First ironman, training and gear questions

Triathlon Forum
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Hey guys and girls!

Recently I started training for my very first Ironman event, and I could use some good advise from some experienced athletes.
But before I go any further I would like to introduce myself.

My name is Michael Knudsen, I live in Copenhagen, Denmark and is 21 years old. For around 3 years I have been doing normal road racing, but now the time has come to take it to the next level! At first I wanted to do the French race called La Marmotte but it quickly became clear to me that the Ironman was my true call. Now I weight around 72 kg and is quite fit. My “Project Ironman 2010” went of last week and I’ve started out running some rather “smaller” runs of approximately half and hour or so, just to adjust my feet, legs and knees to the new situation.
The local swim club is on summer vacation for 2 more weeks so obviously I’ll will start there as soon as possible since I honestly don’t know how to crawl correct. So I guess there is some work to be done in the water.
As for my TT weapon it will be bought next week. As it looks right now I will go for a Isaac Efficiency or Isaac Joule Aerotic together with a ultegra 10sp. As for wheels I’m not yet sure. I think I will go for a Zipp 808 or HED H3, both clincher. What do you think?

As for the Ironman event. Since I’m located in Europe the event in Nice, France or Zürich, Switzerland is my primary targets. Any comments on the two races? By looking at the bike profile for Nice it looks kinda tough and hilly ? But since I’m a former biker that should be a force of mine. Is there a lot of wind in Nice since it takes place by the sea?

My goals are pretty simple. I’m not here to complete. I’m here to clock a great time. My secret goal is to clock a time saying 10hours. Is that ridiculous with the roughly 12 month of preparation before the two races takes place?

Kind Regards
Michael Knudsen

All comments and good-advises are most welcome.

Glad to be on board!

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If you do Nice, you don’t need a new bike, it’s hilly, with technical descents, it’s probably the only IM where a TT bike is of little advantage over a road bike with clip-ons, it’s also a very simple swim for the weak swimmer so should suit you.

10 hours woud get you a podium spot, and it’s only silly target if you don’t have the fitness - what is your biking experience, I assume you’re having little trouble getting good results domestically.

You will need to run a sub 4 hour marathon, which itself is tough for a new to running athlete in an IM, even if Nice is a fast marathon if you’re okay with the heat, so you need training there. Do you have any sort of coaching support?

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If you do Nice, you don’t need a new bike, it’s hilly, with technical descents, it’s probably the only IM where a TT bike is of little advantage over a road bike with clip-ons.

Ok, I’m a newbie with the Ironmans. I’ve bought a P2 and defintely know it has made me faster. I’ve only ridden right now 35 miles for the most of my riding. I’m doing Sprints, so at this point this is as far as I need to go…In the coming years, I’m going to build up for the longer distances. But, when I get to about 28 miles, my back is killing me. Is it the form, bad fit, or does it take a while for your body to get used to the new position? I just dont see how in the heck in 3 years I’ll be able to ride 112 miles in the aero position (or atleast 95% of it).

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Hey JibberJim.

Okay cool. As for biking experience, I stopped racing at a professional due to education. But I was probably top 30 of my age class in Denmark with a couple of good results in TT events. There is a triathlon club near by where I can get a lot of coaching and information, and a very good friend of mine has been doing tri/ironman since 1994, so there is a lot of great help to collect there.

I guess I’ll pick Nice for my first Ironman, hopefully followed by more. If I decide not to go for a TT bike, but instead picking a normal bike with bars how much time will I then lose on a flat ironman bike stage compared to the TT bike?

What wheels do you guys prefere? I’m currently looking on zipp 808, HED H3 and Xentis Mark 1

Thanks a lot

/Michael

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As for the Ironman event. Since I’m located in Europe the event in Nice, France or Zürich, Switzerland is my primary targets. Any comments on the two races? By looking at the bike profile for Nice it looks kinda tough and hilly ? But since I’m a former biker that should be a force of mine. Is there a lot of wind in Nice since it takes place by the sea?

My goals are pretty simple. I’m not here to complete. I’m here to clock a great time. My secret goal is to clock a time saying 10hours. Is that ridiculous with the roughly 12 month of preparation before the two races takes place?

I just did Switzerland as my first Ironman a few weeks ago. I thought it was a very good race, though my only basis for comparison is half-irons I’ve done in the United States. The weather was good, the crowds were great.

Swim was in very clean water, not too hard to follow. I was amazed at how bad all the swimmers were though. I have never been so pummeled in an open water swim, nor have I seen so many people flailing about, changing direction, etc. My recommendation is either get yourself to one of the edges or up to the front. I foolishly stayed near the back and had to fight through some of the most inept swimmers I’ve ever encountered. And I’m no Michael Phelps. Still once you get past about 600 meters, it sorts itself out.

The bike times were fast and the roads were in excellent condition. There are two significant longer climbs plus one very short steep climb but it was still a fast bike course in my opinion: I rode the first half of it faster than I’ve ever gone even in a half ironman. Downside to the bike were few. The only real bad part was that there were countless people shamelessly drafting. Huge peletons. I’ve never seen anything like it. You need to hope that you don’t run into one going just about your speed because you’ll be torn between wasting too much energy dropping them or going to easily to let them go.

The run was OK but certainly leave something to be desired. It is 4 fairly complicated loops on a bicycle/pedestrian path. In many places, things are so narrow that it becomes difficult to go past slower runners. You would pull out, see a bunch of runners in your path coming right at you, and have to move out of the way. Also it is NOT flat. There are a few ups and downs that take you over or under roads. They’ll seem like mountains.

Still overall, compared to the half irons I’ve done, I thought it was a good race. Well organized and a lot of fun. My perception is probably colored by the fact that I had a good race. But I can tell you that if you goal is a fast time, it’s probably a good race for it.

One word of caution: If anything is wrong with your bike, do NOT take it to the free Scott Bicycle area. Find a bike shop in the area and pay. In fact, scout out a good bike shop in the area as soon as you get there, just in case. While I was standing there, just over the course of ten minutes, I watched those guys break two bicycles. They snapped the aerobars off of one guy from Scotland and then told him, “Sorry, we can’t fix that” and cut him loose. Unbelievable. He had to go hunt down a tri-shop in Zurich to find a replacement part.

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Hey JoeO.

Sweet! It sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah it seems that there is a lot of drafting going on in the Zürich event. Did you do it on a TT bike or a road bike with aerobars?

Thanks for the info, appreciate it.

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Dedicated Triathlon bike. No way I would want a road bike for something that long

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So you would still go for a TT bike, also in Nice?

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I don’t know Nice so I can’t speak to that but I would definitely use my tri-bike for Switzerland again. Without it I would have been much slower