Quick update on my own training - Triathlon series 💪🏼

After weeks of waiting in anticipation, I finally picked up my road bike this past weekend.

Which means Triathlon training is slowly, but surely, ramping up.

Swimming and running have been a weekly fixture for quite some time now. The cycling I haven’t pushed as much, maybe too over confident in my cycling abilities.

There’s also less barriers to entry with swimming and running. Mainly, a lot less kit.

But if you’re going to do a triathlon, you kinda need a bike.

Hence forth a deep dive over the past couple months into the world of cycling.

Learning everything from perfect frame size, to handle bar width, optimal stem size (I didn’t know what a stem was either), the various types of shoes, how no bike come’s with pedals any more, you buy them separately (when did this become a thing?!)

Not to mention all the various sub-categories of road bikes - from gravel bikes, all road bikes, grit bikes.

I’ve definitely felt the pressure to learn, understand and get the decision right when choosing a bike for this triathlon.

But I’ve had some brilliant advice from friends and clients. You learn the most when speaking to proper ‘bike people’. When you can ask the silly questions, get unfiltered responses and build that baseline knowledge from.

The issue is, everyone has their own opinion on what’s the best bike for you. In the end, you have to take the advice you’ve been given, trust what you’ve learnt and take a leap of faith with what you think is right.

So I did - and got a Ribble All road bike.

Comfier and more practical than an ‘out and out’ road bike.

Not so expensive that if I hate triathlons or have a crash it’s a big regret.

I can do a serious race with this bike or go out for a leisurely ride with the little one.

Most importantly, it’ll certainly get me round a triathlon course and maybe, dare I say, a half or full iron man.

Perfect all rounder… I think.

I got a steady 30km’s in yesterday and Christ, that seat is as uncomfortable as it looks! Thank god for padded bib shorts.

The endurance side of train certainly taking up the bulk of my week. Factoring in approx 40km of running, 2.5km of swimming and 30km of cycling.

Weight training has been reduced to measly upper and lower sessions in the week. But I’m not mad about it.

I’ve found maintaining muscle mass relatively easy on this weekly split, in a bid to avoid looking like most endurance athletes.

Research concludes that for maintaining mass, 6 sets per muscle per week is needed, so that’s what I’m aiming for.

So far so good. Expect to see much more bike content. Can’t wait to get more rides in!

Ryan Dutton

Personal trainer Sheffield

Online coach