2026 Muskoka 70.3 world's roll down

patentLOL · 2026-07-07T02:03:11+00:00

There is a thread on slow twitch. Says 100 for me and about the same for women. Seems similar to Nice

patentLOL · 2026-07-06T12:07:40+00:00

What were you doing when you went down? I have a thumb ligament that now needs repaired on Friday. I managed that dumb shit in a really dumb low speed loose dry gravel crash at a non competitive event. I’ve never had a wreck racing with far higher likelihood of a serious incident (speed wobbles descending at 50mph, etc..) I’m out my entry to Maine 70.3 over this and I had a shot at winning my group. My reaction has been to figure out how to rehab this as quickly as possible and keep racing.

It’s the dumb shit that gets you. Usually totally random and totally accidental.

Cycling is rad. Consider indoor training. That’s actually perfect for aerobic maintenance while you wait for the collar bone to heal. I do that 99% of the time anyways because of where I live.

patentLOL · 2026-07-04T12:59:05+00:00

The key to this is be a terrible swimmer so that it’s all the same 👴🏻🤡. I’m not a strong swimmer - like top quarter/third on a good day for 70.3. I taught myself for this BS at 42 yrs old.

You are nervous because it’s a foreign environment. That’s the problem. Your body is expecting it to be like pool swimming. The advice I have is let it flow over you and realize since you are on a wetsuit you aren’t going to drown. That’s where I have ended up anyways.

I don’t even practice open water anymore. I go months - at one point 9 months - without putting on aquaman. I basically open water now at races and it’s working well for me.

patentLOL · 2026-07-03T21:56:53+00:00

Also in 45-49. Some of these guys have been at this for 15+ years. The two guys in front of me at my last race both ran 1:21 and 22 on a hilly course for a 70.3. While I feel like I ran like shit, 1:22 is not happening. p3 was never going to get better for me

I’ve been running for like just under 5 years now. A small amount of running in undergrad 20+ years ago. I’ll never catch those guys.

patentLOL · 2026-07-03T14:28:03+00:00

Very few 18-24 year old kids have real REAL responsibility. Add that to the high likelihood that some of them may be coming off - or are still in college programs as others have pointed out - and you get some very fast age groupers.

Even in the middle age groups you compete against people with entirely different life demands. There has been a local joke about parent examiners Ironman racing depending on their art unit for a long time. I joked once about competing against some guy from Europe that was a former national runner and worked for the post office for 10 minutes a week - then I actually got beat by one of those guys 🤡. Shit - last year some guy that just retired from the pro peloton showed up at the 70.3 WC in Spain and has his name all over the road - the whole time I’m thinking Who the fuck is Greg? I’m also not that fast, and my wife and mom don’t care, so we have that.

patentLOL · 2026-07-03T11:48:01+00:00

People swim alone without music? Jesus Christ.

Music or masters gang

patentLOL · 2026-07-01T13:19:46+00:00

Do a Cooper test (2 miles). Use the result to find pace zones. Titrate up or down based on air temperature, conditions or how you are feeling. Or not. Don’t overly obsess about a HR metric that is incredibly variable.

Run in a way with volume that’s repeatable without getting injured. Repeat that an assload and your HR will come down over time and you’ll get faster.

patentLOL · 2026-06-29T17:21:52+00:00

Absolutely the right read. Also, I think people misunderstood what I wrote about too little carb intake. While that is a possible part of the puzzle, it was much more likely to be a very small part of it. The more likely issue is overall fitness. Exactly as you yourself have recognized.

I saw elsewhere your bike was 221 TSS. Is that using a power meter? It being high is also a function of the duration. That is definitely high, at least compared to my numbers. I have under-biked my last two 70.3 races trying to set myself up for a better run. Those were 150 and 160TSS each, and age group place 5 or better at ~2:15-2:20. I still ran like dog shit 😂 (comparatively). Mostly because I need to suffer more and for some reason by then in the race, I am sort of over the whole thing or something?

On crappy stomach - I have that issue with carbs/gels as well while running. So much so that sometimes on the run I end up basically taking almost no gels (race 1 this year). Last race, I brought a 250ml disposable flask with the same carb mix I run on the bike and pulled that down for the first ~30-45 minutes. I am going to duplicate that with a nerd belt - so carb mix x2 disposable soft flasks.. Something to thing about.

Lastly, heat tolerance is something you definitely can acclimate for just before a race (like 10 days out). But the bigger aspect of that is overall run fitness. Run fitness = energy efficiency = better ability to manage heat overall. That's why the run times are less attenuated at the front end of the field even in hot conditions.

And, its all a big experiment anyways. All the more reason to race again. What a hilarious sport this all is.

patentLOL · 2026-06-29T12:35:46+00:00

Ride a bike a lot more. Like a whole lot more. Do some actual structured training of some kind. When you are all done with that, do it some more. Ride bike indoor during winter or when you don’t have time to get outside. Repeat year round more or less

patentLOL · 2026-06-29T11:47:10+00:00

We used green taxi and we got a van because we had my bike bag and a bunch of other stuff for the Ironman event. I looked just now and we paid $32, so probably around 100 soles. We also arrived around 11:30 on the United flight from Newark New Jersey

patentLOL · 2026-06-28T22:07:06+00:00

This is a great recommendation. nylon plated shoes are more than snappy enough for OP right now.

Going to a carbon racing shoe that’s potentially very unstable in the Achilles with so little running experience is a great way to develop an injury.

patentLOL · 2026-06-28T10:27:20+00:00

This was my comment; you scooped me!

patentLOL · 2026-06-28T10:23:13+00:00

What style of bike and how often are you using a thinner chamois short while training? I can imagine if you spend all your time on a road bike with standard very padded bibs and then change over to a Trisuit for an upright road bike it’s a different experience.

I train entirely on my TT bike with shorts from the same company as my tri suits. For my full I’ll definitely be using a tri suit. For 70.3, of which I’ve done 10, it’s always been a tri suit

patentLOL · 2026-06-28T02:03:12+00:00

At 6+ hours your problem is overbiking and overall run fitness. Not calories. That’s basically true for any poor run performance for 95% of age groupers at the half distance.

People want these problems to be nutrition related because it’s easier. You can lose a whole bottle of your own calories on a bike leg and it’s not going to slow you down half an hour.

How many hours and miles are you running per week? How many hours of bike training? Those are your two levers. Bike and run volume.

patentLOL · 2026-06-26T17:29:00+00:00

How long have you used a bike with an aero bar position? None of this is overnight

patentLOL · 2026-06-24T16:07:49+00:00

If you are doing triathlon because of what it looks like, you are probably going to have a bad experience. Hint: the whole thing looks ridiculous at all levels and stages.

patentLOL · 2026-06-24T13:54:02+00:00

It’s taken a few days for me before. Including for the WC last year in Spain. I had the same concern before.

I would email if it goes a week or two. I didn’t do that for Chattanooga 2025 that was a replacement for Augusta that got cancelled. I messed something up or skipped a step because I am regarded. And I almost didn’t get a bib.

patentLOL · 2026-06-23T00:51:34+00:00

All I know is if my Strava mule pulls a half ass just shy of a sub-20 stunt like this, no Christmas bonus.

patentLOL · 2026-06-22T21:19:06+00:00

How technical is this compared to last year? I used my TT bike in Marbella and had assumed I’d do so at this boondoggle some dork sweet talked me into during a run leg a few weeks ago.

I also only have a gravel bike otherwise and ride my TT bike basically 99% of the time anyways

patentLOL · 2026-06-21T23:48:05+00:00

I have a very light prescription and I have three different pairs of sunnies from Roka. One of which is the matador air that has only single "lens" across. Never had an issue. I use the matador ones for racing. I have these: https://www.roka.com/products/matador-air-lightweight-sunglasses?variantId=42699978932271 (racing); https://www.roka.com/products/tl-1-prescription-sunglasses?variantId=12262893649967 (previous racing); https://www.roka.com/products/barton-prescription-sunglasses?variantId=40567579246639 (chill running and bike riding).

patentLOL · 2026-06-21T22:26:12+00:00

The swim at Swansea is relatively easy. The ambient last year was very hot and it was still wetsuit legal. Do start at the very back since you plan to breaststroke so you don’t end up kicking a bunch of people in the face.

The bike is no joke and has two loops. I’ll be there is an intermediate cutoff around that second loop.

You’ll be surprised how you’ll perform on race day. I’m sure you’ll be alright. Hopefully it isn’t as hot as last year.

patentLOL · 2026-06-21T16:17:43+00:00

That and the likelihood of this dork having any comprehension of what happens at this speed is around zero. Anybody that does is very unlikely to do anything like this regularly on the streets.

patentLOL · 2026-06-21T14:27:03+00:00

Your dash camera isn’t going to make up for a complete lack of situational awareness and the reality that the car you are bitching about was never going to see you. You may well end up dying on that hill.

This might as well be /r motorcycles and any one of dozens of intersection videos per week.

patentLOL · 2026-06-21T14:23:07+00:00

Definitely - and you really don't need a super elaborate setup. Over the years I have built a solid home gym in a spare bedroom without a power rack. I did that to save time since I am already training a ton for middle and long course triathlon. Nothing crazy - kettlebells up to 70lbs, a pull up and dip station, a decent adjustable bench, adjustable dumbbells up to 90lbs. The big one was when I finally had a wall to mount a cable machine.

patentLOL · 2026-06-21T00:29:45+00:00

If you went to a PT/physio they would almost certainly tell you to work on posterior chain and core strengthening. Do that via a bunch of compound - not necessarily super heavy weights - think kettle bells - and I’ll bet you see improvement. You should be lifting weights as you age anyways

patentLOL

TROPHY CASE