Wasted - not difficult to reach Roth, it's just south of Nuernberg in Bavaria. But watch the entries, they fill up pretty quickly and the longer you leave it the higher the entry fees. Go to www.challenge-roth.com and click on the Union flag for the English translation. If you have family and/or friends who would accompany you, there's also a relay race over the IM course, and an Olympic race the day before for those triathletes not ready for the IM. A weekend festival of triathlon.
Hmm. I've heard it said that you can do two ironman races (see how I got out of using the plural there?) if they are close enough together. Does three weeks count?
BB
By the way, whilst waiting to start HIMUK, I remembered how much I hate waiting for the swim. Ultra early mornings! Cold, cold water! I guess it is like going into labour. Your body forgets the pain, so your mind can go "Hmm, I fancy another tri".
According to Friel and Byrn, in "Going Long", 2 weeks is when you hit the post-race peak, but 3 weeks is when you get lamped by a second wave of fatigue. I guess TLD and Roth are mutually exclusive races. Damn. Roth in 2005 it is then.
Just registered for Roth 2004. Looking forward to it. I'd better brush up on my German. I've been recommended to fly Air Berlin from London Standsted to Nuremberg. Any thoughts Ironwolf.
Great news, Wasted! Sure you'll enjoy it. Air Berlin into Nuernberg (note spelling!) sounds good to me, although not sure how you plan to get yourself and your gear to Roth from there. It isn't far, but you'll have your bike, wetsuit, etc. with you - probably can get a train but I'll check that for you, plus other options. Any idea where you'll stay? There's plenty of hotels, guesthouses, pensions, and B&Bs all round the area, plus a camp site right near to the swim start. There's a shuttle bus between start and finish areas. Plenty of time to figure all that out - but did you think of driving? With a couple of extra days holiday, I'd prefer to load all my gear into a van and drive myself...depends of course where in GB you live. Coming from Calais or one of the other French ports, Autobahn all the way, would take a day or less depending whether you stopped off somewhere overnight.
TLD is a brilliant race for first-timers, Matt. Get thee to Fred Williams Cycle shop. They are sponsors of TLD, and gave me 15% off my pair of Oakleys, when I told them I needed them for the race. (Granted it's in Wolverhampton, but it is well worth the trip!)
No. I prefer on-line registration. (Too many snail-mail race entries have gone awol in the past). I'm waiting for ActiveEurope.com to sort out the online registration. At the moment the cut-off date is 13th July 2003! Not a great help. I've emailed them, and I'm waiting for them to get back to me, so I can enter. Thanks for the nag though.
Ironwolf, I'll be travelling from Scotland so don't fancy the idea of driving over, as it would take me the best part of a day to drive to Calais alone.
I was thinking about hiring a car in Nuernberg with a roof-rack as my bike will be in a bike box.
I plan on bringing my wife and 6 year old son also, so we'll be making a bit of a holiday out of it. Planning on spending roughly a week in the area. Been learning German too for the last few months in preparation of a trip to Germany.
After looking at the entry fees for the 'official' races there is no way I would do one of them, what a rip off. It would have to be Roth or Longest day.
Couldn't agree with you more. £210 is the standard IM dot price. So much of it goes to the WTC. Roth works out at approx. £135. Still a lot of money for a race but the atmosphere there is supposed to be phenomenal. Also, it appears dead easy (and really cheap) to fly their from London stansted.
To those who are wavering (Pantman!), I did my ironman 2 years and 2 months after I started running, from a completely sedentary lifestyle. All you need is to want to do it. If you have the will, the body will follow, all the way to the finish line. And the view is incredible from over there.
Too right BB. Almost anyone can get fit enought to do ironman or any other long event. But whether they have it up top is a different matter. The mental side is as important as the physical side, if not more. So next time you are having a really bad race or session and want to stop, keep going and convert the session into a long distance mindset session. It won't matter on the physical result. But you get an excellent mental workout.
I'd agree with Andrew 100%, the IM is very much a mental battle as well as a physical one, and the longer you are on the course the harder it gets to ignore that small voice knawing away at your willpower.
Wasted - I think that's the best idea to hire a vehicle, then not only will you have transport but your family can move around the course on race day and see you at different places on the bike and run.
I am doing my first IM on the 4th of July (good date for this American expat) in Austria and am scared to death but really excited as well. No doubts I can do it. When you have two kids watching at the finish line you want to make sure you show up.
Comments
And I agree about IM Frankfurt - it sucks.
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
If you have family and/or friends who would accompany you, there's also a relay race over the IM course, and an Olympic race the day before for those triathletes not ready for the IM. A weekend festival of triathlon.
Oh crap. Curse you, Ironwolf! I've just looked up Roth 2004's entry, and it is now live. It is only 3 weeks before TLD. Anyone for the double whammy?
BB - Who's in a quandary!
BB
By the way, whilst waiting to start HIMUK, I remembered how much I hate waiting for the swim. Ultra early mornings! Cold, cold water! I guess it is like going into labour. Your body forgets the pain, so your mind can go "Hmm, I fancy another tri".
BB
Looking forward to it. I'd better brush up on my German. I've been recommended to fly Air Berlin from London Standsted to Nuremberg. Any thoughts Ironwolf.
Air Berlin into Nuernberg (note spelling!) sounds good to me, although not sure how you plan to get yourself and your gear to Roth from there. It isn't far, but you'll have your bike, wetsuit, etc. with you - probably can get a train but I'll check that for you, plus other options. Any idea where you'll stay? There's plenty of hotels, guesthouses, pensions, and B&Bs all round the area, plus a camp site right near to the swim start. There's a shuttle bus between start and finish areas.
Plenty of time to figure all that out - but did you think of driving? With a couple of extra days holiday, I'd prefer to load all my gear into a van and drive myself...depends of course where in GB you live. Coming from Calais or one of the other French ports, Autobahn all the way, would take a day or less depending whether you stopped off somewhere overnight.
BB - See you at TLD 2004.
BB
(I'm assuming you mean TLD entry, Will!)
I was thinking about hiring a car in Nuernberg with a roof-rack as my bike will be in a bike box.
I plan on bringing my wife and 6 year old son also, so we'll be making a bit of a holiday out of it. Planning on spending roughly a week in the area. Been learning German too for the last few months in preparation of a trip to Germany.
Regards
BB
I'm getting excited just reading this thread...
NO!!! 2005... not before...
... you know you want too
))
BB