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Bela Bela 5150 2017


EmJayZA

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26 days to Bela Bela. Accommodation and entry booked and paid.

 

Who else will be there? Any tips or suggestions for us newbies? Anything worth seeing in the area?

The water is probably going to be freezing, suck it up. :)

 

Other than that, just have a great groovy day. Its going to test you make no mistake but enjoy it anyway. And don't stop event if it means crawling :)

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The water is probably going to be freezing, suck it up. :)

 

Other than that, just have a great groovy day. Its going to test you make no mistake but enjoy it anyway. And don't stop event if it means crawling :)

 

Will keep moving, no matter what. I am pretty confident I am ready. I would have been able to do Durban, so I am really looking forward to this. Need to work on my race pacing. My goal time is 3.5 hours, which should look like:

 

Swim 34 minutes 

T1 8 mins

Cycle 1 hour 20 mins 

T2 5 mins

Run 1 hour 15 minutes

 

Feeling shaky on my bike. Had a spill which totally messed up my confidence, and switched to clipless pedals. So have been holding back and descending pretty slowly. Will hit the road as much as I can in the next 3 weeks to fix confidence issues. 

 

Will post my times after the race. Going to be interesting to see if I can make my goal. 

Edited by EmJayZA
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Will keep moving, no matter what. I am pretty confident I am ready. I would have been able to do Durban, so I am really looking forward to this. Need to work on my race pacing. My goal time is 3.5 hours, which should look like:

 

Swim 34 minutes 

T1 8 mins

Cycle 1 hour 20 mins 

T2 5 mins

Run 1 hour 15 minutes

 

Feeling shaky on my bike. Had a spill which totally messed up my confidence, and switched to clipless pedals. So have been holding back and descending pretty slowly. Will hit the road as much as I can in the next 3 weeks to fix confidence issues. 

 

Will post my times after the race. Going to be interesting to see if I can make my goal.

Excellent, those are pretty aggressive times esp the cycle but doable. Good luck. See you in the cradle

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Will be doing my first triathlon! 

 

Managed to get a road bike from a friend at least. Will need to get comfortable on the ridiculously skinny wheels, I've only ridden it once so far! 

 

I will be chuffed with anything round 3 hours, but with no previous races, I have no idea what is good for me. 

Edited by Dieter ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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The swim at Bela Bela is easy (watch out for the walkers :-) )and the run is relatively flat but don’t underestimate the cycle leg it is tough.

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Will keep moving, no matter what. I am pretty confident I am ready. I would have been able to do Durban, so I am really looking forward to this. Need to work on my race pacing. My goal time is 3.5 hours, which should look like:

 

Swim 34 minutes 

T1 8 mins

Cycle 1 hour 20 mins 

T2 5 mins

Run 1 hour 15 minutes

 

Feeling shaky on my bike. Had a spill which totally messed up my confidence, and switched to clipless pedals. So have been holding back and descending pretty slowly. Will hit the road as much as I can in the next 3 weeks to fix confidence issues. 

 

Will post my times after the race. Going to be interesting to see if I can make my goal. 

Definitely doable overall time, here is a breakdown of my times of last year. Keep in mind the following:

My Swim is relatively weak(back of the pack),

My Bike is pretty strong(passed allot of people on the course)

I suffered on the run(got passed by plenty of peeps)

 

Swim:33:52

Total Transition 1: 5:00

Bike: 1h24:28

T2: 2:14

Run: 1h02 (my PB on a flat 10km route is 48min, so quite a bit slower)

Total 3h07

 

So I agree with IceCreamMan, your target cycle time might be a bit aggressive.

 

My bike time was about 10mins faster than those I finished with and my swim and run was about 5mins slower each compared to those around me. So it points out that I pushed a bit too hard on the bike and paid for it on the Run.

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Definitely doable overall time, here is a breakdown of my times of last year. Keep in mind the following:

My Swim is relatively weak(back of the pack),

My Bike is pretty strong(passed allot of people on the course)

I suffered on the run(got passed by plenty of peeps)

 

Swim:33:52

Total Transition 1: 5:00

Bike: 1h24:28

T2: 2:14

Run: 1h02 (my PB on a flat 10km route is 48min, so quite a bit slower)

Total 3h07

 

So I agree with IceCreamMan, your target cycle time might be a bit aggressive.

 

My bike time was about 10mins faster than those I finished with and my swim and run was about 5mins slower each compared to those around me. So it points out that I pushed a bit too hard on the bike and paid for it on the Run.

 

Thanks. Think it is prudent to add another 20 mins to my bike time and push a bit harder on the run. 

 

Think a more realistic breakdown is:

 

Swim 35 minutes 

T1 6 mins

Cycle 1 hour 40 mins (average speed of 24km/ph)

T2 4 mins

Run 1 hour 10 minutes

Edited by EmJayZA
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Try not to swallow too much water, it's not the cleanest !!

 

EmJay, I think your cycle time is optimistic, it is not a flat course, there is a fair bit of hills and climbing.

 

My splits from last year

Swim 28:38

T1 4:38

Cycle 1h 31 (am a fairly decent cyclist)

T2 2:04

Run 1h 01

 

Bear in mind, the race starts around mid-day, you cycle and run in the heat of the day, there is usually a fair bit of wind on the cycle leg and the previous 2 years I did the race the run was in 32-34 degs!

 

Use the race as a learning curve, analyse things that went right and went wrong on the day... try not to get stuck on achieving times/splits, and don't get down if they are not achieved.... there are many factors (the heat being a big part) as well as how you feel on the day that might affect hitting or missing your estimated times.

 

Enjoy and learn :)

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Try not to swallow too much water, it's not the cleanest !!

 

[snip]

Aha, that reminds me, my stomach was propely upset that evening and the following day. :wacko: Definitely picked up a bug in that water!

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Try not to swallow too much water, it's not the cleanest !!

 

EmJay, I think your cycle time is optimistic, it is not a flat course, there is a fair bit of hills and climbing.

 

My splits from last year

Swim 28:38

T1 4:38

Cycle 1h 31 (am a fairly decent cyclist)

T2 2:04

Run 1h 01

 

Bear in mind, the race starts around mid-day, you cycle and run in the heat of the day, there is usually a fair bit of wind on the cycle leg and the previous 2 years I did the race the run was in 32-34 degs!

 

Use the race as a learning curve, analyse things that went right and went wrong on the day... try not to get stuck on achieving times/splits, and don't get down if they are not achieved.... there are many factors (the heat being a big part) as well as how you feel on the day that might affect hitting or missing your estimated times.

 

Enjoy and learn :)

 

Thanks. Yeah, will still monitor HR (no power meter on bike) and try stick in my target zones. So I won't be too disappointed if I don't make my goal times. It's my second triathlon, and a journey so it's just a fun day out to me. But I do like seeing new PRs and higher numbers, so want to have a number in my mind and adjust how I feel on the day. 

 

Been doing a lot of hill/big gear training specifically for this race (and potentially for Ultra Midlands). My problem is bike handling and confidence. That's slowing me down hectically. Things you guys do that are second nature, I have to still learn or master (like gearing properly, drinking from a water bottle while riding, clipping in and out, etc). Riding a bike well is certainly not easy and requires a lot of practice. So it's not all about fitness/power.  

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Thanks. Yeah, will still monitor HR (no power meter on bike) and try stick in my target zones. So I won't be too disappointed if I don't make my goal times. It's my second triathlon, and a journey so it's just a fun day out to me. But I do like seeing new PRs and higher numbers, so want to have a number in my mind and adjust how I feel on the day. 

 

Been doing a lot of hill/big gear training specifically for this race (and potentially for Ultra Midlands). My problem is bike handling and confidence. That's slowing me down hectically. Things you guys do that are second nature, I have to still learn or master (like gearing properly, drinking from a water bottle while riding, clipping in and out, etc). Riding a bike well is certainly not easy and requires a lot of practice. So it's not all about fitness/power.  

Only comes with time in the saddle

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Aha, that reminds me, my stomach was propely upset that evening and the following day. :wacko: Definitely picked up a bug in that water!

Mate I did the race with last year also had a dodgy stomach for a couple of days after

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How many minutes will a wetsuit save? I'm not too fussed about swimming cold water.

Flip that water was surprisingly cold last year. My Garmin measured 18°C. Even with a wet-suit it was flipping cold, took my breath away for a moment as I entered.

 

Difficult to quantify how much time it will save you, if any, because you need to struggle for a moment or two to get the thing off as well.

 

I am not a strong confident swimmer, so the added buoyancy just gives me the little bit of confidence to do it. Personally I wouldn't easily do a swim portion without a wetsuit.

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