The Triathlon thread - Ironman, 70.3, Olympic, Sprint
Discussion
dangerousB said:
Ticked over on the swimming (and it may well be a wetsuit free swim, so that's playing on my mind at the mo') - managed one century ride (got 3 weekends left to try for any more) and once again ticked over with the running . . . the last three weekends I have managed 6 runs of 25k+, so that's been better just recently. We'll see what it gets me come race day (which is 27th Sept in Mallorca) - more than likely what I deserve, I should imagine!
Best of luck, you'll probably surprise yourself come race day! Give us a race report afterwards as I'm thinking about IM Mallorca next year and would especially like to know what the bike course is like. Given the big climb and descent, not sure whether to take TT bike or road bike with clip-ons?
blade runner said:
Best of luck, you'll probably surprise yourself come race day! Give us a race report afterwards as I'm thinking about IM Mallorca next year and would especially like to know what the bike course is like. Given the big climb and descent, not sure whether to take TT bike or road bike with clip-ons?
Cheers! We'll have to see how things go come race day - I'll be happy with a finish and if it's even marginally less painful than Lanzarote, so much the better 
This week's been a bit of a blowout - managed a 170k hilly ride and a 7k sea swim last weekend - then went for 25k run on Monday, only to get home and discover my trainers are obviously knackered - the nailbed on the toe next to my big toe on my right foot is absolutely black (and chuffing painful!), so no running or cycling this week.
On the plus side I now have a shiny new pair of Brook Ghost 7's and now the swelling/pain has subsided I'm gonna give 'em a try over this weekend and try and see if I can squeeze in a 4hr ride at some stage as well.
I'll definitely be posting a detailed race report though, so I'll let you know as much poss about the bike
Edited by dangerousB on Friday 12th September 17:59
dangerousB said:
Oh you're totally right, I thought Weymouth was next weekend! Esuuv is competing I think - good luck!!!
I thought about it and then changed my mind - doing the half at Hever castle in a couple of weeks - will be slow at this point as the closest i've gotten to exercise all week is watching cycling highlights on ITV 4!!Good luck to everyone in the morning (you're all asleep now!!)
Randy Winkman said:
Blimey - times have changed. When I did an Ironman distance race in 1996 there were 150 of us. And it was the only race of that distance in the UK that year.
Yup, IM uk had c2000 people last year and has sold out already for July next year. Around half those were first time ironmen.
Wales I think is much the same. Many of next years (IM branded) races are sold out. Oddly Lanzarote still has places which is in May I think. I always thought it would be one of the more popular ones?
Holy cow, IM Wales was another epic day. That swim was absolutely brutal, more a survival session than a swim, people actually having fist fights at the first turn buoy.
52 people rescued by RNLI and lifeguards & 88 DNFs for the swim alone by the sound of it.
Lovely to do it in the sunshine for a change and Tenby was absolutely rocking yesterday.
52 people rescued by RNLI and lifeguards & 88 DNFs for the swim alone by the sound of it.
Lovely to do it in the sunshine for a change and Tenby was absolutely rocking yesterday.
baxb said:
i'll stick a race report up when i've written it in a day or two if anyone wants to see.
croftsj said:
Holy cow, IM Wales was another epic day.
Love to hear your race reports guys - heard the swim was "something special" this year (40 - 50 DNF's before T1??) well done on getting through just that alone!Must have made an already very tough day a monumental challenge
Feel a bit sheepish posting this considering some of the posts above, but completed my second sprint triathlon on Sunday. Completed the North West Triathlon (Nantwich) in 1:15:30, which consisted of a 500m swim, a 20k ride and 5k run. Managed to forget my swim goggles and lose my water bottle off the bike on the first corner but other than that a thoroughly enjoyable day. Definitely want to do an Olympic distance next year, just need to do some swimming over winter.
Cut & pasted from Triathlete World, sorry it's a long one.
Here we go then for Ironman Wales 2014. I set off for Tenby on Saturday morning early and arrived in what looked like the Italian Riviera around 1030 in the morning, checked into the Park Hotel overlooking North Beach at the top of the cliff, exactly where we stayed last year. Lovely old school hotel, lots of athletes staying here including the eventual winner, would recommend, book early, £80 a night for a bit of 3 star luxury.
Well prepared this year, last years Red & Blue bags already packed, just needed to put new stickers on after I'd registered and picked up all the bits and pieces and spent some cash at the Expo which incidentally was much bigger and better than last year. One last run through of bags and they were hung up and bike was racked. Bumped into an old army mate again, I knew he was racing again, he DNF'd last year and was back to lay that one to rest in 2014.
Slept like a baby, a good 6 or 7 hours, a hearty breakfast in stony silence in the hotel dining room, you could cut the air with a knife. I walked through town in the dark, the sea sounded rough! There were people already bagging their spots on the cliff at 0600 and even before. Bike found, covers off, tyres checked, all good, nutrition onto bike and on with wetty and hand in white bag. Ate a Trek bar at 0645 on the walk down, much better than last years crawl to the beach, necked a gel as I hung my purple bag up and wandered down to the sand.
Wow, that view out to sea, double wow, it looks rough again and triple wow, there looks like 5000 people in green swim hats on the beach not 2000. I found my spot, 4 or 5 rows from the front, to the right. National anthem was a distant sound, I had my earplugs in and the next thing were off into the maelstrom.
Wading out you could feel the wave pressure was high, this was going to be tough to get out of the surf zone and into the calmer water behind, except as it turned out there wasn't any calmer water behind. I dolphin dived in and started to 'swim' well I say swim it was a poor imitation for a few minutes as I was swamped by wave after wave, kicked, punched, shouted at and swallowed the ocean. Then there was a break, I settled into a rhythm only able to breathe to the right for fear of swallowing more water, already I started to gag, acid reflux filled my mouth, Christ we were 5 minutes into a long day and I already felt like s
t. The first buoy took an eternity to arrive, it was a proper washing machine and I swear there was a standing wave at the buoy making it very hard to turn around it! The long leg was a bit easier, the wave frequency was so random you couldn't time your breathing. Still the grabs and punches and ocean swallowing continued. Then I swam into a man who'd had a bad day, no swim hat, no goggles, just bobbing in the maelstrom, I stopped asked if he was OK, he just looked at me blankly, I swam on, sorry if that was you but there were lifeguards very close by. On the beach finally, lap 2 here we go, it won't be as bad will it this time? It was, just as bad, in the biff again and this time I actually saw two men (I think) having a fist fight near the first turn buoy. This time on the long leg to the lifeboat station turn I was settled and picked up a set of feet and we really flew along, in fact at the turn I took over at the front and returned the favour only minutes later to be swum over by someone going perpendicular to the rest of us. Still in the biff pretty much all the way to the beach, I glanced at my watch I and I really thought it would say 1:30 - 1:40 so was pleasantly surprised to see 1:15 only 6 minutes down on last year. That wasn't swimming, that was surviving. Off up the beach, onto the zig zag path, found my purple bag.
Jog back to T1, I saw my wife & kids, I shook my head at them they looked worried and I felt like st already with a belly full of seawater. At T1 I grabbed my Blue bag and whipped off the wetty, into the blue bag, bike socks and shoes on, helmet on, glasses on, jersey and arm warmers on, blue bag whisked away by a helper. Makes mental note say thank you at the end.
Out to the racks, find bike and run it to the start line, bloke behind tells me to hurry up. Do one mate I'm going as fast as I can and just then he gets shouted at by a marshall for not having his chin strap done up, see, more haste = less speed.
Mount after the red line and were off for 112 miles of hurt.
What a difference a year makes, I'm ahead of plan already thanks to a swift T1 despite a slower swim and it's warm and dry as opposed to wet and cold. The first hour on the bike was all about whether I was going to puke, fart, urinate or st myself, I really didn't know what was happening inside me. After an hour I stopped and had myself a wee, it was just what I needed, that seemed to release whatever the blockage was because for the next hour I farted like a schoolboy after a tin of beans. It was non stop and they were loud as hell, I apologised to other riders at one point, but at least it raised a few smiles. I started to take on fuel now, before we reached Angle in about 1hr 20 mins thanks to the bloody East wind. Power consistent, no big spikes, feeling really good, push on now to Lamphey.
Next feed station, more water onboard and I'm eating my own nutrition and sticking to plan, power and HR consistent and no big spikes still. The climb out of Templeton seems to go in forever, then its onto Narbeth, a lovely fast descent then a short climb into town and the next feed station, I'm still ahead of plan and feeling good now. Wisemans Bridge up next and the support was awesome again, in fact better than last year, no bother here, a few walkers on lap 1 spells trouble for some I suspect. Saundersfoot, I am Sir Wiggo and I am on Ventoux, what can you say, I'm glad I was wearing glasses, epic as always. Lap 1 job done. Wind behind again out to Lamphey and onto the tough part of the course again, the support out in the middle of nowhere is amazing, settees on diggers is a new one! Templeton again drags on but I'm overtaking riders and picking people off 1 by 1 and feeling strong, Narbeth again, that descent is amazing in the dry, hitting 50 mph now and then into that nasty climb but again I'm feeling strong and picking people off, power still sensible numbers. Wisemans again, I struggled to stay on my bike here last year, it was easier this year, sit down, keep upright, breathe and spin. Done. Some lovely descending again into Saundersfoot, can that be bottled and kept forever? I'm back again, there is definitely something in my eye now, the crowd parts before us, there's my son running along side me, then my wife takes on the chase, turn right and it's nearly all over just that slog up to New Hedges to go, sit down, sit up and spin it. New Hedges and its descend for all your worth, full on attack mode, just that last little ramp into Tenby now. Turn right and hoof it, 900 watts on the power meter for a stupid sprint finish to get in for 6:54, 40 minutes off last years bike and feeling way way better.
Quick change after racking and way fewer bikes in T1 than I was looking at last year!
Forgot to say, on the bike at 1 o'clock I decided it was time for lunch, so I ate my homemade peanut butter & sweet chilli sauce sandwiches on rye, they were lush. As I headed out to the run I ate my cheese and marmite pick me up sandwich, lovely job and that was the end of my solids for the run.
You really cannot underestimate the run at Tenby, it's uphill for 3 miles, turn around, run downhill a bit, turn left run uphill again to collect a band, run down into Tenby turn left and run uphill again for a bit to cross a timing mat and then head into town for a bit of downhill and a bit of uphill. Tenby was absolutely rocking on Sunday night, the weather helped I guess and it was pumping. I settled quickly onto my pace and to be honest I felt good for the first 30km and was headed for a sub 4 run. Then it started, a stitch at first so I changed my breathing pattern and tried to run more upright, then it got worse, it wasn't a stitch, this was the oceans revenge. My gut was doing all manner of things, I never felt like I was going to soil myself or puke, I was just in pain and when I ran it hurt. Mile 23 and I had to power walk the hills. Lots of arm band envy this year, people offering to buy my pink band for a gel or an energy bar! Also more than 1 athlete being giving outside help, now I'm not moaning about someone in distress being given help here but having a coach run alongside you up to New Hedges wearing his company logo and name on his T-Shirt is taking the piss quite frankly. 4 hours slipped by, bugger. I'm in town now, family are on the magic carpet waiting and I arrive at judgement junction to be ushered left and onto the esplanade, I push for a sprint but my stomach is saying no way matey boy, 4:09 for the marathon, not too shabby and a 12:44 overall, 56 minutes off last year.
Into the recovery area feeling good apart from stomach pain. Pizza was poor, coffee and fruit was lovely, never show me a gel again, ever. Collected everything up and made a point of shaking anyone in a blue volunteers shirt hand to thank them for their outstanding efforts all day long, they really do make the event possible for us all.
Bath at the hotel, burger and chips and a beer then out onto the course until around 1130 supporting the late finishers, my feet were sore now and the kids were hanging.
I won't be racing Wales next year, time for some new challenges but I'll leave you with this. If you DNF'd there on Sunday then there is no shame whatsoever, however it came about, you stepped up and were prepared to put yourself to the test and put your body on the line for the chance to be called an Ironman and for that I salute you.
Here we go then for Ironman Wales 2014. I set off for Tenby on Saturday morning early and arrived in what looked like the Italian Riviera around 1030 in the morning, checked into the Park Hotel overlooking North Beach at the top of the cliff, exactly where we stayed last year. Lovely old school hotel, lots of athletes staying here including the eventual winner, would recommend, book early, £80 a night for a bit of 3 star luxury.
Well prepared this year, last years Red & Blue bags already packed, just needed to put new stickers on after I'd registered and picked up all the bits and pieces and spent some cash at the Expo which incidentally was much bigger and better than last year. One last run through of bags and they were hung up and bike was racked. Bumped into an old army mate again, I knew he was racing again, he DNF'd last year and was back to lay that one to rest in 2014.
Slept like a baby, a good 6 or 7 hours, a hearty breakfast in stony silence in the hotel dining room, you could cut the air with a knife. I walked through town in the dark, the sea sounded rough! There were people already bagging their spots on the cliff at 0600 and even before. Bike found, covers off, tyres checked, all good, nutrition onto bike and on with wetty and hand in white bag. Ate a Trek bar at 0645 on the walk down, much better than last years crawl to the beach, necked a gel as I hung my purple bag up and wandered down to the sand.
Wow, that view out to sea, double wow, it looks rough again and triple wow, there looks like 5000 people in green swim hats on the beach not 2000. I found my spot, 4 or 5 rows from the front, to the right. National anthem was a distant sound, I had my earplugs in and the next thing were off into the maelstrom.
Wading out you could feel the wave pressure was high, this was going to be tough to get out of the surf zone and into the calmer water behind, except as it turned out there wasn't any calmer water behind. I dolphin dived in and started to 'swim' well I say swim it was a poor imitation for a few minutes as I was swamped by wave after wave, kicked, punched, shouted at and swallowed the ocean. Then there was a break, I settled into a rhythm only able to breathe to the right for fear of swallowing more water, already I started to gag, acid reflux filled my mouth, Christ we were 5 minutes into a long day and I already felt like s
t. The first buoy took an eternity to arrive, it was a proper washing machine and I swear there was a standing wave at the buoy making it very hard to turn around it! The long leg was a bit easier, the wave frequency was so random you couldn't time your breathing. Still the grabs and punches and ocean swallowing continued. Then I swam into a man who'd had a bad day, no swim hat, no goggles, just bobbing in the maelstrom, I stopped asked if he was OK, he just looked at me blankly, I swam on, sorry if that was you but there were lifeguards very close by. On the beach finally, lap 2 here we go, it won't be as bad will it this time? It was, just as bad, in the biff again and this time I actually saw two men (I think) having a fist fight near the first turn buoy. This time on the long leg to the lifeboat station turn I was settled and picked up a set of feet and we really flew along, in fact at the turn I took over at the front and returned the favour only minutes later to be swum over by someone going perpendicular to the rest of us. Still in the biff pretty much all the way to the beach, I glanced at my watch I and I really thought it would say 1:30 - 1:40 so was pleasantly surprised to see 1:15 only 6 minutes down on last year. That wasn't swimming, that was surviving. Off up the beach, onto the zig zag path, found my purple bag.Jog back to T1, I saw my wife & kids, I shook my head at them they looked worried and I felt like s
t already with a belly full of seawater. At T1 I grabbed my Blue bag and whipped off the wetty, into the blue bag, bike socks and shoes on, helmet on, glasses on, jersey and arm warmers on, blue bag whisked away by a helper. Makes mental note say thank you at the end.Out to the racks, find bike and run it to the start line, bloke behind tells me to hurry up. Do one mate I'm going as fast as I can and just then he gets shouted at by a marshall for not having his chin strap done up, see, more haste = less speed.
Mount after the red line and were off for 112 miles of hurt.
What a difference a year makes, I'm ahead of plan already thanks to a swift T1 despite a slower swim and it's warm and dry as opposed to wet and cold. The first hour on the bike was all about whether I was going to puke, fart, urinate or s
t myself, I really didn't know what was happening inside me. After an hour I stopped and had myself a wee, it was just what I needed, that seemed to release whatever the blockage was because for the next hour I farted like a schoolboy after a tin of beans. It was non stop and they were loud as hell, I apologised to other riders at one point, but at least it raised a few smiles. I started to take on fuel now, before we reached Angle in about 1hr 20 mins thanks to the bloody East wind. Power consistent, no big spikes, feeling really good, push on now to Lamphey.Next feed station, more water onboard and I'm eating my own nutrition and sticking to plan, power and HR consistent and no big spikes still. The climb out of Templeton seems to go in forever, then its onto Narbeth, a lovely fast descent then a short climb into town and the next feed station, I'm still ahead of plan and feeling good now. Wisemans Bridge up next and the support was awesome again, in fact better than last year, no bother here, a few walkers on lap 1 spells trouble for some I suspect. Saundersfoot, I am Sir Wiggo and I am on Ventoux, what can you say, I'm glad I was wearing glasses, epic as always. Lap 1 job done. Wind behind again out to Lamphey and onto the tough part of the course again, the support out in the middle of nowhere is amazing, settees on diggers is a new one! Templeton again drags on but I'm overtaking riders and picking people off 1 by 1 and feeling strong, Narbeth again, that descent is amazing in the dry, hitting 50 mph now and then into that nasty climb but again I'm feeling strong and picking people off, power still sensible numbers. Wisemans again, I struggled to stay on my bike here last year, it was easier this year, sit down, keep upright, breathe and spin. Done. Some lovely descending again into Saundersfoot, can that be bottled and kept forever? I'm back again, there is definitely something in my eye now, the crowd parts before us, there's my son running along side me, then my wife takes on the chase, turn right and it's nearly all over just that slog up to New Hedges to go, sit down, sit up and spin it. New Hedges and its descend for all your worth, full on attack mode, just that last little ramp into Tenby now. Turn right and hoof it, 900 watts on the power meter for a stupid sprint finish to get in for 6:54, 40 minutes off last years bike and feeling way way better.
Quick change after racking and way fewer bikes in T1 than I was looking at last year!
Forgot to say, on the bike at 1 o'clock I decided it was time for lunch, so I ate my homemade peanut butter & sweet chilli sauce sandwiches on rye, they were lush. As I headed out to the run I ate my cheese and marmite pick me up sandwich, lovely job and that was the end of my solids for the run.
You really cannot underestimate the run at Tenby, it's uphill for 3 miles, turn around, run downhill a bit, turn left run uphill again to collect a band, run down into Tenby turn left and run uphill again for a bit to cross a timing mat and then head into town for a bit of downhill and a bit of uphill. Tenby was absolutely rocking on Sunday night, the weather helped I guess and it was pumping. I settled quickly onto my pace and to be honest I felt good for the first 30km and was headed for a sub 4 run. Then it started, a stitch at first so I changed my breathing pattern and tried to run more upright, then it got worse, it wasn't a stitch, this was the oceans revenge. My gut was doing all manner of things, I never felt like I was going to soil myself or puke, I was just in pain and when I ran it hurt. Mile 23 and I had to power walk the hills. Lots of arm band envy this year, people offering to buy my pink band for a gel or an energy bar! Also more than 1 athlete being giving outside help, now I'm not moaning about someone in distress being given help here but having a coach run alongside you up to New Hedges wearing his company logo and name on his T-Shirt is taking the piss quite frankly. 4 hours slipped by, bugger. I'm in town now, family are on the magic carpet waiting and I arrive at judgement junction to be ushered left and onto the esplanade, I push for a sprint but my stomach is saying no way matey boy, 4:09 for the marathon, not too shabby and a 12:44 overall, 56 minutes off last year.
Into the recovery area feeling good apart from stomach pain. Pizza was poor, coffee and fruit was lovely, never show me a gel again, ever. Collected everything up and made a point of shaking anyone in a blue volunteers shirt hand to thank them for their outstanding efforts all day long, they really do make the event possible for us all.
Bath at the hotel, burger and chips and a beer then out onto the course until around 1130 supporting the late finishers, my feet were sore now and the kids were hanging.
I won't be racing Wales next year, time for some new challenges but I'll leave you with this. If you DNF'd there on Sunday then there is no shame whatsoever, however it came about, you stepped up and were prepared to put yourself to the test and put your body on the line for the chance to be called an Ironman and for that I salute you.
Hat's off to you Jon for that, sounds like an epic & hard fought day. Heck of a run time for that course.
My tale of Weymouth:-
So following a 21 hour day at work on Monday (!) the rest of the week was a bit more sensible & some decent sleep was banked, Friday night ended up being a bit like pre race night with not much kip before midnight & waking up a couple of times before my 5.30am alarm. Went to pick up my other half (decided to stay in my own bed Friday thinking I would get a better night's kip - that worked well...) & hit the road to Weymouth by 7am. Arrived at the hotel just after 11 to meet with best mate (IM distance no 9 for him !) to let the faff begin !
Registration all nice & straightforward, Fairly small expo with fairly limited merchandise, in a lot of respects nice to see Challenge not flogging the brand as hard as WTC. Good flapjack stand though !
Nice Itallian meal with the gang Saturday evening (2 of us racing with 11 supporters!!) before a stroll back to the hotel, lovely evening, not cold & nice & calm.....
So a decent (by pre-race night standard) kip totalling nearly 5 hours of which 3 was un-interupted. I'll spare you the detail but didn't complete bathroom routine to satisfaction. A 10min stroll to Transition, we could hear the sea which we don't remember hearing on Saturday when walking down to rack bikes, oh well probably because the traffic drowned it out then...
My other half headed off to get us some fresh coffee from her parents motorhome parked up by Transition & it seems the coffee & sensations of arriving in transition had the desired effect, 2 productive portaloo trips later I was as light as I was going to get ! Shortly after the announcement came about the water conditions being a bit hairy & a decision to alter the corse to an out & back (rather than running parralel to the beach) & thereby shortening of the swim course to 1.9k also meant a 30min delay. The logic was they had 38 kayakers on hand but felt that wasn't enough to cover a 1.9km loop but they could safely cover a 950m loop. Don't think they had much alternative & thought they did pretty well to get the new course marked out in time to only delay by 30mins
We strolled down to the beach to be greeted by this:
First wave containing my mate went off at 7, I was in the start pen 2 mins later, 2 mins after that all of wave one was spread 50-100m west of the buoy they were aiming for, so our wave was called out of the pen & went 150m east up the beach to start from there. Then the hooter & we're off, over the stones, ouch when you have 16 1/2 stone going over them, first 100m or so walking out trying to ride over or dive through the waves, very spread out so no contact at all. Sighting was hard work as you just had to bung in a couple of breaststroke to keep your head out long enough for you to ride to the top of the wave to see. Well it seems that 150m stroll along the beach had changed things as we were getting pushed well east of the first buoy, but made it round buoy one, then two & headed back to the beach. I was aiming well right of the blue inflatable arch (when I could see it) doing 6 or 7 strokes, looking up to find me pointing well, well, well left of said blue arch, but got there, trotted 150m up the beach to do it all again. Out in 53.20 without feeling it had taken much out of me so happy with that.
To the bike:
A windy start to the lap, was taking a bit of effort to maintain 15mph on the flat, out of town & long drag out to countryside. First feed station 5 miles in & a shambles really, nobody calling what they holding, no bars held out. Only option was to stop & unclip & pick my own stuff out of the box as it was quicker than getting them to do it, not the volunteers fault I suppose but whoever 'trained' them needs a stern word, needed to stop at 5 out of 6 feed stations to get what I wanted picked up.
Well the lap was one of two halfs (ish) First 2/3rds was very undulating & nowhere to build a rhythm & grind out some decent pace, ave speed was 15.1mph after 35ish miles but up to 16.2 by end of lap one following some well sufaced flat stuff. Varying traffic management in place, some closed road (but still had a few cars ignore it) some traffic managed & some completely open. at times a bit too much traffic really & whizzing outside stationary traffic on the mile up to the turn point at 25mph probably not the safest thing I have done. Felt ok after Lap one apart from fairly sore lower back (usual trouble for me) Into lap 2 & was trundling round ok, was sticking to nutrition plan well, got to feed station 5, no energy drink left (fellow competitor had likened it to toilet cleaner !) but no real problem as 2 lovely gels were on the menu for the next hour to get me to feed station 6, so picked up my water, went round the dead turn 20 yds ahead to carry on with the lap. 3 mins later went for my gel & get water bottle & bugger ! water bottle had gone from the cage. I had about 100ml of toliet cleaner & two gels that I couldn't use without water to get me round the next 20-25 miles. On I went but 40mins or so later began to struggle a little for the first time that day & slowly felt more & more empty. I finished the last of my fluid about 1/2 hour before the feed station so it was a very welcome sight when I arrived. The stopping here was very much deliberate & my choice, I was properly hungry so ate two bits of banana, an energy bar (the only USN product I tried that day that tasted ok) & a good 300ml of water & took on two full bottles. Saw a chap pull in at this point looking a bit too fit to be this far back on the bike & then heard him say he still on lap one due to a 3 hour mechanical !! He did finish & arguably the performance of the day from Nigel.
So after a few minutes to let my 2 course lunch go down off I went to get this bike done, felt much better for the last 20 miles, saw my mate above me on the prom just before T2 & he looked in decent shape. So 7h25m06s for the bike, not good, but about what I deserved with such a pitiful amount of training done & carrying at least 10-12kg more than I should have been.
To the run then:
Quick bit of encouragement & kiss from other half on the way out of T2 & on to the course, saw my mate 30yds or so in front (he had been round far turn point & was on his way back in) when I got to the promenade & caught up with him for a chat, he was one lap in & seemed in good spirits we stayed together for 10 mins or so before carrying on at our respective paces, his run was a bit quicker than mine, but I was probably going for longer before walking (at least to start with) so we had a few chances as I caught him up to do a few yards together which was good. Support was good on the run course, particurlaly though town & by the old harbour, the feed station teams also really enthusiastic. I'd had a bit of left knee trouble 1/2 way round lap one which I had managed to stretch & run (shuffle) off ok but by late lap 2 the right one was giving me some real trouble & no amount of stretching would work. By lap 3 my other half & her folks were outside one of the pubs by the harbour & seemed to have primed the (by now) well oiled patrons to get behind me, so for a brief moment a hunded or so people were all chanting my name & all the pain went away, a great memory to have. However as soon as I went around the corner I realised that a walk was pretty much all I could now manage with intermittent left knee pain mixing in with now constant right knee pain.
So the last two laps were striding out a route march at the best pace I could, at the turn for home on last lap I just knew I was pretty much bang on target for a third 14.18 finish, (Challenge Copenhage 2011 - 14.18.15/ IM Austria 2013 14.18.31) so tried to break out into some kind of run, but there was no way I could trust my knee not to completely give up & if it had gone with 2 or more miles to go then it was going to be a long and painful slog in, so I stayed with the walk until the last silly little loop around the pier when I shuffled - in the finest ironman tradition - to the finish.
Nice little video showing a bit of the swim here - http://www.visit-dorset.tv/challenge-weymouth-2014...
Stats:
Swim 53.20
T1 9.02
Bike 7.25.06
T2 6.07
Run 5.43.37
Total 14.17.14
I know compared to most (all ?) on here that time is not great but I hit 43 the day after the race & I'm probably knocking on the door of 17 stone !! So i'm happy with it !
PB ? well, you can only do the course in front of you & I am under no illusion that would have been a good 30min longer should it have been a full swim but 14.17 is the time in the book so that's what it is.
And that concludes my long distance triathlon efforts, (I mean it this time !!) my heart wasn't really in the training hence the lack of it, maybe try for a sub 6 middle distance next year ?
If you are thinking of giving the big one a go but think you HAVE to build up over 2-3 years via sprint, olympic, half IM to full one, take it from me you just don't have to do that. It seems you need to enter these events 12 months in advance to get a spot nowadays & that is plenty of time to get to you fit enough to complete the distance. You may well need longer to get to a point to go sub 12h/sub 11h, but with a years prep & a very large helping of determination/stubborness you WILL get round an Iron distance event.
My tale of Weymouth:-
So following a 21 hour day at work on Monday (!) the rest of the week was a bit more sensible & some decent sleep was banked, Friday night ended up being a bit like pre race night with not much kip before midnight & waking up a couple of times before my 5.30am alarm. Went to pick up my other half (decided to stay in my own bed Friday thinking I would get a better night's kip - that worked well...) & hit the road to Weymouth by 7am. Arrived at the hotel just after 11 to meet with best mate (IM distance no 9 for him !) to let the faff begin !
Registration all nice & straightforward, Fairly small expo with fairly limited merchandise, in a lot of respects nice to see Challenge not flogging the brand as hard as WTC. Good flapjack stand though !
Nice Itallian meal with the gang Saturday evening (2 of us racing with 11 supporters!!) before a stroll back to the hotel, lovely evening, not cold & nice & calm.....
So a decent (by pre-race night standard) kip totalling nearly 5 hours of which 3 was un-interupted. I'll spare you the detail but didn't complete bathroom routine to satisfaction. A 10min stroll to Transition, we could hear the sea which we don't remember hearing on Saturday when walking down to rack bikes, oh well probably because the traffic drowned it out then...
My other half headed off to get us some fresh coffee from her parents motorhome parked up by Transition & it seems the coffee & sensations of arriving in transition had the desired effect, 2 productive portaloo trips later I was as light as I was going to get ! Shortly after the announcement came about the water conditions being a bit hairy & a decision to alter the corse to an out & back (rather than running parralel to the beach) & thereby shortening of the swim course to 1.9k also meant a 30min delay. The logic was they had 38 kayakers on hand but felt that wasn't enough to cover a 1.9km loop but they could safely cover a 950m loop. Don't think they had much alternative & thought they did pretty well to get the new course marked out in time to only delay by 30mins
We strolled down to the beach to be greeted by this:
First wave containing my mate went off at 7, I was in the start pen 2 mins later, 2 mins after that all of wave one was spread 50-100m west of the buoy they were aiming for, so our wave was called out of the pen & went 150m east up the beach to start from there. Then the hooter & we're off, over the stones, ouch when you have 16 1/2 stone going over them, first 100m or so walking out trying to ride over or dive through the waves, very spread out so no contact at all. Sighting was hard work as you just had to bung in a couple of breaststroke to keep your head out long enough for you to ride to the top of the wave to see. Well it seems that 150m stroll along the beach had changed things as we were getting pushed well east of the first buoy, but made it round buoy one, then two & headed back to the beach. I was aiming well right of the blue inflatable arch (when I could see it) doing 6 or 7 strokes, looking up to find me pointing well, well, well left of said blue arch, but got there, trotted 150m up the beach to do it all again. Out in 53.20 without feeling it had taken much out of me so happy with that.
To the bike:
A windy start to the lap, was taking a bit of effort to maintain 15mph on the flat, out of town & long drag out to countryside. First feed station 5 miles in & a shambles really, nobody calling what they holding, no bars held out. Only option was to stop & unclip & pick my own stuff out of the box as it was quicker than getting them to do it, not the volunteers fault I suppose but whoever 'trained' them needs a stern word, needed to stop at 5 out of 6 feed stations to get what I wanted picked up.
Well the lap was one of two halfs (ish) First 2/3rds was very undulating & nowhere to build a rhythm & grind out some decent pace, ave speed was 15.1mph after 35ish miles but up to 16.2 by end of lap one following some well sufaced flat stuff. Varying traffic management in place, some closed road (but still had a few cars ignore it) some traffic managed & some completely open. at times a bit too much traffic really & whizzing outside stationary traffic on the mile up to the turn point at 25mph probably not the safest thing I have done. Felt ok after Lap one apart from fairly sore lower back (usual trouble for me) Into lap 2 & was trundling round ok, was sticking to nutrition plan well, got to feed station 5, no energy drink left (fellow competitor had likened it to toilet cleaner !) but no real problem as 2 lovely gels were on the menu for the next hour to get me to feed station 6, so picked up my water, went round the dead turn 20 yds ahead to carry on with the lap. 3 mins later went for my gel & get water bottle & bugger ! water bottle had gone from the cage. I had about 100ml of toliet cleaner & two gels that I couldn't use without water to get me round the next 20-25 miles. On I went but 40mins or so later began to struggle a little for the first time that day & slowly felt more & more empty. I finished the last of my fluid about 1/2 hour before the feed station so it was a very welcome sight when I arrived. The stopping here was very much deliberate & my choice, I was properly hungry so ate two bits of banana, an energy bar (the only USN product I tried that day that tasted ok) & a good 300ml of water & took on two full bottles. Saw a chap pull in at this point looking a bit too fit to be this far back on the bike & then heard him say he still on lap one due to a 3 hour mechanical !! He did finish & arguably the performance of the day from Nigel.
So after a few minutes to let my 2 course lunch go down off I went to get this bike done, felt much better for the last 20 miles, saw my mate above me on the prom just before T2 & he looked in decent shape. So 7h25m06s for the bike, not good, but about what I deserved with such a pitiful amount of training done & carrying at least 10-12kg more than I should have been.
To the run then:
Quick bit of encouragement & kiss from other half on the way out of T2 & on to the course, saw my mate 30yds or so in front (he had been round far turn point & was on his way back in) when I got to the promenade & caught up with him for a chat, he was one lap in & seemed in good spirits we stayed together for 10 mins or so before carrying on at our respective paces, his run was a bit quicker than mine, but I was probably going for longer before walking (at least to start with) so we had a few chances as I caught him up to do a few yards together which was good. Support was good on the run course, particurlaly though town & by the old harbour, the feed station teams also really enthusiastic. I'd had a bit of left knee trouble 1/2 way round lap one which I had managed to stretch & run (shuffle) off ok but by late lap 2 the right one was giving me some real trouble & no amount of stretching would work. By lap 3 my other half & her folks were outside one of the pubs by the harbour & seemed to have primed the (by now) well oiled patrons to get behind me, so for a brief moment a hunded or so people were all chanting my name & all the pain went away, a great memory to have. However as soon as I went around the corner I realised that a walk was pretty much all I could now manage with intermittent left knee pain mixing in with now constant right knee pain.
So the last two laps were striding out a route march at the best pace I could, at the turn for home on last lap I just knew I was pretty much bang on target for a third 14.18 finish, (Challenge Copenhage 2011 - 14.18.15/ IM Austria 2013 14.18.31) so tried to break out into some kind of run, but there was no way I could trust my knee not to completely give up & if it had gone with 2 or more miles to go then it was going to be a long and painful slog in, so I stayed with the walk until the last silly little loop around the pier when I shuffled - in the finest ironman tradition - to the finish.
Nice little video showing a bit of the swim here - http://www.visit-dorset.tv/challenge-weymouth-2014...
Stats:
Swim 53.20
T1 9.02
Bike 7.25.06
T2 6.07
Run 5.43.37
Total 14.17.14
I know compared to most (all ?) on here that time is not great but I hit 43 the day after the race & I'm probably knocking on the door of 17 stone !! So i'm happy with it !
PB ? well, you can only do the course in front of you & I am under no illusion that would have been a good 30min longer should it have been a full swim but 14.17 is the time in the book so that's what it is.
And that concludes my long distance triathlon efforts, (I mean it this time !!) my heart wasn't really in the training hence the lack of it, maybe try for a sub 6 middle distance next year ?
If you are thinking of giving the big one a go but think you HAVE to build up over 2-3 years via sprint, olympic, half IM to full one, take it from me you just don't have to do that. It seems you need to enter these events 12 months in advance to get a spot nowadays & that is plenty of time to get to you fit enough to complete the distance. You may well need longer to get to a point to go sub 12h/sub 11h, but with a years prep & a very large helping of determination/stubborness you WILL get round an Iron distance event.
Great race reports, thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I have been dwelling on the idle thought that I should enter a long distant event next year. Now that I am doing the Outlaw half (my first middle distance) it doesn't seem that daunting to book the next step. I've been looking at the available IM options for next year and it seems Wales or Zurich are my main choices, I don't do warm weather well.
The cost of Zurich was a hard sell to Mrs. Drinks, though the thought of swimming in the lake is much more appealing than the swim described above.
Going to give it some thought over the weekend and probably push the button next week more than likely for Tenby. Any advice or pointers will be appreciated.
The cost of Zurich was a hard sell to Mrs. Drinks, though the thought of swimming in the lake is much more appealing than the swim described above.
Going to give it some thought over the weekend and probably push the button next week more than likely for Tenby. Any advice or pointers will be appreciated.
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