Outlaw 2012 race reports

spongecake wrote (see)

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.

Let me try and answer this...

*Deep breath*

The Pirate thing is 'wonderful' and 'impressive' and 'not quite reflective of reality' online. Note my very considered use of online. If it wasn't for this, many people including myself wouldn't have achieved or even considered (the latter being true for me) IM and beyond that distance.

However, I don't believe, despite a plethora of very good mentors on here, that it is for everyone instantly. Now I'm not talking personally about you at all but I have seen people that I used to respect mentor people to failure when they should have been honest and said... "Go for IM 2 years in or 3 years in, not this year you won't make it"

 If I mentor you and you won't make it I'll tell you.

For all of us, if you put all your eggs in the Pirate basket, it's great if you pull it off, whether that be by such hard work, commitment and determination, or fly by the seat of your pants.

But it's wrong to let people think that everyone can do it without having proper guidance, strategy, and someone being honest with them and not just saying 'You can do it, you can do it, look we all did. If I can, you can!'

Sometimes the person that fails has the potential to be much stronger than others and faster in the long run, but confidence is shattered.

I do understand and support all the positive Pirate vibes, but I also see the other side, which I'll mention if no-one else will. It's a bandwagon, my advice is only jump on it with people you trust.

Spongecake, I heard several times on Sunday people saying 'You dont know, if you dont try'
None of the people saying it knew the other ...

Rest, recover, repair and you will live to fight another day 

And also I saw a post by a rookie (who I met and liked) saying that the half next year was available for those not up to the distance (or similar). I'm sure he wasn't thinking about the other interpretation of that.

Which is a reflection of how this forum posts generically as though greater distance, at any speed or lack of it is the ultimate prize.

Which it can be, don't get me wrong. But I've been trying to say that shorter faster is harder to PB in... etc.. and hurts more! Ok, well maybe not, but a different kind of hurt.

And equally as admirable for those that strive for it in shorter tris.

M...eldy wrote (see)

Spongecake, I heard several times on Sunday people saying 'You dont know, if you dont try'

I know I can't sing in tune, even if I tried my hardest.

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

I had a long discussion with Sue the other week that I thought doing an IM was starting to be what running a marathon used to be 15 years ago.....

... She suggested that me and my mates ( think she meant you lot ) have a distorted view on life

Well... you have to explore the motivation and psychology for achieving it? What do adults get from it and for how long lasting and important is that in their day to day life and psyche?

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

... She suggested that me and my mates ( think she meant you lot ) have a distorted view on life

I think I said similar things to KK over the weekend. It's a skewed normality.

I joined my running club after doing a HM. I was immensly proud of myself (and I still think it was the hardest race I've ever done), but was immediately welcomed by people who do marathons regularly. There were 1 or 2 IM people in there, and some who run shorter distances faster.

The takeaway here is I went from my 'normal' friends who don't run, to hanging around with a group who run a variety of distances well. Then I graduated (or was expelled) to the PSOF who skew the normality even further to the 'ridiculous'.

Report to follow......(one day).

Any more reports yet??   Slackers  

Its a race report thread which is a little bereft on race reports and its not like you lot have got much else to do this week  

I've been writing mine Melds, but it needs editing. It's huge.

Pity we dont know any good writers eh?

Maybe Ironman isn't for everyone and some will try and fail and find they don't get the urge to try again..............but for many the failure is just a learning step to success the next time.............

I still rate the feeling of achieving it one of the best i have had and would still encourage everyone who wants to have a go  to just dive in................if you never try you will never know............our bodies are capable of a lot more than we think..............and if you dream about it then go for it even if it takes several attempts......

I think taht most who fail and then do not try again....didn't really have the dream and the desire.........maybe they were doing it for the wrong reasons..........not because deep down they really wanted it...............

dnf is absolutely horrible.........but with the right attitude it does make you stronger 

and where are all the rest of the reports

FRI/SAT

Arrived quite late on Friday so I could have the Saturday to relax and not worry about driving.   Got there the same time as Ferret so camped up next to him in the Pirate area.
Saturday, what a day!  Exhausting, so many pirates so little time.  Loved meeting up with all the IMW guys, having them there at Outlaw was fantastic.  Went to register with Mr Zuvai, VTD and Ian, a non pirate who had managed to pitch up in the middle of the Pirate massive.  Love the Pirate/Outlaw buff, hoping it’s not lost…. 
RACE DAY!

Sunday!!  4am wake up with some porridge, some general faffing before heading over to transition.  Bike check and at 5.40, about to head towards the lake when Sis goes, “Where’s your timing chip”.  Holy mother of crap, it was in the tent.  Sprinted back to campsite (fastest I ran that day!), got timing chip and rushed back to lake, at least it was an opportunity to warm up …

SWIM

Lake was lovely (if you ignore all the shit) !  So warm, and with the sky all blue it really was a lovely swim.  Got a bit biffed up and goggles dislodged a bit at turnaround but not a problem. On the up part of the swim I punched something mid stroke, took a look and it was a swan coming in to land!  Ended doing swim in 1.15, very pleased, was expecting about 1.20.

T1
Quick transition and out on the bike, not much else to say except I was surprised at how many bags were still there.

BIKE

Lap of lake was good to orientate you.  Very fast first couple of hours but the wind started to be a right pain from about mile 40 and continued to be so.  Lots of pirates starting overtaking with lots of Arggghing going on (and a good bit of gossiping too)  Fuelled my bike with homemade flapjacks and I’ll use them again, really yummy and not sickly.  THE PIRATE SUPPORT STATION HIGHLIGHT OF THE BIKE!!  Needed to pee at about 90 miles and decided I could wait until transition which was a very bad idea.  22 miles doesn’t seem much when you’ve done 90 miles but it’s an age when you’re bursting for a pee!!  Ended up peeing in a hedge, much relieved I headed towards transition.

T2

A 2.51 bike to run transition put me in the top 51 (actually in there were a few of us with the same time, but I’m taking the top 51 position).  So all that training and the thing I’m best at is changing my trainers fast .. whoop whoop!

RUN

 
Off for the run, feeling pretty good actually … As I got to the bit where you run round the split in the path where you do the first lap of the lake I got diverted off to the out and back bit …. Took me about 5 mins to realise something was up and had to run back!!!!  So, my IM run was the longest run I’ve ever done, about 27 miles  … anyway .. ignoring that, I was going for a run to feed station, walk through stuffing my face run to next and repeat strategy.  The feed stations put on a marvellous buffet.  I had a banana at the first one, jaffa cakes at the second, for the next I tried the crisps washed down with coke.  For the last 8 miles or so I stuck to the oranges which were lovely and refreshing.  I’m really happy that I didn’t take on a single gel the entire race! …The walks got longer and longer… Didn’t appreciate the head wind so used this as an excuse to conserve my energy.  Saw tons of pirates, the arggggghing got less and nods of acknowledgements more. 

 
Finished in 13.21, and very happy, especially as I didn’t feel tired or achy afterwards!  Good old endorphins ???  Oh, and that time is nearly 2 hours faster than IMW last year which I think goes to show what an utter beast IMW is!

So who’s back next year …!!!