ironman distance events in 2009

interested

Hey

based on the 2009 ironman calendar I noticed here http://www.trijuice.com/2008/09/2009_ironman_race_calendar.htm
without traveling to the states or elsewhere there would appear to be a choice between
Nice
Lanzarote
UK
Ireland*

*potentially from what I hear

If anyone could volunteer an opinion or preference for a race from the first three, that might be based on personal experience or hearsay Id appreciate it. Im hoping for a well run event that might suit a novice (with a guaranteed tailwind on the bike and a downhill 42 km section on the run. )

Thanks!

tunney

UK - Bad roads, bad support, bad weather

Nice - hot and hilly

Lanza - hot and hilly and windy

I'd probably go for Nice and work on hydration and salts.

*Ireland - heard the rumours as well. Wouldn't be my cup of tea.

interested

Cool. Thanks for the prompt response

hunnymonster

UK, Venue for next year still to be confirmed but with a climate similar to Ireland and local support similar to Ireland (with exception of FLM) it would probably be best to avoid this one for your first time experience. I'm slightly biased on this one because the organisers tried to sue friends of mine when they complained about inadequate safety in the first year it was run. They appear to have ironed out some of the organisational problems but it still doesn't compare to the other european races.

Nice, was very hot this year and a lot of people suffered because of this. Swim is in the sea and lovely, bike is a bit hilly and you need reasonable handing skills for some of the descents. 1 lap course so not a huge amount of support on the bike. roads not closed. Run, laps of the prom. Very little shade so depending on when you are out on the run it could be very very hot.

Lanza, earlier than the other European races so means a lot of training in the misery of winter. Swim is in the most beautiful water on the ironman circuit but course is a bit strange with a turn about 150m in, it gets very bunched at this point. Bike in Lanza is notorious: very hilly, very windy, scary hairpins. They are gradually redoing the road surfaces but it can be a rough ride in places, you don't want anything loose on your bike. When looking at pervious times, take into account that the field at Lanza ia better quality than at any other ironman. Run is again along the prom and the sea breeze is welcome. Smaller numbers for this race than DE, CH, A etc.

Ireland. Was trialed this year. Numbers are likely to be low next year and part of the IM experience is the OW start with 2000+ other people and all the razzmatazz. I would contact the organiser directly to find out more about this one. The advantage of the local style is that he is likely to be able to advise you. If this is in August next year I may give it a go (if I don't do the double ironman).


IM Germany and Ironman Switzerland both had additional places going on sale in January. Check their websites for details. I'm doing these two races in 2009.

Abhainn

Planning to compete in one in 2010. Anyone any personnal experience on?

Switzerland
Austria
Germany


BTW well done Tunney in Groomsport.

Hunnymonster if I'm not mistaken you are intending two IM races inside a week?

hunnymonster

yes, 2 in a week. The first will be my "A" race in Germany and I've entered Switzerland because I have a number of really good friends doing it and I want to go hang out with them for a few days. I'm going to take it very easy on the second race.

Germany: European championships, only race with fully closed roads, swim in a lake which has been non-wetsuit in the past depending on temperature, flatish bike with a couple of laps and some small climbs, some great gradual downhills where you can push the speed. 4 lap run course with plenty of support. In Frnakfurt so logistics pretty straightforward.

Austria: This is probably the easiest course in terms of effort. swim gets a bit congested when you swim up the canal towards the end. Good for nervous swimmers as you don't have that vast-open-space feel. Not too much climbing on the bike, flat run.

Don't know much about Switzerland yet but it's a similar profile to Germany and Austria. Great reputation from an organisational point of view.

There are other IM distance races out there (not IM branded). Quelle Challenge Roth is probably the most famous. Excellent race. Best expo out there, best support on the bike, swim is in a canal with wave start, couple of small climbs on the 2 lap bike course, flat run with small bit through a forest. very fast course. I quite fancy the Barcelona one at some stage.

tunney

hunnymonster wrote: »

IM Germany and Ironman Switzerland both had additional places going on sale in January. Check their websites for details. I'm doing these two races in 2009.

Sure if Macca can do it.

Oh no wait he didn't.

Why would you back to back IMs?

interested

thanks for the further details
re: UK - cant believe someone would attempt to sue someone for comments regarding safety but there you go. Id considered this last year and decided against going long for a year.

Nice has its appeals regarding the bike and a flat run but the heat might present some serious problems for me since Ive had problems before with salt replacement during a race. I changed up my nutrition during a mid season break and for training and I havent felt any problems recently but the long distance might be another story. Spent some time running in very high humidity in the U.S this summer and cant say I cared for it too much.

Lanzarote is another appealing venue - Ive read a few horror stories regarding the wind and cycle route but it has the potential of all the heat related problems that Nice has.

The Irish option is something of interest - since travel cost etc is reduced dramatically and theres a fair chance it wont be 30+ degrees on the day.

Anyhow - lots to think about and alot of work to do on the most obvious weakest link in this plan but thanks for taking the time to reply guys.

tunney

I see you answered the "Why?"

Two IMs back to back. Luckily you can't get injured

I will be breaking my IM cherry in Austria. Bike course isn't that flat. 1900m climbing over all. Its the second fastest IM distance race in Europe alright though I'm told (Roth being faster).

From what I heard about Switzerland from my coach and from friends that have done it is: heat and hills. Very very hot. As you say excellently organised.

IM Germany - heard lots of rumours of a course change, as in moved completely. Any update on those?

hunnymonster

re Germany. It's not moving this year. The problem was due to the noise laws in Germany. the local residents in Romersburg where the race finishes were complaining about the noise going on into the night. Ironman branded races always have fireworks at the end and have a policy that the last person across the line is treated as well as the winner. Compensation to the locals would run into hundreds of thousands so the race might be moving. Most probably location would be Wiesbaden which is still quite close to Frankfurt.

tunney

hunnymonster wrote: »

re Germany. It's not moving this year. The problem was due to the noise laws in Germany. the local residents in Romersburg where the race finishes were complaining about the noise going on into the night. Ironman branded races always have fireworks at the end and have a policy that the last person across the line is treated as well as the winner. Compensation to the locals would run into hundreds of thousands so the race might be moving. Most probably location would be Wiesbaden which is still quite close to Frankfurt.

Ah right. Pity to move it - for all the reasons you have outlined why its a good race (bar non-wetsuit swim).

Izoard

Novice question....

Successfully negotiated Half Ireman last week, so thinking about the full monty next year.
However, the mention of "non-wetsuit swim" scares the bejaysus out of me.

Under what conditions do the organisers deem a swim to be "non wetsuit"?
If so, does that mean you have to do it with out one?
Is this a significant issue or is the fact that the water is warmer, mean that it does not make much of a difference?

thanks,

hunnymonster

Izoard wrote: »

NUnder what conditions do the organisers deem a swim to be "non wetsuit"?

If the water temperature is greater than 24 C then wetsuits will not be allowed in most races.

The organisers are pretty good. For the non-wetsuit race I did, the organisers send divers down to take the temp at the bottom of the lake in the hope of finding 23.9 but it was too hot. 2 of my friends had to drop out of the race because of hypothermia. 5% body fat is not always beneficial :-) That said, even wetsuit swims can lead to hypothermia, see Roth this year for the combination of a cold swim and bad weather leading to lots of drop outs.

In terms of swimming, the non-wetsuit was not too bad. I bit more work than normal but for the better swimmers it makes damn all difference to their time.

nortal

Guys

Not sure if I am going to get some stick for this but

I have never competed in a triathlon, I prefer longer events (prefer to do a marathon rather than a 5k ) Hope to join a tri club after the Dublin marathon I was very fit a couple of years ago but work etc etc, now getting back into training. How long would you need to train for a half or full iron man, would training for the Olympic distance first be better or go straight into the iron man training I am assuming a good year and a half.

hunnymonster

nortal, there are 2 schools of thought on that one. Tunney and I fall at either extreme. Some of the points are already discussed in another thread.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055380441

can you swim?
Do you own a bike, and know how to ride it?

nortal

hunnymonster wrote: »

nortal, there are 2 schools of thought on that one. Tunney and I fall at either extreme. Some of the points are already discussed in another thread.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055380441

can you swim?
Do you own a bike, and know how to ride it?

Hunnymonster

Thanks very interesting thread I will never be competing for podium finishes at my age and lost my fitness level which can be difficult to get back, I am competitive so I prefer to challenge myself, like doing the marathon which I will continue after Dublin if I were to do sprints or Olympic distance tris I would get depressed when I am not in the mix

I can swim and use to swim up to 90 minutes once a week stopped a couple of years ago but I am sure I could work on it

PS Well done on your IM after 8 months of swimming very impressive

hunnymonster

not really, mr hunnymonster has just swum the English Channel after less than 3 years swimming. That impresses even me :-)

GoHardOrGoHome

hunnymonster wrote: »

If this is in August next year I may give it a go (if I don't do the double ironman).

Just in case anybody missed it I think Hunnymonster's thinking of doing the Enduroman Double Iron distance event.

DOUBLE Iron Distance. Doesn't even bear thinking about. Makes a mere Ironman sound easy.

HM. Can you confirm?

Link: http://www.enduroman.com/info.html

tunney

No even worse. Two IMs one week apart.

MCOS

nortal wrote: »

Hunnymonster

Thanks very interesting thread I will never be competing for podium finishes at my age and lost my fitness level which can be difficult to get back, I am competitive so I prefer to challenge myself, like doing the marathon which I will continue after Dublin if I were to do sprints or Olympic distance tris I would get depressed when I am not in the mix

I can swim and use to swim up to 90 minutes once a week stopped a couple of years ago but I am sure I could work on it

Hi Nortal, you seem to me in a similar boat to me, only with more of a swimming history. I am doing the marathon also and joining a club afterwards. I hadn't cycled a bike in about 5 years and had never been on a road bike until 2 weeks ago. I have never had swim lessons but I can accomplish about 45 minutes of swimming with regular breaks (its taken me a few months to build this). I have yet to don a wetsuit and leap into OW, but I'm not worried about it.

That said I'll give my first Tri my best shot. I'm expecting to be able to swim 1500m straight but exit the water in the last 20%, then its going to be a game to me how many people I can catch!

From what I'm hearing from people about TRI is you will definitely get a buzz from it and you will be on the go for nearly 3 hours in a standard distance race. What I've also seen is that TRI involves all shapes, sizes and abilities.

IMHO if you could get that swimming back you may just find yourself in the mix at the first transition and then its just about keeping ahead of us non swimmers hot on your heals!!

nortal

MCOS wrote: »

Hi Nortal, you seem to me in a similar boat to me, only with more of a swimming history. I am doing the marathon also and joining a club afterwards. I hadn't cycled a bike in about 5 years and had never been on a road bike until 2 weeks ago. I have never had swim lessons but I can accomplish about 45 minutes of swimming with regular breaks (its taken me a few months to build this). I have yet to don a wetsuit and leap into OW, but I'm not worried about it.

That said I'll give my first Tri my best shot. I'm expecting to be able to swim 1500m straight but exit the water in the last 20%, then its going to be a game to me how many people I can catch!

From what I'm hearing from people about TRI is you will definitely get a buzz from it and you will be on the go for nearly 3 hours in a standard distance race. What I've also seen is that TRI involves all shapes, sizes and abilities.

IMHO if you could get that swimming back you may just find yourself in the mix at the first transition and then its just about keeping ahead of us non swimmers hot on your heals!!

Mcos,

I wouldn't say i had much more of a swimming history than yourself, the pool sessions were one hour so i use to swim for the hour each time pacing myself you get faster each time bit like a long run. The breathing will help your cycling and running. your next marathon may be very fast as a result of all the tri traiing

hunnymonster

GoHardOrGoHome wrote: »

Just in case anybody missed it I think Hunnymonster's thinking of doing the Enduroman Double Iron distance event.

DOUBLE Iron Distance. Doesn't even bear thinking about. Makes a mere Ironman sound easy.

HM. Can you confirm?

Link: http://www.enduroman.com/info.html

No decisions made yet but yes it's still on the cards. Definately doing the two in two weeks though.

Izoard

Well, Ireman is back to full distance next year..1/2 & full on the same day (Aug 30th)

www.ireman.org

Crazy to have the run on that course but hey, it shoudn't be too easy:eek:

tunney

Izoard wrote: »

Well, Ireman is back to full distance next year..1/2 & full on the same day (Aug 30th)

www.ireman.org

Crazy to have the run on that course but hey, it shoudn't be too easy:eek:

Based on a dangerous bike route, a dangerous run course and athletes substantially more fatigued I think that this one is asking for serious trouble.

eoin ryan

Another alernative to consider next year (esp considering the credit crunch) is Éireman. This will be a full and middle distance Triathlon taking place in Courtown Harbour, Co Wexford.
Website will be up shortly....

liamo

That's great news! I am considering a middle distance event in 2009 and that location is just perfect for me. Looking forward to more info.

tunney

Four weeks, four HIM events and two IM events in Ireland. Interesting. Wonder if there is the demand.