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Good news - I couldn't remember what IMA actually was just figured it was round about that.
It looks pretty flat on the profile - I suppose it depends on the wind!
The rat race was orienteering on the Saturday for 2 and a half hours on foot and then Sunday was bike orienteering for 10 hours with 3 lots of kayak, 2 on foot orienteering, a game of pool, 2 climbing challenges and some abseiling. It was good fun.
Rat race sounds good fun. I remember watching a bunch of people on mountain bikes roaming Princes St a few years back.
I really wouldn't worry about the bike course profile - as you said, almost flat! The run is also undulating. there's a long slow climb and short sharp climb at the same hill (but different sides of it). It's known as airport hill, cos it's by the airport. You have to go up and down it twice.
On a different note, I did my 90 min turbo last night on my new bike and it was awesome! Have the speedo on the back so now I can tell how I'm going when on the trainer. I did 52km (about 30 miles) in 90 mins, averaging 35kmh. I can't believe it! It's waaaay faster than my usual speed on the road (on my old bike). On my old bike at IMNZ I averaged 22kmh, I'm getting excited already about what I can do the bike in this year (sub 7 is the goal).
And Jaggy, the wind chops and changes so you can't plan for a head wind out and tailwind back.
In my first IM (05) it was a headwind out, tailwind back, tailwind out, headwind back.
Then this summer it was slight headwind out, slight tailwind back, massive headwind out, slightly less massive tailwind back. The pros were down to 34kmh in the headwind but up to 55-60kmh in the tailwind.
Just remember, the longer you are out there the more the wind picks up.
That's incentive to improve on my average pace then or I'l be going backwards with a headwind!
Great turbo session Ally. If you're doing that now, by March you should have no probs going sub 7 - given half decent weather and no mechanicals.
Have you seen the course calculator on the IMNZ site? You can key in a time for say the bike then it tells you what average speed you need and when you should reach certain points.
I just put in a few times and if I can average 32kmh I'll do the bike in 5:30! I only have to do 27kmh to do the bike in 6hrs.
I could be on for a 12 -13 hour effort! I'm a very slow runner, other wise I could be sub 11.
Ally - have you had your new bike out on the road yet?
and surely if the bike is 180 km you need to average 30kph to do it in 6 hours?
Woo hoo Ally, go for it! Think I'll stay away from the course calculator till nearer the time. I'm sure it'd be too depressing right now!
Had a reasonable bike session again this morning. Sun has come back again and it's a bit breezy but about 2:15 done with average of 14.5mph. Was above 15 for most of the way but last 6 miles or so included some nasty little hills which slowed me down considerabley. It some ways it's probably an ideal training route - flat enough to work on improving cadence but with a sting in the tail to work me harder when I'm tiring.
Speaking of stings in the tail, cruising down home straight sat up for a drink and experienced stinging sensation behind left shoulder. Stopped on driveway, threw off helmet, quickly but carefully removed shirt to find small wasp hanging off my back
.
I hate wasps.
Ouch
Average is good to see Trogs. Your training is really starting to pay off.
How's your back HC?
Trogs and I had a fab ride yeterday - legs are regretting it today though!
Swim tomorrow will ease the achy legs Bear.
Off to walk hounds before gentle 5ish mile run, later.
Bliddy piriformis
It feels a bit better today, less pins and needles and a bit more mobility. I think the problem is squished L4&5 from a horseriding accident a few years ago in NZ ironically. When it's not happy it likes to spend the day terrorising various parts of my body.
Resting is a precaution rather than an absolute necessity. Damn this old age sensible thinking milarky! But it does make me grumpy.
Still, a nice swimble to look forward to tomorrow
with bacon butties and cups of tea for afters 
I heard you cycled good. We like it up on the Box. It took you long enough to get going yesterday though. Anyone would think it was a knitting club.
Ride on the road in this weather? You have got to be joking! We've had heaps of trees come down, power cuts across the country, floods, slips, the works. I'm going to wait until it dies down a bit before I venture outside.
Can't remember the exact calculations but you're right that 30kmh equals a 6hr 180km. I tyoed in a lot of different times to see what speed I would need to average. It's still a long way off but that means I have time to get stronger and faster.
Now how does one attach photos?
I'm no mathematician and i'm too dim to work out the speed calculator on the site, but i reckon if you could average, ooh, say 360kmh on the bike you'd have it done in around 30 minutes!
So, thats food for thought innit?
Reading this thread is making me very tempted to enter. I even found a hint of cheap flights on the net... If you dont mind me asking how much have others paid?
My slight issue is a further temptation to book a one way and not come back - spent 2k7 living and travelling round NZ and rather want to escape England for good now
.
Good to see your progress toward the race Troglodytes..... I'm doing a half in less than 3 weeks at the Little Woody, which should be fun.
Do it Mark, you know you want to
. By all accounts it's a great event with fantastic support.
My flights with ANZ via LA, premium economy out, standard economy return were about £1850 including taxes. Given current fuel increases I'm sort of expecting to get have to pay some extra fuel surcharges.
Can fully relate to temptation to book one way only. Have good friends who live in NZ and have visited a couple of times and love the country though obviously there is a difference between visiting and living there.
Originally I wasn't going to enter NZ till after doing Vitruvian in September to guage my ability to train for/complete a half but got overcome with JFDI! Suspect I'm going to suffer at Vit and will have to train a lot harder for the main event but what the heck, it'll be worth it.
Nice swimble through the weeds this morning. Liquid Leisure is massively more weedy than Heron but on the other hand, water does seem clearer and being able to see the bottom (or at least the weeds) for much of the time does seem to increase the feeling of forward momentum.
The bacon butties are a big attraction too
By the 2010 event I expect to be living on that side of the world anyway....
Will have a good look at finances etc, but generally when ideas like this come to me I end up doing them - hence jacking in my job in 2006 and travelling. I am lucky that I had a special 1 year visa for NZ and am still eligable for the 2 year working holiday one.
Nice one on the swim - my first open water swim will be at the little woody. Never swam in just a wetsuit before - always had scuba gear on which makes it more awkward....
If you have dreams then do it. That's what I did and I've not looked back. When I came back to the UK I was homesick for NZ and I've never been homesick for the UK.
It's not for everyone, there are some people who find moving to the other side of the world isn't all they hoped it would be but if you don't try it then you will never know. You can always go back if it doesn't work out.
Flights booked - we're going with Cathay Pacific on 28 Feb and staying until 17 March
Better enter the IM then....
Ally - emmigration is what I want to do, but my last year in NZ and travelling back through SE Asia left me a few debts to pay off.
Travelling out for 3 weeks to do the IM would impact that.... Decisions Decisions. At least this one doesnt sell out too fast so I can have a good think and scope out cheap flight options.
First IMNZ surreal dream last night - and I'm not aware that I'd been thinking about the event at all yesterday.
The gist was that having arrived safely in NZ, got to my friend's house and realised I hadn't brought bike with me! Unpacked to make sure bike wasn't luking in suitcase and found I hadn't brought pirate kit, or any other tri kit with me either. Then driving around looking for something, stopped at a restaurant where they were chucking scraps into a lobster pool and somehow ended up getting my leg grabbed by an alligator. Someone pulled me clear but when I asked about antiseptic wipes to clean wounds they poured beer over my leg instead!
Despite that almost managed a pb at local 5k TT this morning - just 2 secs off. Quite encouraging really cos I'm training more than last time I did it a couple of months ago so would expect to be more tired and have to work harder to acheive similar result.