gripen

This is really funny. I got hit by a decent cold and resultant sinus infection. Lost a lot of lung capacity. All I'm doing now is swimming to try get that back. Also picked up some ITB in the last week out of nowhere. So there is a chance I do zero training until race day if the ITB flares up tomorrow. Still going for my sub 5h30 and like gadget will also push until the wheels come off then walk home. If all goes to plan I can get to 10km of the run in semi OK shape. Right now I'm just hoping the weather is good on the day.. if not, that will make me even more sour.

Hey guys. Just to correct our buddy Garfield, it's Riverstone Lodge. There is no Riverside lodge. The run is a bugger and we are getting tired of the route. Stupid hippo else we would be swimming there. There is another option called Leisure Lakes, the Irene Triathlon guys seem to use it - we are yet to try it though. Here's a map to the lake: Dave, I think we are going to do one more session this weekend. Garfield will arrange, possibly on Sunday morning. Hopefully we can get some cloud cover, it was just a bit too hot yesterday..

Plus, zero drafting and probably severe weather conditions. I would guestimate that you can add about 15-30mins to your 94.7 time. So without any advancement in your overall cycling ability between the two races, I would think you can aim for around a 3h45ish in the 70.3 but there are a lot of factors such as in 94.7 you push at race pace and in 70.3 race pace is a lot more "chilled".

Yes. Find a dam with a hippo in it and go swim!

Garfield has to qualify for Kona first. That will be something!

I did the 5150, JHB City Tri and also 70.3 in EL this year. I can tell you the water at 5150 wasn't cold. JHB City was perfect temperature (19-20). To be honest, the wetsuit does help but I find it hampers you as well - your arms work much harder in a wetsuit. You do feel this the next day. Personally, I have decided to work hard on my swimming, thus I don't care either way. If it's not a wetsuit swim, I need to harden up © and get stronger. To quit a race if it becomes a non-wetsuit, that's going a bit far in my book. Self-seeding should really be encouraged or even better proper seeded starts (like with cycle races) based on previous swims. They do it for Midmar etc so why not? Most triathlons are chip-timed anyway so it's kind of irrelevant. I'd give up the ceremony start at the IM races to get a nice properly managed seeded swim start. No matter how good your swimming is, you will always get kicked.

I sense some jealousy..

I'll rather take on the hippo. There will be enough of us, but they won't let us in.

Reckon I will still be wasted from Jailbreak so I will swim very slow anyway and make sure I climb out in the group. Taking time trial bike, can we arrange a Referee (with the shirt and all) to enforce non-drafting? Practicing for 70.3 and all.

Also in, always was I'll do any route, just not keen on a trail run (no trail run at the 70.3!). The sooner we can go from wetsuit to bike the better - i.e. do the whole training thing in trisuit. So if there are a bunch of us cycling around and running in trisuits, we won't look as ridiculous...

No wetsuits if the water is above 23 degrees. Probably unlikely, it's a fairly large dam so the water should be 20-21. Note that this is for the proper race, the mickey mouse race is no wetsuits above 20 degrees.

19.4 degrees this morning. Looking good.

Well I will pitch on Sunday early. I can't make this Saturday afternoon registration thing. I have something else on.

It's an ITU race - which means it may be draft legal. I'm also confused. I'm hoping for Wetsuit + TT bike. At this stage, it looks like I will need to take both bikes with.. bit of a mess.

It's also ITU so does that mean Road Bike / Draft Legal / Clipons or can we use TT bikes.. nothing on the website. No information at actually. Will there be water points? Maybe that's why it is so cheap.

I should see you there. If we are only 100, then we can get a decent swim time. I'm convinced it's all that wrestling that makes me a(n even) slow(er) swimmer

Well, which is running like a duck ? Toe-in or toe-out? I found that learning to "toe-out" a bit doesn't stretch the ITB as much and after making that change I managed to run Comrades with no ITB - lots of other issues though, mainly shin related problems and lack of training

Any special tricks? Or are you just one of the lucky ones?

Add my name to the list, still waiting.

Like Paul said at the Race Briefing - "you will think that you are going to miss the cutoff at the halfway mark on the bike". The thought did cross my mind, having got to 45km at an average of 21km/h (was my first time and I had a cold...). I managed a 3h27 bike split which means the second half took me 1h17 and the first half 2h10. The difference is huge! It really is a massive downhill from halfway. So it's really a matter of getting to 45km "fresh". If you can make it to the 45km mark in 2h30, I'd bet you will still make the cutoff. Question is, are you training? Since if you are, averaging 18-20km/h for 45km should be doable even with some hills. You can pretty much freewheel from there and average close to 30 without too much effort. Make the cutoff irrelevant in your mind and it will be just that! Disclaimer: this excludes having 3 flats and getting off the bike for whatever reason - focus on what you can control.

I wonder why they are not selling out last year... does prove that word of mouth is powerful (this year's race was super hard with the cold water and terrible weather). Maybe a good lesson for Challenge Cape Town crowd.

Has anyone else been promised a refund and not received it? I have sent through my banking details and Team Challenge has gone quiet. Am I the only one?

Ok, I need a serious bike case for some upcoming overseas races. The options are this: https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/109187-scicon-bike-bag-auction-21-23-october/ and a Bikesafe (with chain cover, wheel cover) - the costs are about the same. The budget is max around R3k. What would you advise? (yes, I know, the auction is over.. let's assume it isn't).

What's up with putting this finish on a hill? Why not just have the finish line at the bottom of the road? I don't get it. Was a bit ridiculous. Overall a good race (not for me personally) apart from the 100% lack of any kind of lane or road closure. Some close calls with motorists who clearly didn't realise there was actually a cycle race on the go.

Which finisher shirt? I think that WTC "move" is brilliant and I intend to take advantage of it! Big brand plus :-) Actually for both, seeing as we are getting a free race too for Challenge. So 1 week ago, I was scheduled for Challenge Cape Town. Now, I'm looking at Challenge Barcelona and Ironman Arizona. Obviously still need budgetary approval from the finance committee, but still.. I am not complaining anymore about what has transpired!