Any triathletes here?

I've completed 5 Half Irons (70.3s) and a Full Iron (140.6) in Boulder Colorado at altitude. I mainly race the 70.3s for speed and was just trying to complete Boulder and really didn't find the long course as fun as the short course Half Iron. Its really a different experience. I didn't do enough run training for the full. I had a nice enjoyable day though - that's a highlight of any race - having a whole course blocked off for you to enjoy the day.

I didn't train much for them in my 20s and did one Olympic and a Half Iron then and did terrible. Now in my 30s, my schedule is more open to train and my times have improved.

I'd recommend getting a smart trainer if you can (cycling - Zwift).

I would say get good at the running and swimming. Any runner or swimmer in good shape can do decent on the cycling. Where this goes into trianing time for both, you need hiit, fartlek and interval training. This is where you will get the most bang for your buck in improvement. 30 minutes of interval training for swimming e.g. 20x100yards at a 1:30 min interval should be all you need. Your warm up should be someting like a 5-4-3-2-1(500yards,400yards...) Free, drill,stroke, kick, and warmdown. Then your main workout. This warmup adds an extra mile to your workout. You can do open water swims when you get closer to the event. If you were to make this your life, you would gradually incorporate more open water swims than pool/interval training. Also, swimming long course meters(which is summer season), will help you more.

WHen you want to throw the cycling in there, rolling hills are best, but nothing builds indurance like 2 hours flat rides, works your quads in a different way. Depends on the course but there are not a lot of hills in tris. You can do 1 hour workouts for swimming 3x a week, then run when you can 3x a week. Do one long Sat/Sun ride. Or if you train with a team there are early morning Saturday swims followed by breakfast then 2 hour cycling after breakfast. Or just coffee then cycling.

All the above depends on where you strength and weekness are, but as with all tris running is the hardest part

I have done a bunch of half and full races. It is definitely a time commitment, but if you budget your time its doable. I spend most of my time on the bike training - I use TrainerRoad indoors the most, as it is way more effective for building power than unstructured outdoor riding. That being said, I do shift my longer rides outdoors if they are 4+ hours. Running is typically more about strength and form, rather than distance...I maybe do three or four runs longer than 2 hours. I almost always run 20-30 mins off the bike as well.

I swim in the morning year round, usually about 10-15km per week.

The absolute most important aspect of stepping up into the full distance realm is nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. If you fall behind on nutrition and recovery, its very hard to make it up and you will suffer on race day.

zero IB so far lol

Weird flex, but okay.

Was planning on doing my first sprint triathlon this May, then a second this September, but both have been cancelled. The sprint triathlon looks pretty easy to do as I'm decently active, but a real one would need some actual planning / a specific training approach.

I did a few when I was younger, but since have not had the time to dedicate to training / am no longer motivated to do so. The best advice I can give if you have a demanding job is to wake up in the morning before anyone else is up to get your work out done. When I had a busy schedule I would wake up sometimes 4:30am 5:00am to fit my workout in. If you're not a morning person I would suggest doing it later at night. Some people I knew would take a long lunch and go train, really depends on you. For me the jump from 70.3 to 140.6 was a pretty large step up, but not as big as you would think because your body is fairly aclemated to long distances. It's different for every person though, I know some who killed 70.3 and could not make 140.6.

I don't know why, but for anyone else that is interested in Triathalons I typed up a couple beginner pointers on best practices to ahcieve your triathalon goals, there are a lot of great resources on-line so please do your research in addition: 1) Keep to a strict schedule. Whether its in the morning or the afternoon keep a routine. When I was racing I would start my workouts a 5am or 6am during the week, and later on weekends (8am or so) just to get little extra zz's. Find your time and do what works for you.

2.) Progress through your distances in a tiered structure, and give yourself ample rest between workouts. Training for a marathon by running marathon distances every day will likely result in injury - same aspect applies to the three disciplines of a triathalon (swimming, biking, and running). There are a lot of great training aids online that I would recommend you use, which offer a progressive latter on how to structure your week/month/year leading up to your race. Most weekly training shedules I've seen go something like: Short distance, medium distance, longer distance, longest distance, short distance recovery.

3.) Nutrition is incredibly important, make sure you are intaking enough calories. The amoung of calories you will burn a week is insane. Also, do not listen to others when it comes to what you should and should not do nutrition wise - do what is right for your body. Again there are some great guides online for preparing weekly nutrition, you can apply your own twist on these to make them your own.

4.) Pin the date on your calendar, make the race your phone background, do whatever you need to do to motivate yourself to get out of bed and go train. The hardest part about a triathalon is not the race - it's the months leading up to it.

Train hard, stay motivated, and best of luck with your race!

So I'm thinking about getting back into cycling (haven't done it since I was a teenager), and one question I have around time in the seat is how does it affect your sensitive parts? Do any of you use saddles with cutouts or noseless saddles? Have any of you noticed problems down there as your time in the saddle goes up?