# Arsen Gere's Ironman



## carolonabike (20 Jul 2012)

Arsen Gere is competing in Ironman UK in Bolton on Sunday. I think I'm only marginally less nervous than he is.
Wish him luck.

Good luck to everyone else who's competing 

Oops, I hit enter too fast, the title should say Arsen Gere's Ironman  Mod's could you alter it please?


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## fimm (20 Jul 2012)

Good luck to him indeed! I hope all goes well and he enjoys his day!


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## Arsen Gere (23 Jul 2012)

Well I finished 11.35, I think it was a record speed too. 4,000 mph or my garmin mucked it up. Run was very tough 27c and some sadist put a hill on it that you had to climb 3 times. Bike course was hilly too. In fact I am sure the lake had a hills in it.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/202315906


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## VamP (24 Jul 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> Well I finished 11.35, I think it was a record speed too. 4,000 mph or my garmin mucked it up. Run was very tough 27c and some sadist put a hill on it that you had to climb 3 times. Bike course was hilly too. In fact I am sure the lake had a hills in it.
> 
> http://connect.garmin.com/activity/202315906


 

Good job!

That looks like a tough profile, well done on your time. How do you feel now?

Any idea where the Kona cut off was this year?


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## fimm (24 Jul 2012)

Well done! 
What were the crowds like? Did you enjoy it? Any plans for another one?


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## Arsen Gere (24 Jul 2012)

Thanks folks.
The crowds were fanastic, it was a sunny hot day, all the pubs emptied on to the streets to watch. So while they were supping beer I was trying to chew a bit of a banana that was like a sock my mouth was so dry.
I found it tough, I have no plans for another one. I would have done Kona if I had a place but I missed out by 10 minutes !

In my age group there were 3 places, one rolled down to 4th at 11.25.
The next day the awards ceremony looked like a John Wayne convention, loads of bandy blokes who could not pick a tenner off the floor. I saw one bloke ride up because it was easier than walking and have to be helped of his bike.
I was sore the next day and oddly I did not sleep well for a couple of days. I was expecting to be out like a light.
I cycled to work today - slowly but I'm not up for a run, may be an easy swim tonight, I've still got the tattoo like number on my arm, when it comes off the numbers will be still there white as I was burned a bit by the sun. My shoulders caught it too, I was not expecting summer to arrive so sudenly.
FWIW the bit that aches the most is my lower back, the hills did that on the run. I found I was leaning forward in to the wind too. So bad posture caused that when I was tired. 1:12 .2.4 mile swim, 6:07 112 mile bike and 4:05 for the marathon, I'm pleased with the time but disapointed not making it to Kona.

I knew it was going to be tough when there was a special forces recruitment booth at the registration.


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## VamP (24 Jul 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> T
> I found it tough, I have no plans for another one. I would have done Kona if I had a place but I missed out by 10 minutes !


 
Gutting! Having got so close to qualifying, I can't believe that you won't have another go next year!


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## carolonabike (24 Jul 2012)

VamP said:


> Guto qualifying, I can't believe that you won't have another go next year!


 I have it in writing (almost) that it's a one off.
He was168th overall and I'm very proud of him, even though he wouldn't chat as I cycled alongside him halfway through the run . 
I also get to choose where we go on holiday in lieu of a trip to Hawaii


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## VamP (24 Jul 2012)

carolonabike said:


> I have it in writing (almost) that it's a one off.
> He was168th overall and I'm very proud of him, even though he wouldn't chat as I cycled alongside him halfway through the run .
> I also get to choose where we go on holiday in lieu of a trip to Hawaii


 

Get it in writing and notarised before he gets over the pain of this one 

Congrats on getting to choose your holiday destination, as you're probs going to Hawaii next year


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## carolonabike (24 Jul 2012)

VamP said:


> Get it in writing and notarised before he gets over the pain of this one
> 
> Congrats on getting to choose your holiday destination, as you're probs going to Hawaii next year


Well, there are worse places I suppose


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## Flying_Monkey (24 Jul 2012)

Amazing. Well done!


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## smokeysmoo (24 Jul 2012)

AG. My mate Jimmy did the IM on Sunday as well, his tracking profile is HERE

He came close to getting pulled on the bike apparently, but hats off to him, he did it and raised over £10k in the process 

VamP is spot on, it's a very tough profile. The bike route is a tough one, and the run is a soul destroying route, 3 laps and you can almost touch the finish line on each one


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## NotthatJasonKenny (24 Jul 2012)

I almost tried the cycle route today since it goes past my house but I bottled it. Once around is tough but it was three laps for those that did it! Maximum respect!

Fancy trying the route on Sunday Smokey as training for next Sunday?


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## smokeysmoo (24 Jul 2012)

NotthatJasonKenny said:


> Fancy trying the route on Sunday Smokey as training for next Sunday?


Hmmm, maybe. Are you in tomorrow?


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## NotthatJasonKenny (24 Jul 2012)

smokeysmoo said:


> Hmmm, maybe. Are you in tomorrow?



No mate, back in Thursday but at the Reebok for most of the day. Might call in tomorrow afternoon tho!


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## Ghost Donkey (25 Jul 2012)

That's a seriously impressive time. Well done! Not an easy course. I'm toying with either Bolton, challenge Henly or the Outlaw next year. Gradually being swayed towards Bolton. Done a few middle distance but usually aim to complete in the cutoff rather than compete.


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## xxmimixx (25 Jul 2012)

Congratulations on your great achievement


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## Arsen Gere (25 Jul 2012)

GD, If you do Bolton make sure you have a lot more time than you would for any other tri for the setup and collection, T1 and T2 and the finish are 10-15 miles apart and the traffic can be a pain. Someone flipped a caravan on the M61 on Saturday that caused havoc. Outlaw is a lot less expensive.
FWIW I used the Virgin Cyclone as a training ride/tt it's 104 miles but with 8000 ft of climbs, I'd post the course but I wanderded off it by mistake this year. https://virginmoneycyclone.co.uk/CycloneChallenge.asp?ShowPage=549 .

This one was the toughest ride I did in training, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/189943090 . 132 miles/10000 ft
Not many places in the UK with roads at 2000 ft.
I did the Kielder marathon last year too. So with Kielder and the tough ride under my belt I felt confident I would finish so mentally I was ready, I had no idea what time I would do though. I gave Mrs Gere some estimates and I was bang on until the marathon which I'd hoped to do better in. But still happy with my time.
HTH.


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## Arsen Gere (25 Jul 2012)

Thanks for the support folks, appreciated.


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## Ghost Donkey (25 Jul 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> GD, If you do Bolton make sure you have a lot more time than you would for any other tri for the setup and collection, T1 and T2 and the finish are 10-15 miles apart and the traffic can be a pain. Someone flipped a caravan on the M61 on Saturday that caused havoc. Outlaw is a lot less expensive.
> FWIW I used the Virgin Cyclone as a training ride/tt it's 104 miles but with 8000 ft of climbs, I'd post the course but I wanderded off it by mistake this year. https://virginmoneycyclone.co.uk/CycloneChallenge.asp?ShowPage=549 .
> 
> This one was the toughest ride I did in training, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/189943090 . 132 miles/10000 ft
> ...


 

Thanks for this . If I do Bolton we'll be up there for a long weekend and get there first thing each day in case of delays, rack as soon as possible etc. According to the website there's less climbing than wimbleball so may be a day for the TT bike. I'd be a muppet if I though less overall climbing somehow translated to "easier" but I should be able to manage with the TT bike gearing. Used a road bike with tri bars for Wimbleball and was glad I did.

Newcastles a bit far for me for the cyclone. Looks like a great ride. There's a few sportives where I live just over 100 miles each which I'll do and I'll hopefully do a middle distance race at the beginning of May or take a day off work and do my own all day swim bike run. As long as I've carried enough annual leave over to next year Mrs Donkey has agreed for me to take a couple of Mondays off work for a couple of long training rides. I've almost convinced myself to do a hilly 50k ultra run at the beginning of next year to hopefully get that running confidence as well as a couple of off road hilly half marathons. It may just break me instead


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## Arsen Gere (26 Jul 2012)

In part of the training we did a slow halfish IM, sea swim 2.4 k , 65 mile bike and 13 mile run which was enough to help judge what to wear, what to carry for food and what to carry in the way of drink.
To get away from carrying, gels and having to open them and dispose of the wrappers I emptied 10 in to a water bottle and wedged it in the tri bars with a feed tube (£6 from start fitness), added a high 5 zero and filled it with water and then I took on water only at the feed stations, ( and the odd half banana ).

Good luck with the runs.


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## Baggy (26 Jul 2012)

Congratulations Arsen Gere, having done cheerleader duties on a half ironman recently am in awe of anyone who would even attempt a full iron, let alone finish with a good time 



Ghost Donkey said:


> According to the website there's less climbing than wimbleball so may be a day for the TT bike. I'd be a muppet if I though less overall climbing somehow translated to "easier" but I should be able to manage with the TT bike gearing. Used a road bike with tri bars for Wimbleball and was glad I did.


Went along to Wimbleball to support three friends who were taking part (with varying degrees of success!) - it is a hilly course and think quite a few people were caught out with their gearing. You probably heard us ringing a cowbell at the top of the long climb...

Am coincidentally going up to the course tomorrow for a scoot round on the road bike.


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## Baggy (28 Jul 2012)

...ok, having done one loop of Wimbleball can confirm it's a bit of a pig! Grovelled around in about 2h30min and wouldn't have fancied doing another loop - and that's without swimming, so chapeau to you all!


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## Ghost Donkey (17 Aug 2012)

Baggy said:


> Went along to Wimbleball to support three friends who were taking part (with varying degrees of success!) - it is a hilly course and think quite a few people were caught out with their gearing. You probably heard us ringing a cowbell at the top of the long climb....


 
Thanks for the support, you may have seen me in my finest Aldi jersey. The crowd definitely made the difference between grovelling up the hills with a smile or not. I had a compact chainring so rode the course all the way around. There was an earlier hill with no footpath and crowd and a few more people jumped off and pushed there suffering with gearing. I was riding at about the same pace as the people pushing the bikes


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