My third year in a row for this one and, despite pouring rain for the entire race, it was still fun and well organized.
My times across the three have been within minutes of each other. Although this one was slowest of the three, given the conditions, I’m happy with the overall results and ended up 12th in my age group.
At least in the swim, it didn’t matter that it was raining. I think they had less time between heats though and swimmers really bunched up for the last 200m.
As usual the trip up the escarpment is still a brutal climb and trip down terrifying. I maxed out at 70km/h coming down this time. With the poor visibility and slippery conditions from the rain that was more than fast enough.
Plenty of mud through the back half of the run. I almost lost a shoe!
Overall the conditions made for a good test of mental resilience which is always useful.
My only real problem was in T2. I couldn’t find my stuff! The area available for my age group was full. So, I put everything elsewhere and then couldn’t find it 🤣. The 3 minute transition was an embarrassment.
I’ve been using Training Today for a whilenow to track my readiness to train (RTT). They’ve recently released a new feature that provides dynamic training for running based on RTT which takes into account your current recovery and health to make sure you don’t overtrain.
Generating the workouts is easy. In the iPhone app, you choose the type of run (speed, endurance, recovery, etc) and then the app shows you the structured workout, targeting your current RTT. There are options to adjust the RTT (though that seems like cheating) and to shorten the run, if you’re pressed for time. Once you select “Create Workout”, the run is sent to your Apple Watch.
On the watch, the Training Today workout shows up near the top of the list in the Workout app and behaves like any other workout. The interval times and heart rate zones with alerts are passed along, making it easy to follow the workout.
There are a few obvious enhancements, which the developers have already promised. The first is the addition of cycling and swimming workouts. The second is creating actual fitness plans across multiple days.
I’m really intrigued by an app like Training Today. Our smartwatches are continuously monitoring us and tracking our fitness. Why not have them also program tailored workouts? That said, I have an actual triathlon coach that creates a comprehensive fitness plan while also providing expert advice and motivation. My watch isn’t this sophisticated — yet.
I kept busy in 2023 with triathlon training. As a reference point for next year, here’s a comparison of 2023 with 2022.
My running was surprisingly consistent. Although the totals are almost identical, I do think that my structured workouts were much better in 2023. Each run had a purpose and all were part of a bigger plan.
There was a trade off for cycling between indoors and outdoors. In 2023, I couldn’t quite get aligned with most of the outdoor group rides. So, there was a lot more indoor riding on Zwift. I’d like to switch this around in 2024.
I’m surprised by my relatively low swimming distances in 2023. This is my strongest of the three. So, I tend to take it for granted. I should bump this up in 2024.
The new Apple Watch integration with Training Peaks is really nice. Like my Garmin friends, I can finally just roll out of bed and do what my watch tell me to without having to manually create workouts 🏊🚴♂️🏃♂️
🏃♂️ Another Thursday, so another hill repeat run. Note to self, next time don’t start the repeats at the bottom of a big hill. The cool down run back up the hill wasn’t fun.
🏃♂️ Hill repeats at a steady, moderate pace for today’s run. I tried to focus on my downhill form: staying loose and keeping ground contact time short
New running shoe day! After 1,109 kms, I’m replacing the orange ones with another pair of Saucony Kinvara. I definitely don’t recommend waiting so long, just got distracted 🏃♂️
There’s a bewildering array of fitness apps out there. Here’s an attempt to document what I’m currently using.
I have some criteria when considering a fitness app:
Available on the Apple Watch, ideally as a first class app, rather than just presenting data from the phone
Suitable for multisport. I’ll consider a highly specialized app, though prefer one that covers at least running, cycling, and swimming
Consolidated and local data. I prefer one location for all of the data and certainly not locked into a web service
With these in mind, my current portfolio of fitness apps is:
Apple Health stores all of my data. Not really an app, rather this is the foundational data store that integrates across all sources
The Apple Workout app records my workouts. Although there are some better, specialized apps, pressing the Action Button on my Ultra and starting a workout is so convenient that I’m sticking with Workout. The onscreen stats on the watch are more than sufficient for my needs
HealthFit is for viewing workout data and general fitness trends. I prefer HealthFit’s details to Apple Health’s. As the screenshots below demonstrate, HealthFit provides useful overviews of everything I’ve done recently. I also use HealthFit to selectively send completed workouts to Strava
Strava is for my local community. Seeing what my friends are up to and cheering them on is part of staying motivated for the training. Strava does have a good set of statistics and summaries. Overall, though, I prefer HealthFit’s design and privacy
Recover sends me targeted mobility and recovery sessions, based on my recent activity. This is the only reason I’m currently paying for a Strava subscription. However, Strava is rather expensive if this is all I’m paying for and Recover breaks principles 1 and 3. So, I don’t think this one will last much longer
Training Peaks is exclusively for getting workouts from my coach. There’s way more potential with this app. I’m just not using any of it
Zwift Companion is well named. I use it to join Zwift events and as a second screen while Zwifting.
That’s currently it for the portfolio. Being able to consolidate all of my data into Apple Health really frees me up to try new apps without worrying about data lock in. Despite this freedom, I’m comfortable with the current set and don’t plan to switch things up anytime soon.
