Top two tips to start ( bold assumption that you have trained well) 1 RTFM this is oddly something lots of idiots dont do. It really is very comprehensive so read it, make your crew read it then read it again. 2 Get yourself a support crew who already know the event. So that means @Ewa Pisarczyk @Karianne Lancee and @George Noble are sorted for sure. Anyone else its worth doing 1 and have a look at some small things that arent in the manual. Travelling up. Torridon is quite remote but if you fill up in Inverness or Dingwall you have enough fuel to get round and back to Inverness. Inverness is also a good stop for supplies..Big supermarkets and Tiso ( sell all the kit needed for the mountain safety bag). You MUST register on the Friday.. or at least 2 people with 2 sets of kit need to register. If you have someone coming say after work just make sure you have their kit and someone other than you to register it. The briefing whilst it can be tedious is useful..even if you think you know it all. There can be last minute changes so dont get caught out by dodging the briefing. Social swim on Friday is great fun if you are up early enough. Make sure you have the means to dry your wetsuit after or bring a spare as at 0300 sat putting on a damp suit will be erm sub optimal. Start your fuelling up on Thrusday and try and stay as close to normal eating as possible on Friday. Anything heavy or high in fibre you may have to join the sheep to get rid of it on the course. Get to bed early Thursday as you will be lucky to get much, if any sleep on Friday night. The buses leave at 0400 sharp. Don't be the dick that isn't there. The finest you can cut it probably is arrive 0315 to set up T1 and pick up the tracker. So depending on how far you are staying from Sheildaig can mean as early as a 0130 start. You have one supporter designated for T1. Make sure you have a plan for how this will run and they know exactly how it goes. The tracker needs to go on the athlete rather than the bike to lessen the risk of leaving it in T2. Since there is no support after T1 until KLE..the athlete should have food and fuel for at least 90 mins with them on the bike. Unless you are out and away in the top 10 to 20 people your support car will get held up and it can be 2 hours before you make contact again.

One thing I see often with amateur triathletes is that the problem is not a lack of hard work. More often it is that too many sessions end up in a similar intensity range, which can make easy days too costly and key sessions less effective. Where do you recognise this most in your own training?

A lot of amateur triathletes do not need to train harder. They need to train with clearer intent. One of the most common patterns I see is this: - Easy sessions become a bit too hard. - Hard sessions become a bit compromised. And suddenly most of the week sits in the same “moderately uncomfortable” place. That does not mean moderate intensity is bad. Threshold work, tempo rides and race-specific intervals can all be very useful, especially in triathlon. The problem is when moderate intensity appears by accident rather than design. A few practical checks: - If it is an easy session, you should finish feeling like you could continue comfortably for much longer. - If it is a hard session, it should hit the intended target, not become an "all out survival" session. - If it is threshold work, it should be controlled, not a disguised time trial. 2-3 reps in reserve is a good guideline. - If you cannot explain the purpose of the session, the training program is probably not precise enough. - If your easy sessions reduce the quality of your key sessions, they are not easy enough. This is why I think the “polarised vs pyramidal vs threshold” debate is often less useful than people think. All three models can work: - A polarised model can be useful when an athlete needs clearer separation between easy volume and hard work. - A threshold-focused model can be very effective when controlled aerobic stress is the priority. - A pyramidal model can be a good balanced default when the athlete is not clearly limited by one specific area. The real question is not which model sounds best but whether your current training distribution lets each session do its job. I wrote a full article about this, including what polarised training actually means, why moderate intensity is often misunderstood, and how amateurs can apply this without blindly copying elite athletes. https://substack.com/@dorianhorsten/note/p-199047158?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2dd4wx

Bike ride Saturday 30th. Leave 9 am from Bellahouston LC. 113k ride with a nice cafe stop https://www.komoot.com/tour/2980824749?share_token=anSvbcN9RI4RD78LjD38SD5Qa3kvYeAzRSgPfnYvsfFuePk3YA&ref=wtd&t_s=referral&t_cid=route_share&t_ref_username=766605327173 let me know if you are coming!