PSOF Championships 2012

My blog about the Outlaw: The worst of days, the best of days. http://ironholgs.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/the-worst-of-days-the-best-of-days/%20

Just remembered that Ferret was almost a contender for Bizarre Injury Mechanism prize, as a *result* of his mincing!  As he passed a group of us under the scoreboard he broke into a simply splendid "Bring me Sunshine" skip-dance a la Morecambe and Wise - which was great, until he tripped and very nearly measured his length on the ground!

Iron Little Sister wrote (see)

Mrs Funkin wrote (see)

One person was a DQ for abusive behavior in registration the day before! Can you imagine?  Most drafting was 2 mins penalty, couple of DQ's for dangerous riding. It's quite interesting.

 

Cheerful Dave wrote (see)

IronPodds: feel the fear, do it anyway wrote (see)

I was wondering if anyone's got my top (pink and grey lycra hoodie) and (blue) arm warmers? I chucked them at the pirate support group on the run just before the finish chute bit.  Daffy seems to think the pirate lady with the labbie might have them? 

The last I saw, SteveHo had them, he & Mrs SA (the lady with the labbie) were just clearing up when I went to retrieve my hat which I also chucked at them during the run.  I don't know if he passed them to someone else though, but someone's got them! 

If it was a lady with a laddie then chances are it was Mrs Wildwill not Mrs SA!

I did asked around if it belong to anyone first before handing those items to the man behind the bar.. if this helps

oh yes, I'd forgotten about that 

that was obviously a cross post 

IronPodds: feel the fear, do it anyway wrote (see)

Good report NV - you're Ashford Tri aren't you?

One of my highlights was a big hug from your clubmate Rob G in the lake at 5:59 (he's an old friend, not just a random bloke btw ) - really cheered me up and stopped the last minute nerves........

..........after all what else would you be doing at 6am than standing waist deep in water hugging a bloke in rubber 

That's right Podds. Rob had a good race and finished a bit ahead of me.

M...eldy wrote (see)

BB ... you could have an O. in the middle instead  

Good Call M.eldy

Steve Ho wrote (see)

Iron Little Sister wrote (see)

Mrs Funkin wrote (see)

One person was a DQ for abusive behavior in registration the day before! Can you imagine?  Most drafting was 2 mins penalty, couple of DQ's for dangerous riding. It's quite interesting.

 

Cheerful Dave wrote (see)

IronPodds: feel the fear, do it anyway wrote (see)

I was wondering if anyone's got my top (pink and grey lycra hoodie) and (blue) arm warmers? I chucked them at the pirate support group on the run just before the finish chute bit.  Daffy seems to think the pirate lady with the labbie might have them? 

The last I saw, SteveHo had them, he & Mrs SA (the lady with the labbie) were just clearing up when I went to retrieve my hat which I also chucked at them during the run.  I don't know if he passed them to someone else though, but someone's got them! 

If it was a lady with a laddie then chances are it was Mrs Wildwill not Mrs SA!

I did asked around if it belong to anyone first before handing those items to the man behind the bar.. if this helps

Trust my top to go and get pissed before I got back.....................it has no shame 

Guess like many p*ss heads it won't find its way home now though.....

Race report

Started in the slow pen on the swim, with Mrs SA and Cake. Both of whom were great, really encouraging. Swim an uneventful but long breaststroke. Literally yards before the end, I was struck with awful calf cramp and suddenly stopped dead in the water. Poor guy behind me was very nice about it. The chappie in the cayak asked if I was OK, and offered to come and help. But no way!! I was so close!! Got out of the water in 1:45. I was well pleased with that.

Faffed a bit in T1, then got on my bike, which was VERY easy to find as it was one of the last ones. Got some great Aarrgggghh's and piratey support from some supportes standing above the clock and on the grass mount.

Make the marshall on the bike exit laugh about the ham sandwiches tapped to my handle bars. Wave to kids and OH, then I was off on the bike. Bike went more or less to plan. Being near the back I found the 2nd lap of the south course a bit lonely and windy, but the Pirate Feed Station totally rocked and cheered me up no end . Bike completed in 7:15

Run, not much to say really, hard hard hard at times. Legs felt tired, but dug deep and carried on. Had a real low point between about 8 and 13 miles, but after that I seemed to pick up a bit, started running again, albeit very slowly. Pirate support was awesome, impossible to thank everybody, but special mention to Silent Assasin and Jordy near the finish shute, gave massive cheer everytime I passed by on my laps, and to Madge who was cycling along the course giving encouragement towards the end. And everybody else!!!!!!!

Finished 14hrs 41 mins

Loved it!!  Loved the race, loved the whole weekend, loved being a pirate, you guys rock and made me feel really humble to be involved.

bburn plodder

great report

glad we helpped in whatever way we could

I'll do a race report or in my case how the crash and burn while looking like a muppet in a bit for for now WELL DONE & thankyou !!!!!!!! All of you wether you where racing supporting or just chilling.

Dustboy wrote (see)

Great to see Cake again in such good spirits (and having drunk some too I suspect).

 Might have had an odd sherry by that point you ok mate heard you had problems but couldn't find out if you where ok.

sarah the bookworm wrote (see)

Is that 25 metres or miles?

It was great to meet everyone at the weekend. Either I'm easily influenced, or you lot are powerful persuaders - I've been out of the bike today and am looking for a half ironman to enter this autumn as a test for the full thing next year...

 Althrough please wait for the dr to take a look at your knee first before the half ironing.

I'll do a full race report later on my blog but an overview is below.

I started of with at least half mile of being hit in the swim, I was in good swim zone I nearly swam past the turnaround buoy. On the way back I was still getting hit a bit but also managed not to be drafting. I completed the swim 3 minutes faster than my previous 2.4 mile swim PB time and also beat my youngest brother

The cycle I went of to fast for me in the first 40 miles or so, which made the last 40 miles a bit interesting especially in the wind and rain plus some aid stations (not the pirate aid station) were running out of supplies.

The run I used the run as far as possible method and got to 16 miles before the wheels fell off and I had to walk the next 8 miles. I then realised if I run/walked the remaining distance I could get under 15 hours. So for the remaining 2.5 miles I ran/walked in about 200m sections and made just few minutes under 15 hours.

Surprisingly that is only about 30 minutes away from my pb yet I did a lot less distance training this year.

Slag (iatt) wrote (see)

Yay TST .. so you were the tiger at the roundabout .. brilliant .. thanks for your support and the yarring and not faaarrring ..even if the not farrrr was a bit of a fib .

Glad you don't want to kill me for the faarrring bit!    In a way it wasn't far, think it was about 10 miles from us to the finish, which considering you'd already done 100 kinda means it wasn't far!  Am really pleased lots of you were cheered up by the hat and my general over enthusiastic supporting, it's great to feel I've helped a little with getting people round.

Schmunkee - The List Fairy wrote (see)

i *may* consider IM in 2015

Erm, me too!  Marshalling made me realised that I'm not the only slow one out there, nor the only one who's ever missed the cut off and the maybe I've got it in me to do Outlaw.  I've still got an injury to recover from and some other life issues to sort, but if everything goes to plan then 2015 could see me out there.  Plus it'll take me that long to save up the entry fee!

I am disappointed to have missed the chance of a few more beers in the Bridge on Monday but pleased to hear both sorrows and successes were drowned in true Pirate style.

I trust the girls had good fun administering my offering for "best lunchbox" during awards ceremony?


Rw

Outlaw race report

Prerace

Loved camping with all the pirates – we took over an entire field with a few poor souls dotted about! It was brilliant to see old friends and meet new and match faces to names! Some real characters in the campsite – a group I love being involved with!

Fireworks as we were settling down for the night wasn’t so welcome but still a restfull sleep

Swim             Target 1.20    Actual 1.21

The swim was much more manic than I had intended. The plan was to start at the back of pen 2. I got in the water early to make sure I was appropriately warmed up – the kayakers had formed a line to prevent anybody going too far off. As it was a deepwater start I assumed we would be starting at the kayakers – to my horror right before the start they moved everyone back to the slipways and I was right at the front. I secretly enjoyed the washing machine/ wrestling match that was the mass start! I found the one loop quite taxing – 1.2 miles looks a very long way in a straight line! Much more comfortable on the way back

Cycle              Target 7.30   Actual 6.18

I loved the cycle! It’s always been my weekest disaplin & I finally feel im getting competitive it in. The wind was a pain, but I fould the smooth road surface and gentle undulations were a real pleasure to ride on. On a less windy day that would be a seriously quick course. It was great seeing so many cheerful familiar faces. There was a real spirit amoungst all the competitors and pretty much everyone was happy to engage me in conversation! No dramas at all on the bike apart from severe ball ache from about mile 60 – I loved the cycle but if they had let me I would have thrown my bike in the lake I was so pleased to be off the bike

Run             Target 4.30    Actual 4.23

In my first IM I over-ate on the run and ended up with 15 toilet stops (quite literally pissing away ½ hr!) this time I did the obvious rookie error of over compensating and did eat enough early on in the run, my first lap was quick and I felt great, but on the second out and back I felt myself start to slip backwards down the field quite rapidly and turn in a zombie state and was walking a lot more than the planned strategy of just the aid stations. I was GB who was being tended to on the side of the path by his brother while they waited for first aid – for more than just a second I was incredibly tempted to lie down in the grass next to him “I could do a nap” and was halfway down before I caught myself realising that that would have been a total game changer and I never would have got back up!! On I stumbled to next aid station where the combination of flat cola and oranges kick started me back to life. The reminder of the run was quite strong & I felt over the moon doing my last lap. The finish was magnificent – such great support – thank you!

Overall           Target 13.30   Actual 12.13

A massive 2hr and 1 minute pb!! Absolutely made up!

A close run contest I think Robbie.  Nicko won because he was 'Hugh', or something like that, apparently!!   I couldn't hear Brian the Snail very well!    We only have Nicko's word for that though!!!!  

A massive thank you to all pirate competitors and supporters - what a brilliant group to be part over

so many fantastic characters & I'm dead proud to be involved in such an awesome group

It was great to spend time at the Outlaw this weekend.  Loved helping out on the feed station, loved being part of the great Gladys All Over Relay team and gutted I missed the prizegiving.

I can safely say that I will never do another 5k swim and hots off to SA as the only other Pirate muppet to do it and say in a very un-piratey way he enjoyed a swim!

It was a fantastic weekend to be a Pirate

And just to add .......... how fecking hard is it being an Ironman Supporter??  All I'm saying is that I am glad I hard dark glasses on when watching the finish chute.  True guts!