Barcelona Challenge

rapidoe

Just wondering if anyone is doing Barcelona Challenge and how the training is going?

interested

Excuse the pun but Id be interested to hear from anyone travelling as well.
Im considering a last minute style trip - if anyone out there has any travel/accomodation relation tips Id really appreciate any details that might help.

delboyfagan

Hi Guys,

I am going over on Friday and back on Monday. Neither wife nor kids are coming so going solo.

Booked the Miami apartments - got a great deal only last week for 150 euros for three nights including breakfast on alpharooms.com. Apparently this is one of the two best to stay in (Volga is booked out) and is only about 600m from start and finish.

Lots of stuff on tritalk.co.uk under events (sorry boards if I am advertising another forum).

Anyways my training has been sporadic, not swimming much but as doing race around ireland am getting lots of time on bike and going very well (or so I think anyways). My blog for training is roadtobarcelona.blogspot.com - u can see my training from Day 1 from this and compare.

Not a great athlete myself as don't really have dedication/natural ability of other guys on this site but enjoy it nonetheless.

Any advice let me know as done a good bit of research on it.

BTW - talking to a husband and wife team based in Dublin that done the half challenge in May and was told that the swim could be difficult. He is a strong swimmer and had done 1hr in Austria for full distance but only managed 38 mins for half in Barca. He also confirmed that bike could be fast depending on wind. And the hard last km hill on the run that was in the half has been replaced.

interested

Thanks for the pointer re: hotels
One more thing, are you flying to Barca or Girona ?

delboyfagan

Gonna fly Barca - have not booked yet. Not finalised on times yet.

Don't do Ryanair - full stop - irrespective of price difference.

Will either hire car or take taxi when arrive.

Apparently a train from Barca to the race destination costs 3 euros and the train station is a few hundred metres from apartments I mentioned.

interested

delboyfagan wrote: »

Gonna fly Barca - have not booked yet. Not finalised on times yet.

Don't do Ryanair - full stop - irrespective of price difference.

Will either hire car or take taxi when arrive.

Apparently a train from Barca to the race destination costs 3 euros and the train station is a few hundred metres from apartments I mentioned.

Thanks again for the info. After a weekend in the wet in wexford Im hoping my physio gives me the all clear for this. Possibly total madness but at least I know that Im in shape enough for the bike and run

rapidoe

Good to know about the apartments, have n't booked anything yet. Got the flight booked, one thing about your flight. You have to book the bike also. They only take 6 bikes on each flight, that's out of Cork. Had a look at Delboys blog, you're doing a lot of hours each week. I have n't managed 10 hrs in any week, never mind twenty. Got in my long run before it last saturday, did 18 miles and hoping to do a 90/100 miler this weekend on the bike, except the bloody weather is so bad. Makes it more difficult again.
Good luck guys with the rest of the training.

hunnymonster

I'm really looking forward to hearing about this race. It's eeking it's way up my ever increasing list of "wanna do" events.

interested

hmm
Hoping for some advice here
After getting the all clear from physio and missus regarding this - Ive attempted to register and (the error message is in spanish) that its a case of registering on the day or the like.

Ive searched the site http://www.challenge-barcelona.com and havent been able to find a contact email address or phone number.

For those of you entered - if there are any contact details available to people in the email that you received (Im guessing) can you pass them along.

Would really appreciate this.

Thanks

hunnymonster

I guess, if noone has a better contact, you could get in contact with the parent company, which is the only email address I could find on the Challenge Barcelona website

General Manager:
Alice Walchshöfer, Felix Walchshöfer

Westring 40
Postfach 1551
D-91154 Roth
Phone: +49 9171 / 10 20
Fax: +49 9171 / 99 88 1
email: info@challenge-roth.de

Tax Number: 24114012544
Sales Tax Identification Number: DE 219394101
Court having Jurisdiction: Amtsgericht Nürnberg
Commercial Register No.: 18821

rapidoe

Have you tried challenge@challenge-barcelona.com , I've had a few emails to them and had replies. No ph no sorry.

interested

thanks guys
found some contact details on Tritalk and spoke with someone from the event.
It appears my problems are to do with some pesky jscript issue on the site - Ive submitted all my details via email and now await to find out if I get a week in the sun.
Managed a fairly descent bric down in Courttown at the weekend so hopefully once my entry is accepted Ill be back in training for Oct.

Thanks again for the quick responses.

interested

Thankfully ... I double checked with them via phone ... Im in.
Sensational news for me!!!

hunnymonster

I'm more than a little jealous.

delboyfagan

Have up training in last few weeks but mainly bike.

Not worried about swim because with or without training usually anywhere from 1hr 3 to 1hr 13 - my fastest was lanzarote but felt that was a tiny bit short.

However would like to do a few 4km straight swims - the coach at the masters swim I intend infrequently is totally against these long swims. His preferred attitude is to build to 38*100 at race pace. The swimming has been neglected because I don't have discipline to swim by myself and with kids etc I am finding it hard to attend masters sessions.

Other probklem is run and lack of running consistently.

I also probably push to hard on bike but even though I know this I still do it.

However I feel my largest issue is body composition. Don't have the willpower/discipline to stop my binging. I feel that I could definitely up my performance a lot by losing 10 to 15 kilos, but being saying that for a few years now. Kind of gotten into a never ending routine where I train to not put on weight but by training hard I can eat what I want.

Reading back on this - I have quite a few issues!!!!!

well done on entry - see u there

interested

delboyfagan wrote: »

However would like to do a few 4km straight swims - the coach at the masters swim I intend infrequently is totally against these long swims. His preferred attitude is to build to 38*100 at race pace. The swimming has been neglected because I don't have discipline to swim by myself and with kids etc I am finding it hard to attend masters sessions.

well done on entry - see u there

Thanks for the help and good wishes folks - Hunnymonsters two full IM within 8 days stood as a bit of inspiration !

I never thought Id find myself in this position this time last week but Im a firm believer that things happen for a reason - and I got lucky.
In saying that Im adopting the same approach as before last weekend in 'Im planning on doing an IM ...' until Im pulling down my goggles on race day. Noone knows whats around the corner.

So, yeah ... hope to see you there Dellboy. Looks as if theres around 40 or so Irish that'll be attending the English briefing.

For what its worth, I find 8 weeks of weekly 2 to 3 hour sessions in the wicklow mountains on the bike with water and nuts a quick way to drop to race weight. Being from a swimming background Id be more inclined to agree with your coach about the 100's at race pace rather than one long slog. Although doing 38 in a row is a little over the top - maybe 7 sets of 5*100's with 1min between each 5 on race pace minus 5 seconds per hundred.

5 more days recovery and then some short slow stuff for me .. before 10 days of long efforts and back down to a taper ... just grateful for the chance.

interested

Great race.
Organisation tip top - no real context for me to give a more informed opinion but really felt that the organisers were out to assist competitors in every way. From the information on site to the race day care itself.
Since id just 6 weeks since a long bric in wexford I expected little in terms of performance but the rest did me the world of good. very happy with my time and that Im still in one piece.

Heat was a real factor for me. I was in the final wave off at 8.50 local time. Later start meant I wasnt out in the mid day sun on the run.


Location is Callella, 50km north of Barca, 30km south of Girona (Aer lingus, Ryanair respectively)

Accomodation ... approx 60 euro per night - for a self catering room at a apartment hotel about 600m from the start finish line. Town has stacks of restaurants and bars and actual local inhabitants which is a nice surprise since I was concerned that the place would be custom built for tourists.
Swim course - fantastic - definitely prone to swell, definitely prone to water current for first half. clear and clean water.

- bike course - distance was bang on ... 2 long laps and one shorter lap south along N-11 national road , entirely closed, support in alot of places but none more than the turnaround at the south end of callella - great crowds all over the road. Roads were absolutely perfect in terms of surface. Drags coming back towards town were brilliant opportunities to stretch the legs and back and hand out some punishment to the big power guys. The course was fast on sunday but would definitely be prone to wind since its quite open - it runs along the coast.

- run course - to the north of the town along the coastal road - entirely closed ... 4 laps of 10km - flat - would definitely be fast for runners.
Both the bike and run course had lots of aid stations ... lots on offer - apart from sun cream or ice cream - both of which would have gone down very well.

Would definitely race here again. Hugh support during race from locals - at times it got scary on the run there were so many people on the road with flags, rattles shouting and cheering support.

delboyfagan

Well done. Read the report on 3dtri. Great swim time. Ur probably already thinking about how u can go sub 11 now!!

Enjoy the break and rest.

Will do it some time but probably not next year. Sorry I missed it.

Still in great pain re lower back - and this coupled with bad food intak is depressing me.

rapidoe

My first IM event, 12 03 time which was great as i would have been happy with sub 13. Fantastic race, and organisation was superb. Great one for anyone thinking about first IM as it is late on in the year. Weather beautiful, warm but not excessively hot.

boomdocker

did this as part of a relay - bike leg for me

agree with the previous posters - organisation was spot on - i would have been in the last dozen or so on the bike course as we were the last wave to start (and there was only 27 teams) - yet there was still plenty of food and drink at the aid stations, not to mention vocal support from the locals

from a logistical point of view, great aswell - lots of good cheap accomodation, easy place to get to spectator friendly etc..etc..

interested

delboyfagan wrote: »

Well done. Read the report on 3dtri. Great swim time. Ur probably already thinking about how u can go sub 11 now!!

Cheers. If I could only run ... For me, with the time I had to get ready for this race and after only 6 weeks since my first attempt at the distance, sub-12 was more than I could have hoped for.

To be honest my right knee packed up shop after I passed the 20km marker. My walking breaks got a little longer and hence the fall away on times. I negative split the bike by about 20 mins so was happy enough with that pace.

The very best of luck with the bike injury chief. It was so close to this race you´d little or no chance making it.

gaf1983

For the people who did this race, could you let me know where you rented bikes?

rapidoe

gaf1983 wrote: »

For the people who did this race, could you let me know where you rented bikes?

I used a bike box to bring my own, I would say that's what most people do, as you're set up for that bike, and comfort is the number one consideration on a long bike leg. It's not that difficult to use, take wheels off, derailleur off, and handlebars plus pedals. There was local bike shops/mechanics if you had any difficulties with the bike before the race.

boomdocker

yep, don't think you'll see too many people going to do an Ironman on a rented bike...

as rapidoe says, most people bag/box their bikes and take it with them.