gripen

That said, I'm tempted. Hmm. Route profile? Though I guess it doesn't matter. Are you going to draft where possible or pure time trial? 168km on the road bike.. that's going to hurt.

Good luck, that sounds boring as hell.

That depends on how good a swimmer you are. The better you can swim, the less you will need the wetsuit. 95% of the time, you'd be faster with the wetsuit. It takes at worst 30 seconds to take it off but the time spent breaststroking (haha) and doggy paddling could be saved by swimming slow freestyle with the wetsuit keeping you afloat.

Direct link to the water temperature thread: http://www.bsgmultisport.co.za/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=144 I'm expecting it to be 23, it was 23 last year and wetsuits were not allowed. I didn't have one then, so maybe I have selective memory.

Do not drink or eat anything in or within 500m of transition. That is a no eat/drink zone. I made this mistake in my first few races.. Cramps and heartburn and all sorts of crap. Maybe consider walking out of T2 when you get off the bike Oh and cheat I mean draft as much as possible on the bike!! Also it's Roodeplaat, so will be busy.. run fast else you might not get water (hopefully that doesn't happen again).

Like the Sharky waters in which we will be swimming for Challenge Cape Town. Except, that will be a REAL threat :-)

The other option is to cycle to Harties. There is a roughish hill just as you get to the dam. Then there is the long climb all the way back to Pretoria. It's a 100km round trip from Botha avenue and there is some good long hill training on the way back. Think of it is a 40km uphill. The problem is that it has become an unsafe route. Cycling in the Cradle is the next best. Personally I use the indoor trainer and hill repeats near home for my regular training. Whereabouts in Centurion are you? Can maybe advise some hills for hill repeats.

+1 on the kicking. I did this yesterday, worked like a charm (your inclination will be not to kick.. so need to remember) I think the solution for the cold is to train in open water through the winter Yesterday was nice for me, not cold at all (with wetsuit) - no brainfreeze. I got severe brainfreeze in the 13deg water at EL for 70.3 and the 10 deg water at Heia in July! 17 is warm. Mental prep for the Atlantic ocean on 6 November!

Normal brick will help. Also, run slower to the mount line (or walk - and maybe also walk from the water to T1). Set your bike on the small ring front i.e. very easy gear. Try do the first 500m at about 85-90 cadence and take it slow then slowly start gearing up at the same cadence. When you are on the big ring, start with the cadence management In the end, you will need to be pretty bike strong to start fast.. so it comes down to training. Better to ease in anyway, else you will just cramp. It's all about pacing. I'm a believer of single leg training on the indoor trainer. Made the world of difference for me. I'm not a fast cyclist but I did a ridiculous bike split (by my standards) yesterday. Just over an hour (which without cheating means it was a FLAT course I think). Luckily the cycle start was on a downhill.. at 70.3 and IMSA it's uphill on the way out after the swim. Even tougher.

I'm jealous, I want your job Testing stuff out for marathons. Sounds fun! Sounds good, will keep an eye out for the launch

PS: that recovery drink at the end was fantastic! Loved it! I downed a Litre :-) I didn't check the bottle labelling though, what is the GI and what are the carbs? Maltodextrin? Can we get the info somewhere? Thanks for the reply. Yes, no cups. Cups are never a good idea. Though they seem to persist with them in some big races (even New York City Marathon). Perhaps if it is hot on 5 Feb - water sachets + 32GI sachets + sponges :-)

With the abundance of 32GI at this particular race, one must be careful! Low GI stuff is great for Ironman but sucks for Sprint/Olympic. I take in my low GI stuff in the first 3 laps (spread evenly) so I agree with that advice. On the last lap I took in a gel - pretty much for the run. I finished my water at the 35km mark on the bike but that was ok since I knew there was a water point at the start of the run. Then on the run, one cup of water per lap and a bit of that nice tasting 32GI chew on the first lap (it takes time to digest). That worked for me. 10km without water would probably kill me I need a lot of water normally.. I've trained the body to cool itself for the hot days. The 32GI at such a short event was really weird and they went quite overboard but I'm not complaining. Without title sponsors, we wouldn't have these events. I know they are looking for title sponsors for 5150 so that we can have more events. You'd think the entrants would be sponsoring enough with the entry fees but that's another topic.

Proper results: http://www.spectrumsport.co.za/Portals/29/ResultDoc/JoburgCity_Tri_20110925.pdf

The bike leg was very easy, even with the wind. The run was also not too bad, prefer water sachets though. I'd say this wasn't too hard about the same level as the Energade ones (except you can cheat in those, so they're probably easier)

JoburgCityTri JoburgCityTri Thanks to all athletes, well done on a great effort. Please email us joburgcitytri@gmail.com any suggestions on improvements. See you 5 Feb! I will be complaining about the crappy Transition area (not level, no space, rubbish bike stands) - whereas the Sprint area was quite nice. That as well as the poorly organised swim start and ridiculous turnaround point (Had to dodge a guy who fell trying to turn, not his fault I would think). Other than that, all good :-)

You know I had half an eye on the floor looking for the large barbel in the photos ;-)

People can say what they want, that Germiston water was fantastic today! So nice, clean and clear. Easy to see people in front of you. Hopefully Roodeplaat is as clean next Sunday! They could have waited for us to get in the water before sounding the horn, but ok.

Friends of mine are selling 2x plane tickets down to EL for the race. They've decided to drive apparently. PM me for more info. I hear the prices have skyrocketed since so it should be a win-win :-)

Snap. I went through 42km in 3h56

Training? I don't know. For me it was also just a 42km time trial with an 8km whatever after that :-) Too many hills in that last 8. I managed to run fine up to about 60-64km in Comrades so I suppose it comes down to more training and better pacing. That major downhill between Centurion and Midrand probably cost us that last 8km :-)

Kidding man, there is no such thing as a BSG medal But that does suck to get a 21km medal, on the other hand my medal did not say 50km. Maybe I was also screwed over. It just says City2City marathon. I saw lots of medals left over though.. what was your finishing time? I came in at 4h58. Oh and the 70.3 medal is actually bigger than the IMSA medal. Don't believe me? Put them next to each other.. I saw a bus arriving at about 06:20. I heard people muttering about "the buses are running late". I live in Centurion luckily. Had to arrange lifts on both sides though, thanks to Gautrain not coming to the party with a shuttle bus to the Rosebank station or R10 parking (one-way train trip = R80 parking). It was flipping cold yes.. and then I got sunburned later. Eish.

What is this BSG medal of which you speak? ;-) All the races started late it seems. The buses were running late and the cops got lost. Yip, never say never. I'm saying Never :-)

Good race overall. Could well turn out to be the "2 Oceans" of Gauteng. Water points were good. Lots and lots of hills though. And then more hills. And then the last 8km, with even more crazy hills ;-) Realised I did not taper enough, but tend to recover fast. Didn't collect any injuries so should be ok by the weekend. The shirt and medal are ok. The goodie bag was very disappointing, I'd call it more of a "bag". The finish line was pretty good, perhaps a little less spectacular than Comrades 2011 (which was pretty poor for a race of that standard). Will I do it next year? I doubt it. If it's run in exactly the opposite direction, those downhills coming into Centurion will rip my quads off ;-)

I'm in for Energades, Joburg Tri, Challenge Cape Town, 70.3 and IMSA. So much for "building it up" with Challenge smack bang int he middle there. Little bit worried about Challenge, kakked off a bit today, only tapered about a week but the 50k run had a LOT of hills. Challenge has 1 (I think). The cycle on the other hand... All the races this year are for fun/training. I'll worry about times and stuff for 70.3 and IMSA. 70.3 is hard. Very hard. I always say IMSA is easier. Not sure why people are "scared" of IMSA if they can do 70.3. Makes no sense to me. That massive 45km uphill plus Bunkers Hill on the run (nevermind the unusually cold sea this year). Good fun. It's not called Ironman for nothing ;-)

Picked up my race number today. It is quite a long DRIVE from there to Centurion. This is gonna hurt. As long as I am repaired by next Sunday for the JHB City Tri I mean Duathlon, all good