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Ironman Wales September 2019

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  • 14-01-2019 11:49am
    #1
    seamagu
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭


    Hi,

    I'm just starting to ramp up my training for IM Wales. Is there anyone else on here doing it? Anyone did it recently and have some tips? It's my first IM so haven't a clue really :-)

    thanks,

    Séa


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    #2
    valoren
    Registered Users Posts: 5,478 ✭✭✭valoren


    The wales course is all about the bike. I would recommend focusing primarily on your cycling training and ensuring you are as bike fit as you possibly can be. Better to miss a run/swim session that a bike one. There is little reprieve in terms of climbing as it's not a course of simply getting aero, staying there as you pedal away. For long rides pick routes with plenty of hills. Not monster hills but routes with plenty of pitches and rolling ascents and descents.

    The first loop out to Angle and into Pembroke is agreeable. It is tempting to push it hard on the first loop but the course shows it's teeth after you come out of Pembroke.

    There are a few climbs of note, the approach into Narbeth is a long numbing spin and there is a short, sapping and very steep hill at Wiseman's Bridge. Those are the main one's I remember. Saundersfoot is the Heartbreak Hill one. Once you are up the inital steep but manageable part, it is another 10-15 minutes of spinning up to a roundabout and you get a few minutes minute break while descending back into Tenby and then doing that harder section again by turning right at Lamphey. Overall pace strategy would be even pacing i.e. keeping cadence the same going up as when going down, effectively, no thundering up the steep pitches and resting on the descents. That's why you should get as bike fit as possible to enable that strategy.

    Overall it's the relentless up and down of the rolling and pitching hills that while physically will be a doddle when you're race fit but quickly become mentally tiring. It will not be a course for record breaking splits. Then there is the run which itself is up down up down. Recommendation here is if you are going up then hold back, take it easy and cruise then when going down pick up the pace a little. As it's your first, picking a target time will be up to you but to finish is an achievement in itself. The town is brilliant and the locals embrace it completely. I stayed at the Hildebrand B&B which is literally a stone's throw from transition.


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    #3
    seamagu
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭seamagu


    valoren wrote: »
    The wales course is all about the bike. I would recommend focusing primarily on your cycling training and ensuring you are as bike fit as you possibly can be. Better to miss a run/swim session that a bike one. There is little reprieve in terms of climbing as it's not a course of simply getting aero, staying there as you pedal away. For long rides pick routes with plenty of hills. Not monster hills but routes with plenty of pitches and rolling ascents and descents.

    The first loop out to Angle and into Pembroke is agreeable. It is tempting to push it hard on the first loop but the course shows it's teeth after you come out of Pembroke.

    There are a few climbs of note, the approach into Narbeth is a long numbing spin and there is a short, sapping and very steep hill at Wiseman's Bridge. Those are the main one's I remember. Saundersfoot is the Heartbreak Hill one. Once you are up the inital steep but manageable part, it is another 10-15 minutes of spinning up to a roundabout and you get a few minutes minute break while descending back into Tenby and then doing that harder section again by turning right at Lamphey. Overall pace strategy would be even pacing i.e. keeping cadence the same going up as when going down, effectively, no thundering up the steep pitches and resting on the descents. That's why you should get as bike fit as possible to enable that strategy.

    Overall it's the relentless up and down of the rolling and pitching hills that while physically will be a doddle when you're race fit but quickly become mentally tiring. It will not be a course for record breaking splits. Then there is the run which itself is up down up down. Recommendation here is if you are going up then hold back, take it easy and cruise then when going down pick up the pace a little. As it's your first, picking a target time will be up to you but to finish is an achievement in itself. The town is brilliant and the locals embrace it completely. I stayed at the Hildebrand B&B which is literally a stone's throw from transition.

    Hey, thanks for all the info. I basically have to focus on my bike training :-)


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