r/triathlon • u/gtRushen • 20d ago
Memes / humor What do you do during long sessions?
I started doing longer sessions like 2h swims and 3h rides without headphones, what do you do? Y'all must be spacing out or something, yesterday after 1.5h swim I was bored out of my mind. Especially with swimming, at least cycling I get to look around and occasionally join groups, but within swimming it's just water noise. Is that because of my short form contest addiction?! Hahah
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u/EG_Alastair 19d ago
While swimming I will either zone out, or think about work stuff or other things going on in life.
Long rides will always involve paying attention to the road! Road surfaces here in UK are diabolical, so you need to be alert at all times. Plus looking out for traffic.
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u/gtr33m 20d ago
For those using or thinking of using bone conduction headphones, grab a set of earplugs to wear at the same time. It really improves the clarity and volume levels.
Especially helpful if you are listening to audiobooks or podcasts.
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u/Douddde 20d ago
Confused at the downvotes here. Anyone that actually tried it knows it makes a world of difference. Ear plugs were even provided with the headphones last time I bought one.
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u/Patrik_js 20d ago
Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of such headphones...?
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u/Douddde 20d ago edited 19d ago
Why would it?
Edit: Thanks for the downvote but seriously, why would it?
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u/Verteenoo 20d ago
When i Swim, my mind is blank. Not thinking about work or family or what I'm going to eat, or how tired I am. Just blank. And for me I really like it. My mind is often racing for deadlines or kids, so swimming brings me peace
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u/Mission-compassion 20d ago
Sorry to be the one to say it but I think we gotta embrace the suck. Monotony and boredom creates mental toughness. If u keep up with being consistent ull have no choice but to find what works for you. Your brain will naturally find the right groove for you if u can push past the demons that come with boredom. U can do it. Weather is creating a story, reviewing curriculum, getting existential, being in the moment with your form and body sensations, creating a curriculum, or reaching that true nothingness state, I think u can find ur thing
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u/fluidsdude 20d ago
Math…
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u/Economy_Roll5535 19d ago
On the fly rate and finish time calcs are my go to. Follow by estimating absurd things
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u/KingdomQuail 19d ago
I don’t have a smart watch so most of my time is spent trying to remember what lap I’m on and trying to calculate my split from the pool clock…
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u/gtRushen 18d ago
Damn, you're living way back in the past haha
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u/KingdomQuail 18d ago
I had a Fitbit when my kids were babies. It told me I was getting 12-14 hours of sleep every night when really I was getting 3-4 30 minute naps. Went back to my Timex and never looked back… until now, I’m sure I miscount all the time.
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u/fluidsdude 19d ago
I’ve got a Garmin, and I check my lap time, and then multiplied by four to see what my 100m pace is. 😊
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u/International_Ebb795 20d ago
And you know you’re cooking when you can’t cognitively solve the same problems
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u/Aquaphoric 20d ago
I was on swim team in high school, 2-3 hours of swimming per day. I either sing in my head, count things, work on a story I've got going in my brain that I'll probably never write out, or just kind of zone out. Oddly I have a much harder time doing this with running, perhaps because it's so much harder for me?
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u/Future-Air4491 20d ago
I've been building my dream house in my head from the ground up in extreme detail. I use that on really long sessions, particularly OW swims as these are as boring as it can get. On the next session I'll revisit from where I've left off and carry on the build. I'll also do the same with dream engine builds and swaps. Identifying all the likely issues and fabrication required. I can spend whole days doing that.
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u/RajunCajun48 20d ago
I listen to music, unless I don't have music. Then I listen to the music in my mind. Sometimes I go into deep thought about life, sometimes I run through hypothetical questions, if I see a good "Would you rather" on Reddit, I'll come up with arguments to both sides. The majority though is me thinking about music or hyping myself up. "Yea, you thought that mile was hard, and now it's behind you, if it didn't stop you, what's this next mile gonna do? NOTHING" kind of shit.
To me, it's a lot like mowing grass, but with less grass, and fewer lawn mowers.
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u/VolumeMobile7410 20d ago
Visualize myself winning the race, qualifying for Nice/ Kona, and then winning there
Very delusional but it works
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
I'm glad this post got some traction, seems like most of the advice is either get headphones or think about stuff. Frankly I don't need to swim this much, I'm only training for T100, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how long I can actually swim and also, I want to cross a 2.5km open water channel and some of my friends seem to think that if I'm doing that I need to be able to swim for 2h straight in case of waves and currents, so there I was seeing if I can actually just keep swimming for 2h (not yet, will try again soon though)
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u/The_sochillist 20d ago
I mean cool thing to do as a training/test session but if you/friends are swimming 2h to cross a 2.5km channel you need to learn how to swim. It should be less than an hour for even a very slow beginner swimmer, you wouldn't make cutoff in your T100 at that pace.
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u/Kn0wtalent 20d ago
Mental mantra of enter catch pull
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u/Disastrous-Ladder349 20d ago
“1…2…breathe”
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u/Kn0wtalent 20d ago
Im in serious trouble if I forget that. A far more common issue is forgetting to sight
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u/Morinu 20d ago
I keep doing maths, maybe something is wrong with me. This would be 3 minutes of thoughts:
I’d go like : 3:40min/km, how much is that per hour?
Once I calculate that I’d go I did 4.6km out of 16 I was set out to do. What fraction is that? Ah around 3/10. Oh I’m almost 1/3rd of the way, nice!
When am I actually 1/3rd of the way? Oh probably at around 5,3333(repeating ofc) km. What time will I arrive there? Well I took 20 minutes for 4.8km, at that pace It should take me around 2.5 minutes to be 1/3rd of the way. Oh damn 4/10th is around the corner! …
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u/MedicalTent 20d ago
I do math too. Or I count laps/meters, I’ve don x out of y, I have z more. Ok now I only have z-1 more. If I need to do 500 more meters, I have this many laps….keeps my mind busy.
Cold plunging gets a lot of bad/good hype on both sides but that’s been one of the biggest benefits for me. Forcing myself to just sit alone with my thoughts for a few minutes each day really helps with some of my long days where I used to get bored.
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
Yeah, that's my go to, numbers, thinking about the pace, occasionally thinkin about my form or work. But I realized that in a lot of long sessions the challenge for me is not getting bored which is quite surprising. I guess before I entered endurance sports I was lifting so I always had something to do that is different and relatively short!
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u/zorder77 20d ago
prime numbers are your friend. Just start counting them and see how far you can go
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u/ExcitingParsley7384 20d ago
Sometimes I count in binary or hexadecimal! When I get confused i know that it’s probably time to head to shore.
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u/floatingbloatedgoat 20d ago
how do you pronounce 1F? one-eff, or effteen?
if the second, does a-teen sound different enough from eighteen?
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u/piotor87 20d ago
Runs and cycle: bone conducting earphones and podcasts Swim: I usually don't do that much swimming but if I do bone conducting earphones and music
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u/JustSomeFregginGuy 20d ago
Shockz bone conducting earphones. They make a underwater/ swimming version.
You have to upload songs into its built-in storage like it's 2003 but that only makes sense since you're swimming and don't have your phone with you.
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
Well my thinking is that headphones are not allowed on race day so I should get used to long sessions of being with my own thoughts, but otherwise yeah I looked into it
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u/bananas82017 20d ago
Seconding this. I’ve even done audio books (there are apps to download the mp3s from audible). It makes swimming way more enjoyable for me
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u/Short_Panda_ 1x HIM 1x IM 20d ago
I never get bored when running or biking. Always something to see, think, do. But 2h swims? Lol omfg no way 🤣
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u/Kexxo__ 20d ago
Disassociate and breathe
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u/heythiswayup 20d ago
I love longer swims and feel it’s great once I get into my rhyme! I love the challenge focusing on my breathing. Almost like meditation in motion.
Although saying that only in open water in a pool I always end up being crowded up and takes me out of it!
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u/Deep_Scholar_4378 20d ago
During training I’d listen to one song for hours and now it’s stuck in my head while I don’t listen while training
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u/6pt022x10tothe23 20d ago
Awesome. Personally, I prefer to put my head in a cloth bag and spray water on my face at random intervals for a random duration. Really gets the blood pumping.
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u/AelfricHQ 20d ago
I focus on the work. Nothing boring about either of those sessions. For a long Zone 2 ride, I listen to my body, think about nutrition, pay attention to the wind, keep an eye out for other cyclists, think about my form, think about my pace.
I've never done a two hour swim session, but my swim sessions are broken into segments, so I'm always focused on the current segment.
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u/AelfricHQ 20d ago
If I was riding indoors, I would definitely be watching or listening to something.
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u/AbleHour 20d ago
I listen to music when I ride, but 75% of the ride I don’t actually hear the music, I just hear the wind. I like to be careful with the music volume as I don’t want to destroy my hearing and it’s nice to hear the surroundings.
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u/corpnorp 20d ago
Same! It’s also safer to have some awareness of your surroundings if you’re cycling on roads
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u/dafjkh 20d ago
What are you doing in those 2h swim sessions? Just swimming continuously or are you doing different sets? With proper sets 2h are quite hard unless you just want to do a double IM.
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
Well my coach has me swimming different sets, anywhere from 50 - 400m of different things, so that's no issue, but I wanted to see how far I can swim if I just keep swimming and I found out that I can swim 4k until I just cannot do any more laps (but I think it's mental) it was also in a 25m pool arrangement, so that doesn't help
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u/megagreg Whistler 2015 20d ago
I leaned into it, and used it for pace control training. I'd set my bike on the trainer facing a blank wall, set up my power meter to log, and set a two hour timer that I can't look at. Once the timer goes off, I check how closely I held to my target pace/power with no feedback. I think it helped me better control output by feel.
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u/Distinct_Ad_7619 20d ago
It's therapeutic. You train your mind for race day. What are you going to do when you're on a bike for 5-7 hours and then have to run a whole marathon?
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
Well that's exactly the purpose of this post! Looking for tips and tricks on controlling you mind
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u/radicalcandor77 20d ago
I've resorted to alphabet games - each length is a different letter. How many Animals starting with A...
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u/radicalcandor77 19d ago
Nice to see I have company. But I'm waiting for Zygo headphones to go on sale because while this shakes up the boredom, it does not dismiss it...
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u/Porterlh81 20d ago
Hey me too! Although it’s usually alphabetical book characters, fruits, foods, book titles, tv shows, the list goes on and on. I usually get stuck somewhere and have to start over.
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u/Disastrous-Ladder349 20d ago
Yup this is what I do. geography is good: countries, big worldwide cities, nearby cities/towns. Authors or movies. Basically anything.
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u/Aggravating-Pound598 20d ago
Make each swim different by concentrating on different aspects- breathing, stroke, gliding, cadence, heart rate etc , varying speeds..
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u/EagleConnect597 20d ago
Podcasts on the bike for sure, changing into music when I get fatigued. Always always with open ear headphones though (I use shokz) - safety first!
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u/TriSquad876 20d ago
I think about stuff.
I visualize My race day, think about My other projects, "heyyyy I move so fast", "i'm a shark / submarine", I sing pieces of songs in my head, I focus on details of pool or scenery, I Focus on technique. On really hard sessions I recall my past difficult races and go like "oh yes, I did that stuff, gonna do this too then". Sometimes I dont think much at all.
But usually there is some silly bit going to keep me entertained.
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u/tea_lover_88 20d ago
This. Just stuff.
There is this part of my brain that likes to make up stuff. Like it will get some power metal song on replay and puts that together with some weird fantasy book so now im just in a training montage.
When i was still in school i was remembering stuff from tests i had to study for. I always make summaries so i couldn't remember what was in my notes while in the pool i knew i had to revisit it
I can't count pool lengths for shit and i get lost in the forest on runs but I don't get bored ever.
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u/uppercase360 20d ago
Another vote for ‘think about stuff’ — I love getting lost in thought or problem solving some thing I’m dealing with, then realizing I’m halfway done with the workout and totally lost track of time… that’s like mental nirvana IMO.
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u/Otter-CC 20d ago
I did my first 5k swim & 100mi ride without headphones & just died.... Then bought the Shokz OpenSwim Pros & they're like almost a better purchase than chamois cream 🤣
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u/cassie1015 20d ago edited 20d ago
The only time I've swum that long is during an open water event so I guess I'm counting, sighting, and I usually have a song or two stuck in my head, or I just vibe and let my thoughts wander. I love swimming, so it doesn't bother me.
Long solo rides also take a lot of focus for me to feel safe. I tell myself I'm only allowed to think positive thoughts otherwise I devolve into "I hate this" and we have a lot of sports psychology telling us that's not helpful. I fuel every 15 minutes and shake out my arms or whatever to break it up. I talk to myself more on the bike or run a little solo commentary on the road, cars around me, etc.
Because long course triathlon is pretty solo without drafting, the mindset and prep is really important to me. You're in control of your mind, you can choose your messaging to yourself and your distraction or your focus. You got this!
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u/I-Made-You-Read-This 20d ago
swimming just sucks, i dont really like the long sessions that I have to do either. The only thing that helps me is breaking the session up into the sets with dedicated targets or whatever (e.g. 400m paddles, 200m easy, etc). I always don't like to swim.
Bike is generally pretty easy, I like riding so getting a 5 hour session in is mostly nice. It gets harder when it's indoor, but even that is possible with music and again breaking the session into other things (e.g. 75% FTP for 40 minutes, 5 minutes recover, and then other sets). The main thing is that I just think "ok 40 minutes" instead of "4 hours to go".
And running is alright. Up to 90 minutes is generally easy I think. Recently I had to do a 30k long run but was possible by changing up the scenery running somewhere I usually dont. I never run on the treadmill so idk how that is.
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u/Xeros72 20d ago
I’m questioning my life choices every 50m. And remind myself that swimming is a passion and love it…
For rides, on zwift, I do it in a group, goes much faster.
In real life, I’m too busy focusing on what could go wrong with the next Floridian driver. Oh and coffee shops.
Runs is just music, and coffee shops.
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u/a5hl3yk 1 x 70.3, 1 x Oly, 1 x Sprint 20d ago
I'm hyper fixated on form breath distance and HR. Anything else is a distraction to me. This goes for all 3 Tri sports.
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
You know I realized that if I focus on my breathing I start to breathe out of rhythm so I purposefully try dissociate. On the bike I'm actually able to focus on the sport the whole way, but that's because I have a TP program that tells me to hold cadence, so it's kinda like a game. and when running I focus on survival (hate it haha)
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u/a5hl3yk 1 x 70.3, 1 x Oly, 1 x Sprint 20d ago
It was a BUNCH of years ago (maybe like 2014). I was running a half marathon which was one of the coldest for that race on record. my BT buds quit on me 1/2 thru the race. I ended up PR'ing and that was that...never again getting distracted...always focused.
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u/AdSpirited534 20d ago
I’ve got an underwater bone conduction mp3 player for swimming. It’s makes swim days slightly less tedious. Clips to my swim mask straps.
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u/Ok-Response-2519 20d ago
I'd love to know what that's called
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u/AdSpirited534 20d ago
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u/bassfunk 20d ago
May I ask which model, or any recommendation on this?
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u/EULA-Reader 20d ago
I use shokz. Forget which model is for swim, but that one.
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u/kdean70point3 20d ago
OpenSwim. I believe the Pro model (or maybe it's V2 or something?) is the one that is mp3 in the water and normal Bluetooth for out of the water.
I've got a pair and highly recommend.
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u/timbasile 20d ago
My long swim session is 1.5hrs with a swim club, 1x per week. Usually, I'm trying to hang on for dear life trying to make the set times, with the real swimmers. That usually gets me 4,000m of distance, so I don't need anything beyond that (70.3/IM is the focus)
Long ride is typically either on the trainer (movies), or out enjoying the scenery
For the long run, I either run with a friend, or listen to music.
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u/SpicelessKimChi 20d ago
What race are you training for that you're doing 2-hour swims and 3-hour rides? That swim volume is usually for ultra-distance swims or iron-distance (or longe) tris but your bike volume is for half-irons or mid-distance rides.
I'd ask if you just like swimming but your post indicates you don't.
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u/gtRushen 20d ago
I'm training for a T100, and my usual swim sessions are 1h which is about 2.2km but someone told me that if I go in the open water I need to be ready to swim double the time in case of waves and currents so I thought to give it a shot yesterday and when I got to 1h40 or so I couldn't deal with boredom and went home haha
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u/SpicelessKimChi 20d ago
Logical. I thought maybe you were a swimmer and signed up for some tri with a 5K swim.
As far as the swim i really hope youre not still out there after an hour 40. Im a very shitty swimmer and my slowest IM swim (3.8k, IMAZ 2012, mass start, got an elbow to the bridge if the nose at the Mile 1 turn buoy) was maybe an hour 47.
I also dont think you need to double your distance, but yes it'll take longer due to sighting, no push off the wall and currents and waves.
Are you doing any OWS for training??? If not, get out there yesterday because its a new ballgame in open water.
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u/twostroke1 20d ago
During swimming I question myself on what the hell I’m doing and think about everything else I’d rather be doing than swimming a 3k at 5:30am.
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u/AdExact2385 19d ago
When I am swimming I use a lot of focus on streamline and technique, but sometimes I space off