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Paris Marathon 2008
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I agree, inspiring stuff DV, you did particularly well in the heat. If only i could swim reasonably well.
C'mon ATM, when are you going to sign up for an Ironman?
BarryM - Congratulations - Girls are great. Well apart from when they get to be 18 and their boyfriends go running with you and have to stop 4 times to "stretch" then burn you off at the end of the run...............................................
. Not that that would be a problem for me of course 
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5k for me tonight, hopefully not too windy.
Barry M - congrats! Really pleased for you that things are all ticketyboo (sp?) after the latest scan. (BTW, is it weird that I have girls' names lined up to use, even if I don't have any foreseeable plans to have children?)
ATM - well done on dipping your toe. Can't wait to hear the rest of the sprint/oly/IM progression story.
I'll be right behind you, Rubble...
Apologies Barry.. I missed your exciting news. Excellent..
Better get your training in now.. you won't have time for any later...!!
DV - just read your IM report - wow!! Incredible stuff. Had quite a lump in my throat by the end... the pirates sound like a lovely bunch of people.
I feel like running out and buying a bike on credit tomorrow now, I am so itching to do a tri! And have to admit, in a sick sort of way I quite like the idea of jumping straight into an IM (have been all over the Switzerland website already - oh dear!) like you did! I take it you have no regrets?!
This sounds quite familiar. I'm currently glad that there is still a couple of weeks until entries to IM Zurich open so I can (hopefully) arrive at a sensible decision.
DV - what sort of sporting background did you go into the IM with?
Barry I'm no way some super-fit hero athlete. I'm just an averagely fit guy. It is not all about fitness though. It is a mentally tough challenge, as well as physically. You can be perfectly prepared physically and then something goes wrong on the day and its all over. It is a long way.. all three disciplines demand an intense mental strength to pull you through the tough times. There will be many tough times. It is not an event to be under-estimated, but it is do-able. Hence, the pirate support team was so vital to everyone and so well appreciated. I am sure that I will go to other events just to support the pirates. The teamwork is genuine and sincere. My background was running. I had to learn the bike and swim.
Tutu Much Regrets..? No way. I will do it again next year. A year is more than enough time to train, if you are already reasonably fit. The swim is what seems to be most peoples weak point. It was certainly mine. Swimming in open water is totally different to swimming in a pool. However, the effort required to get, say, 15 mins faster in the pool is disproportionate to the benefit gained by that 15 mins. The biggest time gain potential is for the bike. 112 miles is a long way and making up 15 mins against a slower rider is not so hard to do. The concept of doing all that and then running a marathon is a hard one. Just think of other marathons you have run and then imagine getting to that start line after having been swimming and biking for the previous 10 hours...!
The interesting thing for me during the training (what little I managed to do!) is that it made the whole process so much more enjoyable because of the variety. Running day after day gets boring and its not until you vary it with swim and bike did I realise that. The multi-training is so much better. Also.. the other interesting factor is the concept of distance. In the build up to a marathon you will consider a 15 mile run to be a milestone, whereas with IM it is nothing and you will do this with ease after having done a 50 mile ride.
Time-wise you really need to be looking at about 12-15 hours per week training. IM training is done in hours, not distance. So.. your training plan might be for a 2 hour ride, followed by a 1 hour run.
It is a whole different subject. Think carefully before you get sucked in by the enthusiam.. but, if you do go for it you will surely be welcomed with open arms and more advice than you need. Don't buy anything without asking people first. There are very talented and experienced pirates. Whatever problem you have, someone else will have had worse. Retain at all times a sense of humour and that this really is an insane thing to do..!
I got round because I am reasonably fit, did some good quality training (if not great in quantity) and it all worked out for me on the day. If I want to do the next one significantly faster I will have to devote far more time to the training to build the speed endurance. I'm not sure that I have time to do that.... I really enjoyed Nice and just finishing was an achievement in itself. So.. for the next one it may well be a case of following the same training plan and taking it steady again.
As I said.. don't under-estimate it. It is a long way...! Well.. three long ways...!! But.. if you put the hours in, have a bit of luck and thrive on pirate support you will get round too..!
Go for it.. life is too short.
An ex-work colleague of mine died last week... work related stress induced a stroke. She was aged just 33 and had done nothing with her life except work, work work. It killed her. What exactly did she gain from that...?
An IM is a massive personal achievement. It is do-able and not to be scared of......
DV - thank you so much, inspirational and wise words. I am so sorry to hear about your ex-colleague though, how very sad. I cannot understand people who just work work work as you say, it seems so pointless...
Quite scared of the cycling as I've basically never done any in my life (well, I had a bike as a kid, and 5 years ago did 65km downhill on Bolivia's 'death road' - but that hardly counts!) so I do feel I should buy a bike before committing. Similar with swimming, can only do breast stroke and most I've ever done non-stop was about 1km I think, and that near killed me!
Barry K - saw you over at the IMCH thread, glad it's not just me! Thanks for bringing up the subject of money... it's going to be my biggest issue too. Could put a hold on this crazy dream.. but would at least give more time to think about it.
Good Morning.. yes, lots to consider... and you can't escape the money aspect, but it doesn't have to be expensive. Remember also that you will use the bike and wet suit more than once and may want to have a go at other tri events as well. Entry fees, hotels, travels etc do all add up though..
Fo the swim, you do need to learn to do the distance front crawl. You will want to save your legs for the rest of the day and you basically learn to pull yourself through the water. If you can already do 1k you are well ahead of where I started. I had never in my life swam 25m of a pool until last November!
It is do-able.. but it is a huge challenge, so don't under-estimate the task ahead.
Fantastic & inspiring stuff DV - (BR thinks about going out and buying a tri suit tomorrow). The work stuff is true, It's fairly grim here at the moment trying to hold things together, falling into 11 hour days. But the running is a great stress buster.
Pretty awful 5k last night, nearly a PW, good first half then an atrocious 2nd half. Not much sleep the night before may have been the problem. On the positive side it felt like a good hard training run
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Cheers for that DV. Lots to think about.
BR - have you worked out what kit you're going to get yet?
No Barry, but it will be very bright and very expensive
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Seriously I think the triathlon ambitions are on hold until I get my sub 3:15 marathon.
I don't really want to do a tri until after I've got a sub-3.45 marathon in the bag either but I'm soooo positive I can do that next spring I might just enter a tri for later in 2009 anyway!
Have a feeling that buying a tri suit will be the most fun thing of the whole process, heh heh...
Good for you, Tutu! Now, what distance Tri are you going for? You could run your sub-3.45 in Paris with DV and then go to ....
* His account is so inspiring I've had to remind myself a million times that I'm no nearer the deep end of the local pool than I was 2 weeks ago.. lol* Yeah, buy a suit! Then you have to get the wear out of it...
Rubble, there must be a word that describes the bizarre desire to wear yellow lycra. * Doctor, is it serious? *
How's the swimming going, Barry K?
Well done, you
J3ff, what happened to your LAMM report?
Barry K - you have mail!
Can't believe we are both moving house at the same time as well as toying with incredibly stupid ideas.............
ATM - the simple answer is I'm contemplating following in DV's ridiculous footsteps and jumping in at the very very deep-end of an IM! (-so is Barry...!) But who knows, I may come to my senses and do a shorter one in training - I guess it sort of / completely makes sense! I remember wanting to run a marathon as my first race before my training partner suggested we should do a 10k and half marathon first, and realised how much fun racing was! So could be the same with tris I suppose...?!
It's becoming scarily more real every day at the moment...............
So.. Tutu... you up for it in Zurich then..?
It'll be a giggle....!
C'mon, you lot...
What about a slide over to the 2009 thread? Just so's anyone new can find us? mmm I know, I know...it's really, really cosy here.... BUT
What if there's there's another middleaged/Welsh/no-hoper/newbie/Elvis-fan etc out there who needs us?
I'm suggesting the ' Giant Leap Forward't to Paris Marathon 2009
Non, cheri, we don't have to be able to speak French....as long as we can talk rubbish. Come and post on the thread DV started * So we can make a list...
*
There's loads of good info 'on this thread but who's ever going to scroll back to find it? And it might seem too much like a 'club' for anyone new...maybe? DV's just pointed out that the FLM ballot results will be out before Registration for Paris opens so there might be loads more of us making the 2009 trip. Great!
Agree, 2009 thread is a good idea. Though I probably won't post there unless I am going to do it - which currently I am not planning to, sorry
DV - yes, Zurich is the plan!! Will keep you posted... can't believe entry is opening so soon,it's becoming far too real.... hopefully going bike shopping at the weekend through my work's 'bike to work' scheme, and having my first swimming lesson on Monday..