Triathlete's World Fab Four: JimmyF

Introducing the second member of our Triathlete's World Fab Four… James (aka Jimmy F)

Marathon runner and gym fan James is keen to conquer the open water - and the regular swim training in the run up to the London Triathlon is the perfect opportunity.

James will be using our brand new Olympic distance triathlon training schedule as a basis for his training (starting May 23).

He’ll be posting his training progress on a regular basis, and feedback the training and nutrition advice given to him by the team at Triathlete's World so make sure you check back regularly to find out how he gets on.

You can read more about James’s triathlon background and goals here.

Good luck James!

Alice

Hi Jimmy

seems like you are the baby of the bunch..............with a good London marathon behind you . you have a good fitness base to start this training.............

the swim will be fine..............how many OW sessions are you hoping to get in over the next few weeks

 and good luck

Hey Seren

I hadn't quite looked at myself as being the baby but now you mention it, I feel like i'm already at a disadvanage - the other guys have had more time to train!

OW is defiantely a prioroty for the upcoming weeks, I'm doing Blenhiem Tri at the beginning of June as a warm up and am gearing myself up for that, I'm hoping to be in OW another 3 times before then, so once a week in OW and once in the pool to work on speed and technique.

I'll be out tomorrow morning again and this time will be on my own without a coach, fingers crossed I won't have drowned and can keep you updated!

J

Jimmy - compared to most of the pirates, you are barely out of short trousers.

As for the training time - less time to pick up an injury too! All good.

Hey Liverbird

I remember seeing you at the london marathon this year, I was the one holding the silly pacing stick!?! How did you get on?

I'm hoping young doesn't mean naive on race day or indeed in training so have been putting in all the hours I can.

I got into the open water again this morning, it felt a bit better than last week but still hard work, I was trying to remember everything we have been told, slightly starighter arms and less work with the legs... It was very tough, I'm quite fortunate to have a lake near me in Sawbridgeworth that has a 750 loop, I managed to get round once in 17:42, it felt tough but I think I could have gone again... just.

Then it was off to Kent for a 10k trail race that was surprisingly hilly so no PB but a good work out and 44 minutes later I was pleased - the rest of the weekend is down time ready for it all to begin again next week!

Hope evreyone elses training is going OK?? I'm doing Blenhiem in a few weeks so it be great to meet a few of you and cheer you on.

J

Hello Jimmy, I was at Mudchute too, but on the other side of the fence.

If you can run a marathon then you have the fitness to complete a sprint or Oly tri. So that means that you only need to work on the techniques of the disiplines that you are not so hot on.

Tri's are very daunting until you have done your first one.  Then you realise how simple they actually are regarding organisation, transition, rules etc.

Good luck with the training

Jimmy

well done with the OW.

great to have a lake nearby...i struggle in south wales to find venues........

so next question is because we are nosy on here............what wetsuit did you buy and what bike have you got............

Ahhh! I THOUGHT I recognised you!

I had a nightmare at London with an injury at 12 miles and limped home in 5.20 and haven't run since really.

Resting does my head in so I've been cross training and trying to do some resistance weights while my hip settles down. Need to start thinking about the next one though soon - Liverpool marathon is being relaunched after 18 years and we can't have a marathon in Liverpool without a Liverbird can we?

Young does NOT equal naive, don't worry! We're just jealous of your youth! We had it once you see, and we dissipated it on idleness and a life of debauchery

Now we're grumpy old pirate sods desperately trying to wind back the sands of time...

Or that might just be me!

Morning all

Seren - my wetsuit is a Zoot Fusion and my bike is actually my brothers that I'm using, it's a fairly decent road bike that was sitting in his garage not being used. Ask as many questions as you like

Liverbird - that must have been hard struggling all that way, hats off to you though, limping that far is very impressive and i'm sure when your back fully fit you can PB, keep me posted and hopefully Liverpool marathon will see you good.

Supercaz - I feel I owe you, the support was amazing this year at London so thank you, are you training for anything?

I'm in the pool working on technique and speed today, I'll be doing 100m sprints with 200 recoveries.

Hope you all have good days

J

hope the pool swim went well.

I must get to the pool sometime this week...............just managed a long bike ride and it was lovely out there.......went through the brecon beacons and the views were great

got an good bike routes near you Jimmy...............I presume the london tri bike will be falt and on closed roads................

Morning Seren 

Pool swim.... hmmm, it was my first real attempt at sprints in the pool and boy are they tough, I was aiming for 5x100m sprints with 200 recovery, it was a mixture of active and static recovery but was really thard. I manged to battle through but didn't enjoy that session.

I really jelous of your brecon beacon views, undortunately where I live is on fairly dangerous roads and isn't a joy to ride at all.

A couple of things I have learnt about myself is I don't have the bravado on a bike I had in my school years and a road bike is completely different to that of a mountain bike. That being said all races i'm involved in (London and Blenhiem) are fairly flat and on closed roads... I think? So hopefully it will allow me to just concentrate on pounding the pedals and counting down the miles.

The race pack came through for Blenhiem yesterday so it all got very real, I feel in a good place for this but will have to up the ante for the oly!

Whats people training today?

Bikram was a real eye opener, it's such a strange experience to have your heart pounding but not gasping for air in a room for of half naked bendy people.

I think it's going to really help my core and since knocking the weights on the head and plunging into the three disciplines fully the added flexibility will no doubt be a big boost.

For those of you who don't know what it's about, basically 26 yoga poses in a 40 degree room for an hour and a half, it leaves you feeling rather zen like and a stone lighter from loss of sweat.

Another pool based session for me today, focusing on distance and a bit of tekkers thrown in.

Triathlon question, does anyone know if Blenheim is a flat course, I can't really tell from the race pack??

Oh yes, flat tyres.  My first puncture was within 500m of my house so I was able to walk home.  It did make me realise that I should have a spare inner tube and some idea of how to change it.

The second puncture happened the next time I took my bike out.  That taught me to always have a second spare inner tube at the house.

Jimmy, I'm training for a number of things:

1) Comrades Ultra Marathon next year - with four target marathons scheduled for this year to help me get my distance up, and several shorter events to help me get my speed up

2) English Channel Relay next summer and the Solo the year after, with a few target events planned.

After that I want to work on my bike a bit so that I can do something longer than a Sprint tri.

Comrades and English channel relay, thats immense, what sort of distance will you be covering in the swim? - truely impressive, I think the run I could cope with but not the swim!

 I'm finding swimming with my wetsuit is really tiring, my shoulders feel exhausted by the end of it - hopefully it will just take some time, i'm in the OW again on Saturday for the last time before Belnheim so fingers crossed it goes OK!

The swim legs are based on time, not distance.  So for a 6 person relay you do 1 hour on and 5 hours off, typically completing 3 x 1 hour slots.

For a 3 person, which is what I want to do, you get the choice between 1 hour or 2 hour slots.  I'm tempted to go for the 2 hours becasue that gives longer to rest, eat and sleep in between, but it will depend on what the rest of the team want to do.

I don't really get on with wetsuit swimming, although I have got a fantastic wetsuit that fits perfectly.  I like the feel of the water against my skin.  I don't remember getting aching shoulders - well not any worse than swimming without one, but I do get backache with a wetsuit as it gives me too much buoyancy in my legs.

Good luck with the OW swim.  I'll be in the sea on Saturday too.

Well it's only 1 sleep before Blenhiem - really looking forward to it, I'm going to be taking the swim really steady and pick up the pace to the run, hopefully coming inside of 1:30!

You all seem to be doing much bigger things so I will be thinking of the lot doing the deca on the course and think how lucky I am!

Good luck to anyone else doing it tomorrow.