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Carbs & electrolytes: what energy drinks are really made of

March 31, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

The Product (Photo credit: k.steudel)

I’ve had a few favorite brands of sports energy drink over the years. I started off with SIS which was great, a bit sweet and so difficult to pour into bike bottles accurately. I then used Endurox which came in large tubs – the marketing about protein and stuff was good but the reason I bought it was because it was available at my local bike store. Nestle Powerbar products I hate with a passion – sweet, sticky, and over promoted.

I never really wondered what went into them and where the ingredients come from, so when I saw this article from Ironguides, a triathlon coaching company, I decided to find out more. [Disclosure - I was coached in 2009-10 by Ironguides]. Coach Jomo has sat down with 6 major brands of sport drink – he doesn’t tell us which and found out about all the ingredients.

However, I have taken just 6 internationally recognized brands producing energy drinks that are available worldwide and listed the 45 ingredients used in some or all of them. The list is mind blowing to say the least, especially when you find a product with ingredients that offer no nutritional value to the human body.

I’ve tried going paleo over the years and am now broadly on a no-factory food diet. So this list of ingredients was pretty off putting. That said they do the job and fuel your race performance. It’s just something to be considered: are these products a good fit with the rest of your healthy lifestyle and should we be asking manufacturers to produce drinks that fit better with an organic/paleo lifestyle?

The article also covers the best way of choosing a brand of sports drink that is going to work for you. The only omission seems to be considering what the race organiser will give you on race day.

Well, choosing a brand of energy drinks or supplements needs to be addressed in the same way. All brands these days produce serving-size sachets for you to buy and try. In your first 8 weeks of training for a 70.3 or ironman (if you’re new to the sport) you need to use as many as possible to see which one makes you sick and which one gives you a boost. In short, you need to test which brand and which product(s) work(s) for you.

You can read the full article at Ironguides here.

Carbs & Electrolytes: what energy drinks are really made of by Jono Rumbelow originally appeared on http://www.ironguides.net. © http://www.ironguides.net

Being Smart about Triathlon Goal Setting

March 29, 2012 By Luke Watson 2 Comments

This is the first of two articles about goal setting in triathlons by Luke Watson. I remember reading that Joe Friel once said that if your race day target was 10% faster than you’d gone in training you were delusional. Of course he wasn’t quite so blunt – but come race day, even during training, we can be hopelessly optimistic about what we can achieve in Ironman, or any triathlon. This is because we don’t manage to clearly connect the dots between the dream and finishing. Luke starts us on that path to triathlon success in this article.

Good Goals Motivate; Bad Goals Demotivate

So you have a goal, an ambition, a desire, a dream? Congratulations for wanting to achieve something, you are already a step ahead of so many people! But is your goal realistic, and how are you going to achieve it? I see so many people, and have been guilty of this myself in the past, giving fanciful targets, “I’m aiming for a podium at this race” or “I’m going to qualify for that race”, without having put a serious structure to the goal. A ‘good’ goal is well defined, measurable and achievable and will give you motivation, focus and deep satisfaction when you achieve it. A bad goal is immeasurable, unachievable or both, and will leave you demotivated and unsatisfied. So, how should you navigate the minefield that is proper goal setting?

Image: Talent Innovations WordPress

Smart Triathlon Goals

I’m sure many of you will at least have heard of the ‘SMART’ method of goal setting. There are many different interpretations of what the SMART acronym actually stands for, but the principles remain the same. The original acronym created by Paul Meyer states that goals must be:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timed

Let’s take a simplistic example of a triathlon goal to illustrate this. For example, your goal is “I want to get better at swimming”, which is not a ‘SMART’ goal at all.

You can make the goal more SPECIFIC by changing it to “I would like to be able to swim 750m freestyle faster” since you have now identified that better means faster, and that it is the 750m freestyle that you want to improve.

Next you need to make it MEASURABLE – how much faster do you want to swim 750m? As it stands, if tomorrow you went and swam your 750m and were 0.1s faster than today, then you have achieved your goal, although that is not much help to your overall triathlon performance. You should state whether you want to be 10s, 1 minute or 5 minutes faster than you currently are?

The third step is to check that your goal is ACHIEVABLE. Is it something that you are realistically able to do with your current ability, time and resources? If your current personal best (PB) for 750m is 10:00 and you said at the last stage that you want to be 3 minutes faster, then it’s not very realistic unless you are a young athlete with designs on a future world record! Equally it is unrealistic if you are a weaker swimmer to say you want to be 5 minutes faster, yet you only have time to swim once per week. 30s is a significant but achievable goal for most swimmers.

Next you have to ensure your goal is RELEVANT. If as a triathlete, your goal is to be 5s faster at 25m Butterfly, fair enough. However, that is not relevant to your triathlon performance (except in the loosest possible sense that the increased strength required to swim 25m Butterfly 5s faster is likely to indirectly transfer to other swimming disciplines)! On the other hand, swimming 750m faster is very relevant, since it is the exact distance for a sprint distance triathlon.

The final step is to put a TIME on when you need to achieve your goal; a deadline which you will be motivated to achieve. Without this it is very easy to fall into the trap of ‘there’s always tomorrow’, and as everyone knows, ‘tomorrow never comes’. Let’s say that you want to achieve your goal by the end of 2012.

So, we have taken the Idea: “I want to get better at swimming”, and turned it into a SMART Goal: “By the end of 2012, I want to improve my 750m Freestyle by 30s”. You should do this for every goal you set in all aspects of your life.

Luke Watson Racing via Castle Triathlon Series on Flickr

In my next post I will cover how to construct a set of goals to help you achieve your aims. For now though, I’d love to hear; what are your SMART Triathlon Goals in 2012?

Filed Under: Guest Posts

How to Prepare for Ironman Lake Placid Swim

March 29, 2012 By Kevin Morgan Leave a Comment

Five time Ironman Lake Placid Finisher Kev – aka FitOldDog has written this guide to the IMLP swim – though many of the tips are true for other triathlon and Ironman swims. The key points are – don’t just focus on your stroke and endurance in training. Also prepare for race day conditions as you can lose lots of time from open water nerves, stress with the maelstrom and most of all poor sighting. Enjoy. You can read more from his blog athletewithstent.com

Having completed the Lake Placid Ironman (LPIM) race five times over the last five years, my thoughts on the swim leg might be of interest to those undertaking such a race for the first time. My real concern for first-timers is the issue of safety, because the start can be pretty hairy. With foresight, planning, and appropriate training you should have a great time. I always do!

I’m signed up again for LPIM this year, and even though I am looking forward to it I know that during the first couple of hundred yards I’ll be thinking, “What the hell am I doing?” But in a few minutes I settle in and have a great time every year. Here are my thoughts on how to approach an Ironman swim based on my experiences in Mirror Lake:

Base Training

FitOldDog with his youngest grandson, Nolan, looking back on the 2011 LPIM swim. A key sighting point is that notch in the hills to the left of FitOldDog’s head. Photo taken by Deb Young using iPhone

FitOldDog with his youngest grandson, Nolan, looking back on the 2011 Ironman Lake Placid swim. A key sighting point is that notch in the hills to the left of FitOldDog’s head. Photo taken by Deb Young using iPhone

Clearly you need to be an adequately trained and competent swimmer. There are two key aspects to swim training, technique and conditioning. I have tended over the years to focus excessively on swim technique. Recent work with a new swim coach, Rick Fee, which complements my regular Ironman coaching from Chris Hauth, has led to dramatic improvements in my times in the pool due to an emphasis on conditioning. In fact, going off of the wall with Rick, a truly competent swimmer and patient coach, has pushed my swim to a point that I haven’t seen in over 30 years. So, even with 60 years of swimming under my belt, including 10 years as a water polo player as a young man, there are still new tricks for this old dog to learn. We’ll see if this pool improvement will be reflected in my Ironman Lake Placid 2012 swim time, but I bet that it will.

A few specific points about key skills to practice during your base training:

(a) Fast out for a couple of hundred yards followed by long cruise, to get away from the pack and then settle back down.

(b) Lots of long pulls with pull buoy to simulate wet suit swimming.

(d) A sighting pattern, such as every tenth stroke, that does not interfere with your rhythm or induce a head bob.

(e) Handling violent interactions with other swimmers, who can treat you pretty badly, for which the absolutely best training is water polo in my opinion. If you can handle this great game you can handle anything in the water and you will always be safe because you will know your limitations and be able to stay calm, even when in pain. Furthermore, you won’t panic, this being the general cause of triathlon swim deaths in my opinion.

Pre-Race Training (4 weeks to go)

It is critical to familiarize yourself with open-water swimming, which is NOT like the pool. Being out in a lake or the sea comes with a number issues, including the absence of wall push-offs, a continuous unbroken rhythm, an absence of guidelines on the bottom or lane markers, and the potential for fear of big creatures in the water, such as water snakes, snapping turtles, or sharks. Do not underestimate the latter issue, as it can play tricks with your mind during training. [Ed. I'm afraid of sharks when night swimming in a pool at the top of a 30 storey building!]

Finally, DO NOT DO OPEN WATER SWIMMING ON YOUR OWN! Prior to the race, complete at least 3-5 open water swims to render this environment familiar, and especially to practice your sighting pattern. If you arrive at the race site a few days before the race, swim one loop or half the distance, but go easy as you are now as trained as you are going to be! This is also a great time to set up your sighting points for each segment, which must be visible above the spray and craziness of the first half mile.

Race Day Morning

I am assuming that you have nutrition and hydration down pat, but don’t forget to get to the bathroom within 30 minutes of the start to deal with ‘colonic nerves’ BEFORE you zip up your wet suit. I always do a fifteen-minute pre-race meditation practice to calm my mind, become focused, and pre-run the entire race in my head. OK! About five minutes to go! If the water is cold, dump some down your suit about 3 minutes before the gun to avoid having cold shock derail your focus during the actual start. Don’t do this too soon or you will become chilled. Once in the water, jockey politely for your pre-chosen position in the pack. Don’t forget, the density of heads in the water around your spot will provide a gross underestimation of the swimmer density once they go horizontal, so allow for this.

The start line is pretty crowded, so don’t underestimate the increased crowding as all those athletes go horizontal. Photo by Randy Muse

When the Gun Goes Off

When the gun goes off pull away fast, as you practiced in the pool, then settle down to strong and steady. Don’t let impolite swimmers throw you off of your stroke, stay nice and high in the water, and PULL. Settle calmly into your swim, working towards quiet water or a good draft, whichever you find most peaceful – the swim is not the make or break point of the race for most of us, but it does set up your psychology for the rest of the day. Remember that you do this because you enjoy it, and strange as it may seem, smile from time to time because it really helps you to loosen up your mind and your body. If someone swims aggressively into or over you, don’t get mad, just politely indicate with heel or elbow that this is not a good course of action on their part (this is where water polo training really helps). But beware, even a gentle message can trigger a violent response – been there, felt that, but I swam on, resisting the almost overwhelming temptation to counter-attack even more violently.

After the gun goes off for the Ironman Lake Placid Swim start

This is where you will be, so be ready! Purchased LPIM race photo

Help People Drowning!

If you see someone in trouble, stop and help them – I’ve done this twice in the LPIM, both times during the first few hundred yards of the swim. You may add a minute to your race time (though I doubt it), but you could save a life. I have already published my thoughts on Ironman safety in the swim, and I think that it is up to us, the athletes, to work with race staff to maximize safety during the race.

Head for the Swim Exit

Then do what you trained for, pulling strongly forward, slowly increasing your pace, as you will be doing most of the day.

Ironman Lake Placid Swim Finish by FitOldDog

FitOldDog comes out of the water at the 2011 LPIM race, as the first to do so with an AAA-stent graft. Not dead yet!

Final race day tip

I received this valuable advice from Chris Hauth – “If you ever feel comfortable during the race, you are going too slow.”

I hope this helps someone to have a great Ironman swim.

Planning Your Open Water Swim (tricrowd.com)
To Draft Or Not To Draft? (feelforthewater.com)

Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged With: advice, conditioning versus technique, dangers of triathlon swimming, Ironman Swim, safe exercise for better health., swim skills, swim training

Winning Times at Ironman Hawaii

March 28, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Winning Times at Ironman Hawaii since 1978

As I had the results for the last 30 something years for Ironman Hawaii I thought I’d chart the finish times. I was quite surprised with what I found. Like most of us who watch NBC or Ironman Live I assumed that each year the winners of Ironman Hawaii are the fastest and best. It doesn’t totally seem to be that way.

Improvement in Race Times….No

What I expected to see was a rapid decrease in winning times over the first five to 10 years of the race as people learned how to race triathlons. This would then then become shallower and shallower as the easy gains were made and people reached the limits of human capability. Then with psychological and technical innovations you owuld see step decreases in the wining times. These would get smaller and smaller over time.

What you actually see is a rapid improvement over the first ten years of the race’s history and then stagnation with just over 1% time improvement in the 22 years since 1989. This broadly true for both the male and the female race. So whilst it’s tempting to put it all down to the impact of Dave Scott and Paula Newby-Fraser that both male and female races show a similar pattern over 20 years seems unlikley.

The Impact of Technology

There’s a great article about the invention of aero bars and they were used for the first time in 1987 and over the last 20 years we’ve seen a bewildering array of technical devices that are designed to separate triathletes from their money and make them go faster. In Hawaii the impact of aero bars isn’t clear from the overall times and it’s only in the last 3 – 4 years that we’ve seen a trend in the reduction of Female race times as Chrissie Wellington has broken barriers and other triathletes have responded – think of the number of people breaking the 4 minute mile in the year after Bannister did it. Male times have not responded similarly.

Does the Climate have an Impact?

One of the big things that people talk about at Hawaii is the heat, the humidity and the wind. So as a quick proxy for the weather we took the % of DNF’s in each year. This was done on the assumption that bad weather conditions would increase the DNF rate. It’s a little bit more complicated than that and we’ve tried to make comparison between the early and the late races even. So for races in the 80′s we’ve counted a 26 hour finish (yes it happened) as a DNF as well as everything over 17 hours. The data is a bit sucky still but there is a definite correlation between the bad years such as 2004 which had high DNF’s and poor results. What was interesting was that there was a .9 correlation between the DNF rate and male performance and a .7 correlation between the DNF rate and female performance.

The Answer?

Well what do you think? I’m stumped

Filed Under: Articles

Ironman Melbourne 2012 Results Analysis

March 28, 2012 By Denis Oakley 1 Comment

Ironman Melbourne 2012 Split Breakdown

With Ironman Melbourne 2013 opening in a few days and Ironman Melbourne 2012 just past we’ve sat down with the race results and done some detailed analysis on them to help you race faster and smarter. They take the full results set and break it down by age group, sex and split to give you a great picture ( and some numbers) of what the race is like.

There’s a lot of cool stuff that will help you figure out what went wrong, right and most importantly what your goals need to be for next year. An example of this is our listing by AG of the top 10 overall and then by swim, bike and run. These are the numbers that you need to match and beat if you want that Kona slot

Head here and have a look at our Ironman Melbourne 2012 Results Analysis

Happy reading and if you did the race do give us a race review – little token of thanks like

Ironman Melbourne 2012 Race Results (ironstruck.com)
Ironman Melbourne 2012 Predictions (ironstruck.com)
Ironman Melbourne 2012 Age-Group Results (ironstruck.com)

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ironman Melbourne 2012

Triathlete Garry Walker Carries the Olympic Flame

March 28, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Garry Walker Triathlete and Torchbearer (C) Garry Walker

One of the most wonderful things about triathlon is how life changing it is for so many people. Garry’s journey from being a beer, cigarettes and kebabs guy to a newer cleaner happier triathlete (to paraphrase Radiohead) led him to be a bearer of the Olympic flamer at the London 2012 Olympics. Most of us as we we make the journey from couch potato to swimbikerunner change people’s lives and inspire them to do more. Garry has done it on a large scale.

Here’s what he says.

I was Chosen because I Inspired

8000 inspirational people have been selected to carry the flame alongside big names in sport and entertainment on a relay that will pass by within one hour travelling distance of every household in the land. This is a sporting event that we may never see again on our soil in our lifetime, and I am proud to be selected, all in the same year as seeing the birth of Freya my first child and representing GBR in the European Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships. What a story I can tell her when she grows up. Not just a story she can only dream about, but a story that she has played so much an active part in manufacturing. I owe her absolutely everything to how I have turned out.

I Started Running and Changed my Life

To me, all I did was look at my life, and how unhealthy I was. Deciding that i wanted to do something just to keep fit, I started by jogging around the fields until, like Forrest Gump, I just kept running!!! I never thought for one minute that my story and achievements would touch so many people, not just family and close friends where this all stemmed from, but now from messages I am getting from around the country and the world, from people I dont even know and have never met before, urging me to continue to blog as the stories they are reading are inspiring and a demonstration of ’Real Life’, and what shear grit and determination, confidence in your own ability and support of others can help you to achieve.

The Struggle to Win, not Winning

The Olympic Motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, a Latin expression meaning “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. Coubertin’s ideals are further expressed in the Olympic Creed:
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Come and Watch my Journey

I can add to the calender that on 16th June 2012 I will be carrying the Olympic Torch through South Shields, Tyne and Wear. My home town, and close to all my family and friends. It will make me extremely proud to represent our proud nation in this massive festival of sport.

You can read the original article here and Garry’s website captures loads more about him and for anyone who wants to see the torch you can find out more details here

Filed Under: Articles, Real People Tagged With: 2012 Summer Olympics, Garry Walker, Olympic Games, South Shields, Torchbearer, Triathlete, Tyne and Wear

Citius, Altius, Fortius by Garry Walker originally appeared on http://theharderitri.weebly.com. © http://theharderitri.weebly.com

Oulton Park Spring Duathlon – Course Review 2012 – Tim Burnett

March 27, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Oulton Park Duathlon via bustinyourballs on Flickr

: Oulton Park Duathlon via bustinyourballs on Flickr

Triathlon Name

Oulton Park Spring Duathlon 8.6km run, 38.8km cycle, 4.3km run

Country

Triathlon Date

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Who Are you?

Experienced triathlete, GB Age Grouper, dad to two boys. Training is suffering this year from too much DIY having recently moved house to a “project”!

Race Category

Male 40-44

Why did I do this race?

A fairly local event, a chance to race early in the season and I raced the autumn event there last year. Plus this was a GB AG qualifier, so a chance to race the fast guys!

The First Run

Run 1 (it’s a duathlon):
The problem with duathlon racing is pacing, especially when you have a top class field. From the gun, the front runners were off at speed and the tendency was to go with them. I set off at what I considered to be a fast-but-steady pace, looked down at my Garmin and realised I was doing a 3:30/km pace! I should know better – I’m not able to sustain that kind of pace, especially with somewhat tired legs after failing to take it easy in the back end of the week before and moving wardrobes on Saturday… The Oulton Park circuit is not flat, by any stretch of the imagination, and the climbs combined with the unseasonably warm conditions made for a very tough race. Whilst cycling in warm weather is great, running is less so.

The Bike

The 9-lap cycle course is superb, the only downsides being that a) you have to be able to count to 9 and b) the small circuit means that you’re riding with a lot of other cyclists. The former is easily solved using various methods. However, the huge number (319 finishers) of bikes on the course led to some tricky moments, especially around those whose bike handling skills were, shall we say, less than optimal. There was one particularly big group of riders who seemed to think that that it was a somewhere between a stage race and a Sunday group ride, who were particularly difficult to pass. And to those riders who know they’re not the fastest: don’t take the racing line through the corners, especially the hairpin, as you will get shouted at when you drop down the banking straight onto someone who’s going past you!

The Run

Ouch! An obvious lack of conditioning, combined with having hammered the bike course as hard as I could, meant that this was a bit of a slow affair. I felt as though I had no pace at all. The heat on the back straight was oppressive, which made the two climbs even tougher. However, I guess it can’t have been all bad as I was 2 seconds faster on this leg than I’d been last Autumn!

Transition

Very well organised in the pit lane but a bit tight, as the first rack is single-sided. As I came in from Run 1 I saw my helmet being knocked off my bike – not best pleased. Could do with more room – perhaps make it longer as there’s no width? Wouldn’t change the race at all.

Race Organisation

Excellent – slick, professional and well organised as befits a qualifying event.

Top Oulton Park Spring Duathlon Tips

Be prepared for the hills and for a fairly technical course. If you’re not a strong cyclist, keep left and out of the way of other, faster riders – there will be some who’re going very quickly and won’t be pleased if you block them, especially on the exit of T1

How did you do?

Not too bad – a minute slower overall than last Autumn but then it was busy, hot and it’s early in the season!

Verdict

Overall, this was a great event, well organised and on a superb venue. The weather was fantastic, making it a pleasure for both racers and spectators who cheered us all the way around and especially up the hill! Definitely one for the calendar and having the opportunity to race the same course both spring and autumn makes for a great season opener and closer.

You can follow Tim on twitter as @tritim

If you have done a triathlon and want to post a triathlon review then send it through. Every review you do for BeyondTransition helps us write better race guides and other triathletes enjoy their races more. Our reviews focus on the course and help prepare triathletes for the race ahead.

Filed Under: Triathlon Reviews Tagged With: Duathlon, Garmin, Oulton Park, Triathlon

Competitors at Ironman Hawaii since 1978

March 27, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Here’s a little chart of Ironman Hawaii triathletes since 1978. It shows the number of people racing each year since 1978 and for a number of years the male female split.

Competitors at Ironman Hawaii from 1978

Before the early 2000′s the results are still on paper and are given as an overall list. This means that we have to go through and count the number of male and female entrants. Lots of opportunity for error and somewhat slow. That’s why we have a bit of a gap in the middle of the graph at the moment – but it should be updated over time.

The chart shows starters as opposed to finishers – initial data shows that DNF’s were in the 5 – 10% range in the 90′s and a certain Julie Moss kept coming back and DNFing. Three times by my count.

The other interesting thing shown is how racer numbers slowly climb each year suggesting that by 2020 there will be 2000+ triathletes competing in the world championship at Hawaii if the current trend continues.

Check out our Ironman Hawaii pages for more information about the Ironman World Championships

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Analysis, Hawaii, ironman, Ironman Hawaii, Ironman Triathlon, Ironman World Championship, Triathlon

Ironman Singapore 2012 Results

March 26, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Here are the results from Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2012. You can of course find the full set of results on the Ironman site but not like this. We’ve gone through the results in an attempt to make some sense ouit of those long lists of numbers and turn them into useful and informative pretty graphs.

The main trouble with the normal results table is that it’s pretty difficult to see how you did in comparison to your age group or conversely what sort of times your looking for to get a partoicular position in your age group These should help.

Useful Information about the race

85% Male and 15% female and 49% of the players were from the Singapore home team – a remarkably low number compared to most Ironman races (but understated because of the number of expats in Singapore)

1255 people entered Ironman Singapore 2012 and gave us the following average times (including DNF’s)

Swim – 0:47:57 2:31/100m

Bike – 02:52:46 1:55 min/km or 31.26 km/h

Run – 02:25:13 6:53 min/km or 8.72 km/h

Total – 06:15:27

Splits by Category

In this table you can see the breakdown of splits by category. They’re ordered by the fastest in each category. If you sort it by average the results are mainly the same.

Row Labels	Average Bike	Average of Run	Average Swim	Average Time	Count of Cat
Male Elite	02:15:00	01:31:53	00:28:31	04:18:24	19
Male 3034	02:53:06	02:24:48	00:47:37	06:14:12	177
Female Elite	02:28:43	01:41:10	00:31:32	04:44:11	12
Male 4044	02:52:45	02:25:17	00:48:31	06:14:49	260
Male 3539	02:50:37	02:26:11	00:49:06	06:14:11	225
Male 1824	02:25:17	02:14:29	00:44:37	05:58:11	35
Male 2529	02:48:25	02:20:17	00:47:38	06:08:07	91
Female 3539	03:03:45	02:25:29	00:46:20	06:23:10	40
Male 4549	02:53:27	02:30:44	00:48:31	06:22:23	167
Male 5559	02:58:41	02:33:16	00:49:35	06:28:34	28
Female 2529	02:58:43	02:20:38	00:43:11	06:09:00	17
Male 5054	02:59:59	02:35:16	00:51:08	06:33:49	71
Female 4549	03:02:34	02:25:03	00:48:31	06:24:05	22
Female 1824	03:07:50	02:24:36	00:42:07	06:19:53	6
Female 3034	02:59:54	02:26:44	00:48:27	06:27:23	24
Female 4044	03:11:54	02:24:41	00:50:26	06:35:41	24
Female 5054	02:56:53	02:14:20	00:48:09	06:07:45	8
Male 6064	03:03:08	02:40:07	00:50:43	06:42:45	14
Male 6569	03:08:28	02:43:27	01:04:34	07:04:52	6
Female 6064	03:01:46	02:18:12	00:44:01	06:10:37	2
Female 5559	02:27:37	02:55:16	00:53:00	07:34:00	4
Female 6569	03:19:23	02:39:59	00:49:17	06:59:16	1
Male 75+	03:26:08	02:42:00	00:54:46	07:14:47	1
Male PC	00:46:17	02:56:01	01:18:53	08:08:31	1

Row Labels	Fastest	Fastest Bike	Fastest Run	Fastest Swim	Count of Cat
Male Elite	03:54:49	02:06:28	01:18:59	00:24:02	19
Male 3034	04:19:02	01:23:50	01:23:27	00:28:16	177
Female Elite	04:19:35	02:17:45	01:30:16	00:26:42	12
Male 4044	04:22:00	02:07:45	01:36:40	00:25:14	260
Male 3539	04:33:07	02:17:36	01:33:55	00:24:04	225
Male 1824	04:37:07	00:30:05	01:36:16	00:30:55	35
Male 2529	04:39:15	00:24:49	01:32:58	00:30:32	91
Female 3539	04:42:12	02:27:18	01:34:15	00:29:30	40
Male 4549	04:44:49	00:23:58	01:35:36	00:32:58	167
Male 5559	04:46:39	02:23:01	01:38:45	00:32:50	28
Female 2529	04:53:09	02:33:13	01:38:29	00:30:17	17
Male 5054	04:56:28	02:29:00	01:45:01	00:32:47	71
Female 4549	04:58:56	02:33:44	01:44:22	00:32:48	22
Female 1824	05:02:25	02:34:53	01:50:49	00:29:34	6
Female 3034	05:07:58	01:28:23	01:52:14	00:34:25	24
Female 4044	05:20:06	02:38:33	01:48:03	00:38:14	24
Female 5054	05:21:56	02:42:31	01:46:34	00:38:17	8
Male 6064	05:32:41	02:35:05	02:01:12	00:41:25	14
Male 6569	05:59:35	02:33:48	02:19:07	00:54:06	6
Female 6064	06:05:25	02:53:54	02:03:50	00:43:50	2
Female 5559	06:35:26	00:54:55	02:23:36	00:45:20	4
Female 6569	06:59:16	03:19:23	02:39:59	00:49:17	1
Male 75+	07:14:47	03:26:08	02:42:00	00:54:46	1
Male PC	08:08:31	00:46:17	02:56:01	01:18:53	1

Breakdown by Country

This table is always a bit misleading. It shows the fastest countries – which usually means that there are a lot of countries with a couple of athletes who have travelled to the race to get a vegas slot and they usually perform well. At Singapore Ironman 2012 this is no different.

If we just show neighbouring countries and those with about 40+ athletes competiting we get the following chart list

Australia
USA
Thailand
China
Indonesia
Japan
Singapore
Malaysia
Philippines

South Korea and Kuwait had DNF’s or DNS’s.

Country	No of Triathletes	Average Time	Average Swim Time	Average Bike Time	Average Run Time
New Zealand	6	04:40:03	00:32:10	02:22:11	01:43:11
Mexico	1	04:50:58	00:37:14	02:25:31	01:44:12
Denmark	4	04:55:30	00:36:35	02:24:44	01:48:54
Italy	6	04:57:06	00:33:17	02:26:26	01:52:08
Slovenia	1	05:03:53	00:39:56	02:23:16	01:56:17
Reunion	2	05:04:47	00:41:34	02:42:44	01:47:51
Spain	3	05:08:01	00:40:18	02:31:33	01:51:56
Austria	2	05:10:14	00:38:45	02:35:21	01:51:29
Belgium	2	05:11:22	00:40:41	02:28:50	01:56:47
Russia	3	05:12:00	00:36:57	02:43:28	01:45:40
Argentina	1	05:15:05	00:43:48	02:38:30	01:48:34
Liechtenstein	1	05:18:53	00:37:09	02:36:06	02:01:14
French Polynesia	1	05:18:54	00:42:01	02:38:56	01:53:18
Chile	2	05:20:20	00:44:30	02:36:40	01:54:19
Peru	1	05:27:24	00:36:43	02:34:52	02:08:43
Australia	132	05:32:47	00:39:36	02:38:58	02:07:46
France	7	05:34:33	00:42:08	02:32:37	02:12:20
Macau	5	05:36:59	00:43:40	02:45:23	02:02:13
Taiwan	5	05:37:31	00:42:18	02:40:30	02:08:42
Portugal	2	05:41:40	00:40:26	02:45:57	02:10:09
Switzerland	11	05:45:49	00:41:15	02:40:23	02:17:43
Germany	6	05:49:08	00:43:30	02:43:59	02:15:44
Czech Republic	2	05:55:23	00:43:33	02:54:13	02:11:34
Greece	1	05:58:13	00:36:26	02:47:43	02:25:02
United States	41	05:58:33	00:44:23	02:47:25	02:16:43
Thailand	17	06:05:36	00:45:30	02:46:36	02:24:12
United Arab Emirates	7	06:05:52	00:43:38	02:54:00	02:21:43
China	35	06:10:34	00:48:09	02:53:08	02:23:21
Indonesia	16	06:11:49	00:46:33	02:49:46	02:28:32
Vietnam	6	06:11:58	00:46:48	02:46:05	02:29:51
Norway	2	06:13:24	00:43:45	02:55:39	02:28:02
Japan	72	06:13:29	00:47:32	02:53:49	02:24:29
Cambodia	3	06:16:42	00:46:33	03:06:15	02:16:11
Turkey	2	06:16:59	00:49:32	03:01:44	02:17:46
Poland	2	06:18:30	00:48:26	02:49:36	02:30:26
Bahrain	1	06:25:18	00:46:47	03:00:15	02:30:34
India	5	06:27:59	00:50:31	02:59:22	02:29:32
Singapore	611	06:28:01	00:50:21	02:56:36	02:30:21
Oman	2	06:28:35	00:50:26	03:06:18	02:22:10
Sweden	1	06:29:45	00:54:50	02:41:39	02:39:21
Ireland	3	06:34:00	00:51:38	02:48:08	02:47:08
Brazil	1	06:35:26	00:48:57	01:27:13	02:29:16
Malaysia	47	06:39:26	00:56:19	02:57:46	02:32:25
Brunei Darussalam	6	06:44:30	01:07:15	02:47:57	02:42:43
Philippines	34	06:45:44	00:51:29	02:59:06	02:42:22
Netherlands	3	06:45:46	00:43:29	02:52:53	03:01:10
Qatar	1	06:45:53	00:47:56	02:41:38	02:55:56
Canada	2	07:03:21	00:46:33	02:53:56	03:12:54
Finland	1	07:08:39	00:57:06	03:23:01	02:39:06
Maldives	2	07:14:12	00:54:57	03:20:49	02:52:44
Republic of Korea	15	07:27:55	00:51:06	03:17:01	02:57:11
South Africa	2	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Kuwait	1	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Grand Total	1255	06:15:27	00:47:57	02:52:24	02:25:13

Men vs Women

Men usually have faster times than women when we do this averaging. On occasion they are faster – usually on the run as it seems they are better as a sex at pacing on the bike, and in Singapore women were indeed faster on the run than men – on average and only 4 minutes off the male average time of 06:14:58. Which I think is pretty good for a group that’s only 15% of the entrants

Sex	Number	Time	Swim	Bike	Run
Male	1095	06:14:58	00:48:13	02:51:15	02:25:43
Female	160	06:18:24	00:46:12	03:02:20	02:22:09

Now for some pretty charts

Category Breakdown

These show the overall, swim, bike and run times at Ironman Singapore broken down by average across agegroups

Fastest Splits

Ok. Averages are interesting but what you really want are the speed merchants and that’s what these next two graphs show. The first shows the speediest female splits by category and the second shows the speediest make splits at Ironman 70.3 Singapore by Age group’

05 Fastest Singapore 70.3 Splits - Female

06 Fastest Singapore 70.3 Splits - Male

Comparison of SBR at Ironman 70.3 Singapore

This is a useful chart as it gives you an indication of how hard the course is. Typically the bike is just under half but as the toughness of the bike increases you see some interesting movements in the swim and the run as a a percentage. As a rule of thumb if the bike is over 50% it’s a hard bike course

SBR Comparison at Ironman 70.3 Singapore

Starters, Quitters and Finishers

This is another interesting chart. It’s not always possible to do this as sometimes DNF’s and DNS’s aren’t included in the official results. Here they were and the figures seem to be about right for most Ironman races – A 15% DNS rate covers covers lots of reasons – but fundamentally it’s peeps not ready to race. You could use that as an approximate proxy for injury. As It happens I was one of the 15% with a fever on race day morning – taking my bike from transition as everyone else headed to the swim start. Such is life. 5% DNFing is also about right. It’s possibly a little high for a 70.3 but generally hot races have high rates of DNF expect when bad weather conditions occur during race day.

Starters, Finishers and Quitters at Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2012

Sub X

This shows the number of triathletes going sub x and the percentage of athletes to do so. Always useful as a sanity check when you blithely say “Yeah I plan to go sub 4 at Singapore” LOL

Sub x at Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2012

Top 10 in Each Age Group

A nice simple chart showing the top 10 in ech age group. For those of you obsessed with Pro times they’re down the bottom (highlighted in red) as we believe that Age groupers are the heart and soul of triathlon and why all our content is written first for amateurs…

Sex	Cat 2	Cat Place	First Name	Last Name	Swim Time	Bike Time	Run Time	Total Time
Male	18 – 24	1	Mark	LUCKIN	00:30:57	02:27:06	01:36:16	04:37:07
		2	Amos	GOLLACH	00:35:41	02:23:53	01:36:29	04:39:44
		3	Luke	BURTON	00:31:33	02:23:37	01:47:54	04:46:41
		4	Scott	PONTAGUE	00:30:55	02:23:09	02:04:20	04:58:24
		5	Ka Lun	LEUNG	00:33:50	02:29:50	01:52:40	04:59:52
		6	Jeremy	YEAP	00:41:57	02:34:50	01:41:18	05:02:41
		7	Iztok	FISTER	00:39:56	02:23:16	01:56:17	05:03:53
		8	Nuno	FERNANDES	00:40:12	02:39:49	01:40:40	05:04:53
		9	John	CHEW	00:50:51	02:33:10	01:44:01	05:12:17
		10	Daniel	BATES	00:49:20	02:39:14	01:50:57	05:23:52
	25 – 29	1	Kasper	OUGAARD	00:36:57	02:15:38	01:43:18	04:39:15
		2	James	BRENT	00:37:01	02:21:37	01:39:12	04:40:58
		3	Chuan Rong	LOO	00:30:32	02:26:56	01:42:32	04:43:34
		4	Ashley	LIEW	00:38:50	02:29:57	01:32:58	04:45:49
		5	Andy	LORDIANTO	00:37:07	02:28:31	01:40:58	04:51:37
		6	Tan	TAN SUNG MOH FRANCIS	00:38:27	02:23:38	01:47:21	04:54:21
		7	Scott	STANTON	00:33:09	02:25:37	01:56:17	04:59:36
		8	Justin	TRANTER	00:36:51	02:20:58	01:59:14	05:00:41
		9	Donald	PIRET	00:37:17	02:35:26	01:51:55	05:08:40
		10	Matt	SHEPHERD	00:36:20	02:38:21	01:51:05	05:09:52
	30 – 34	1	Aj	ANDERSON	00:32:19	02:19:56	01:23:27	04:19:02
		2	Timothy	COSULICH	00:31:02	02:21:24	01:32:43	04:28:34
		3	Mark	LOVEDAY	00:36:45	02:21:11	01:32:30	04:34:34
		4	Michael	DHULST	00:36:47	02:15:29	01:38:57	04:35:05
		5	Derek	CROSS	00:29:00	02:22:11	01:41:15	04:35:39
		6	Marcus	LISLE	00:34:19	02:23:30	01:35:33	04:36:49
		7	Nicholas	SEETO	00:33:07	02:19:16	01:41:16	04:37:43
		8	Dane	CANTWELL	00:31:19	02:21:12	01:42:33	04:38:26
		9	Christian	FAESSLER	00:28:16	02:22:55	01:44:38	04:39:29
		10	Bastian	DOEHLING	00:39:07	02:13:42	01:45:09	04:41:16
	35 – 39	1	Campbell	HANSON	00:31:47	02:20:56	01:36:37	04:33:07
		2	Gregg	PORTER	00:37:48	02:17:36	01:40:02	04:38:56
		3	Leighton	MATHESON	00:36:58	02:18:21	01:40:52	04:39:50
		4	Qi	DANG	00:24:04	02:28:28	01:45:03	04:42:09
		5	Olivier	MONNARD	00:35:57	02:28:28	01:34:43	04:42:54
		6	Mark	JANSEN	00:34:36	02:18:09	01:50:50	04:47:54
		7	Tomoya	TSURUTA	00:35:08	02:27:11	01:41:11	04:48:03
		8	Jeff	GIBSON	00:34:37	02:23:08	01:45:48	04:48:11
		9	Timothy	KELSALL	00:33:24	02:35:13	01:34:47	04:48:20
		10	Shem	LEONG	00:36:13	02:30:46	01:41:24	04:53:13
	40 – 44	1	Giuseppe	BALDELLI	00:25:14	02:07:45	01:44:27	04:22:00
		2	Jean	EICHAKER	00:34:22	02:25:54	01:36:40	04:41:16
		3	Olivier	BAILLET	00:31:58	02:21:27	01:43:07	04:41:19
		4	Anthony	FESCHE	00:36:41	02:22:28	01:40:46	04:44:00
		5	Kenji	TAKEYA	00:47:04	02:16:26	01:40:01	04:47:57
		6	Brendan	CAMILLERI	00:35:16	02:26:22	01:45:54	04:51:31
		7	James	MIDDLEDITCH	00:39:12	02:28:16	01:41:54	04:53:58
		8	Bryan	HOARE	00:31:29	02:20:50	01:57:36	04:55:00
		9	Richard	THEVENON	00:37:56	02:25:04	01:46:09	04:55:26
		10	Todd	GILMORE	00:39:58	02:22:57	01:47:16	04:55:55
	45 – 49	1	Jo	KOSTER	00:37:50	02:19:21	01:43:13	04:44:49
		2	Matthew	PERKINS	00:38:43	02:20:23	01:46:18	04:49:27
		3	Michael	MUELLER-COONS	00:33:33	02:23:47	01:52:10	04:53:43
		4	Mike	PEAR	00:36:03	02:38:08	01:35:36	04:53:44
		5	Dai	MATSUI	00:33:56	02:27:44	01:50:26	04:55:19
		6	Angus	WIPPELL	00:32:58	02:33:22	01:50:03	05:02:04
		7	Christian	SANDERSON	00:38:05	02:21:44	01:59:09	05:03:42
		8	Martin	REYNOLDS	00:38:45	02:37:26	01:43:39	05:04:13
		9	Philippe	LAURET	00:38:10	02:34:55	01:47:51	05:04:47
		10	John	MCKELVIE	00:41:48	02:31:45	01:47:22	05:06:09
	50 – 54	1	Russell	O’HARA	00:37:36	02:29:51	01:45:01	04:56:28
		2	Mark	BATTEN	00:32:47	02:29:00	01:56:52	05:02:27
		3	Andrew	PATRICK	00:34:18	02:36:56	01:53:20	05:08:36
		4	Barry	SILVERLOCK	00:34:08	02:45:00	01:53:58	05:17:14
		5	David	FORWARD	00:41:18	02:43:45	01:48:05	05:17:42
		6	Desmond	HILL	00:40:27	02:30:22	02:01:33	05:17:53
		7	Jeremy	SNOAD	00:48:50	02:35:31	01:51:42	05:21:26
		8	Malcolm	ELLEY	00:41:13	02:37:25	02:05:17	05:29:24
		9	Colin	RYAN	00:46:11	02:42:09	01:59:53	05:34:45
		10	Mogens	JOHANSEN	00:49:09	02:44:10	02:05:01	05:43:44
	55 – 59	1	Alan	NICHOLLS	00:38:51	02:23:01	01:38:45	04:46:39
		2	Gilbert	FISCH	00:32:50	02:32:00	02:00:00	05:10:04
		3	John	DOUMA	00:38:02	02:36:35	01:52:14	05:11:34
		4	Kenji	KAITSUKA	00:36:39	02:38:42	01:50:42	05:12:31
		5	Steven	BERTLING	00:39:21	02:38:11	01:57:33	05:21:37
		6	Tatsuro	YASUKAWA	00:46:48	02:45:51	01:59:51	05:41:12
		7	Eric	RAVIER	00:47:28	02:41:39	02:08:58	05:43:27
		8	Christopher	CHENG	00:50:48	02:52:04	02:25:44	06:17:56
		9	Angelo	TAVARES	00:40:39	02:52:06	02:39:39	06:18:27
		10	Philip	BLUMBERG	00:44:03	02:58:51	02:33:53	06:23:40
	60 – 64	1	Victor Chan	YOKE WENG CHAN	00:48:03	02:35:05	02:01:12	05:32:41
		2	Daryl	STANLEY	00:41:25	02:47:00	02:19:59	05:52:54
		3	Stephen	TAYLOR	00:44:35	02:45:09	02:25:00	06:01:13
		4	Joseph	ONG	00:48:45	02:50:58	02:38:24	06:28:13
		5	Shangeng	SHEN	00:54:42	02:53:26	02:33:04	06:28:45
		6	Seiji	MUTO	00:52:27	03:15:21	02:40:34	06:58:16
		7	Edward	BOSANAC	00:46:31	03:07:36	03:02:59	07:04:08
		8	Alan	COLLINS	01:03:22	03:02:45	02:50:53	07:04:58
		9	Wing On	LEE	00:57:29	03:52:11	02:10:22	07:10:39
		10	Isamu	ONODA	00:50:45	02:56:16	03:31:01	07:34:13
	65 – 69	1	Robert	SCOTT	01:00:57	02:33:48	02:19:07	05:59:35
		2	Masashi	ANDO	00:54:06	02:59:53	02:35:56	06:41:31
		3	Ildoo	KIM	01:20:56	03:36:38	03:15:19	08:33:29
	75+	1	Kazuharu	TSUJII	00:54:46	03:26:08	02:42:00	07:14:47
	Elite	1	Josh	AMBERGER	00:24:03	02:06:28	01:22:01	03:54:49
		2	Denis	VASILIEV	00:24:04	02:06:43	01:26:24	03:59:25
		3	Dylan	MCNEICE	00:24:02	02:06:34	01:27:47	04:00:51
		4	Alessandro	DEGASPERI	00:26:46	02:10:36	01:21:04	04:01:15
		5	Nick	WANINGER	00:27:31	02:16:10	01:18:59	04:05:12
		6	Guy	CRAWFORD	00:26:43	02:10:40	01:30:57	04:11:09
		7	Kodo	HIRAMATSU	00:27:32	02:16:27	01:25:19	04:12:05
		8	Ollie	WHISTLER	00:26:44	02:10:39	01:34:31	04:14:47
		9	Anthony	DEVOS	00:27:34	02:16:11	01:38:27	04:25:20
		10	Eneko	ELOSEGUI	00:31:42	02:16:50	01:34:37	04:26:14
	PC	1	Adam	KAMIS	01:18:53	03:53:37	02:56:01	08:08:31
Female	18 – 24	1	Juliana	BAHR-THOMSON	00:29:34	02:34:53	01:54:22	05:02:25
		2	Shuwen	CHANG	00:39:07	02:58:47	01:50:49	05:32:55
		3	Jasmine	LIM	00:43:39	03:10:11	02:08:47	06:07:45
		4	Jamie	GOH	00:46:57	03:23:08	03:10:56	07:27:47
		5	Meifang	LIN	00:51:16	03:32:12	02:58:07	07:28:34
	25 – 29	1	Long	HOI	00:30:17	02:33:13	01:46:04	04:53:09
		2	Caitlin	BRIDGLAND	00:30:18	02:36:43	01:45:52	04:57:31
		3	Stefanie	PUSZKA	00:35:45	02:43:28	01:38:29	05:02:24
		4	Ling Er	CHOO	00:38:06	02:34:25	01:50:12	05:07:35
		5	Pan Seng	KHA KHRANG	00:41:15	02:37:58	02:03:16	05:27:59
		6	Nerea	CAL	00:33:40	02:53:44	01:59:04	05:30:50
		7	Amy	PALLENTINE	00:50:41	02:57:02	01:56:26	05:49:08
		8	Megan	GILLMER	00:36:13	02:54:59	02:16:05	05:52:34
		9	Ekaterina	SHEREMET	00:43:06	03:10:11	01:55:20	05:55:48
		10	Michaela	LEBLANC	00:49:22	02:57:05	02:18:56	06:10:53
	30 – 34	1	Kylie	GAFFEL	00:36:01	02:30:55	01:57:46	05:07:58
		2	Kristal	TAY	00:44:05	02:46:30	02:01:42	05:36:35
		3	Jessica	FORMAN	00:37:20	02:51:29	02:09:35	05:43:09
		4	Bethann	SLIWA	00:47:20	02:56:30	01:52:14	05:43:49
		5	Abigail	TYRRELL	00:41:17	02:48:59	02:10:46	05:45:45
		6	Evangeline	TAN	00:47:54	02:45:55	02:10:38	05:52:40
		7	Aimee	DI MARCO	00:46:56	03:03:25	02:07:01	05:57:22
		8	Bronwen	BRAUTESETH	00:35:08	03:03:58	02:14:07	05:58:28
		9	Megan	AUBIN	00:34:25	02:53:49	02:23:41	05:58:43
		10	Miyuki	CHIDA	00:48:07	02:54:26	02:13:43	06:01:52
	35 – 39	1	Shiao Yu	LI	00:36:15	02:27:18	01:34:15	04:42:12
		2	Kate	RUTHERFORD	00:30:10	02:36:29	01:59:40	05:10:22
		3	Nicole	RODDIE	00:41:01	02:38:48	01:47:14	05:11:11
		4	Shannon	HILL	00:29:30	02:44:56	01:55:04	05:13:57
		5	Jane	GRIFFITHS	00:39:41	02:43:33	01:54:01	05:21:51
		6	Jessica	RØED	00:34:57	02:40:33	02:02:20	05:22:28
		7	Fiona	YARD	00:33:09	02:39:03	02:06:50	05:24:21
		8	Janine	DENNING	00:43:06	02:48:39	01:53:01	05:29:57
		9	Elvia	SURYADI	00:39:14	02:52:07	02:00:41	05:36:41
		10	Chihiro	ENDO	00:39:09	03:02:15	01:50:18	05:38:52
	40 – 44	1	Megan	SCOTT	00:38:14	02:38:33	01:58:38	05:20:06
		2	Robin	MARTZ	00:43:48	02:51:30	01:48:03	05:30:38
		3	Shaye	HATTY	00:42:55	02:40:54	02:02:16	05:30:39
		4	Anne	LAVANDON	00:46:51	02:50:01	01:59:58	05:43:28
		5	Tina	HUNT	00:47:20	02:55:28	02:14:52	06:04:48
		6	Annie	PAULSON	00:46:07	03:04:01	02:07:38	06:05:33
		7	Thong Yin	SHENG	00:48:52	03:01:42	02:21:56	06:20:48
		8	Siok	ONG	00:57:04	03:08:32	02:12:29	06:25:54
		9	Rebecca	COLE	01:00:11	03:07:14	02:14:07	06:29:15
		10	Victoria	ALLEN	00:45:04	02:53:01	02:46:31	06:30:46
	45 – 49	1	Laura	WALSH	00:36:29	02:33:44	01:44:22	04:58:56
		2	Anita	LENTI	00:32:48	02:40:22	01:49:21	05:06:43
		3	Sherry	COONS-MUELLER	00:34:12	02:38:46	01:57:48	05:15:07
		4	Belinda	BIRK	00:36:04	02:38:56	01:57:47	05:16:45
		5	Jodie	MCLEOD	00:40:23	02:51:31	02:11:17	05:48:57
		6	Claire	CHAPMAN	00:35:51	02:47:02	02:27:39	05:54:33
		7	Sarah	TAN	00:50:40	02:53:31	02:06:43	05:57:29
		8	Yumiko	HONDA	00:46:12	02:58:06	02:03:46	05:57:47
		9	Kirsten	KEMPE	00:34:59	02:53:15	02:38:20	06:12:32
		10	Yoshimi	KUMAZAKI	00:48:22	02:41:23	02:39:22	06:16:23
	50 – 54	1	Barb	WOOD	00:42:02	02:47:53	01:46:34	05:21:56
		2	Wendy-Natalie	WILCOX	00:46:28	02:42:31	01:59:40	05:32:50
		3	Susanna	WEBBER	00:38:17	02:47:04	02:13:01	05:42:51
		4	Pauline	YONG	00:46:21	02:46:38	02:12:38	05:52:50
		5	Angelika	HANNON	00:41:18	03:04:52	02:40:53	06:34:55
		6	Masako	SASAKI	01:04:06	03:05:54	02:17:36	06:38:10
		7	Titania Ka Wing	LI	00:58:30	03:23:17	02:30:01	07:10:43
	55 – 59	1	Ana	LEITAO	00:48:57	03:17:13	02:29:16	06:35:26
		2	Choi Ying	FONG	00:45:20	03:21:54	02:23:36	06:39:10
		3	Swee Lan	ONG	00:55:25	03:53:16	03:19:22	08:08:03
	60 – 64	1	Pamela	WILLIAMS	00:44:11	03:09:38	02:03:50	06:05:25
		2	Robyn	STANLEY	00:43:50	02:53:54	02:32:35	06:15:50
	65 – 69	1	Mieko	NISHIBORI	00:49:17	03:19:23	02:39:59	06:59:16
	Elite	1	Mary Beth	ELLIS	00:26:42	02:17:45	01:32:06	04:19:35
		2	Michelle	WU	00:30:07	02:21:54	01:30:16	04:25:31
		3	Kate	BEVILAQUA	00:28:43	02:22:44	01:37:30	04:32:19
		4	Alison	FITCH	00:29:11	02:22:50	01:38:40	04:34:22
		5	Irina	KIRCHLER	00:30:08	02:24:55	01:42:09	04:40:18
		6	Francesca	TIBALDI	00:31:26	02:27:15	01:39:15	04:41:30
		7	Elaine	BRENT	00:35:27	02:31:04	01:37:29	04:47:29
		8	Kat	BAKER	00:30:11	02:27:43	01:50:25	04:51:56
		9	Megumi	SHIGAKI	00:31:49	02:39:14	01:53:00	05:07:43
		10	Kristina	WIEGAND	00:36:34	02:49:57	01:50:51	05:21:10

Age Group Breakdown

Finally we have the Age Group breakdown so that you can see how many peep were racing in each category.

As always if there’s some more data or graphs that you want to see or if you want to contribute a really cool graph do shout out in the comments below or by email. We had a couple of technical issues with the data here and couldn’t do a number of graphs so more next time.

Amberger, Ellis Win 2012 Ironman 70.3 Singapore (trijuice.com)
Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Recap (triathleteonline.com)

Filed Under: Asia, Race Analysis Tagged With: Ironman 70.3, Singapore

Triathlon Training and the Common Cold

March 26, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Triathlete Flu Blues via Daniel Cuminsky on Flickr

How many times has your triathlon training plan been going so well and then it all goes wrong because you get a cold? Colds aren’t only miserable they also have the ability to derail your triathlon training and break that 15,16,17 days done to plan records that you’re working towards.

In this article @triabilitycoach Gregg Seltzer works through the 4 key components of how to cope with the common cold when training so that you can minimise the training consequences.

Above and Below Rule

This basically says if you feel bad above the neck carry on and stop winging (BeyondTransition’s hypocritical words); but if you feel bad below the neck you need to relax and take it easier.

However, a robust cough, sore or stiff muscles, chest congestion, fever, or you feel the need to vomit warrant a break from exercise.

Vitamin C

Contrary to popular opinion you should take this before you get a cold – it’s not that much use during one. Generally it’s better to take vitamins as part of a natural diet – lemon or lime juice added to your water rather than nutritional supplements.

A 2007 research paper, published in the United States, stated that it halved a colds occurrence in endurance athletes.

Sleep

It’s so tempting to go to bed late so that you get a bit more family time; but you can’t miss early morning training so you cut down opnn your sleep. And what does your boss say about mid afternoon power naps…. Sleep is great not just as cold prevention – but also a time of recovery when you gain the benefits of training.

Health studies consistently show a link between poor sleeping habits and susceptibility to the common cold

Vital Statistics

Although body composition numbers are important, you should also be checking you resting heart rate and resting blood pressure daily. These numbers will likely be an early warning sign that you are over-training, which can lead to illness, injury, or both

These tips should help you train more consistently and thus race faster and smarter.

You can read the full article at Triathlon Training and the common cold and follow Gregg on Twitter

Can you avoid the common cold? (justsave.co.uk)
The common cold: preparing yourself against it this winter (bestsavingsnews.co.uk)
How can you tackle the common cold? (moneyviews.com)
This Sign Is Alive; A Cure for the Common Cold and HIV (theatlanticwire.com)

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Common cold, Conditions and Diseases, Ironman Triathlon, Nutrition, Triathlon

Triathlon Training and the Common Cold by Gregg Seltzer originally appeared on http://triabilitycoach.com/. © http://triabilitycoach.com/

Building Your Mental Fortress for Ironman Success

March 25, 2012 By Susan DuPont Leave a Comment

A Mental Fortress is an Ironman Weapon via NRM the 2nd on Flickr

Building Your Mental Fortress

By: Susan DuPont

How tough is your mental fortress?

Everyone thinks that an Ironman is all about one’s physical fitness, a sheer test of human strength, endurance, and speed. But I’m here to tell you that it’s not. Well, at least not totally. Not even partly. Nope, an Ironman is mainly a mental contest, and it is one that will eat you alive if you are not properly prepared. Now, not to take away for the fitness aspect of the sport; an Ironman does take a large amount of physical preparation that not just anyone can do. However, athletic prowess aside, no athlete would be able to cross that finish line if he hadn’t already won the mental game. Building a mental fortress to protect yourself during this grueling race is essential to finishing. Think of it as another aspect to your physical training. Mental toughness does not come easy; you gotta work at it just like any other muscle. But once you get your fortress built, you will be amazed at what you can do.

Here are five ways that you can build your mental fortress for an IM.

Like Who You Are

1. I learned this one from my coach. “If you don’t like yourself, you will never be able to finish an Ironman.” Being out on the IM course anywhere from 9-17 hours gives you plenty of time to get to know who you really are and the long hours of training put in beforehand only intensify irrational thoughts you may have about youself and your abilities. Now I will be among the first to cling desperately to my friends for company during training, but I also know that there are times when I have to go it alone. During these times a person gets pretty lonely and time seems to stand still (try running without an Ipod, if you don’t believe me). Miles seem to go on indefinitely and your brain has a lot of time for self-doubt. If you are not happy with who you are, or why you are there, then this makes for some difficult training and even more difficult racing. These are the times when you are forced to spend time with YOU and for some people, that is pretty darn uncomfortable. During an Ironman, I am fo

A Mental Fortress is an Ironman Weapon via NRM the 2nd on Flickr

ced to look at all sides of myself: the dark, ugly sides that are so easy to cover up with a job or group of people or the sound of the TV. I am forced to spend quality time with my scared side, my vulnerable side, and my negative side, none of which I particularly want to hang out with. I have to face down and confront ALL my demons. What is so exhilirating about Ironman is defeating all those demons and ending up being happy with the person you are when you finish.

Challenges in Training are Resources in Racing

2. Training is often just as much about mental preparation as it is physical. You shouldn’t kill yourself during your training, but that doesn’t mean you should never do any training that is difficult. Some training should be mental. Riding for six hours is one example. My coach doesn’t structure my six hour rides to consist of time trials and non stop hammering. Instead, it is more a task of getting my mind wrapped around being in the saddle for long periods of time and handling obstacles that may arise from this. For the past two weekends my coach has had me ride Green River Cove, a monster of a climb. While this is a very difficult 2.5 mile climb (15% grade!), the main point of climbing this hill is for mental toughness. If I can climb this hill at mile 40 of a 70 mile ride, then I can ride 112 miles on flat roads. If I can pedal up this monster, then I can pedal against the wind in Florida. If I can ride these 70 miles today, then I can ride 100 miles next week. If I can do this, then I can do that.

Ironman is a Journey not a Mission

3. Goal setting is awesome, but don’t delude yourself. I love to make goals, mainly because I relish how great it feels when I accomplish one. But I don’t set goals that are going to sabotage me. Goals need to be realistic and attainable. There is nothing worse than someone setting an unrealistic IM time and then realizing it isn’t going to happen early on. The mental beating that you take for not making your time splits becomes relentless and your mental fortress starts to crack. You might be able to swim X time in a lap pool, but that is completely different than a mass start with 2,000 people and no nice, black pool lines to follow. You might be able to run a mile in X time, but can you do that consistently twenty six times after riding 112 miles? My IM goals are conservative, at best, and a slight stretch at worst. I set goals that I know I can accomplish, but I don’t make goals that are going to set me up for failure and often at an IM, I refuse to set specific time split goals for that reason. IM is about enjoying the success found at the end of a long journey, so sometimes the perfect goal is simply to have a good race and feel good at the finish, regardless of time.

Race to Learn to Race

4. Race, race, race before you ever race! The more you race, the easier it becomes. The more you race, the more prepared you become. The more you race, the more you know just what your body is and isn’t capable of. The more you race, the more you learn. Racing “B” and “C” races gets you ready for your “A” race. It is the same concept as scrimmages or preseason games. It is practice. It is a trial run. It is a blueprint of what you did right and everything you did wrong. You learn so much from racing and no amount of training can duplicate it. Even though you might be doing sprints and Olys, you are still racing and that is invaluable when it comes to building mental toughness. I mean, where else do you actually have competitors to pit yourself against, aid stations to savor, transitions to practice, and swim buoys to sight off of? You’re crazy not to race at least several races prior to the big one. So enter that sprint and take notes because there will be a test called the Ironman at the end of the season.

Be a Zen Racer

5. Get in the zone. Find that inner quiet in your mind and “be here now.” At Florida’s IM, there is a section of the run that goes through a state park. It is dark and quiet through here, (at least on the second loop of the run) and the only noise is the sound of your own breathing and the slap of your shoes on the pavement. If you are lucky there is a moon out; otherwise, those dreaded glow sticks are the only source of light. People hate this part of the IM, but I love it. It is the perfect zen place for me, or to rip off Superman, it is my “fortress of solitude.” It is only me and my thoughts and the cicadas buzzing. It is where I become one with the road and forget that I am even running a marathon. It is a moment of total clarity and peace and I forget about pain and people and the Coke that I so desperately want to have. I have similar moments on the bike (I wish I did on the swim!) when I feel like a kid again pedaling in my childhood neighborhood. Trust me, if you follow this piece of advice, you will find that blisslike state that will help propel you to the finish line.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your mental fortress. It may take a while to build and I am constantly making modifications and improvements to mine with each season that passes. Just remember to be patient, stay focused, and keep tri-ing!

Filed Under: Guest Posts

Behind Every Ironman There is a Woman of Steel

March 23, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Behind Every Ironman There is a Woman of Steel

The journey triathletes take to an Ironman is a familiar one. We train hard and as consistently as we can. We get tireder as we peak and then mercifully relax as we start to taper – only to start getting nervous about race day. It’s a bubble world as we become for and more focused on race day and bringing the months of training to a succesful conclusion.

Step outside the bubble and look in for a minute at the wife of an Ironman as she thinks about the end of her husband’s journey as he prepares for Ironman Melbourne

Now, tapering has begun (my gosh you’re still in bed on a Saturday morning!), race kits are being planned (please wear something bright so I can spot you on the course!), essentials are gathered for packing (surely you have a packing list after 10 years! Please don’t forget anything!), special requests are being made of loved ones (you want me to pack what!! …and how much does that weigh?) and meal instructions are being made (you want pasta after 6 months of meat and salad?!?)

And then on race day – the emotional support is critical. We all know how terrible it is to come past where we expect our loved one to be – and she’s not there!!!! A toilet stop we later discover but looked for emotional support is not provided. Cruel perhaps – but needful creatures that we are motivation is often sorely needed.

Apart from travel arrangements, scheduling kids care and activities, and helping pack and get my Ironman on a plane – I think what I will do best is soak up all the Ironman craziness with him, give him time out when he needs to rest up, talk through all the preparations so nothing is forgotten and be there on race day to cheer him on and be his no.1 supporter.

And afterwards…

And when my Ironman crosses that finish line and the journey ends (until the next one) not only will I be thrilled that he has achieved his goal – but just quietly I will also be pleased that life can be a bit less hectic for a while and finally I can have a drink (or two) with my husband until midnight!

A mix of wonderful emotions and the recognition that an Ironman journey is made by a family, not just the Ironman.

Lisa’s husband is racing in Ironman Melbourne this weekend and she has a wicked range of Ironman supporters T-shirts available

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Only a Few More Days to Go : Thoughts of an Ironman Wife by Lisa McLean originally appeared on http://tricrew.com.au. © http://tricrew.com.au

Ironman South Africa 2011 Results

March 16, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Fastest Splits Ironman South Africa 2011

Well we’re working hard on our Ironman South Africa race guide. We’ve got the weather sorted and spent a little bit of time having a look at the Ironman South Africa 2011 results.

Great stuff but the home country did manage to come 30th out of 38 countries on the basis of average time – though with 82% plus of the 1500 triathletes racing that wasn’t really suprising. Mind you they did also manage to get 2 of the 3 top male spots and a young Ms Wellington won the female pros - surprise!

Anyway we had a bit of time to spare and put all the results of our tinkering into a small pdf that has 30+ pages of results and analysis of Ironman South Africa.

Among other things we manage to identify the top triathletes in each age group and their splits – so if you’re racing this year it’ll be a cinch to check our the threats to your Kona spot.

We had a play with the classic Sub x strategy and you can see how many people and what percentage went sub 9, 10, 11 etc.

There is so much to talk about – one thing that we quite like is a series of graphs that looks at the the relationship between your swim/run, swim/bike. bike/run etc. These really do help you to figure out using the average times and especially the risks of pushing too hard on the bike – there are a number of dudes who went sub six on the bike and super six on the run…. Probably didn’t feel great at the time either

The chart on this page shows the fastest splits from the race (from different people) and when you compare that to same chart for the slowest splits you learn a lot about the importance of pacing.

Do check it out if you racing Ironman South Africa next month – it’s only $5 – and if you don’t like it send us an email and we’ll give your money back.

One final tip – this is a race where the women were actually faster – on average – on the run than the men were! Girl Power!

Filed Under: Africa, Race Guides Tagged With: Ironman South Africa, South Africa, Triathlon

Where are Ironman Races?

March 16, 2012 By Denis Oakley 5 Comments

I always though the Ironman triathlons were mostly in the US. I was wrong….

I sat down this morning with a bit of free time and plotted out where the twenty eight current Ironman races are.

The answers surprised me. Less than half are in North America – though the US has the largest number of any country with 9. Australia with the addition of Ironman Cairns now has 4 which is one Ironman for every 5 million people. The US by comparison would require something like 62 Ironman races to achieve the same level of penetration!

Europe was far bigger on the Ironman circuit than I’d expected with 9 races – though only the UK and Germany have more than 1.

Ironman Races by Continent

The impact obviously doesn’t take into account the number of people racing them – certainly some races are more popular than others and some are limited by the numbers because of locations. Maybe in a later post we’ll have a look at that.

Ironman Races by Country

The real bad news is if you are African – triathletes from South Africa have a choice of Australia, Europe or South America if they want to do a second race during the year – not to mention a 12 time zone trip to the world championships… Ouch.

Here’s the Complete Listing

Africa

Ironman South Africa

Asia Pacific

Ironman Australia

Ironman Cairns

Ironman Melbourne

Ironman New Zealand

Ironman Western Australia

Europe

Ironman Austria

Ironman France

Ironman Frankfurt

Ironman Lanzarote

Ironman Regensburg

Ironman Sweden

Ironman Switzerland

Ironman UK

Ironman Wales

North America

Ironman Canada

Ironman Coeur d’Alene

Ironman Florida

Ironman Kona

Ironman Lake Placid

Ironman Louisville

Ironman Mont-Tremblant

Ironman New York

Ironman St. George

Ironman Texas

Ironman Wisconsin

South America

Ironman Brasil

Ironman Cozumel

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ironman Triathlon

Ironman Florida Race Review – Sean Dreznin

March 14, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

If Triathlon was Easy....

This is a long, deep and emotional look at what an Ironman is really like. Sean Dreznin charts his emotional highs and lows in a book length guest post about his experiences in Ironman Florida 2011

Race Day Morning

It’s 1:30am on November 5, 2011 and I am awake…again. This time, I decide to have a Muscle Milk and a multivitamin and head back to bed for another hour of rest…hopefully. My eyes strain against the darkness of early morning and the exhaustion of willing myself to sleep. The red numbers bellow 3:45am and this time, I’m up for good. It is Race day and this day is a culmination of a journey that started 3 years ago or 10 months ago, or 3 days ago, depending on which perspective, story line or angle you view it from. This view is Race day only and so we return to me having a whole wheat bagel smothered in creamy natural peanut butter and a banana in the dim halogen lighting of our rental condo’s kitchen. The aura of the day has not yet sunk in quite yet and soon the beautiful Sherpa/Do It All With Grace, lady, Jonell joins me in my morning rituals as we prepare the bags, and I start to obsess that I have everything I need for this morning.

What Have I forgotten?

Once I have stuffed all my bags with more “necessary” stuff then a family of triathletes could possibly use or a subject on an episode of Hoarders! We hoof it down to the vehicle and meet up with the rest of the crew. “Roughrider’s Mount Up!” Or something like that. Without much fanfare, we pile into the vehicles and head down to Club LaVela’s parking lot to unload and begin the 3/4 mile trek to transition and the area that will soon become a bustle of activity and eventually the finish line! I have literally been dreaming about my arm warmers being in the wrong bag, so with a snipers precision, I pull apart the running bag to make 100% sure that the arm warmers are not in there. Upon not finding any sign of them, I proceed to the bike transition bag to visually confirm receipt of those friggin arm warmers! SUCCESS! A trip to the bike racks to visit my other lovely lady, Kestrel Nikita and see how her fractured signs of experience are doing. She looks ready to roll and reveals nothing new, so I unload my bottles upon my trusty steed! I cannot help but notice some of the other bikes that have between 10-15 gels taped to the top bar. Interesting. The copious amount of gel festering in ones stomach seems like an unpleasant way to spend 5-7 hours on a bike. Just saying.

Toilet Queues

Jonell & I find various members of our pack and merge back into the flow of people as we all make our way into the Panama City Boardwalk Resort lobby and cafeteria area. This area is packed solid with lines for the bathrooms (ironically the men’s bathroom line is 10 times as long as the women’s) and standing room only. So with about 15-20 minutes before 7am, some folks slither into their wetsuits while others, like myself, force themselves into them. We make our way down the boardwalk and onto the beach, where the air temperature of 50 degrees becomes a reality. Even more so, when you leave your flip flops behind and go bare feet on the icy beach sand. Soon the adrenaline has taken my mind off the cold weather and its time for one last “Good luck” kiss from my Sherpa! Time to join the neoprene clad masses!

Focus before the Swim Start

I mosey through the red inflatable arch which records your ankle chip and head to the far left portion of the swim start (inside the yellow directional buoys). This, I have been told, allows for a more peaceful and encumbered swim! Thanks Godfather! As I stand there in my sleeveless Xterra wetsuit flapping my arms like Michael Phelps and throwing in a couple of stretches to stay loose as the cold bite of the morning air works to tighten everything up, I notice Coach Jackie Miller who is so focused on imagining her swim that you could literally dance around her and make crazy faces and she wouldn’t even budge. She is dialed in and it helps to calm my heart rate and refocus on taking in the surroundings and shrinking the scene.

Mentally Preparing

What once felt like sheer chaos, now feels like just another swim. Just another triathlon. Just another day at the office. Its controllable and as comfortable as its going to get. My breathing is normal, my pulse is low-ish and my nerves are somewhat calm… its fantastic, its the training, the practice, the visualizing… all of it… makes for a confidence that the hard work is done and its time to go perform now. I imagine this is a similar connection for almost any achievement that takes hard work and practice to accomplish, whether its being an actor on stage, or an NFL quarterback in that you need repetition learning plays, executing those plays in practice and finally in games… It all comes back to the work you put in earlier. And so, I breathe out the anxiety and breathe in the confidence. Standing with my toes in cool wet sand, the waves struggle to reach me, but they eventually surge past and caress my sinking feet and retreat back to the beautiful and calm waters of the emerald gulf. The sunrise is to my left and brings phosphorescent shades of orange, yellow and reds as it helps to add another level of enjoyment to this gorgeous morning! Coach Eric Kahl is around us as Tony Welch and I complete our final stretches, inner monologues and positive affirmations to others nearby going through the same motions.

Caught on Camera

There is an Ironman film crew right behind us as we gather as a group for one quick reminder, pep talk, motivating word and the moment is caught on camera. (3:49 sec mark) I take a walk into the water to try and relieve myself yet again and maybe add a little warmth to the wetsuit, but a race director yells for everyone to “GET OUT OF THE WATER!” as there are people still swimming and warming up. So no peeing for me as I walk back onto the beachhead. Then, like a grizzled veteran my calmness returns and I warm up my wetsuit just standing there on the beach! I love wetsuits. I do hear the announcer say “30 seconds until the start” and I just zone out and focus in on my breathing… Its so peaceful and I cannot wait to hear that cannon. “BOOM” the canon fires and before anyone has a moment to think, we all make our way into the emerald waters of the gulf… I start out with a few people right in my space and after a couple kicks and shoulder slaps, I decide to take my swim out a little more central on the course inside the directional buoys where its just me and a few other immensely intelligent souls! The swim is beautiful as the luminescent waters allow a clear picture of the gulf floor and give you a sense of assurance that you don’t find in murky lakes or cloudier ocean venues. This is extremely cool! And then I see them… Jellyfish… Big ass, round jellyfish with tentacles and pink innards. I like to imagine the jellyfish was more frightened by us then we were of it, because in reality, there wasn’t much I could do anyhow. When I swam over a jellyfish that was inches from me, I just let my arms glide over until I was passed and then continued to swim per the norm. In hindsight, maybe that full wetsuit would have been a good idea instead of the sleeveless! No worries at this point!

Settling into the Swim

From the moment I hit the first buoy, I was able to get my nerves and adrenaline under control and really zero in on gliding, pulling and trying to let my legs just drag behind me only coming to life now and again to pass a swimmer or avoid the usual criss-cross swimmer… You know. The poor bastards that are making this a 3 mile swim, by zig-zagging the entire course. Did they not practice swimming? I pity the fool.Before I know it, I can see the bottom again and before long I can feel the roar of the people and announcer on shore. 1.2 miles done! A quick jog on the shore to get some equilibrium back as the cold water can play tricks on your head! After running the horseshoe and turning back towards the gulf, the course has opened up quite a bit and I get to dolphin dive until my feet cannot touch the bottom anymore. Back to work. Bend that elbow. And Gliiiiiide. So smooth. Hey look, a school of stingrays about 20 feet below me! They look like a large light brown checkerboard pattern with the dark green background behind them, it is another beautiful moment from the Ironman.1:11:36 – This is the time from my 2.4 mile swim. Not too shabby.

Into T1

From there it was up the boardwalk, through the hotel tunnel and into the Bike bag corral. We were handed our bag and made our way down a banner covered path to the building housing Transition 1. I head into a wonderfully warm room and once I turn right and come into the actual transition room… It is packed. Not a seat to be had. I place my stuff on top of bottled water boxes near the exit and get to changing into dry, warm bike clothes. I could have easily saved 10 minutes here, if I had cared, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. at. all.

Nikita the Kestrel

About 20 minutes later, I dropped my bag into a large pile of white ironman bags and walked out into the cool morning air of Panama City once again. Once outside, running down a different banner coated path, I hear my number “1228″ called out and soon enough my other special lady, Nikita the Kestrel is escorted to my side. I grab my trusty steed and proceed down another widened banner smothered path, lined with people 5 rows deep, to112 miles of flat, windy asphalt goodness.

On the Bike but Thinking about the Run

The bike is usually one of my strongest disciplines, but lingering in the back of my mind was… “Marathon, Marathon, Marathon… You have to run a Marathon”, so I had to continually keep pulling back and trying to find a happy pace! The bike ride was mostly uneventful and as much as I tried to soak in the landscape and vista’s, it was just too damn cold for my South Florida butt! I had purchased a skull cap that I had to keep pulling down to cover my ears and my Zensah Arm Warmers which were money in the warmth bank. By far the best $16 I ever spent was on the Desoto toe caps which kept my little piggies much toastier then on the practice ride the day before where I lost feeling in my extremities in about 15 minutes. I knew that our support crew would be out on the course somewhere, giving us that little boost of adrenaline that comes with a prideful cheer, a witty sign just for you or seeing the smiling faces of friends, family and loved ones as you continue to grind away. No sign of the SRQ CRU through 56 miles, was starting to deplete the anticipation reserves a little bit. The third best pick me up of the day was a half size snickers bar waiting for me at the Special Needs Bag Station at mile 57. The slogan, “Snickers really satisfies” had never been truer then the special time we shared that afternoon.

Tailwind

So after the delicious escape from reality, it was back to cycling down the bumpiest, slight downhill road in all of Panama City… and OH MY GAWD!, the wind is not in our face??? It’s actually at our back!! The key here was to enjoy it, because that would last for 20 miles or so, until the wind was once again in our face for the remainder of the bike course, but… the scenery improved and I really began to enjoy the ride. Now I must add, that the real reason the ride became a joy instead of just another 50+ miles of pedaling was I saw the SRQ CRU at around mile 62 and I could see them and they were yelling and jumping around… It was one of my favorite moments of the entire day!

Not Enough Vaseline

Alright, a slight detour from all the good feelings and Kumbaya stuff… My crotch is killing me!!! I cannot rub, massage, smear, place, mash, caress, cram or Mr. Miyagi enough vasoline or chamois butter down my pants. I never thought I would look forward to the marathon portion of the Ironman, but by mile 100 of the bike ride, I am cursing all things spandex and trying to invent ways to better pad my giblets. Back to the ride! I actually talk to someone on mile 97 of the bike ride… we converse about the swim while riding and wish each other the best of luck! It was a nice distraction from the aforementioned annoyance and helps me to refocus on the open road views and the final 15 miles. Or so I thought! Wow, the final stretch of approximately 8 miles down the beachfront of Panama City and while most people would read that sentence and think… Oh, how beautiful that must have been… WRONG!

Headwind

The wind was ridiculous, so just slogging through those last miles while trying to keep a high cadence to ease up on the legs doing too much work before the run was most of my focus. On a side note, the water views were indeed, spectacular! I have switched to the little wheel on the bike for this stretch of road as I am just trying to keep my cadence around 90-100 while not exerting too much energy and in turn I am passing a slew of other potential Ironletes. I can see the large shipping vessels out in the Gulf as we pass numerous large condominium buildings on our right, which temporarily put us in the windy shade and make my ears colder then they already are… which in itself seems like a difficult thing to quantify, but take my word for it. My ears got tingly and numb! Finally, the home stretch of the bike course and its like riding down the Tour De France streets as the raucous crowd is right on top of you on both sides. It’s seriously cool and gets my pumped up for the upcoming dismount! Down the chute we go as volunteers warn us to dismount and as we do, another volunteer quickly takes our steeds from us and escorts them to the pasture to graze for the next 3 to 8 hours depending on where you fall in your marathon pace!

Into T2

Us riders turned runners, we have to escort ourselves down a channel of lurching metal partitioned chutes and railings to the infamous Transition warehouse. As I enter, expecting to come face to face with the same chaotic environment as before, I am instead, pleasantly surprised at a half full room. I am able to grab a seat (which feels like, DAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMNNNNNN) and unpack my Run Bag and start to disassemble my Bike facade and regroup a bit for the run. The volunteers in here are amazing and if you need anything they don’t wait for you to ask, they are offering help and supplies before your frozen and weary mind can even think of it. I do not need anything beyond another glob of vasoline. TMI?

Knee Brace to Hand

As I prepare to conquer the final 26.2 miles of this Ironman course, I return to my feet and take a last inventory before leaving the sanctuary of Transition. I am carrying a knee brace in case my IT band flares up and a headlamp as the sun sets at approx 5:30pm and I don’t think i will be all the way to the Special Needs section of the Run just yet. And so out the warehouse door I go stopping only to get slathered in suntan lotion and set my IPOD (Kidding! No Ipods allowed… all my songs are in my head).

More Toilet Queuing

Following some competitors in front of me, we make our way to an armada of Port-O-Lets and I gracefully excuse myself. (Time goes By) And I return to the course now, beginning my run. Before I even have a chance to settle in, I come to a huge section of fans, family, friends, people of all kinds and seeing the Sarasota Storm tent up ahead I begin to look for Jonell and others… My eyes lock on her and I also see my Sister Danielle and her boyfriend Pat, who drove all the way up from Sarasota earlier this morning (8 hour trip) and returned back to Sarasota the next day! Just seeing them there and high-fiving them and hugging them meant the world to me and made the entire day and night seem like an easy blur. I didn’t quite realize early on, how helpful it was, to have loved ones support. I really just tried to keep my head down and slog away through all the training and monogamy of the miles by being a lone wolf, either by choice or the demands of life. But I could see, feel and taste the depth and sincerity of that appreciation now.

We’re Being Cheered!

The run course starts out with people lining the streets and we meander down the Gulf side of the main road getting cheered on by the fantastic people of Panama City, who come out of their homes, condos, apartments and line the streets with tents, signs, light shows, homemade water stops. It is a party within a goal! Awesomeness!

And then Emptiness

There is a point, at approximately mile 3 where you find yourself in residential neighborhoods and you realize at that point that there is a lot of work to be done. The crowds are gone and its just you and your thoughts among a sea of other people who are all inside their own heads and can barely see you while they fight to overcome their inner voices and conquer their goals! A right turn, a left turn, a blur of homes and mailboxes, asphalt turns to poly-pebble to asphalt and another turn… Before you know it, you are at the entrance of the park and its a 2 mile loop of barren landscape and uneven roads (not too bad, but a definite pitch) with the occasional water station thrown in for the coyotes! The sun is hanging low in the Florida sky and the horizon looks to bring in cooler weather and darkness as soon as the sun will submit. I had set an original goal to make it through the park the first time before the sunset and alas, I reach the exit about 20 minutes before the sun is gone, so I am thrilled! Another Potty break! This cold weather is a blessing and a curse! I cannot fathom how cold I am, and I am thrilled I kept my arm sleeves on, but I also look forward to the 13.1 mile marker so I can grab all my warm clothes that I have waiting for me and layer up! Until then, I still have another 4 miles or so left to conquer.

Till I Collapse

The sun is gone now, and the dusky night is filled with the sounds of people cheering, traffic, feet shuffling and the voices in my head working hard to stay focused on the words to “satellite” by the Dave Matthews Band and Till I Collapse by Eminem. The elation and adrenaline rush of seeing things for the first time (neighborhoods, the park, water stations, cheering signs and sections) is beginning to wear off and making it even worse is the creeping thought of how I am going to see these things again… not once but twice!! I have these moments of feeling impenetrable and my gait quickens, but my steel trap of mental lock down puts its foot on the throat of over exertion and gently reminds all moving parts to find their respective happy places again and maintain the Ironman Shuffle. So as the minutes drone on, and I am living on a diet of 2 cups of water and 1 cup of Power Ade at each mile marker and from time to time delving into my baggies of pills. There are all kinds of selection of goodies, in my fuel belt. From salt pills, to ibuprofen, to multivitamins, it all looks similar and tastes like nothing at this point, so bottoms up! I find myself nearing the halfway point of the run and trying to focus on the wonderful things, while the inevitable ‘other thoughts’ struggle to stay present in your tired mind … The training, the camaraderie, the journey, the friendships, the moments of the day, afternoon and evening of this race. The injuries, the missed training, the pain and agony, the mental stress, the frustration of working full-time, the costs involved, the second guessing, the idea of not completing the race. No matter how strong willed, or how battle tested you may be, the thought of being unsure is there, just waiting to spring out when you least want to hear it. Not too sound to cliché, but that’s when the tough, get up off the canvas and get back in the fight. Here it comes! As I come running…jogging…shuffling, into the halfway point of the Ironman’s marathon… 127.5 miles completed! My time is terrible, even for my usually slow pace, but with all the aches and pains and the IT band flare ups, it has been a struggle to just keep moving.Around mile 10 is when all my fears about the IT band’s, were realized and at the halfway point I grab the knee brace I had packed away, just in case they flared up. So that helps a bit.

Family Support

The biggest pick me up, by far was seeing the amazing Jonell and my wonderful Sister and her boyfriend Pat (who’s bad ass as well!) Just getting a loving hug from Mi Amor and high fives from Sis & Pat are food for my soul. 13.1 Miles remaining until goal accomplished! But first the goodie bag! Warm clothes, for the love of god! Panama City has been cold, even by northerner’s standards. With the fall of the sun around mile 6 of my run, the weather has taken a turn for the cooler. It has too be low 50’s heading to the high 40’s. Oh, how I want to finish this last portion reasonably quick, for the sake of my fingers, toes and nose.

Ironman Shuffle

A word of the wise I had received from my coaches about Goodie Bag’s, was for the final stretch… Have your kids, wife or husband, relatives, boyfriend or girlfriend, whoever would have a great impact upon you, write a personal letter and pull it out and use it when you most need it. So I grabbed my nutrition, ear warmers and letter from Jonell and began my trek to personal glory. Seeing the same sights for the 3rd time and knowing a 4th time around lingers sometime in the future can be daunting, to say the least, but I just tried to sing in my head, soak in the amazing spectators and make it to the next nutrition stop. I also visualized the 4th time around as another short term goal. If all goes well and I get to see the same people and sights for the 4th time, then it’s a good thing!! Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle… Walk… Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle… Eventually I encounter the poly pebble neighborhood and this is around mile 16-17 and my IT bands hurt so bad, it’s almost to the point that its white noise or my body is just blocking out the aching pain… Just keep Moving Forward! 130.8 milescompleted. And so it continues, the sound of heavy steps crashing down upon the sun battered asphalt. I set another short term goal of making it through the park, which will put me around 20 miles and leave me with just 6. So, to quote Jackie Gleason, “Away we go!” The park looks so different at night. It has this ominous feeling of desolation, while still providing flood lights and an occasional water stop, which are all much appreciated! I thought swimming, biking and running with 2,000+ plus people while not really talking to anyone was lonely, doing it in a park with minimal lighting and a thinned out group of warriors is the definition of solitary.

Getting Closer

At approximately Mile 19 of the marathon, I am having some real difficulties just plodding ahead, so its time for me to read the letter from Jonell. I pull it out of my back pocket and of course, I have perspired on it and the ink has run a bit!!! I can make out about 90% of it without too much difficulty and I comprehend all she tells me and the wonderful words she penned. I am in love with this woman. She just fills my heart. The words most definitely give my legs the energy they were missing and to clarify… I am not walking I am shuffling with small bouts of walking. I am aware of my time and I am well ahead of my pre-race approximations, so I fortunately have the luxury to walk the remainder of Ironman if I choose… But, we both know, that isn’t happening. I can rest, heal and walk tomorrow. Today, I shuffle… Like a IMFL BAMF! Accounting for the multiple port-a-potty stops, I am making halfway decent time with the shuffle/walk/jog/shuffle/walk program that I started at Mile 19. It isn’t pretty, but neither am I… Ok, ok. I am quite pretty. Thank you for noticing! I find myself exploding with joy and a bounce to my step that is practically climatic as I stumble across mile markers 22, 23 and 24. Soon I am mentally visualizing the finish line and my dance I have been contemplating doing for about three weeks. The Ray Lewis, pre-game dance. Here is a link. Before I get to Mile Marker 25, I can see the Sarasota Storm Tent that three times earlier when I passed by was crammed full of people. The temperature has dropped, most of our 17 Ironman BAMF’s have already finished and either departed to thaw out, get food or sleep and as I come up to the tent, I see one person peek their fleece covered body out and look in my direction. I raise my arms and scream out, YEAAAAAHHH!! It’s Nicole Chapman and upon us recognizing each other she yells and starts jumping all around causing enough celebration to bring some other fantastic people out of the tent. Eric Kahl, Jackie Miller who are our coaches and other supporters as well. We are all standing in the road jumping around in a big hug. What a special moment. Thank you all. Finally, they snap me out of my endorphin haze and tell me to go finish up the last leg. I can see the purple Ford Ironman Arch in the distance and the completion of an amazing goal that started over 10 months ago is just minutes away. I really want to finish strong and cross that finish line looking like I did at the starting line this morning, almost 15 hours ago.

“You Are An Ironman Sean Dreznin”

Upon turning the corner and heading into the final C – shaped turn to the finishing chute and Ironman finish line, I take a quick surmise my surroundings and realize that there is someone 100 yards in front of me and only 1 person 100 yards (and gaining) behind me. I decide after a few seconds of reflection to allow the person behind me to go ahead and safely get his moment and I would hang back and soak my moment in as well. I was afraid of us both finishing close enough that the announcer hurries through the infamous “______________, you, are an Ironman” pronouncement. So I pat this gentleman on the shoulder and tell him to go get his moment. There is no one behind me and its time to cross that line! I am still wrestling with the idea of doing a finish line dance… Will I do the Ray Lewis Dance??? RL Dance No. I realized that I might know the dance, but no one else probably would get it, and realistically, my quads and calves are shot. So I floated through the finishing chute with a smile on my face that stretched from Panama City back home to Sarasota. A few steps before the finish line, I stopped, leaned back and to the side and double pointed to the time clock, which read Timex Ironman and 14 hours, 57 minutes and change.Then, just like that, I stepped across the finish line and went from Mr. Sean Dreznin to Ironman Sean Dreznin. Here is my finishing video... You may notice the stop and double point to the arch! Just paying homage to the journey and completion of IM FL 140.6!

Would I do It Again?

The journey is one I will never forget and the race is also something I will always remember. Asked shortly thereafter if I would do another 140.6 Ironman, my resounding answer was, “No.” Simply because after doing two 70.3 Ironman races and one 140.6 and quite a few Olympic distance races and of course, Sprints, I have found a comfortable race distance in Olympics and the occasional 70.3. Maybe a nice local trip to Venice or Miami or Colorado to vacation…err, I mean race! Check That… Ask me again in 6 months! As for Ironman events, I have mixed emotions, which can be read here.

Four Reasons Why Becoming an Ironman Seems Impossible (ironstruck.com)
Had My First Ironman “Nightmare” of the Season (swicyclorun.com)
Should You Wear a Sleeveless Wetsuit? (triswimcoachonline.com)

Filed Under: Triathlon Reviews Tagged With: Ironman Florida

My Ironman Story – 2011 Ford Ironman Race Recap by Sean Dreznin originally appeared on http://kelevra23.wordpress.com. © http://kelevra23.wordpress.com

Female Physiology and Psychology in Ironman Training

March 14, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Women Need to Train Differently to Men for Ironman Races

This is an interesting article about Female Ironman training from Ironguides. The basic premise is that most coaching for endurance athletes has traditionally be focused on developing male triathletes (broad brush generalization) and that applying the same tools and techniques to female triathletes won’t deliver the best results.

This is because the differences in women’s physiology and psychology and coaches – and female athletes really need to take this into account when they are building a training plan and focusing on a race.

On the psychology side the key point is that women are more process driven. They care more how they are training – and as my wife puts it “I Don’t wear makeup to look pretty, I put it on to feel good”. Does the training deliver an emotional reward. Men don’t need rewards in the same way – they focus on the reward of achievement at the end of the race at lot more.

The other thing that Vinnie talks about in the article is the impact of hormones on training and what is possible without disrupting periods. One thing that would have been good to cover is the female athlete triad – which is the combination of low energy, cessation of periods and brittle bones. This is a potentially fatal combination for female triathletes – with symptoms including

disordered eating, fatigue, hair loss, cold hands and feet, dry skin, noticeable weight loss, increased healing time from injuries, increased incidence of bone fracture and cessation of menses. Affected females may also struggle with low-self esteem and depression

Anyway here is the full article which you can also find on Ironguides

Women’s coaching: psychology & physiology

It’s clear that the number of women athletes in our sport has risen significantly in recent years. In some countries women-only races and race series’ are appearing. And the industry has picked up on this trend with an increasing number of items specifically designed for women from shoes to wetsuits to bikes.
The depth of the elite women’s field also has deepened in the past few years. We have watched as Chrissie Wellington has raised the bar again and again in winning the Ironman World Championships in four of the last five years (she missed one Kona due to illness). Chrissie also has lowered the world record for Iron-women several times, most recently to 8:18, which she did at Challenge Roth in July 2011. As a result, most of Chrissie’s rivals also have stepped up their games, in training and racing. There has been a slew of Sub Nine hour Ironman finishes by women, inspired by what Chrissie has achieved.
When it comes to performance, women may use less glycogen and tap more fat for fuel than men in longer, lower-intensity types of exercise, such as long-distance triathlon, which possibly gives female athletes a relative advantage to their male counterparts. Chrissie has previously indicated that she believes that it’s only a matter of time before women beat men in Ironman and who can argue with her; Chrissie, the reigning world champion, has placed in the Top 10 overall in most of her Ironman races, and she has crossed the finish line ahead of many high-profile world-class male triathletes.
When it comes to coaching, the two sexes require different approaches. Despite the health benefits of being an endurance athlete, psychology and physiology are very different between women and men. Women have menstrual periods, and they are in general more vulnerable to stress fractures.
This article is a compilation of my observations and experiences as a coach and professional triathlete on the main psychological and physiological aspects of triathlon training for women. I’ve been fortunate enough to train or work closely with female athletes of all levels, from helping women finish their first triathlon to attending a training camp with Chrissie.

Female Ironman Psychology

English: Emma Snowsill during the run leg of t...

Image via Wikipedia

When it comes to goals, men and women are different. Men tend to be more concentrated on the result, while women are more focused on the process. This has an impact on the way a coach should motivate his male and female athletes. Women benefit from an approach that is aimed at building confidence, making them feel good about themselves and helping them believe they can achieve their goals, while men perform very well when they are challenged. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule and that’s the value in having a perceptive coach.
These key differences also explain why the personal relationship between some athletes and coaches—the relationship they have outside the sport—has a big impact on their performance. We have seen many successful athletes who are coached by their husbands, fathers or boyfriends including Olympic champion Emma Snowsill and seven-time Ironman champion Natascha Badmann.
Of course, these relationships aren’t limited to triathlon. The Williams’ sisters—Venus and Serena—have long been coached by their father. The closer the relationship between athlete and coach, the easier it can be to gauge whether constructive criticism or encouragement is the best option for the coach on any given day.
Being able to “read” one’s athletes, in particular the female athlete, is a skill that takes time to develop.
One former ironguides athlete had a three-colour swim-cap system for her swim coach: green meant “all’s good, critique away”, yellow signalled “warning: could go either way”, while red alerted the coach to “watch out, not open to feedback!”
Once the coach has established a solid understanding of the athlete’s level of motivation, it is time to reach for improved physiological performance.

Female Ironman Physiology

Let’s start with body type. There is a fundamental difference in how much training an individual athlete can handle, regardless of gender.
Heavier or muscular athletes tax their bodies more when training and tend to need longer recovery periods after intense workouts, especially with running. In contrast, a skinny—leaner—athlete often can train at a very high intensity and yet require less recovery time. This reflects one’s level of testosterone, which can vary widely from athlete to athlete and is not necessarily a requirement for success for women in triathlon.
Understanding both body type and testosterone levels are important to understanding the differences between training loads for men and women.
Many age-group women are training for hobby and lifestyle, and a coach needs to be aware that training can impact their periods. Again, the impact varies significantly by individual. Some women can, at a very high training load, get skinny and still have their periods, while others find the smallest change in body fat can interfere with the timing of their period or suppress it altogether.
Some female athletes may use the pill in order to keep their estrogen and progesterone at the levels they should be. However this also has a downside, especially because of hormonal swings. It’s important to check with your doctor if you have any concerns and to keep your coach in the loop too.
A woman’s diet may also be different to a man’s. Some observers believe a higher intake of red meat helps to prevent anemia and, while doing heavy training, calcium intake is also believed to help sustain bone density which, if not looked after, could lead to the stress fractures I noted earlier. Asking a doctor for advice is advisable if you have any concerns, while keeping in mind that fatigue can also be a normal side effect of adjusting to training or to a higher training load.
For these reasons, it is important to understand the true goal of each female athlete, as the details do have an impact on performance, health and lifestyle.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: female physiology, female psychology, female triathlete, Ironman Coaching

Women's coaching: psychology & physiology by Vinnie Santana originally appeared on http://www.Ironguides.net. © http://www.Ironguides.net

Ironman Melbourne Race Guide Now Available

March 13, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Ironman Melbourne Race Guide

We’ve just released our Ironman Melbourne Race Guide prior to Ironman Melbourne on the 25th of March.

This guide to the brand new Ironman goes through the entire course in detail providing you with a level of knowledge about the course that will only be improved once you’ve done it.

We write our race guides with the aim of helping you get that little bit more performance with no more training or effort. You know the course better – you race better.

It’s our best guide yet with….

Complete course flybys of the swim, bike and run course – so you get a real sense of what it will be like on race day
Detailed annotated course maps with tips and tactics on how best to handle the terrain and the weather
Tips and tricks for the bike and swim legs that help you get the best out of your body
Weather details for the last 5 years (for the whole of race week) including humidity, water temperature, temperatures, wind speed and direction and cloud cover.
And as a special bonus – our unique race planning template and race day checklist.

It’s all pretty cool – have a look and tell us what you think – it’s all fully guaranteed so you can by and see if you like. If you don’t a quick email will get your money back.

To find out more click here

Filed Under: Australasia, Race Guides Tagged With: Australia, Ironman Melbourne, Ironman Triathlon, Melbourne

Abu Dhabi Triathlon – Course Review 2012 – Spyros Theodorou

March 9, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Abu Dhabi Triathlon Spyros Theodoru

Triathlon Name

Abu Dhabi Triathlon Long Distance Race (3K swim, 200K bike, 20K run)

Country

United Arab Emirates

Triathlon Date

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Who Are you?

I’m an age group triathlete, 10x Ironman finisher and endurance sports fan. I was born in Athens Greece and I’m involved into sports since I was a kid.

Owner of two businesses, one is associated with endurance sports and exclusively distributes GU Energy, First Endurance and Bonk Breaker sports nutrition products in Greece.

I try to enjoy life and focus on what matters most. Not married yet and quite happy so far. I like to go w/ the flow of things.

It’s all about summer, triathlon, travel, music & dreams. I love coffee and flip flops.

Race Category

Male 40-44

Why did I do this race?

I did the Abu Dhabi long distance race for many reasons. First off, I had heard great reviews for the organization, the venue, the place and of course the weather. Then, I thought it is a great race to keep me motivated during the winter months and keep me focused for my Ironman Austria “A race” of the year. In addition, a shorter than a full marathon run offers a faster recovery, which is quite critical for an early season race.

Last, but not least, we decided to do the race together with many Greek friends, some of them were going to race the sprint, others the short and some the long distance, so the company was going to be great. What more to ask?

The Swim

The swim course is 2-loops in the beautiful salty and calm waters of the bay and we were happy to swim with “wetsuit power”. It is a beach start and you have to run approx. 40m at the beach before you enter the sea for your second loop.

Age groupers for the long distance are separated in two waves with 15min. difference, so drafting is not easy with only 150 swimmers (for each wave) spread in the water.

The swim was neatly and beautifully organized, good music was playing and lots of spectators around the swim start to shout and cheer for you. Good vibes and lots of positive energy.

ιν τηε βεαψη after υθ εχιτ τηε The course is a “triangle shape” and because the long distance race is not very big yet (300 participants) drafting was not easy, plus there were two wave starts, so each one consisted of around 150 triathletes.

The Bike

Voila! The meat of the race for all Abu Dhabi triathlon distances, since the bike is longer for all three race versions (sprint, short, long). Boy if you love the bike, then THIS.IS.IT.

I have raced in all continents and all I can say is the UAE has the best asphalt in the world. The bike is pancake flat with some rolling hills. If it is not windy, then get ready for a very fast bike. If it is windy especially on the way back to town (and it does get windy as locals say), then get ready for some mind games and tough riding.

Last Saturday it was windy on the way back to town for our second lap, so were riding with 40-45Ks/hr on the way out and with 20-25K/hr on the way back.

Highlight of the race is the lap in the YAS Marina, known for the F1 race. Can’t describe the feeling of riding your bike in the F1 track, just amazing with an even better asphalt quality. If you can hold yourself from hammering in the track, pls send me an email.

Aid stations were placed every 15K and they were handing GU gels, GU Chomps, water bottles, electrolyte bottles, bananas and Coke.

One thing that the race booklet did not write, was that while you were riding on the right side of the road, the aid stations were placed in the left side of the road, so you had to pick things with your left hand. I guess, they did it like this, so that with one aid station they were servicing both the riders that were riding out of town and the riders that were coming into town. Not sure if it is the best way to do it and they had an accident with a pro and a volunteer, but I don’t really know if that was the cause.

Overall, beautiful course with amazing police protection and excellent guidance in the intersection. Chapeau to the organizers!

The Run

Have you ever run on tiles? Welcome home buddy. Asphalt is hard, but tiles is another league. The run course is a 2 loop course. You run 5K out and you come back and you do this twice. Half of it is on blue tiles and you better have your salt in your back pocket, because quads start cramping within the first 1K.

Aid stations are every 1K or so, and offer GU gels, GU Chomps, water in small bottles (that is the best way to get water), Coke in glasses and bottles, sponges and bananas, if I can correctly remember. Lots of spectators around the run course, mainly close to the finish/town.

One “mistake” is that after you complete the first lap, you do not get a wrist bracelet, so it can happen what happened to me and a volunteer signaled me to go to the finishing line… Dunno, but probably I looked too exhausted to have another lap to go or too pro : )))

Thank God they corrected my time, but I passed twice the finishing line and probably ran a bit more. Anyway, the organizers were very polite and put me back on course and then fixed my time.

Overall, great run and beautifully designed.

Transition

Transitions are fast. T1 has a run of about 100-150 meters before you enter the changing tent, but it’s on a carpet and easy to do. T2 is even fast. You mount the bike and run to the tent which is right there.

Race Organisation

If you say that this race is only 3 years old, then it is jaw dropping. I can see this race becoming a “must” for most AGs and Pros. Lots of volunteers, polite people, very pro atmosphere, good briefing and finish line is close to all hotels, so you can be back in the room within 15min. after the race is done.

Speaking for the post race area, there is a cantina that you can eat lots of good stuff and socialize with your just finished” friends or family.

How did you do?

I am very happy with my race. I took 100 overall and swam 52, biked 5h46′ and ran 1h38′. For March this is super.

Verdict

I WILL do this race next year hands down.

If you have done a triathlon and want to post a triathlon review then send it through. Every review you do for BeyondTransition helps us write better race guides and other triathletes enjoy their races more.

Gallery: Abu Dhabi Triathlon 2012 Pro Bikes (triathlete-europe.competitor.com)
Abu Dhabi Triathlon Race Report (triradar.com)
Gallery: Abu Dhabi Triathlon Press Conference (triathlete-europe.competitor.com)
British volunteer struck by triathlete at Abu Dhabi International Triathlon is in coma (everymantri.com)
Bryan McCrystal – Abu Dhabi Triathlon report (irishtriathlon.com)
Gallery: Abu Dhabi International Triathlon 2012 (triathlete-europe.competitor.com)
Henning, Butterfield Triumph at Abu Dhabi International Triathlon (trijuice.com)
Triathlon Gains Popularity In The Middle East (triathlon.competitor.com)

Filed Under: Triathlon Reviews Tagged With: Abu Dhabi Triathlon

Ironman Triathlon Twitter Hastags

March 8, 2012 By Denis Oakley Leave a Comment

Ironman Hastags help you follow races on twitter

For anyone who follows Ironman Triathlon on Twitter there are a vast number of #hashtags that you can use when talking about the races. Most races have several variants – and some aren’t always obvious. We thought that we’d put together a list of all the ironman hashtags that we know about to make it really easy to know what you should use for each race.

Hastags are great to use when tweeting about a race because it means that lots of different twitter streams can be easily brought together in one place. It means that more people will read your tweet – and for those who are new to twitter it’ll make you look like an expert.

Easy to do – just put # infront of any word and your away. #of #course if you do it like that it’s not very useful. But if you are an #Ironman #triathlete# doing #IMSG it can help other #triathletes connect with you.

Enjoy and do volunteer suggestions to fill in the gaps

Ironman World Championships

#IMKona

#IMWC

#IMHawaii

Ironman Melbourne

#IMMELB or IMMelb

Ironman South Africa

#IMSA

Ironman St George

#IMSG

Ironman Australia

#IMOZ

Ironman Lanzarotte

#IMLanza

Ironman Texas

#IMTX

Ironman Brasil

#IMBrasil

Ironman Regensburg

????

Ironman France

#IMNice

Ironman Couer D’Alene

#IMCDA

Ironman Austria

????

Ironman Frankfurt

#IMFF (?)

Ironman Switzerland

#IMSW or #IMCH (thanks @sarahbutcher)

Ironman Lake Placid

#IMLP

Ironman UK

#IMUK

Ironman New York

#IMNYC

Ironman Sweden

???? #IMSW

Ironman Mont Tremblant

#IMMT

Ironman Louisville

#IMKY

Ironman Canada

#IMC

Ironman Wisconsin

#IMWI

Ironman Wales

#IMW or #IMWales

Ironman Florida

#IMFL

Ironman Arizona

#IMAZ

Ironman Cozumel

#IMCoz

Ironman Western Australia

#IMWA

Ironman New Zealand

#IMNZ

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ironman Hashtag

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