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Ironman Uk 2015 who's in?
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Are you doing wales John this threads for bolton.
Sorry Wales or Lanza, not Bolton as the hardest bike and you only have to do sheephouse lane twice now
Sorry struggle with links on my phone
Wales is very tough and unforgiving.
I know people who have done IMUK it's not too bad. (will still find it very tough yself though)
I did IMUK in 2010, And like any 140.6 it's hard work, But the bike course wasn't a monster, Sheephouse is a drag (especially 3 times), Did the "new" course in training last summer and it's OK, but only 2 laps and way too many twists and turns struggled to get any sort of rythmn on it.
Anyone know of any handily placed campsites? Thanks.
Depends what you mean by handily placed? As a competitor? As a spectator?
There's Wilcocks Farm which is literally just off Sheep House Lane (bike course). It's a nice friendly site. Basic, but nice. I think it has hook ups and hard standing pitches if you need them.
http://www.wilcocksfarmcaravansite.co.uk/
Not sure of any camp sites in Bolton town centre, if you were wanting to be handily placed for the run route!
Thanks for that Pudge. To answer your question, both. I'm competing, the family will be spectating. Will check out the one you've suggested.
Hey sorry chaps computer issues ha-ha. If your a seasoned Ironman then it may be less of a battle but for people doing their first long distance its a tough route. Lots of climbing. A friend has said that the Wales bike is tougher but the UK Course average finish time is over 7 hours where by most others are averaging 5 1/2 hours. An extra hour and a half in the saddle before a marathon is as is states and Ironman ha-ha. Winter hill (Sheep House Lane) and Hunters are good leg burners even fresh. Maybe its just me and i need to get fitter ha-ha. I climb like a mountain Rhino at present.
IMUK was only my second, get the training in and you will be fine. The new course is very twisty and it isn't easy to get into a rhythm.
Enjoy
Bit of advice if you can, what gear ratios did you ride for it? I'm currently on 52/39 front and 12-25 on the back. Toying with the idea of a compact or throwing a 30 on the back just in case. Open to all ideas from people with experience :0)
Just found this thread! I'm signed up for it too & will be my first IM - eek!
How is everyone's training going? I've done a few 4km swims, a few 90+ mile rides (most with brick runs on the end), but running took a nose dive the other week when my knee played up, so instead of being up to 15 or so miles the most I've done is 12mi, but have a half IM this weekend so will be interesting to see how that goes! Knee has settled again & done 9mi & 11mi run since (as well as a number of 5-6mi runs) so keeping fingers crossed!
Been trying to do lots of hills on the bike so have a pretty good idea of times for the swim & bike (barring any disasters that is!), but the run is what has me worried whether my knee will play nice, but worst case it should give me a little bit of running & then I'll hopefully have enough time left to walk if needs be!
Anyone planning a recce of the course in the near future - I'm half thinking of heading up for the bank holiday weekend shortly.
I am in Bolton and this will be my 3rd UK
Ironman
I will try and organise a ride of the course in
A few weeks if anybody else wants a slow
Ride out
Hi shas, which half are you doing? I'm doing the belvoir castle this weekend to see if my training is going ok. Crooky, i was planning on going to Bolton a week on Thursday to do a loop if your around?
Crooky - I live down in Surrey so a bit of a trek for me to get up there unfortunately, but I would like to ride the course at least once beforehand to get a feel for the climbs / gradients to decide gearing and suss any tricky turns / descents etc.
I've got the half this weekend then Oly races on 31 May & 14 June so choice of weekends for me is starting to get narrowed! But with having the extra day next weekend & having a recovery week next week so long ride will only be 60-70mi, so thinking that will tie in nicely to head up & do a lap or so.
Red - I'm doing marshman, which it seems I've gotten lucky & looks like the weather will play reasonably nice for the first time for it (now that I've said that the forecast will probably change overnight to be pouring rain!). Belvoir should be nice, good luck & let me know how you get on (I'm the same as you, using this weekend as a test to see where things are at!). Have you done an IM before or will UK be your first?
Am still in for this, but unfortunately have been on the injury train after tearing my calf 3 and a half weeks ago.
Have ran the run course a few weeks ago and can't understand why the run times are so slow each yeah? Can only presume people are going too hard on the bike.
Was supposed to go and ride the course last weekend, but unfortunately am still out from cycling, so had to cancel my trip up - very annoying as unsure if I will get the time now. Also had to pull out of my half Ironman (Outlaw Half) in 2 weeks time as I won't be running by then! Will hopefully be back on the bike properly in the next week or so, and running probably in about 3 weeks... but have missed a huge chunk of training at the critical point in the year.
Oh well... will just enjoy the day and look forward to 2016!
Golden - ah that sucks!
Having had too many injuries to count that have wrecked races & seasons, you have my complete sympathies & fingers crossed that with a bit more rest you'll be able to get back to training before too long (the one thing I have learnt is not to rush back otherwise you will probably just re-injure it again!).
Your comments about the UK run course are interesting - from what I've read / been told there is a small uphill straight out of transition (which I plan to walk & use to get my legs & head etc back together!), then mostly flat over to the start of the town loops (except for a steep section from the end of the tow path up to the town loop, which again I may well walk), and then on the town loops I believe one way is a constant small incline up (2ish%) and the other way is obviously down, so while there's no big up & down hills as such, I think by the time you have to do that 2.8mi stretch of up the third time, the legs will be feeling it!
it does suck... but am being extremely disciplined and not rushing back to anything - I want to set pbs at running distances after IM this year so the last thing I want is a much more damaging, longer term injury.
How is your training going?
From my recce - I'm pretty sure the run out of transition isn't even a hill. I was about 15km into my run when I got to it the other week so it wasn't just that I was fresh for it. There is a horribly steep bank to climb up as you come off the canal path, but it's literally a 4 metre bank that you only do once. I was unable to run the hill from the canal path to the main road as it was closed annoyingly when I was there, but then the long stretch of a 'hill' was barely noticeable either at the start of my run or at the end of my run at about 25km. There is one sharp one in the city that you do 3 times though which will probably be enough to get quite a few people walking on by the final time you do it... but I thought that was it pretty much.
Shas - Not the first but looks like it will be the toughest, I'm not the best cyclist so it will be a massive challenge for me. Good luck with the half!
Red dog what time are you thinking of setting off
i am on late shift next week so have to be home for about 11am
but I am thinking of doing a loop tomorrow morning first thing
Crooky, I won't be able to get up until the 28th May, I'll be driving up from Nottingham, it should take about 2 hrs. Is it best to go early, or mid day for a quieter traffic cycle?
Golden - sounds like a sensible plan to come back slowly; frustrating as it is you will come back stronger for it! My training is going ok thanks, gave a bit of a run down on the previous page but my knee hiccup'd a few weeks ago which has dinted the running schedule, but it seems to have settled but the half tomorrow will be a good test! Thanks for the additional info on the run - always useful to have first hand info!
Red - cycling is my strongest leg but with 2000m of climbing (having plotted it for myself & also from what I've read elsewhere, the website's claim of 1270m is a piece of poo!!) I'm finding it tough & slow going on the bike, but barring any mechanical or other issues should be well within cutoff for the swim & bike so hopefully leaves me enough time to limp / crawl home on the run
Crooky - how did your lap go? Is the road surface as bad as what I've read it is??
well i did a lap this morning
out for 6:30 so no traffic
but what i got was wind horrible wind
in every direction i went
up sheep house down sheep house
it was always blowing against me
plus i made the rookie mistake only taking 1 bottle of water
and no food/gels
i was wacked on the wayback
but sheep house done
and hunters hill done.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/776103038
shas the roads are not that bad
but saying that i have just come back from South Africa
now they really are bad
Well the beaver went ok, I am going to put lighter wheels on for Bolton. It was pretty flat and i only averaged 16.7 lol. Was windy there too.
Did you race today shas? Hope it went/goes well .
I'm doing hilly rides but not anything near 2000m more like 1300m yikes i guess
ill just have to suffer lol
Hi guys late to the forum - but wanted to ask some of the locals / previous competitors how steep these "big" hills are? I've got a compact on and struggled up a very steep hill last weekend. Not sure my 52/39 12/25 will be sufficient. thinking of subbing in 12/28 or even 12/30... Any thoughts? Generally, my cycling is actually not too bad - averaged 30kph on a HIM 3 weeks back (but VERY flat). Carrying close to 100kg of mass, climbing hills are not my friends...
Thanks!
Pet - I've personally not done the hills, but from what I understand sheep is long but ramps up in sections then eases off then ramps up again etc, with the steepest part at the top, so as long as you pace yourself its manageable. Turners a lot of people have said is worse because it doesn't have the "eased off" sections, but as I said this is just going on what I've been reading.
In terms of gearing, I would say go big because if you don't use it then fine, but if you use it then you'll be glad you had it!! If you've got a compact front then a 28 rear cassette should get you up most things - you could go 30 but you would more than likely need to change your rear mech to take it so would be an added expense.
Thanks Shas - great info, an great idea for the gears. Will definitely switch out to the 28 then. And just got to hope I can get my creaking body round the course in time...