Outlaw 2012 race reports

"mezzo soprano fart"

Phrase of the day.  

fat buddha wrote (see)

GB - don't sweat about it - you were in the zone like many others....

we had all sorts to contend with coming in to T2 - those in the zone; those glad to hand over the bike ("I never want to see it again"); the precious ("please rack it nicely"); those that could hardly stand up; and many others who gave us a thank you which wasn't needed but was nice all the same.

and for those who peed on the bike........

if you had let me i would have chucked mine in the lake   

brilliant reports..keep them coming..............loving the descriptions.......

deleted post... stupid copy & paste from word

How do you copy and post so that it is actually readable???

Golden Boots wrote (see)

Ultra AJH wrote (see)

Sid's a mate off twitter. He will be pleased that everybody knows him now  was so impressed that he finished.

AJH - I have a video of his finish... could you please twitmail him and ask him to get in touch should he want it. It was only the cheap camera though but still good with all of us cheering his name

Will do.

c&p it to Notepad - all the formatting shit is removed - then c&p back here

This will be a short one so get to waffle  

Pre race

A lot of faffage on my part getting there and sorting stuff out. Got to hpp late for the 11 briefing and had some issue’s sorting out my kit not helped by the rain, Sarah put up with a lot as I dicked about. Did the big swim thing and meet fraggle, chilli, and silver trucker on route. Almost got sea sick with the swell’s but did it ok. I’d had to rush to get my bags and bike’s into transition and that caused big problems later.

Woke up in the morning had a cup of tea after Supercaz donated some milk and into the wetsuit. Forgot to bring a water bottle and borrowed one of Frodo. Annoyingly I had about 5 in the tent in case anyone else needed one.

Swim

Took is steady to start with and found it hard to get a rhythm going for the first 500m after that started to enjoy it. Got to the half way buoy and the wind started to cause some swell’s again which didn’t bode well. Got to the turn around point and saw a lady struggling and finally got boated out and soon discovered why with some head size swell’s on the way back. There was a lady with good swimming but very poor spotting who kept going into the side of me. Finally after about 30 seconds of this stopped in the water and let her past as she zigzagged all over the shop. Throw up a couple of times and struggled for the first k back . Final 500m was just behind a lady who was in dire straights getting egged on by everyone on the bank. Had to ask the canoeist nicely to get out of the way who was checking on her. The lass in the water was done in and was walking and did say she just wanted to quit but best way out at that point was through the water finish anyway. She was swearing at pity much everyone and anything and was falling apart. She went straight to the C4 camera so will make interesting viewing if it makes the cut.

T1

Got into transition as quick as possible did a quick hello mum to the camera and sorted my kit out. Couldn’t find cycle glass’s and after tipping out both bag’s sorting through and putting them back must have lost them in rush the day before. Got out to the bike and got cheered on by a gang of pirate’s on the roof of the boat houses.

Bike

Had a lot to make up on, after the first mile stopped and adjusted my bike sensor that wasn’t working. Over did it so had a click click click every time my wheel turned over saw Steve and had a brief conversation along the lines of.

Steve: cake where’s your glass’s.
Cake: Steve did you say you had my glasses can’t find them.
Steve: I’ll find them for you mate.

Spend off and did the best I could, first 15 miles or so was hard going recovering after the swim and didn’t do that well. Had a few problems seeing properly after a bit with the wind and hayfever in my face plus the odd fly. Just before the first loop Sarah spend past me with Steve hanging out of the window of her car telling me to pull in. Quick discussion followed by a pair of tom’s sunglass’s and off again, If I angled my head just right they worked cool but was a little hard on the neck. Got to the first loop roundabout and missed the turn (could see things but not details) and had to stop and ask a couple of people where I should go. Up the speed bump and tried to make up the speed in the head wind was now click click click click click every few seconds instead of just a few clicks on the front whell. Almost came off just before the BMX ramp with a bit of a cross wind and after that didn’t use the bar’s. Got back to the roundabout and realised the sign for the turn before was behind a white van so felt a bit better about missing it. Was just starting to work out how much I needed to make up and a clickatar clickatar on the bike magnet on my front wheel and if it was possible when the nice marshal told us he had been told to take me off the course. Didn’t know they could do that before the bike cut off and gutted because was finally starting to get it together and could actually see things again. Overall I let my self down with a lack of preparedness training wise and also not taking the time to sort out my kit on the Saturday but a lot of want if’s in my mind if the weather had been better and stuff. Average speed on the bike comp at the time of stopping was 13.9 mph and was building every time I had looked at it before so might have made it in time and still had fresh leg’s by the time I got back so know I could have made it only question was the cut off’s and easy to say would have rather have been pulled off after the 112 miles on the bike if I hadn’t have made it.

On reflection needed to have been better but at the same time I’m in my own mind on a different day could have made the cut off’s. Time to regroup and revaluate for next time. Did learn one important lesson through and that’s the eye wash stuff you can get from the chemist’s works wonder’s in taking out 2 day old fly's

positives to take from the weekend where little sister crossed the line and so did a lass I've know for years called ozzy helen who races through wakefield tri club. Got to meet some old friends and make some new one's a good weekend just a shame about the racing.

Oh and Al dropped a crate of lager by my tent before he left always a bonus.

Dread to think how long it would have been if id finished

Outlaw Report DNF

Well, not much went right at my first Outlaw attempt. I had trained hard for the bike, swam the distance numerous times in the pool and a few times in open water. The run training was sporadic but I was confident I could hobble round.

I had spent the 2 weeks prior to Outlaw tapering, having panic attacks about the event, even partook in some self mutilation by shaving my upper torso, and it appears I have more hair on my stomach and back than I do on my head these days!

Registration day was great, met loads of ‘Pirates’ who were happy to chat and share advice which helped to calm my nerves. I was beginning to realise how special the ‘Pirates’ and support are. Was anyone else fooled by the position of the orange buoy in the lake on the Saturday,I looked at it thinking the swim was going to be a doddle.When I arrived on the Sunday and it had been moved back towards the end of the lake,I thought ‘HOLY SWAN SHIT THATS A LONG WAY’.

 Had a sleepless night and arrived at HPP really early, so early it wasn’t even open. I put my bottles on the bike, it was here I realised how good some of these bikes were compared to mine. The guys who were riding these bikes didn’t just suck the gel out of the packet they probably ate the packet as well!! I faffed around with transition bags then waited for the start. Thank you to ‘Purple’ for the little chat; hope you had a great day. Put my suit on, picked my hat and goggles up and made my way into the water, it was then I realised I had left my earplugs. I hate swimming in open water without them.

 Anyway the swim started and I held back, had a few people who came over the top of me and I swallowed a bit of water the wrong way. I began to choke and quickly stuck my fingers in my mouth to make myself sick. I calmed myself down then started breast stroking up the water. To my right there was a bloke who was really panicking, I asked if he needed me to shout for help, he said he was ok while swimming on his back, I encouraged him to swim on his side and try to calm his breathing. I then started off up the water. My swim choke had really knocked my confidence and I struggled all the way. I got a real shock swimming towards the finish and they were all shouting about the 2 hr cut off, I got out of the water in a real panic in 1 hr 56 ish. I knew it was going to be a long day at the office.

T1 - Got help to remove suit and into the changing tent. I put my cycle shoes on, my sunglasses fell on the ground and I accidently stood on them and to top it off, I then forgot to put my Garmin on. Grabbed my helmet and gloves and ran out to bike. The support up on the bank behind the bikes was amazing, ‘Go on Pirate’ they shouted, I gave them a wave and promptly dropped my gloves, the crowd shouted out so I ran back to get them.

 Got my bike and set off. More support on the left hand bank out of T1, I gave them my first ever ‘AAARRRGGGHHH’ and I was off with a massive smile on my face. I then realised I’d left my Garmin in T1, thought never mind I’ve got my speedometer. I had only got about another 200 meters when my speedometer fell off the bike, I saw small bits of plastic bouncing along the ground, so didn’t bother going back. Not a lot was going to plan! I thought never mind I will look out for mile markers and work out the speed using my watch. I then began to crack on, wondering why there wasn’t any distance markers on the route. Wind was quite bad in places. Support on the side lines was brilliant, and there were no big hills to worry about. The feed stations were brilliant with great support, I was starting to feel tired but cracked on, and being late out of the water I didn’t see many riders and found this quite hard mentally. Down onto the southern loop, first lap and lots more cyclists were overtaking me, going on to their second lap. It wasn’t long before the Pirate feed station came into view, I had a massive smile on my face riding through. Narrowly missed a pushchair when chucking my bottle, Sorry. Brilliant support and a massive thank you to all the Pirate helpers and support; you truly know how to lift people’s spirits. Unfortunately at about 70 ish miles my body just didn’t feel right, energy seemed to drain, I stopped and ate some chocolate brownie and had a drink. The wind seemed to be picking up and with no speedometer or Garmin I was losing the plot on where I was on the course. Pirates were passing me, shouting encouragement and I tried to crack on. At about 80 miles I saw another Pirate at the side of the road who was also struggling. Hi Capt.Jack. We had a good chat and as I was talking, my body just seemed to shut down. We were pushing our bikes along the road, lots of Pirates stopped and encouraged us to carry on and offer gels and tablets. Thank you to you all for your offers of support it meant a lot. I was kind of thinking if I could get to the feed station I might be able to get going again. My body had other ideas and I started being violently sick, I felt like death and the vomit just kept erupting out of my mouth and nose. In between vomits Capt.Jack and I began to laugh at each other, I suppose it was better than crying. By now I knew my race was over. Months of training all for nothing, ending on the road side in a pool of vomit and laughter.

Some cracking race reports.

Great to camp the day before the race and meet up with loads of people from the 'Shorter Tri' thread, those I'd met at the DIY Half and loads of new faces too.

Catching up with some of the stories in The Bridge on the Monday was great too - everyone had a story to tell about some point on the day.

Posted my full race report on my blog here: http://serunner.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/outlaw-iron-distance-triathlon-2012/

Me and Capt were picked up by a support van and taken to an ambulance, Capts blood pressure was low and I kept flat lining when they were taking my blood pressure. Nothing to worry about then!! We laughed and joked on our trip back to the medical tent at HPP. Once in the tent the medical staff wanted us to wait until toilet issues had passed. All I wanted to do was go in a corner and cry, I sneaked down to the changing tent and got my phone to ring family out on the course, I couldn’t speak on the phone trying to tell them I had failed. After the phone call I stood wiping tears from my eyes and thought to myself, ‘remember this feeling you soft twat, be stronger next time’. I had already planted the seed to return and conquer the OUTLAW.

I am truly honoured to have spent part of the day with so many special people. The whole organisation was fantastic. The Pirate support was truly amazing from the Feed station, to the supporters who lift the whole crowd. An experience I will never forget. Amazing highs and the terrible realization of failure. Thank you to you all...VERY very special people.  Proud to be a Pirate ...  in training!

Sorry for not hanging around at the finish but I just wanted to dig a whole and hide.

Well done to all who finished and commiserations to the few who didnt do it this time.

spongecake wrote (see)

‘remember this feeling you soft twat, be stronger next time’.

Spongecake, that is fantastic, lots on here have failed and come back stronger and better.

Spongecake - it sounds like it just wasn't your day - many of us have DNF'd and come back to triumph, so don't lose heart - you'll do it next time I'm sure