transitions, kona, notes

Hah, I've decided my specialty in triathlon is transitioning. If you check the results, I had a total transition time of 3min 47seconds, which is 2nd place among all amateurs (and by 1 second!) and I must admit I didn't have the smoothest T1 -- I ran right by my bag and had to backtrack 5 metres. At least I know how to answer the Aussies when they ask what my specialty is (Aussies are always sizing you up, you see). Why is there no award for fastest transitions?

1st and 2nd place in my category took the Kona slots and well, lets be honest, they were very deserving (9.21 and 9.36). If I had paced a little better, I might've got on the podium (9.58), but hey there is always room for improvement, you don't get too much practice at these. Very encouraging result altogether and some more (another year?) development ought to get me to kona. Very stiff yesterday but already feeling improvement today.

Had a very quick drive from Sherborne to Heathrow yesterday (not that i was anywhere near the fastest on the road), dropped my bike at the left luggage and am now in Dublin visiting a colleague at the Conway Institute.

imuk - skinny

hmm, ironmanlive.com has some strange results.

if you want to see an accurate table of results, goto here and open it in Excel.

Here is the skinny:
swim 54:49
bike 5:20:19
run 3:41:48

total: 10:00:47

good for 4th place in 25-29, 43rd overall (including 14 pros).

i'll give a full report later on.

imuk update no. 2

well, looks a like big thunderstorm is about to hit, but it should clear up for tomorrow. they're calling for light rain in the morning, clearing later and a high around 20 degrees. that's ideal.

well, been laying pretty low, trying to stay out of trouble. biked a bit of the run course (some of it is on dirt trails), ran a bit of the run course. it's hilly also (including a run up stairs for a pedestrian bridge!), and also very scenic as it passes by both castles, and right through the centre of town by the famous abbey.

the pasta party was unspectacular and not very well attended, suprisingly. it was hard to make a show of the oldest and youngest male and female competitors as not a single one was in attendance! i'd say there were only about 300-400 of us, which was rather bizarre. there was a guy that has done 81 ironmans and is on track to hit 100 by 2008.

heard some chatter to say the course will be easier than last year's (1 pro sub 9 and 1 pro sub 5 on the bike last year). they had a hawaii video and a video of last year's race to pass the time.

bike and bags are all checked in. it's go time.

imuk update no. 1

well, after a mind-numbing 23 hour flight, i'm here in britain, and now settled down with my homestay family in sherborne. getting through heathrow was efficient. drove into london, that was scary and challenging. spent a night with lynn's friend josette and her husband mike and their almost 2-year-old max. max is a born entertainer. will post pictures at some point, very cute.

brits drive fast. unless i'm mistaken, there are no posted speed limits on the dual carriageways and big A roads, so fast just works. that made the trip fairly speedy and should hopefully allow me to get back to heathrow for the big waits for my monday flight.

sherborne is beautiful. roads are very small, mostly old buildings. it's not uncommon to have roads where only one vehicle can get by. and, everybody is patient. imagine that.

went for a quick 30min swim in sherborne lake, adjacent to the 'new' castle. water temperature is posted at 60 degrees (thats about 16), but it was very comfortable. no need for a double swim cap. transition is literally 50 metres from the swim exit, so transition times should be pretty good. drove the bike course and it appears VERY hilly, as the posted profile would suggest. but, the good thing is that you are either climbing or descending so it may in fact be possible to get in a good rhythm. not gonna be a mind-blower, time-wise though. definitely very beautiful countryside.

time to go bike the run course. more later.

It's all in the bank ...

Well, here we go again. 13 days to Ironman UK. Just finished the last long ride and long run this past weekend. A few more sessions this week but generally it is winding down.

Had a very good training campaign in the last 12 weeks. Running faster than ever (10k and half mara PBs during high volume weeks), not getting dropped in the hills from the fast dudes on the bike. Not swimming any faster than usual, but feeling strong and finding the distance much more manageable this time around. So, looking forward to seein what the body can do on what looks like a fairly challenging course in Dorset, England. Weather looks quite ideal there right now -- lows of 13, highs of 23.

Been really lucky with weather this winter in Melbourne. Only got drenched on a couple of occasions. Managed to be injury-free, illness-free (except for 1 small cold at beginning of June) and I haven't been kicked out of school (actually things are going reasonably well). Lynn has pointed out that I get very focused when Ironman training ... will have to work on that one.