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Agree the long trip sucks - I've done it six times now I think and it doesn't get any easier. Can highly recommend Emirates though and Air NZ has improved significantly over the years (and you get a better luggage allowance if you fly via LAX).
thanks for the tip ABB, I really do need to think about doing something about flights & accom....total procrastination & denial going on here! The thought of that flight makes my heart sink into my boots though. I always think of it as being an endurance event in itself...!
Thanks for the info ABB, funnily enough we are flying with Emirates so it's nice to know independants rate them also (we were recommended them by the girl in Trailfinders!).
Agree the long flight sucks, but always wanted to go to NZ and now seemed about the right time bearing in mind flights are becoming increasingly more expensive.
Really looking forward to it, still in Switzerland after doing the oly on Saturday as a first "marker" on my tri fitness.
Might check out the self catering thing, although we have already booked into a hotel which would normally costs a lot more than what we're paying for it.
What sort of weather can we expect at that time of year? Since swimming is not my strongest discipline, I was a little concerned when I read that the swim was actually cancelled a few years ago as the waves were so big!!!
SP i am for certain doing IMNZ 2010 ... (i've never been to NZ so very motivated for this IM) i will be flying from dubai on emirates.
but i am getting ahead of myself, first things first ... i need to complete my first IM in dec.
great effort to all the pirates who did IMCH -- i enjoyed following the race and the many pirates, very motivating
March is late summer/early autumn in NZ. Should be warm to hot - 18-28C; might be breezy; could be showery or wet.
Vague enough for you?
Agree with Trogs - it's very hard to tell what the weather may be like. The last couple of summers have been hot from January to mid Feb and then we've had a few rainy spells. The lake is sometimes rough, sometimes flat as a pancake. It all depends on the wind direction (pray for a northerly for race day as that equals calm lake and tailwind home).
The race has been going 25 years and they have only had to cancel the swim once (although it's only been in Taupo for 11 of those years).
It's only sold out once (for the 20 year anniversary) so you can hold off entering for a while (entries close in January).
211 days to go....
Thought I'd better post something here as I'd been relegated to the 3rd page!
Changed the hotel yesterday, we're staying at the Copthorne now,. On the map it looks only a short distance from the main start/Transition area.
Training going ok. Did 2500 meters in O/W on Tuesday - that's about as far as I've swum in one go since IMCH 2005. Work still getting in the way - but less so than the last few years, so should be able to keep the momentum going.
From what I can tell, seems to be about 4 of us so far signed up, how you'll getting on? Time to ramp up that training!
SP i am not registered yet, but i will be doing IMNZ
i will be flying from dubai and I recommend emirates its fairly cheap compared to others
who else from the pirates is doing IMNZ?
Not a pirate, but I am still here, training awa, although I was working away this week so barely touched a bike.
I've completed my first 1/2 IM now, and it was A Day in The Lakes, which by all accounts is a 1/2IM+++!! Doing my next 1/2 in Aberfeldy next weekend. Fingers crossed for a good day out.
Still no flights or accom booked for NZ, but then again, I haven't booked accom for Abefeldy yet, so it's clearly all just a pattern of procrastination
How's everyone else getting on?
SP OH here
his out on the bike for 50/60 miles this morning and he'll have OW swim in the morning then meeting up with me and the running club for a little run.
Not sure his going to be able to get on here next week as his going to be working away from home all week.
Egoman we're flying Emeriates via Dubai I think, we now have flights, hotel for the week all paid for, but we're still staying for another couple of weeks where we have nowt booked but we're just going to drive and hope we can get accomodation en-route.
I'm going to take part in the splash and dash on Tuesday, not quite an IM but I've never swam that far so something new hey, don't have a wetsuit either.
With the exception of Egoman not sure what country you're in at present, the rest of you are also out training hard. Enjoy
TL i am in france
i havent booked my flight or hotel yet for NZ... i am holding out as long as possile, ideally, i will have some points i can use to get a free ticket.
i have my first IM in western australia dec 5th and a good nearly 4 months of training left and 12 kilo left to lose .... still a long way to go
Although BA have a free sports gear policy (that is in addition to your normal luggage allowance), that would have meant flying via LA and adding about 9 hours to the journey. Emirates have a 30Kg limit per person ,so should be adequate for all the gear. It was also a fair ways cheaper!
Egoman - where abouts in France are you? Some great training opportunities over there!
My last weeks Training:
Monday: 6 mile Hlly club run - tempo with turn backs for the slower runners!
Tuesday: 2500 Open water swim
Wednesday: 27 miles bike (avg 17 + mph)
Thursday: Club run efforts - 30 sec efforts with 30 sec rests, 30 times - this is a bloody hard session!
Friday: Rest (although did 32 mins v. easy on the turbo but this was more to verify the set up of my bike)
Saturday: 65 miles bike @ 15.5 mph. Not particularly hilly but quite undulating route
Sunday: 2300 Open water followed by 10.5 mile run with club mates
Going to be in Manchester with work all week so Training opportunitties will be fewer.
Have a good week of training!
Of course that was me that had done all that training - not the other half!!!
<bounce>
Hello fellow IMNZers
Well, I am gearing up for Aberfeldy 1/2 IM tomorrow, just hoping it won't rain too much! Aim for the day is to get round, get the nutrition right and have some fun. When I've finished this, I'll technically have an IM in the bank as this is my second half this summer...not sure it quite works like that, though.
Better get packed, I'm leaving in a couple of hours....
Have a good weekend training everyone
Hey good PUP (hee hee) sorry light relief from my mad office.
Let us know how you got on.
cheers, TL, I will do! I am busy carb loading on biscuits now. I will regret this when try to get up the hills tommorrow, ha ha
woof!
PUP - you're correct, it doesn't quite work like that! But it should give you some confidence for March!
Good luck tomorrow, let us know how you get on.
SP
(ps. For carbo loading my favourite is hops, yeast, sugar and water, mixed togther and left for a week or so).
hope you had a great race PUP(missed the forum yesterday so didnt get a chance to wish you the best before your race today)
i look forward to reading your race report (please do one!)
its 4am and I am getting ready for a 3 hour bike ride. i prefer to ride very early because there are no cars. have great training everyone.
I had the slightest thought that I should do IMNZ again next year (I think it was a good swim session what did it).
But then I remembered the solo six hour rides, the tiredness and how much I neglected Mr ABB and decided against it! I mentioned the thought to Mr ABB and he said that I would have been in Taupo by myself.
So I am definitely NOT doing IMNZ 2010, no matter how much I enjoy the actual racing, rather than the training. Will definitely be down to watch though, now I live just an hour away.
Evening all! Thanks for the good wishes for the race yesterday at Aberfeldy - I had the best day!
The swim was in Loch Tay, and it was tipping down with rain at 8am - the loch looked really dour and forbidding, all choppy and dark and I wasn't the only one who lined up to get in with a "do I have to?" look on my face! The only thing that got me in the water was the fact that I needed a wee
The swim went pretty well, I was a bit apprehensive about the cold and the chop (it was 15 degrees) as I have had a cold-water panic before so I just concentrated on swimming within my abilities and it all went quite well. I got involved in a bit of an aqua-ruck going round a bouy at one point and took an elbow to the face, but it wasn't on purpose (I don't think).
Out of the water and onto the bike with no issues, although I was annoyed for a minute that there were so many of my club mates out of the water in front of me when I know I can out-swim them - but then I reminded myself that this was an a-race for them and a bit of a p!ss-about for me, so I decided I'd just be pleased that they'd had such good swims.40.59 to get to transition
The cycle was really good - I am a slow cyclist (I only got a road bike in January so I've a lot to learn) so I wasn't expecting anything great. I also realised on the way round the course that this was only my 4th 50-mile plus cycle ever, so just getting through it is the only aim at the moment. I surprised myself - given that I'd done a 47 mile sportive 3 weeks ago in 3h 23 (very hilly) and my last 1/2 IM 6 weeks ago in 4h 06, getting round the cycle in 3h 34 was a major achievement. I was so chuffed! And I think there's more to come - it seems to me the knack with the bike is understanding how long you can maintain the effort level for, and it's a lot longer than I thought, I am learning to stay with the pain, if that doesn't sound too dodgy...
So I set off on the run in good spirits, and I was finally overtaking people rather than being overtaken, which is always good fun for a back-of-the-packer like me. I surprised all of my supporters by sprinting over the line in 6h 39, a good 30 minutes before they were expecting me, with a huge grin on my face. Coach commented "if you can sprint like that at the finish, you haven't tried hard enough", the miserable git
Maybe he's right, maybe there's much more to come...!
So that was my weekend - great fun and makes me long for the full IM to be here already. Hope you've all had good weekend's training.
I am eating like a sumo wrestler. An alcoholic one. That's normal, right??
Greetings fellow IMNZers! Relegated to page 3 - can't have that!!
Hope everyone's training is going well. I'm on a rest day today as I've had a hard B/H weekend of it.
I've been in the lake quite a bit over the summer, but now it's getting a tad cold, which is telling me it's time to return to the pool. It will feel like swimming in thick gloopy soup - even though Gosfield Lake looks like thick gloopy soup!
Thankfully we'll be able to stave off those 6-hour turbo sessions for a while yet, but the windy weather we've been experiencing lately has made the bike going very difficult - though I understand it can get a bit windy on the return leg to Taupo, so it's probably all good training!
I'm upto an average of 10 hours training a week now, which is far more than I did for IMCH in 2005, but works' been a little on the light side so I'm making use of the available time. Unfortuantely for me, situations can change rapidly and often do.
Managed my first long brick session of this campaign. I did a 3 hour ride followed by a 1 hour run. It was early afternoon when I started the run and the sun was quite warm and I withered at around 6 1/2 miles. But it was a useful exercise to determine my current fitness.
PUP - i trust you're capitalising on your confidence gained at Aberfeldy, keep the momentum going!
Ergo - hope you're not having more probs with your P3!
Train hard dudes!
SP finally got the P3 sorted ... only took a month or so, but it wasnt sized/fitted properly. Im just a bike gimpie....
I am full on into my training for western australia. dieting big time to get my weight down another 10 kilo by dec.
how is the training going for everyone else?
any good training stories?
Thanks SP - good effort on the brick session there.
Training is a tale of woe at the moment, I am working away from home a lot so don't have access to bike, turbo or a swimming pool (I don't count the 17 metre pool at the hotel! - I would get dizzy swimming in that)
I'm only managing about 4 or 5 sessions a week when I had been managing 8 or 9 over the summer. Fingers crossed this will improve soon, I resent every bloody minute I have to spend sitting on trains when I could be sitting on my turbo!
Got in a 2h 40 ride on Saturday and a 1h 30 run yesterday, so at least I got two quality sessions in this week. Also had a really good session in the pool on Friday with the club, I am being made to swim in the fast lane with the boys these days and I have to work really hard not to get dropped all the time <flails girlishly>
The beer training is going REALLY well
nothing like a lonely hotel room for driving you to drink.
beer training = carb loading
Sorry to hear you're not having the best circumstances for training. I feel your pain there as I went through something similar a few year's ago when i'd entered IM France and The Big Woody (I think this now discontinued but it was an IM-ish distance as-hard-as-nails event) and I was sent to Edinburgh for year and a bit. Commuting every week leaving my bike behind and only a 15 meter pool to swim in. The 12 hour days meant there wasn't much room for training anyway apart from at 6am in the morning and the odd gym session.
You did a good one at Aberfeldy so take from that and keep yourself ticking over. It sounds like you're not a bad swimmer, from experience i'd say that is a big advantage as I remember how tired I was getting out of the water at IMCH in 2005. At that point I wasn't even contemplating 112 miles on the bike let alone the marathon!
Ego - glad to hear the P3's on the road at alst - doesn't make that much difference? I guess you only have 3 months to your first big test. Thankfully, the rest of us have about 5 1/2 months (or 171 days according to the IMNZ website).
No good stories to tell, but I did have a really $hite ride on Saturday, in this wind that seems to have been blowing all summer I could only manage 50 miles in just under 4 hours. Victor Meldrew had nothing on me by the time I met my mates at the tea stop! I did have a better swim on Sunday (3.5k) and a 10 mile run afterwards.
I'm going to try the lake one more time tonight. It wasn't too bad on Sunday so it might be ok for a swim tonight. Brrrrr.
I'm part of a relay team for the New Forest middle distance event on Sunday. I'm doing the bike leg. Our club's fastest female runner is doing the running leg, one of our fastest men is doing the swim. I think I drew the short straw as it's a bugger of course!