That's a difficult question (an one I keep asking myself everyday). You need to save your legs more at IM, than 70.3 (for the much longer run) so I guess a realisitic average is still around 30-32km/hr.
No such problems. Up to train. The life of an age grouper triathlete. Wake up 4h15, coffee, leave for ride / run /swim 4h50, back at 6h50, shower, rush to work, work till 5.30pm, go to swim / bike / run, finish at 20h00, eat, sleep / repeat!
Yep, it's a fantastic race. Nice venue and we had a lot of fun afterwards. Worth doing. But you need a 27 tooth cassette or you're gonna do some walking Actually I did almost the same times at both races.
Then you should go do the 70.3 in Laguna Phuket, Thailand, 4 hills with sections over 20% gradient in places. Having said that I'm glad this race was only a two lapper, the thrid one might have killed me
Water was warm once we got going, but there was a lot of shivering going on before the gun. I even got goosebumps on the run, but that is because of the great support I got from my TRIFACTRI teammates that drove all the way just to watch. Those guys rule!
Think everything was about right. Maybe the run and bike were a tiny bit short and the swim a tiny bit long, but basically, ok. The run was hot on the way out and not too bad on the way back.
Great race, erm, interesting hill! Well organized, loved it. Will be back. And Garf, was that you who removed my goggles with your feet 100m into the swim?
Thanks to Micheal and David from CycleOpsJHB for service above and beyond the call of duty. They went to great lengths to fix my Powertap without me incurring huge costs
So, did everyone enjoy the little tiff between Louis and the TSA officials before the race? I think it was unprofessionally handled by both parties, but interesting that the TSA official/s appeared to want to use force to take the mike away from Louis. My feeling is we need both TSA and race organisers, but they're going to have to find some way to get along. Great race, Louis, I'll be back. To the guys who heard my foul language when I missed a turn (no marshal and I missed the sign board) and ran 500m extra, SORRY
I did a 5h43 70.3 and 11h09 IM in 2011. This year did a 5h07 70.3 and am sure that won't convert into a sub 10 hour IM. I guess if you double your 70.3 time it should be close to your full IM time, but it depends on how you're feeling on the day.
And even if you do get a slot as an Age Grouper I don't believe TSA give you any help. But ........................ I just need to add that there are very few Triathlons every year and that may be the reason they cost so much in TSA fees. They do help Elite athletes with expenses, etc, to get to the LD Worldchamps and other events. If they collect R 300 000-00 / year in race fees that doesn't go far in getting a few athletes to these races. Consider the R 120-00 / race a donation towards getting our top fellow athletes to these events. I agree it shouldn't bankrupt the event, but it should be added to the entry fees. Maybe it could be voluntary?
Laughs, actually I'm quite enjoying racing / taking part in events this year after racing only 4 times last year. I was chatting to a friend this morning at gym and we were saying how nice it is to take part in a lot of events. She says she's going to do some Tri's as a team with her boyfriend where they each do their weakest disipline as fun events to take the pressure off (she won her AG at IM 70.3SA). Did the JoburgCity Tri this weekend and am thinking about doing the Prestige 70.3 on 19th Feb and Buffelspoort 70.3 on 11th March.
That's what my coach says. But the way I figure it, is that unless I go to the US and spend 2 months acclimatising to the weather, I'm not gonna win it, no matter how much faster I get. I'm no spring chicken, so finishing all these races is my challenge, this year.
