PSOF Championships 2013 - Challenge Henley

If you do a recce don't forget to bring sandwiches.

bad Cat! 

Scuba Trooper: Thank goodness it's not just me. I paid good money for "Going Long" and want to just skip through to some nice easy training plans that I can adapt. It's very technical isn't it? In the time it's taken me to read as far as the swim training chapter I've just about got my run sorted, my swim (which was zero) to 2/3, and my bike to halfway.

I tried out swimming in a wetsuit for the first time on Sunday. BLOODY HELL it make you fast! * (*Relatively fast, obviously) 

lol cat - love it.   And I'll take a flask too. 

I'll bring my own teddy 

Blisters - There is some good stuff in it but it does get a bit more technical and it seems to repeat itself quite a bit. There is a very strong emphasis on the bike which makes sense as well as endurance before anything else. Interesting to see quite a lot about strength training but mainly in the preseason as well as flexibility work. The other interesting difference is that Going Long suggests separating the long ride and run where as Be Iron Fit has them one after the other. I wonder waht the more experinced IM on here think about that?

going long is better imo 

Each to their own Scuba. There are plenty of discsussion on how running on tired legs leads to bad form, inefficient running and injuries. Hence why Gordo (I think) separates the two.

It won't come as any suprise to you that you actually have to run 42 km after a 180km bike ride. My personal view is with Fink. Do the run the day after the ride (and man-up cupcake!).

FWIW I had to flip some sessions - i.e. did a 2.5hr run on the Sat followed by the C100 on the Sunday. A proper weekend of hurt

In the past month or so I have done some harder build ups.

22 mile run on the Friday at good pace.
50 mile peleton bike on the Saturday, with barely 12 hours between them. The second half of the bike had me grunting and hurting with any uphill aspect at all.

I tried my wetsuit out in the water for the first time on Sunday. I was shocked at the speed increase: more like 20% than 10%! For the first time I am now in a state of belief that I can make the T1 cut off.

22 mile run? That's crazy this early on! Are you doing a marathon or something?

Be careful about the wetsuit, currents/chopiness/sighting can put big dents in your race time.

I swim at least 20% quicker in open water wearing a wetsuit than I can without one in a pool. 

If we're talking about "manning-up", Cat, then surely it's long bricks, rather than doing it next day? Unless you're planning on a nice meal and 8-hours kip in T2?

That said.... if you're fit enough to run the entire 26 at Outlaw, you're going sub-12 by a mile, which is likely to be the minority on this forum.

Fink is MILES better for first-timers, newbies and people who are happy to learn by being told what to do. Friel/Byrne is for people who know an arse from an onion, or at least think they do. None of the plans make sense in Going Long, unless you can commit 15-20 hours a week to your training.

slowerthanilook wrote (see)

If we're talking about "manning-up", Cat, then surely it's long bricks, rather than doing it next day? Unless you're planning on a nice meal and 8-hours kip in T2?

Absolutely. Which is what Fink promotes on his Competitive plan. Long bike Sat, Long brick Sun.

Badger, I need the confidence that I can do each discipline on their own before trying to link things together. Therefore I did have a marathon planned for January, but the snow pissed on that, and now the organiser is richer to the tune of £15000 minus expenses.

Fair enough. I'm more of the 'wing it on the day' type!

I'm totally with Blisters on this. I can swim 4k in the pool and I know it should be easier in a wetsuit etc but I'll still have done the swim distance in OW beforehand. I've cycled 150 miles in one go before now but that was a few years ago so I'll have definately have done a 112 mile ride by the time Henley comes round - and the reason I'm doing so much running at the moment is so the Stratford marathon feels like a walk in the park (some hope!!). 

I'm winging it with Badger. 

Fink started today though. An easy 18 mile bike ride. First time on the road bike for months. Dropped it off at the lbs for a service and took the opportunity for a short run brick home. 

63 mile bike ride with group 1. More accurately, I was hanging off the back of group 1, especially towards the end of the ride. Road speed was around 20mph with the pack, on average.

Two hours later a 5 mile soggy and boggy cross country. Boy was that hard.

Bumpity bump y0!

Calling all Finkettes - enjoy your rest day.

Update on CH website..."Look out for the new bike route....coming soon"

I see USN are the nutrition partner for this year. Does anyone have any idea what products they are likely to use? I know it's a bit early but my stash needs topping up soon.