Hawaii Ironman ??
October 13th, 2009 by Gavin
The last 2 Nobles to grow up, little Louie now 21 and the nugget who may never grow up
I drove past Quinns pub at 12.30 am and asked my brother was there a Gaelic match on this evening ?
“No” he replied, “all the girls wear Gaelic jerseys on a night out”
“seriously !? thats f£$kin wild”
My head hit the pillow shortly after but within 4hrs I found myself back at Quinns pub and still questioning the dress code - I wasn’t there for the chat but waiting on a lift to swimming ! … yeah . … exactly … 4.30am swim training . . .
Keano rocks up in a BMW 5 series which momentarily diverted my mind away from giving out about the overall situation but when I found myself in the changing room using the light from my mobile in an attempt to get changed I again started to question affairs
“surely you boys cannot be enjoying this ? you can’t actually look forward to getting up for training at this hour ?”
10 mins later the 2.5k warm up was read out and my current weight was commented upon . . “jeesus you’ve put on the pounds”.
The 100’s off the 1.10 cycle and the 50m butterfly repeats didn’t do much to lift my spirits but I ended up enjoying the session with the Irish swim team when I forgot about the time of day and my disappointment of seeing the girls in their jerseys.
I’m not a morning person.
During the week in Stirling there had been some chat about the Hawaii Iroman particulary since Catriona Morrison was racing. I saw some of the race in bits and pieces over the weekend but I have to admit, I don’t really ‘get it’ . . .
Why does Ironman have its World Champs ,on what is quite a remote Island, every year ? For a race which generates a lot of interest there only seemed to be specators in the finishing chute.
How did athletes such as Dave Scott and Mark Allen run much faster and bike on ‘a par’ with todays athletes with equipment that you’d be laughed at for using today?
Surely wearing the ‘long johns’ in the swim is akin to having a wetsuit swim ?
No wonder Chrissie Wellington is smiling when she is 15mins ahead half way through the bike . . .
Are race tactics more like ITU racing than Ironmen like a admit ? . . swim fast enough to be in the group, don’t let anyone get too big an advantage before the end of the bike, sit with the group and run . . .
Did the top 2 women run just as fast or faster than most of the men ?
I appreciate the effort it must take to finish the distance but as yet I do not really understand all the hype
5 Responses to “Hawaii Ironman ??”
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October 13th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
> Why does Ironman have its World Champs ,on what is quite a remote Island, every year ?
yeah indeed…
> How did athletes such as Dave Scott and Mark Allen run much faster and bike on ‘a par’ with todays athletes with equipment that you’d be laughed at for using today?
race organizers are smarter maybe?
> Surely wearing the ‘long johns’ in the swim is akin to having a wetsuit swim ?
long johns just make you faster, wetsuit on addition keeps you warm.
> No wonder Chrissie Wellington is smiling when she is 15mins ahead half way through the bike . . .
great…
> Are race tactics more like ITU racing than Ironmen like a admit ?
Norseman should be the world championship, it is a negative of Ironman Hawaii - for one group riding does not help much, its up north and cold.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Well at least someone in the family got good looks.
But you two look way too close ….. First thought you got lucky
but your back in the zone - as in no life
October 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Facebook chat:
Will Newton: Gavin’s clearly not been around the sport long enough to “get” it.
triathlonteam: Maybe thats the advantage, the distance and fresh approach.
Questions he asks I find interesting.
Answers however are a matter of taste…. Read more
You should hear what kind of questions my father and my friends ask about Ironman (mostly soccer fans and my dad is an ex soccer pro)
Questions are always good!
Aleksandar Sørensen-Markovic: I think you get it better than most Gavin. That race makes no sense and is the same shit each year..same stories, same talk about weather etc. etc.
Andy Turnbull: I’ve checked and Gav was actually born just before Julie Moss crawled up that finishing chute, but only just…
triathlon teamhttp://triathlonteam.org/gavin-the-riddler/
triathlon team: Strong words Aleks. I am not a huge fan of Ironman Hawaii but I respect it cause a lot of people respect it too. In the worst case it is a nice excuse to exercise and travel and that is better than most things. Would not call it shit… It is just not my kind of thing.
Will Newton: Surely one could say the same about ITU races? Same old, same old, every time. When was it last not just a glorified swim-run with a bit of a pointless bike ride between? Might as well be an aquathlon.
Jim Maguire: Old at the bike but new to triathlon; I just couldn’t believe the draft legal aspect of tri’s. Pity the great swimmer who gets away on the bike a minute ahead but has no chance of staying there with 20 wheelsuckin’ behind.
triathlon team: ITU, Ironman, XTERRA… these are all different and very particular dishes. Triathlon is very young so we have only few dishes, sort of like middle ages. Only vanilla chocolate and strawberry. No caramel, no banana… This is what we have now. It is more than 15 years ago and less than what we will have in 2050. I would like to make my own triathlon, maybe with some nice music and with a lot of animals but it is too much work for me now, tri team alone is a ton of work
Igor Nastic: for some reason aleks you are right, anyway… i like this “shit”
2 hours ago
Graeme Stewart: Try this on. . . .ITU has ruined Ironman. They brought drafting in to triathlon and ITU athletes develop a way of racing that works for that. Then try to apply it at IronMan and it doesn’t work! It sort of works because they all have to race that way but maybe that’s why they don’t run fast.
Andy Turnbull: Julie Moss, Rick & Dick Hoyt, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, PNF. Hawaii put triathlon on the map as a participation sport. As a professional sport, the WTC haven’t moved on since the early 1980s…
October 13th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
toe the line somewhere, what’s the worst that could happen?
October 14th, 2009 at 11:59 am
So you’re doing Kona then? You should wear your Fermanagh jersey on the run.