Ironman Switzerland 2010

[wyno70]

I emailed IMCH yesterday and got the below response:

"Unfortunately at the moment we don’t know if wetsuit are allowed or not.

Neoprene wetsuits are only permitted if the water temperature is below 24.5° Centigrade (76.1° Fahrenheit). If the water temperature is below 16° Centigrade (60.8° Fahrenheit), the wearing of a neoprene wetsuit is mandatory. The water temperature will be measured at a depth of 50 cm below the surface of the water on race day at 6 a.m. and the temperature publicized immediately. Compression stockings which cover feet are not permitted during swimming.

We are looking forward to seeing you soon at the Ironman Zurich Switzerland 2010".

So I guess that means we find out on the morning. Temps for the next few days are forecast to be over 30 in Zurich so I wouldn't bet against it being non wetsuit. Having said that, if it carries on being over 30, then I'm guessing the 'non wetsuit' swim will be the least of our problems!!!!

[md6]

Very true, i hope it cools a bit before then.

Does anyone have any idea of their race number - i know IMUK people have theirs already so I was wondering if Switz has different arrangements (i.e. find out at registration or something?) Any one know?

[robertc2]

Very true, i hope it cools a bit before then.

Does anyone have any idea of their race number - i know IMUK people have theirs already so I was wondering if Switz has different arrangements (i.e. find out at registration or something?) Any one know?

I know im going of at a tangent but i would like to pick your brain please.

im going to enter next years event and i would like to know if you would mind passing on any info that i will find useful please.

such as hotels and how the event was put together i hope you can help thanks and at least your swim will be nice and warm.

[bbam]

Hi there!

I am competing in Ironman Switzerland next week and was wondering if anyone could help answer some questions for me please?

The Ironman Switzerland website says there is a ''Food Area with low price menus specially geared to athletes' requirements and various coffee bars with delicious cakes and snacks''. Does anyone know what kind of food this inculdes and have any idea of the price???

What is the price of food and drink, transport like around Zurich?

Any info would be appreciated. Hope everyone's training has gone well!!!

Thanks

Ben

[esben]

Hi all

Does anyone know what the procedure is regarding picking up water/food/gels etc at the food/drink stations on the bike leg? Are officials handing it out for you to grab as you drive by, or do you need to get off the bike and serve yourself?

Thanks,
Esben

[Sicknote]

Hey Ben,

Transport around Zurich is fantastic, the trams run like clockwork as does everything else as you'd imagine from the swiss, the trains run every 10/15 minutes into town from the airport, the only snag is the 101 escallators you have to go up/down.

The food is normally of a good standard and healthy(ish), and pretty reasonable considering where it is. I thingk they served a variety of pasta's and other high carb meals last year.

Esben,

The food stations are manned by the most helpful poeple around, they will do everything possible to put it in your hand as you cycle on past.

Hope that helps,

Still not that keep on the water temp, 26 deg C today.

Mike

[md6]

OK good luck everyone I hope it all goes well for you, see you on the other side

[CJBeattie]

good luck this weekend!!

I've been looking at doing ironman for a few months now, and have penned in 2012 for my first crack. Finish this season's rugby, then dedicate from April 2011 until june --> August 2012 for IM. Is that a good enough timescale based on your own training experiences?

Would be interested to see your thoughts on this event and let me know some details...

flat, hilly, hot, cold etc. hydration stations that kind of thing...

Have a great time guys!

Craig

[ironkav]

Note to the green one. Duplicate post. Thought it should be in both places.

Hi all. Here is a quick race report on the event. Im just back in Ireland and am completely shattered, but wanted to put this together quickly before I forget it.
I eventually crossed the line after 13:39 and was never as happy in my life. Congrats to MD6 also who I met up with over there and we shared a high 5 on the run which was great.
This report has some gaps so please fill in what ive missed. Also PM me any questions you may have. I haven’t written a race report before so if there are important things missing let me know and ill edit the post.
Pre Race Travel Points
• Before booking your flights ring and ask if there is bike room available on the plane
• Book your flights a year in advance and book your bike on the flight the same day
• If the plane is full usually 6 bikes your options are:
o Courier the bike (arrange 3-4 months before race with at least 6-8 people to minimise cost)
o Think about using someone like Nirvana Europe or an event organiser
• Hotel Booking
o Book through a hotel search engine and not directly with the hotel. The room rates at the hotel i stayed at on their site were 3 times the price on their hotel website. (this is common knowledge to all i assume) I used an Irish company www.cityhotels.ie and got great rates
o I stayed in Hardbrucken, North of the city. Hotel Senator. 5 nights €450 breakfast not included
Arriving in Switzerland
• Easy part 
• Train station is attached to the airport.
• Go to any kiosk and get a 72 hour Zurich Card (this allows you to use any public transport hop on hop off foe 3 days)
• Go to platform 4 Get the s16 Train to Zurich Central HB (Main hub for all trams, buses)
Registration
Get this done early as possible. I registered on the Thursday. The queues get long v quick so get there 15 mins before and get to the top.
• Swiss Triathlon Licence can be purchased here
• Shuttle transfer also here (bike is transferred also after race)
Bike Checkin
Again get there a half an hour before your given time. Also I noticed that no one was using their allocated time slot. 0-700 race numbers were from 3-4 on the Saturday, yet all numbers were there.
Getting to the Ironman Venue (Landiwiese)
Depending on where your hotel is obviously this will change. But from the city centre the easiest way is:
From BanhofStrasse (directly across from Zurich HB) take the number 7 tram to Billoweg. Walk east towards the lake for 5 mins. You will see the venue tents etc.
Getting to the Race
At registration I booked a shuttle from my hotel with Kuoni Events. It cost 49 CHF. Collection at 5am and I was at transition for 5.30.
Pre race
• Get there early
• There were no toilets in transition so we had to use the public toilets outside the transition area. Long queues at 5.30am.
• Try and get your business done early (no 2) and get to the lake for warmup. I was under pressure to make the swim warmup as were a lot of people due to toilet queues.
• Transition is crowded so lay your bits and pieces out well. No special ironman transition area  same as any old triathlon at home.
• Pray for a safe race.
The Swim
I found it fine and had loads of room (Yes you read that correctly). A lot of people said it was crowded but perhaps I was lucky with my route . The water was warm at 22-23 degrees. Tri suit would have been fine. At the end of the lap you go onto an island for timing. This part is a bit crowded definitely. A lot of people end up walking in the water to queue to get up on the ramp. A lot of Americans were complaining. I was glad of the 1 minute rest. Second lap is longer than the first and the space in the water is noticeable. Water is clear and you can see your full arm. This was quite a shock  as I am used to the irish murky waters.
The Bike
I was given advice to do a lot of flat time trial work for this ironman. I wouldn’t give this advice to anyone now but this is based on my ability. There are quite a few hills and i was out of the aero position a lot. If i could do it again I would use my road bike with tri bars attached. That’s just me though. All you good cyclists would be fine however do not underestimate the beast especially on the second lap when the sun is high. Knowing what i know now I would plan to be in the trial position for 110km of the course and the rest is kind of up and down. There was one very fast decent at 65km mark that had some loose chippings all of a sudden. I hit about 70km/hr here and almost shat myself when the road turned to barney rubble. On the second lap around I noticed the big SLOW DOWN sign that i completely missed first time around. Note to self ; read road signs.
2 laps
0-30k flat
30-50k hilly (the Beast was very tough, especially the second time around)
50-70k some long hills however not sleep. Some very fast downhills.
70-90 flat except for heartbreak hill. Hop hop hop
The Run
4 laps
Completely flat. The aid stations are well spread out and always seem to come at the right time. There are plenty of options at the stations. (Water, cola, soup, juice, bread, gels, bars, fruit, salt sticks, pretzels, nuts, crisps)
I drank coke from Km 1 as i couldn’t face gels or powerbar products. This was a training mistake by me. IMO the powerbar products taste rotten but even my gu gels that I like did at this stage. Water and coke and nuts for salt is all I had for the entire marathon. At 4.5 km on the lap you recieve your lap wristband. Green, Yellow, Blue and then Red. The layout of the run is strange. Check out the map on their website to see what I mean. Not much more to add here. Its a marathon, its tough!
Other stuff
There is great support on all stages of the bike course and run course, and i never got tired of hearing HOP HOP HOP or the bells from the swizz folk in the countryside. I had a dodgy run in to the race with some foot injuries which disrupted my training a lot so my run suffered as did my bike on the second lap. The crowd really helped during the run especially the irish when they seen the tri colour on my race number.
Overall this was a great race, and was really well organised for the athletes. There wasn’t much to do for the wags however. I had planned on doing some sightseeing but there always seemed to be something I had to attend every day. Everything that had to be attended was always at 2 or 3 in the afternoon so it interrupted any plans. Also on race day my gf noticed that the prices had gone up at some of the stalls for food and drink (did anyone else notice this?). Bad form.
Bad points 
• Zurich is expensive
• The Expo is expensive
• The ironman shop is expensive
• The food at the expo is expensive
• The drinks at the expo are expensive - 7chf for a bottle of water??
• The food at the expo isn’t great and aren’t that many options. (pasta, meh meh? (noodles i think), sausages and bread.. thats all i seen)
• Body glide should never cost 20 euro (forgot mine) therefore the expo is expensive

[md6]

just a quick one to join in, yep agree with IronKav, Zurich is bloody expensive, and the expo was really costly 12CHF for a bowl of pasta with (what tasted like ragu sauce)??? 5CHF for a small coffee??? Christ i'd need a mortgage to spend any time there. I sold my soul and that just about covered it.

The aid stations were great and very well stocked but when i tried to have some coke it was NOT flat, which gave me really bad gas and indegestion or about an hour of the run. it slowed me down a great deal and left me feeling sick, lots of retching (although that could also have been partly due to other things)

All in all a great race, pleased myself given the injury in th ebuild up, and well done Darran with the foot injury and everything else you did fantasticaly mate well done. And the high 5 on the run really helped pick me up too, i think that having a friendly face on the route is a real help.