2012 Ironman Western Australia

Why the worried face Matthews? Should be excited! Haha nah I know the feeling
Hillarys Tri went well! My aim was to beat my previous time which I did by 12 minutes so I'm very pleased with that result! 

I'd like to do all the Telstra series triathlons but I'm a bit short on funds so might have to give that one a miss unfortunately. 

Not doing the full but got a spot in the half in May. My plan is to do IMNZ in March next year as my first full and then IMWA at the end of the year.

I volunteered at IMWA last year (2011) and I found so many people coming in after the ride with nothing left for the run. I'm not saying they didn't finish but I think a lot of people went too hard on the bike. The humidity was horrid.

Do the prep work and pace yourself to allow for the run. (Thats my plan anyway).

I did my first last year (2011) and I would have to say just don't worry too much about it and you'll do fine.  Set your expectations low, as in just plan to finish and nothing more.  Don't even set a time goal at all other than 16:59:59.

Relax and enjoy the day.  Smile a lot.  Walk a lot.  Talk a lot.  Finish the swim, bike and run feeling like you could have done more.  It's a long day and your biggest threat to completing it is going too hard too early and since it's your first and you won't know what too hard is you should be overly cautious.

I finished in 15:3X (don't even remember) and I'm sure I could have been closer to 14hrs if I had have pushed myself but it was all about making sure I got to the finish line for that first one.  My training was sporadic at best so any sort of consistency should get you over the line just fine, don't worry about what other people tell you about their epic training rides or weeks.  My longest ride before the race was 160km and my longest training run in the lead up only about 18km.  You don't need (or want) to kill yourself in training if finishing is your goal.  If you enter the race feeling like you should have trained more I think you have it about right.

3.8km swim, 180km ride, 42.2km run.  You WILL do this.  Good luck.

Lighten up Jeff!  If that were the criteria basically no-one would ever do their first or if they did there would be way more DNF's.  Anyway it's not like I said walk the whole damn thing (unless that's all you are capable of), basically just don't be afraid to walk more than you think you probably need to because it's a bloody long day and a small miscalculation on pacing can kill your day.  And if it hurts, finding someone else who is also hurting to talk to will distract you just nicely.  For some folks walking 42.2 is pushing themselves and for those who are a little more normal than us doing it after a 180k bike and 3.8k swim is simply mental.

I'll say it more plainly then.  For your first do the training and then on race day leave a bit out on the course to make sure that you enjoy yourself and get to the finish line.  You want to have a good enough day that you decide to come back and do it again.  Once you have the finish line in sight (last run lap?) then you can lay what you have left on the line.  A DNF will hurt far more in your first than an extra hour on your time.

As for racing the event, if you want to race go and do Olys or sprints.  That's where people race.  IM's are just done to find out who is the least slow.*  If anyone who wanted to race misses out because of someone like me then it just means they didn't want it enough.

* Excludes pros and maybe top 10 AG finishers.

I'd love all IM races to have a qualifying time from a Half Ironman Race for each age-group

or

have some more events in Australia for people to enter.

Four isn't enough?  Plus two in NZ?  I think six amongst a combined population of 27 million is a pretty good ratio.  The U.S. would need nearly seventy races to equal this ratio (they have 10.)  Maybe people should just be restricted to entering only one per year to reduce demand.  Or maybe restrict entrants to the local area only if you are just upset about missing your local event?

Cairns is still only half full so clearly the demand isn't there for another race just yet.  Anyone wanting to do an iron distance race this seson still has the opportunity to do so and probably will have until race day, without needing to qualify or be super fast with a credit card.  If qualifying times were brought in then most race fields would be half the size they are now so everyone would be paying double for the privelege of racing.  Is that really what you want?

Slow, fat, under-prepared participants which you have to dodge on the run are the folks who subsidise your race.  Perhaps consider that next time you feel your experience is being ruined by them.  Or better yet, if you really want to race in an exclusive event get proper fast and race ITU.  Not this (comparatively) slow IM crap.

Would love to race ITU but who is going to pay my bills whilst I train?

Hi all ... just started the "official" thread in Iron Groups forum since folks from out of just Western Australia will be doing this race too ... hope to see you all there! (in the thread, but especially at the race)

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=437108