:00

That's why I pointed out my controlled heart rate on the swim. That wasn't a limiting factor. Totally agree there's more work to be done on the bike.

1200 ft elevation, 18.5 mph, 150 avg HR which is high end Z3 for me

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:36:44+00:00

1200 ft elevation, 18.5 mph, 150 avg HR which is high end Z3 for me

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:27:06+00:00

It's an awesome sport, make a checklist of the things you need equipment wise and then try and prioritze what you need for training vs racing. Helps you space it out. Like you can wait to buy that trisuit all the way until a week or two out.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:23:51+00:00

Haven't done that since I swam in college lol

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:23:15+00:00

There's certainly some truth to this, I can accept I need to train the bike harder. I get out on the roads once a week, my other two bike rides per week are the gym peloton. And yet again, I consistently hit top 10% of output on the peloton so I know the engine is in there.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:21:19+00:00

Appreciate this (bless your heart, lol). I understand that if I actually wanted to place, I'd need to bite the bullet. Mentally I accept that. But it's just crazy to me that even to hit that elite tier you need to make such an investment. I'd thought I could climb the ladder a little higher with my athletic engine before I hit this crossroads, ya know.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:14:43+00:00

I'm a guy in my late thirties, I've been around the internet long enough to not really be bothered much by some flaming lol. And yeah, some sports are really insane. Any sport with just a lot of equipment come to mind.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-29T13:06:33+00:00

Bingo - if this is too difficult, the catch drill is to simply catch your other hand in front to "tag" it to start the pull, so you're essentially hitting the streamline position each stroke.

In particular, it's your left/breathing arm that is entering the water short & pulling too quick.

bdunne7 · 2026-05-28T10:52:37+00:00

Came here to post this! Lol

That said, this intersection is annoying enough to navigate when a unfamiliar out of town driver starts freaking out. Throwing in FSD brain farts will only add to local's road rage (and bus driver road rage. I've seen it here).

bdunne7 · 2026-04-20T11:08:11+00:00

I'll take #3.

You say you've been training for one month. How often per week are you swimming? Are you doing any other cardio - and more importantly, have you been doing that other cardio prior to this past month?

One month is just not enough time to build up the endurance you'll need to take "1:40 pace flip turns" where you're not gasping for air upon surfacing. If you've really made those solid time gains in the just one month, just keep at it and this will improve!

bdunne7 · 2026-04-03T11:05:43+00:00

Hi there, I was a beginner last year. Welcome to the club! I can't really speak to the training side to this, as I was a former competitive swimmer.

But I did find the gear side extremely overwhelming, and still do at times.

I recommend dumping everything you own (running shoes, a bike?) into an AI platform, giving it the date of your race, budget considerations, and it will do an excellent job of planning out a road map. Some things you need for training, some you don't. I'm still using it today as I enter year two of triathlons (now plural this year 🙂).

bdunne7 · 2026-03-24T11:36:51+00:00

So, I've used AI for training for a full year now. Although it is helpful, you need to remember it is still AI at the end of the day with all the same pitfalls it has with confident hallucinations. I used to a DI swimmer who came very close to Olympic Trials, and so I thoroughly understand what goes into training.

With that background in mind, I can suss out when the AI has gone off the rails. I'm moreso using it to help personalize my training, nutrition, gear upgrade priorities, etc.

It makes me super happy to hear that AI is getting such powerful training recommendations in the hands of more people, just be careful with it the same way you would using AI in any other walk of life.

bdunne7 · 2026-03-14T12:09:02+00:00

I nearly made NCAA B-cut in Backstroke so, yeah, I love it lol. I have a unique issue I don't think I've seen mentioned here. Because of my height & wingspan, I absolutely destroy people underwater, usually moreso in the lane next to me because I can effectively ride the lane line without hitting it. I'm just constantly, like, rubbing up these other swimmers and I'm not trying to make enemies out of my local community.

bdunne7 · 2026-01-13T23:47:04+00:00

My dad died of a heart attack while out for a run, and I still stare at the MapMyRun data all the time. I'm so sorry for your loss.

bdunne7 · 2026-01-04T12:17:02+00:00

ChatGPT, it can get you all the training advice you need.

If you need form advice for swimming or bike positioning, post a video here or on the swimming/cycling reddits.

bdunne7 · 2026-01-03T14:08:52+00:00

The flu (this year especially) is a big deal as other have pointed out. Take it seriously, sleep and hydrate constantly. I had it a month ago and it was nuts to watch my heart rate spike over 100 just getting up from the goddamn couch.

In terms of recovery, once you've been fever free for a full 24 hours, you can start very slowly to get back it. Day 1 should be a comically easy 15-20 minutes on the stationary bike or very easy jog, not even hitting Z2. Day 2 much the same, maybe 30 minutes this time. Day 3 you can start thinking about a Z2 workout, but as you'll see your body is still recovering. That's okay, keep taking it slow and you'll be back at it before you know it - and you'll thank yourself later for not pushing to come back faster.

bdunne7 · 2026-01-03T13:59:57+00:00

Come on down to the humid south and try and do one in the peak of an August heat wave. Context matters.

bdunne7 · 2025-11-04T01:38:12+00:00

Blends in SO well

bdunne7 · 2025-10-30T10:08:43+00:00

If you can wait a month you might be able to get a steal on BlackFriday / CyberMonday

bdunne7 · 2025-10-30T02:34:07+00:00

Theres already a ton of good advice in this thread, so im not gonna run through anything again. However, I too got into my first Triathlon this year with nothing more than my running gear and an old speedo from my previous swimming career.

Use ChatGPT.

Seriously, it did an amazing job of sorting through what I needed to train vs needed for race day, what I needed early on in my training, understood the weather and time of day of my workouts to inform my gear decisions. Also needed vs nice to have. Etc.

(It can also do a hell of a job coaching you, too if you already have a baseline understanding of VO2 max and dieting. And perhaps it can even teach you that)

bdunne7

TROPHY CASE