Ironman Switzerland 2010

[md6]

I've signed up for this - who else is doing it?

Anyone sorted their hotel/flights yet or, like me, was this completely unplanned and so i will arrange that as and when i can afford each section???

If any of you are in the London area, then as the ime draws near if you want someone to train with for the long bike rides (or at least part of them) then drop me a message - although it's probably a bit early for that now.

[kevinf]

Hello

just got back from Zurich last week. Had a good first Ironman; perfect weather, reasonable finish time and plenty to see and do afterwards. However, Zurich is one v expensive city. I live in Ireland and am used to expensive food and drink when out and about but Zurich beats this hands down. The only tips I can gve you are book your hotel early and independently. I paid £417 at hotel neufeld in the Wiedikon district. This included 4 nights, breakfast and the bus back to the airport. They even laid on a special early ironman breakfast on event day. there were plenty of other competitors at the hotel. It was a double room that was just big enough to open my bike box on the floor. I made the reservation in January and gave credit card number, was set to pay more but sterling just got a bit stronger at the right time and this brought the price down a abit when i was checking out. The hotel has excellent transport connections. Two stops on tram to wiedikon train station, then another two stops to Wollishofen, the station for the triathlon transition. Day tickets for the tram only were chf4, for tram and train chf8. This is cheaper than buying individual journey tickets.

At Wollishofen you cross under the rails to get to Landiwiesee. However, i would recommend early registration, at least two days before or early the day before the race. I paid £20 for my race number so that I had an early bike check in the day before. It was worth it as the bike check in queues were very long and chaotic to say the least. Transition was open and not what i was told it would be like at an IM. No T1 and T2 tents for changing - you just left your gear beside your bike as at any sprint or olympic event.

After all that the IM went well. Some of the aid stations on the run could have been more evenly spaced but i finished and that's all that mattered!

Hope this helps

Kevin

[md6]

Cheers kevin that's very useful intel there. I was planning on booking the hotel asap although most don't seem to take bookings this far in advance - i will check again at the start of Aug and if not then at the end and regularly after that. I am expecting it to be an expensive trip, but then i figure you can only do your first IM once so I may as well make it an experience.

With the lack of tents in T1/2, did people still change or was it tri suit the whole way?

Cheers again

[kevinf]

Hello again

transition was chaotic to say the least. Lots of people changed in transition from swim to bike then bike to run. I wore tri shorts under wetsuit, put one top on for cycle then another for run. It probably depended on personal preference and whether you were going for a quick time or being a pleb like me - just wanting to finish!!

The no nudity rule was ignored by a few liberal europeans - some guy getting out of his wetsuit stumbled and nearly threw his hairy back end in front of my bike as i was trying to exit t1! Apart from that it was just like a shorter distance event. You did not get any extra room for gear, which was a pain as many people had floor pumps and what semed like tons of other kit. Best practice seems to be a bag or box in front of your bike to keep everything contained.

Kevin

[md6]

cheers Kevin, it's good to have some idea what i'm going to be getting into

[macm]

Hi

I signed up for Ironman Switz 2010 last week. I have been thinking about doing an IM for about 6 months and had not realised how quick the spaces get filled, so when I saw that registration was open I jumped in quickly.

I picked up from other posts that Zurich was expensive so after a quick search found the local Youth Hostel. Its about 1/2 mile from the event and a fraction of the price of a 'standard' hotel. I used their on line booking system and everything went smoothly - I even had an email back double checking if I really meant to book for 2010, not 2009. Anyway, Ive booked for the night before and race day and will probably stay somewhere (cheaper) within a short drive for a couple of days before that.

I've entered the Little Woody middle distance at the end of Aug to check on my fitness and then its full on for a hard winter. Its the swimming that I need to work on but I will certainly be up for some long training rides nearer the time.

mac

mac

[macm]

Hi

I forgot to say in my previous post - I'm off to Lake Annecy for a holiday next week and intend to stop over in Zurich on the way back. I'll check the bike course out and let you know my thoughts when I get back. Without seeing it I'm expecting 2/3 to be fast flat on the lakeside and the other 1/3 challenging hills. I live in Herts where major hills are hide to find so will have to plan some 'away days' for serious training.

mac

[jules653]

All this talk about entering Ironmans frightened me that i might not get a place, so I have also entered IM Switzerland rather than wait for IM UK (I note Austria is already sold out). Its great though - once you take the plunge it suddenly focuses the mind - starting to plan the training already.

The best bit is that I told the other half that as I would be spending a lot of time on my own riding around in Chilterns over the next year, she could pick a holiday pre-xmas anywere as compensation. She has chosen a week swim training in Lanzarote which was a result! (I am sure it is because she knows I can't swim and wants to prove to me that doing an Ironman is an absurd notion).

I think I might book travel / acc through an organised operator to avoid the hassle and to gvie me peace of mind over the bike.

Would be cool if people wanted to keep each other updated on training progress.

[md6]

Mac, that'll be great if you could do a quick recce of the course. I ws also expecting the spilt to be what you thought.

Welcome on board Jules, we should start a thread for the training updates. I just ordered Be Iron Fit as i figured i'm not smart enough to work out my own training plan, but this year i can't start specific training, but have 2 more OD then a half mara and plan an early season mara next year so should be sorted for the run section. Just need to build up to the Century rides and 4k swims...gulp

[Jellybaby]

I'm doing IM Switzerland too. Definitely up for some long rides: never too early to start training I don't think! Still working out where I'm staying and when. Fancy getting involved with Little Woody at the end of August? I'm doing it as a long distance training session rather than a race. There is no cutoff for the bike or run so it works well for me

PM me on the bcttt forum if you want to go for a ride: going south from london seems sensible. there are loads of hills in surrey and sussex