Full Ironman in cork next year

good stuff Diego, let us know your thoughts?

NeedsTraining wrote: »

Anyone doing the Double Oly in Athy in the run up to IM Cork?

3 weeks beforehand. A little too close, but very few other options. I am not travelling to Lough Cutra

Unless it's part of a tried and trusted routine, I wouldn't recommend doing a double Olympic that close to the event. The general recommendation is to do an event like that 6-8 weeks out. 3 weeks is very very close and a time when a lot of people will actually start to taper.

I did hear the other night that apparently there's an informal half ironman being organised on the youghal route. Think it might be Midleton cycling club that's organising this (I could be wrong). Might be worth contacting them, rather than trying to squeeze an event in at the wrong time.

NeedsTraining wrote: »

Anyone doing the Double Oly in Athy in the run up to IM Cork?

3 weeks beforehand. A little too close, but very few other options. I am not travelling to Lough Cutra

nothing is too close its just depends how you do it.
now i would not reccomend a half for an unfit person the week before but for very fit people even the week before can work and 2 -3 weeks is actually a good time at the end of the training and is a good pacing test

but yes the less fit you are the more careful you have to be ....but then again it depends on the pacing especially on the run .

personally i would be quite happy to do a half 2 weeks before a race as i tend to race very well 2 weeks after a race

and i would not be keen to do a race 6-8 week out ( at least not a serious race ) as this is kind of the peak max hours trainig time



at the end it all depends on the experiecnes you should have made over the years how your body reacts and what overall strategy you train with . and what your weakness and strenght are

ie you are afraid of the swim distance in cork me thinks athy is a great practise , if i was worried aoubt the about the waves in open water race or hills i would do hardman waterville and if i was worried aobut fitness i would focus about long bikes rather than doing a race at all . a race is god to sharpen up but if you are not fit there is no need for that and you better focus on fitness

so to say there is an ideal time for a half before a full is not correct.

ie terrenzzo bozzoni does 2 half and a full in 3 weeks 2 times a year with loads of base in between and does quite ok while somebody like lange focuses everthing on 1 race and everthing else is just secondary ( i think lange won his first and only race race in kona last year. his coach thinks he has only so many races in him . 6-8 weeks out i would prefer people to get their longest runs and bike sessions in and yes that can be a race as well but i would demand very conservative pacing depending what we want to get out out it.


but ad the end whats also important is what motivates you if one race does and the other dosnt , or a race gets you out of bed easier than a 6-7 hour bike or you think a desination race will be better than a camp ... it needs to be a bit fun too ...

jester1980 wrote: »

good stuff Diego, let us know your thoughts?

Took a few more weeks to get to the route than expected. Here's my take on it and some advice, being local to the area. We all spend a lot of time talking about hills and gearing etc, but one big factor in an Ironman, is where the crowds will be concentrated. This can be a great boost, but you also have to be aware of not getting carried away and hitting a section too fast because of the buzz of the crowd. That's fine on a short sprint but can do you damage over the course of an event that's this long.

I started my spin in Midleton. On the day, you'll have a good fast run into Midleton, after the East Ferry Climb. Expect crowds at Ballinacurra and pockets along the Bailick Road. There's a short right sweep into the centre of the town, and then a sharp left down the main street in Midleton. Expect big crowds to congregate here. Plenty of pubs, so I expect the atmosphere to be cracking. Then it's another sharp right out the Dungourney Road.

The reason I mention the expected crowds at these locations, is because you'll be climbing for 7-8k after this(distances not exact) and you don't want to be getting carried away. It's a lovely steady climb with a nice gradient (guessing 6-7%), so there is a temptation to go too hard and I'm sure plenty of people will sail past with big carbon wheels. Don't be tempted to chase(unless you're within your limits). There's a nice descent after the climbing and then you start going up again towards Mount Uniake. There's a very sharp right to bring you back on the road towards Youghal then. This road is closed to traffic and there are major resurfacing works going on. I was just about able to cycle down there slowly. Given the level of resurfacing that's happening, i'd expect this surface to be really fast once it's finished. This will be a nice fast section for another few k.

Onwards to Youghal, there are some nice fast downhills, with a good number of pulls that will slow you down. TBH, at this stage I was getting anxious about Windmill Hill and that was purely from all the talk about it. I can confirm that there's nothing to worry about. Yes it's steep, but it's very short. I was on a Tri Bike with 39 front 28 back gearing. Really was fine, so stop worrying about it. Just make sure you don't get over excited on it with the inevitable crowds and stay 100% focused. The only way it could go wrong is if you allow yourself to get distracted. Head down, breathe, focus on turning the pedals and you'll be up before you know it. Then enjoy the nice downhill.

After this, I didn't stick exactly to the route because there are a lot of diversions in place. I know those roads pretty well down around Garryvoe and they're kind of 'Lumpy' but nothing difficult in it. You'll motor on to Cloyne and then the next climb is at East Ferry. It goes on for a couple of K but there's nothing difficult in it and the surface is fine. From there it's a very fast downhill towards Ballinacurra and Midleton.

The obvious qs from people have been about what type of bike. Well i've ruled out using my Tri Bike, as I really didn't feel the desire to drop into the bars. I don't use them a huge amount anyway and generally only drop into them on straight motorway stretches. As a rule of thumb for this route, if you're someone that loves using TT bars, then by all means go for it. You'll get to use them on the latter part from Youghal to Cloyne and maybe if you fancy a steady climb in them to Dungourney. Mount Uniake to Youghal would be much more of a challenge in them on the windy roads with lots of ups and downs.

If you are any way hesitant about tri bars and you generally prefer not using them, then don't bother with a tri bike for this. Use a road bike.

My overall opinion of the route is that I think it's fantastic. I've always lived in East Cork but this has taken in roads that I don't know and the scenery is spectacular and anyone, no matter where you're from will enjoy it. I did IM Barcelona last October and that bike route is very boring on a main road with very little of interest on it. Barcelona was much faster of course (i did 6:15 for the bike leg-I expect it to be anything up to 7:30 for Cork). The route will keep you engaged throughout and there really isn't any free speed on it but I promise that you'll enjoy it.

Just keep in mind throughout, that you have a marathon to do at the end. There are lots of short pulls which if you burst up, could destroy your legs for the marathon. It's not a route that you can get away with minimal training on so keep clocking the miles beforehand. But if you've trained regularly, you will really really enjoy it, I promise!

Just as a general point if you use bars just on a straight motorway than there is something wrong about your bike fit.
If you plan to spend 7.30 the bike I guess your choice for road bike is right. At the same time what's the point of a tt bike if you can't use it proper as you dont fit on it
Or have bike handling issues. I think that's something you could work on.


Good report!

Diego Murphy wrote: »

Took a few more weeks to get to the route than expected. Here's my take on it and some advice, being local to the area. We all spend a lot of time talking about hills and gearing etc, but one big factor in an Ironman, is where the crowds will be concentrated. This can be a great boost, but you also have to be aware of not getting carried away and hitting a section too fast because of the buzz of the crowd. That's fine on a short sprint but can do you damage over the course of an event that's this long.

I started my spin in Midleton. On the day, you'll have a good fast run into Midleton, after the East Ferry Climb. Expect crowds at Ballinacurra and pockets along the Bailick Road. There's a short right sweep into the centre of the town, and then a sharp left down the main street in Midleton. Expect big crowds to congregate here. Plenty of pubs, so I expect the atmosphere to be cracking. Then it's another sharp right out the Dungourney Road.

The reason I mention the expected crowds at these locations, is because you'll be climbing for 7-8k after this(distances not exact) and you don't want to be getting carried away. It's a lovely steady climb with a nice gradient (guessing 6-7%), so there is a temptation to go too hard and I'm sure plenty of people will sail past with big carbon wheels. Don't be tempted to chase(unless you're within your limits). There's a nice descent after the climbing and then you start going up again towards Mount Uniake. There's a very sharp right to bring you back on the road towards Youghal then. This road is closed to traffic and there are major resurfacing works going on. I was just about able to cycle down there slowly. Given the level of resurfacing that's happening, i'd expect this surface to be really fast once it's finished. This will be a nice fast section for another few k.

Onwards to Youghal, there are some nice fast downhills, with a good number of pulls that will slow you down. TBH, at this stage I was getting anxious about Windmill Hill and that was purely from all the talk about it. I can confirm that there's nothing to worry about. Yes it's steep, but it's very short. I was on a Tri Bike with 39 front 28 back gearing. Really was fine, so stop worrying about it. Just make sure you don't get over excited on it with the inevitable crowds and stay 100% focused. The only way it could go wrong is if you allow yourself to get distracted. Head down, breathe, focus on turning the pedals and you'll be up before you know it. Then enjoy the nice downhill.

After this, I didn't stick exactly to the route because there are a lot of diversions in place. I know those roads pretty well down around Garryvoe and they're kind of 'Lumpy' but nothing difficult in it. You'll motor on to Cloyne and then the next climb is at East Ferry. It goes on for a couple of K but there's nothing difficult in it and the surface is fine. From there it's a very fast downhill towards Ballinacurra and Midleton.

The obvious qs from people have been about what type of bike. Well i've ruled out using my Tri Bike, as I really didn't feel the desire to drop into the bars. I don't use them a huge amount anyway and generally only drop into them on straight motorway stretches. As a rule of thumb for this route, if you're someone that loves using TT bars, then by all means go for it. You'll get to use them on the latter part from Youghal to Cloyne and maybe if you fancy a steady climb in them to Dungourney. Mount Uniake to Youghal would be much more of a challenge in them on the windy roads with lots of ups and downs.

If you are any way hesitant about tri bars and you generally prefer not using them, then don't bother with a tri bike for this. Use a road bike.

My overall opinion of the route is that I think it's fantastic. I've always lived in East Cork but this has taken in roads that I don't know and the scenery is spectacular and anyone, no matter where you're from will enjoy it. I did IM Barcelona last October and that bike route is very boring on a main road with very little of interest on it. Barcelona was much faster of course (i did 6:15 for the bike leg-I expect it to be anything up to 7:30 for Cork). The route will keep you engaged throughout and there really isn't any free speed on it but I promise that you'll enjoy it.

Just keep in mind throughout, that you have a marathon to do at the end. There are lots of short pulls which if you burst up, could destroy your legs for the marathon. It's not a route that you can get away with minimal training on so keep clocking the miles beforehand. But if you've trained regularly, you will really really enjoy it, I promise!

Hi all,

Here's our take on the first section of the cycle: http://www.oldvelos.com/the-ironman-ireland-route-miles-0-7%C2%BD/ Good luck all with the training.

Hi all,

Hopefully the words make sense of Windmill Hill

http://www.oldvelos.com/the-iron-man-ireland-route-miles-47%C2%BD-56/

Alistair Brownlee is down for this

woody1 wrote: »

brownlee during his interview after the leeds race said maybe or possibly he would be doing cork, very non committal ,
admittedly he was just after a poor race so his mood might not have been great, but i wouldnt be banking on him being there just yet

I'd say he was dealing with the realization that he won't be going to Tokyo 2020 to defend his title & even said afterwards that he might retire.
He had said recently that he would decide after his home race in Leeds and that he would only go if he felt he could be competitive and not to make up the numbers.
After finishing 44th at Leeds he immediately told the BBC host broadcaster that he might retire after such a chastening loss.

After such a bad race, the last thing on his mind was Ironman Cork.

PWEI wrote: »

I'd say he was dealing with the realization that he won't be going to Tokyo 2020 to defend his title & even said afterwards that he might retire.
He had said recently that he would decide after his home race in Leeds and that he would only go if he felt he could be competitive and not to make up the numbers.
After finishing 44th at Leeds he immediately told the BBC host broadcaster that he might retire after such a chastening loss.

After such a bad race, the last thing on his mind was Ironman Cork.

He only recently won The European championships for a fourth time (over the standard distance) but I think his ability to compete over the sprint distance is beyond him. He just doesnt seem to be able to produce the flat running speed off the bike anymore over 5km. No doubt his recent injuries and advancing years havent helped. I think he should focus on longer distances now. Gomez seems to be able to compete still at the sprint distance but he's helped by having the motivation of the Olympics next year which Brownlee doesnt have given hes already won it twice. Personally Id be very surprised to see him in Cork but you never know.

What time do ye reckon the first athletes will be coming in at?

Mossy,

Where are you seeing this from Thorsten? I had a look but can't find it.

Would like to read what he says about it.

Cheers,

NT