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Ironman UK 2007

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  • pacmanpacman Posts: 109
    It's true about the Guinness Tricky 0% fat with plenty of protein and carbs - its actually a great recovery drink! Thats my excuse anyway. Hope you enjoy your few days here. What a pain for you Tim but I'd say you've got plenty in the bag and letting this heal as much as possible is more important than pushing a few late sessions. I've noticed that I just can't be bothered to train anymore. I don't think its that I'm overly tired I'm just a bit pissed off when it comes to getting the gear on and going out. Any body else?
  • RobRob Posts: 209
    I dug an old pair of slippers out last night, now wearing them round the house all the time. Steel toes caps goe straight on when I get to work too. Ain't nothing gonna get to my toes!

    Tricky, good question about the run. Bit woolly on where that goes. I know the dual carriageway section is fairly undulating, & don't forget the footbridge you have to go over twice before this section, once out & once back.

    Pacman, I know exactly what you mean about training. I just want the race to be here. Got my last 'long' bike/run over the weekend, 4.5hr bike & 30min run Sat & 90min run Sunday. Hopefully the sun will be shining & I can just enjoy the ride.
  • Tim DTim D Posts: 64
    Gonna be resting up for the next few days. Almost probably definitely (never say never) knocking the sprint on the head on Sunday, shame as I was heading for second overall in the Hayle series. But I've got to think of the biger and more important picture - I have spent too much time and money on this IM to put it in jeapardy. The cut has healed quite well over yesterday (despite being on my feet all day at the coffee shop an then going to watch a band last night), and I am walking much more normally now. Still need to be very careful with it - paranoid about opening it again. A little frustrating really. I know we are now into our tapers, but I didn't envisage my taper to be doing absolutely no training. Hopefully I will be doing some light stuff by next week. Just to keep me ticking over as well as sane.



    Rest well everyone. Journeys nearly over.
  • dmbrankdmbrank Posts: 2
    Thanks for the info regarding the wetsuits.



    I chose IM UK because I've always wanted to visit England, it will be my 44th bday on Aug 20th, so I figure this whole IM thing is a win win situation.



    (But I'm looking forward to ease up on the training.)



    Hope everyone's training is going good.
  • I feel for you Tim....doing absolutely nothing! You must be pulling your hair out...It takes some getting used to cutting down on the training after living with it for so long, let alone having to stop completely, but you are doing the right thing! And who were the band? Anyone we may know? ;-)



    Laughed till my sides hurt at pacman comment about 'I've noticed that I just can't be bothered to train anymore'..... i feel exactly the same!!! Perhaps thats a positive thing - we just want the day to come now, and get on with it???????



    Hope you enjoy your uk visit dmbrank...



    4k swim later today, tomorrow (going to be a hot one, apparently...) small brick - 1.1/2 hr ride and 1 hr run, then sunday easy 3 hrs on the bike, but what am i going to do with all my spare weekend time?? oh yes, still have a family i think.....

    enjoy the weekend all...

  • Tim DTim D Posts: 64
    Hi Madmoi



    The artist was Joe Bonamassa. Not the usaul type of music I listen to but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it - he is an absolute genius with the guitar.



    Yea, pretty much pulling my hair out. After living, breathing and sleeping training over the last months it has been like going through cold turkey. Is this what heroine addicts feel like? On the bright side the foot is mending well, and if I take things carefully will be fine for the race. It has closed very well and although I can still feel it when I stpe I am now walking completely normally as opposed to hobbling. Hoping to begin light training in few days. I am not really worried about losing any run or cycle fitness, but have heard that swimming fitness can be lost quickly.



    Anyway happy taper all.
  • DrClausDrClaus Posts: 9
    pacman wrote:


    I've noticed that I just can't be bothered to train anymore. I don't think its that I'm overly tired I'm just a bit pissed off when it comes to getting the gear on and going out. Any body else?



    Right there with you on ths one!!!

    Swimming and running I have no problems with. Happily run for a couple of hours with my iPod quite enjoying myself. Glad I'm now tapering and therefore not doing much, but really don't mind going out for these.

    However the bike - god help me it's soooo boring. I've begun to hate cycling and everything it stands for. Did my final long bike on Sunday 75miles (was going to do this a week earlier but the thunderstorms put paid to that) and was I happy when I finished!

    But the idea of the long bike was depressing me all week. The worst part was when on the ride I had been going along for what seemed ages, had a quick look at my computer to see what I had covered (expecting approx 2 hours 50km) and.....nearly threw the lying little git into the bushes. 1 hour 5mins - with 27km done. What the ####!

    Never again will I do anything that requires cycling.
  • How's the foot, Tim? Hope you are managing to do a bit on it now.



    I actually enjoyed my ride on Sunday DrClaus - seemed a bit strange though, had to contend with a bright orange glow in the sky, and not my normal training partner - p*&%ng rain! Plus the fact that it was 'only' 3 hours...what bliss!



    Anyone finding this taper hard? The free time is great, but i woke up this morning absolutely convinced i had never done a days training in my life, and that no way could I do a sprint distance, let alone an Ironman!!!



    Are mystic things happening inside my body, preparing me for the big day?



    Someone tell me they are - im feeling a bit desperate here!! Dont want to know if you are feeling fantastic, and could probably take on an Ultra-man though....







  • Hi fellow Iron nutters!



    This year will be my first Ironman and frankly I'm s&*%$ing myself about the amount if training that I have done.



    Basically I have got a lot of long swim bike run bricks in over the last few months. The bulk have been a 3k swim, 4 - 5 hour bike and then top wack of an hour run (normally 30mins). I've done all of these on Saturday mornings starting at 6am to get used to getting up early.



    I did a 3 hour run 2 weeks ago, which went well, and a 3k swim/6 hr bike brick the week before that (5 weeks from the big day).



    Since then it's been a bit hit and miss. I tried another long brick the weekend before last on which I struggled. Swim was ok but I was washed out on the bike which I put down to over training from my 3hour run 3 days previous. I packed it in after 1:30hr to rest.



    This weekend I did a great distance swim and was aiming for a last 4 hour bike on the Sunday which turned out to be 2 hrs due to a sore ITB (being sensible!).



    I'm now resting the leg. Through all my training my weekly hours have only really been about 12-13 hours on average due to work and home commitments but I have focused on these long bricks.



    Having read stories of 16-20hr weeks I'm panicking. Do you guys recon I have done enough or am I going to suffer?



    Cheers for any advice!
  • I wouldnt worry- you've pretty done the same-if not more than me!!! Im pretty worried about it as well!

    Out of interest what are you guys going to do if you snap your chain during the cycle?? I just went out for an hours easy cycle, and my chain snapped!?? Never happened before and i didnt have a clue what to do....Had to push the bike like 6 miles back home! AHhhh! Can you prepare for that? How do you deal with it during the race??

    Hope everyone is excited.....!

    Johnny

  • El DubyaEl Dubya Posts: 11
    I am not doing Ironman this year and probably won't be doing it next year either (especially after my poor run showing at london this weekend) but i am very intrigued by the guys that are and confess to reading most of this thread. I would urge anyone doing a long event that they have invested so much time and effort and emotion in like you lot to definitely carry tools to fix a broken chain on the bike. my chain snapped at Blenheim in a sprint race earlier this year and i was gutted. walking my bike back to transition was awful. I had never had a chain snap on me before so never really considered it when packing my bike tool kit. when i took my bike to the shop to get the new chain the chap fitted it with a link that fits all chains. you need no tools to fit it either. i can't remember exactly what he called it but I said to myself there and then that i would never race a long distance without means of removing broken chain links and replacing them.
  • I think that the bit that you're after is an SRAM gold link. You need two halves.



    Basically each half interlocks to create a complete link. They are great!



    You slide one half through the pin whole in one end of the chain, the other half through the pin hole in the other end and link 'em together.



    It's true that you don't need any tools to link the two halves but if you have snapped your chain then you are likely to have bits of broken link still attached. You'll need a chain splitter to pop the broken bits out and leave you with clean pin holes.



    Here's a link to them on wiggle:



    http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5300003847&N=SRAM%20Spare%20Connecting%20Pin



  • pacmanpacman Posts: 109
    Oh yes the gitters are definitely starting... it's all starting to feel a bit out there! broken chains, not enough training done, sore muscles, niggly injuries, thoughts of packing two tubes with three co2 canisters, no three tubes and a tire with a hand pump, no three tubes a tire and a spare chain...anyone would think we had a big event coming up!



    I think its expected to start crapping it over the numbers ie miles and hours but I'm not going out to pound some miles over the next ten days. Some relaxed swimming and two hour cyles is about the heigth of it. As for the bike I'm doing a lap of the course on the Friday, after carting the bike over, and then I'm going to put it into the Sram pre race check up. I'll ask them to check for wear on the chain then. On the day I think they operate a running repair assist aswell although I'm not sure what level of assistance they can offer.



    I've just read in the handbook that we're not allowed any mp3 players so I need to come up with my theme music to hum to myself for the 7 hour bike. If it's raining it might be that really annoying umbrella ella ella...?



    Patrick
  • Tim DTim D Posts: 64
    Hi all. Hope the tapers are gpoing well. The good news for me is that my cut foot is healing well. I followed medical advice and did no training for 5 days including missing the local sprint tri. Very frustrating watching I can tell you. Had to keep telling myself that it was all for the greater good. Anyway managed to do a turbo session Monday (nothing too heavy), as well as a swim yesterday followed by a light run last night. The run was the one I was worried about but the cut fared pretty well. The not so good news is that I woke with a niggly knee this morning. I am prone to getting tendinitusa and things like runners knee (yes there is such a thing) when I train heavily. However I've been resting for the last week! Can't believe it! All I can put it down to is favouring my right foot on the run last night. The constant heavier striking on that foot may have agrivated my knee. Irony is that my foot would have been fine without doing that. These things usually pass after day or so (fingers crossed).



    I'm not going to be doing anything long and heavy at all now until the day. Sea swim tonight with the local tri club and a gentle ride tomorrow I think. I will probably do 2 hour ride at the week end, nothing more.



    As far as snapped chains are concerned I will be carrying those extra snap on links for definite. You don't need a tool if the whole link comes off your chain, but if the link snaps in the middle you will need something to get each end off (hope that makes sense). My bike went in for a check-up and service yesterday so I am hoping it will be running well on the day.



    Relax, eat and rest well everyone.
  • So have you guys been putting in heaps more or do you think I've done enough?



    Oh yeah, and who's camping?
  • Im coming down on Friday evening, cant get off work any earlier! Camping in 'the field next to the lake', apparently!? Still not sure if im doing the right thing - but suppose everyone on the site will be potential Ironmen so will want to get their beauty sleep and not party till the early hours!!!



    We'll all know if we've done enough on the day i suppose! Same as Ironingboard, with work/family committments i've been averaging 13/14hr weeks, with a few 15.1/2 hr weeks recently with the longer bikes, but is this enough??? Time will tell - now typing this im feeling really nervous.....



  • DrClausDrClaus Posts: 9
    Hi Guys,

    The race numbers are out...



    When you pass a sorry looking guy on the bike section wearing number 401, tell him how fast he's travelling, how much hard work it was catching him up, and then just scream "STRONG" with a clenched fist.



    It will make my day!
  • pacmanpacman Posts: 109
    Bib no 469, which I take as a good omen. When I did the half at Milton Keynes last year I was no 69 and each time I passed the start / finish line a group of girls roared 'come on 69er' which certainly boosted the energy levels.
  • Number 1187....i was nervous (see above!)...now cra*&$ng myself! I'll keep an eye out for you DrClaus, but I'm pretty sure it will be the back of you as you go past me!!
  • ardkeenardkeen Posts: 152
    Good luck to all you guys. Hope to do my first IM next year
  • pacrfishpacrfish Posts: 266
    Hi there Rob, Tim D et al



    Here's wishing all of you well for the race.

    It's a major achievement just to get through the training and to the start line.

    Enjoy the taper - and the race .....











  • Haha!! I definatly will DrClaus, the only thing is you will be overtaking me- so can you do the same!! Im number 97!!!

    Wow, 9 days left....

    Im a bit confused about how we replesish our supplies on the bike with our own gels? DO we have to take all of them with us, or do we put them somewhere that we pick up as we amble past? Or do we just use the ones that they give us?

    Apparently pro plus is a real winner on the run, so may take some of those as well!

    Hope you all feel well, and are getting pretty excited....

    jOHNNY

  • Tim DTim D Posts: 64
    I am no. 276. Did have a little panic as couldn't find my name. Finally found near the top of the age group.



    9 days! Crikey!



    As far as gels are concerned I think we just take the ones they are handing out at the food stations.
  • RobRob Posts: 209
    Hi guys, been working away for a few days so haven't had access to the website, wow, things are starting to move quickly now!

    Hi Ironingboard, welcome. Quote 'Having read stories of 16-20hr weeks I'm panicking. Do you guys recon I have done enough or am I going to suffer?' Answer: yep. [;)] But don't worry, we all will be!

    I replaced my chain & sprockets a few weeks ago (haven't snapped yet) but I've got a multitool I'm going to take with me & a spare link just in case. And three tubes, a spare wheel, brake & gear cables, brake lever in case I crash & break one, rear derailleur & drop outs.... do you think that's overkill?

    I've got a niggling ankle. It's OK when I run but plays up after. Desperately trying to avoid people with colds.

    I've been practicing with Powerbars. I'd forgotten how chewy they are. Man, they give your jaw a good workout! I'm sure you use more calories chewing it to bits than is in it. Reminds me of a Texan bar. Remember them? Now they were a chewy piece of confectionery.

    I'm camping, staying Sat & sun night. But will be at registration Thurs afternoon & back for the lake swim Fri morning.

    Race no. is 1047 (must mean I'm old). I'll keep an eye out for all your nos. & say hi when you pass me.

    pacrfish, good to hear from you! How's things? How was Wimbleball second time around? Bet it wasn't any easier!

    Johnny, aid stations have gels. I believe volunteers will hold them out for us to grab as we 'speed' past.
  • ianmianm Posts: 4
    Good luck everyone. I did it last year and whilst it is very tough particularly the run I am back for more this year ( and i'm making the kids do the duathlon). Organisation last year was spot on. Swim was quite pleasant (no tide or chop) and it doesn't taste as bad as it looks (dark green, something to do with the swans) . Save something for lap three of the bike as the hills in the last 20 miles are a bit depressing. Run is fine until you get to the dual carriageway (two laps) undulating and mentally challenging, be prepared to feel really bad. Support around the course was good but portaloos were clogged by lap three of bike so take your own bog roll and find a bush if need to.



    Campsite is ok, tense quiet atmosphere before event livens up pleasantly after. Smile for the cameras and try and enjoy it as its a great event to be part of especially when you cross the line to become an ironman.



    See you all there.



  • Hi all



    Back from Ireland at 2 a.m. this morning where I took tapering to an extreme running 6 miles three times in 6 days (and yes, pacman, the Guinness was good)!



    I'm glad to hear that Tim D's injury is healing well. Reading of the training levels that everyone is putting in I'm realising why I'm slower than everyone else - but its far too late to worry now; I'll just have to hope that the back-to-back half IM events at MK and Belvoir will give me enough background to get round on the day.



    I'm camping from the Thursday and was interested to see the comment from ianm about the tension around the site before the race. I'll try to get around the bike course on the Thursday afternoon, I think. Can anybody advise what bike servicing facilities will be available on site in the run up to the event?



    I'm number 1182 and will look out for you other guys. What sort of times are you targetting - my real aim is to break 16 hours (1hr 30min swim, 7hr 30min bike, 7hr run) although as I said before I'll be thrilled just to finish
  • RobRob Posts: 209
    adrkeen, thanks mate.

    ianm, how far into the run is the dual carriageway section & how long is it (miles)?

    tricky, I'll be level with you on the swim & bike. Looking to do the run in under five. I think there's a bike servicing facility there organised by SRAM. I'd suggest you get there early for that as it's pretty popular. I'm getting twitchy now reading all these posts.
  • pacrfishpacrfish Posts: 266
    Hi Rob

    Wimbleball definitely no easier 2nd time around, but I did take 14 mins off last year and have qualified for Clearwater - really scary!



    But not as scary as what you are all doing! Looking forward to hearing all about it afterwards - and I'll be thinking of you all on the day. You guys are seriously impressive!
  • RobRob Posts: 209
    Hey Pat, well done. Qualified too!

    I was thinking. I was wondering at what point Bryan Rhodes (who's my tip for the win) will be overtaking me. I'm hoping to have completed my first lap on the swim before he's completed two. Which means he'll be overtaking me on the bike. Now he'll have at least a 50min head start on me & be lapping in just over 90mins. So that means (this is a bit like a train moving at 50mph leaves Edinburgh at 0800 & another train leaving London.......) I'll be at the end of my first cycle lap in around 3 3/4hrs. In the same time he will be at the end of his second lap. Gulp. That's my prediction. It's a busy day at work.

    By the way, also booked an appointment at the tattooist's for my IM tattoo the following Weds. Not sure which I'm looking forward to least, the IM itself or the tattoo afterwards.
  • Tim DTim D Posts: 64
    Well done Pat. Qualified for Florida - thats amazing. Watch out for all those traffic cones on the bike course. Apparently there are loads of them. A friend of mine had a nasty accident on one of them - involved surgery and pinning!! Not to put you off or anything. Sure you will be fine. Very fast course - no way near as hard as Wimbleball.



    Rob - snap. Booked mine today. For the Wednesday after as well. The tatoo will be easy after what we will have just been through. Don't worry. Where are you getting yours put on? Will it be very visible? If I make it to the finish, which I am determined to do so even if it nearly kills me, then I will be wearing mine with pride.



    Also getting very twitchy now. Just want to do the race. I keep thinking that there is so many things that could go wrong over the next week and a bit. We've all come so far it would be heart breaking not to complete now.
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