Repeat after me

[andygates]

I do not want to do the Norseman.  I do not want to do the Norseman.  I do not want to do the Norseman.

It's not just an Ironman, it's an Ironman that starts on a ferry in a fjord and finishes with a marathon up a mountain.  The winners - winners, mind you - finished in 11:25 and 13:00 this year. 

I don't want to do it, but if I did, I could die happy.  Probably about halfway through the run.

Comments

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

But I DO want to do the Norseman!

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Ssh, so do I, but if I admit it, the Ironpeople will pounce.

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

I've already discussed it with my dad.

My theory goes like this: my long-term plan is to complete one, just ONE full distance iron man. Just so I've done it. I'd actually quite like to do more, but I suspect the training requirements will be such that it will be impossible to manage with a non-triathlon other half. If we were both doing it that would be different because we could train together. As it is, I don't see him when I'm training. But that could change. This is just the interim.

As I'm only going to do the one, I'd like to make it a special one. And that really means Escape from Alcatraz or the Norseman. Alcataraz will probably be hot. The Norseman is less likely to be so. Alcatraz has sharks, which will make me swim faster. I haven't really decided yet. Ideally I'd like to do both. Not fast, just to complete. Then I can move into adventure racing.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that Alcatraz isn't iron-distance, not by a long chalk. It's a weird hybrid:

"A 1.5 mile swim through frigid waters from Alcatraz Island to shore, a grueling 18-mile bike race, and a demanding 8-mile run through the rugged trails of Golden Gate Recreation Area."

You also have to qualify, IIRC. But Alcatraz has mystique, not the same mystique as Kona (which is the blue riband Ironman, in Hawaii, which is ver' ver' hot) but mystique of its own. Mostly, it's the sharks, fog, cold water, currents... if you mooch around the Alcatraz site there are some swimmers' GPS tracks, and some of 'em end up doing double the distance. In cold water, with sharks...

The Norseman has reported temperatures from 3 to 30 Celsius, just to keep people guessing. It's a different kind of fish altogether:

"Swimming: 3,8 kilometers in the Hardangerfjord. Water-start after getting out of the boat. Cycling: 180 kilometers from Eidfjord, up Måbudalen, highway 7 over Hardangervidda to Geilo, highway 40 down Numedalen and over to Tessungdalen. Transition zone (T2) is in Austbygde. Running: 42,2 kilometers from Austbygde, via Rjukan and up to the top of Gaustatoppen. This means 25 kilometers fairly flat and 17,2 kilometers with an extreme climb up to 1.850 meters. Total distance: 226 kilometers. (140.4 miles)"

See, that's not a race, it's an expedition. You'd want a tea kit and everything! But on a scale of hard-as-nails to harder-than-hard-as-nails it has to be way up there.

[skean.livejournal.com]

See you both there in 2009 then? I'll bring the Swiss army knife, one of you has to bring the tea.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

You are not helping. Better bring enough chocolate for all of us!

I can't believe I'm writing this: Oly in the autumn (Bala, 5 weeks from now, goal 2:45), offseason of offseason stuff (weights, archery/bike biathlon, buggering around). Then in '08 an early Oly and half-marathon, leading to a late half-iron and full marathon and a big swim like Stert Island. All building to an 09 trip to the land of the midnight herring, and enough ring diacritics to keep us all håppy.

[skean.livejournal.com]

We're so screwed...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ball-shrinking terror. I haven't felt this since E dared me to my first half-sprint.

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Hang on.

Not so long ago I distinctly recall you telling me that you had no interest in the long distance events. Which suited me fine, as I can't cope with the competition. It's bad enough with people I don't know. When it's people I know it just festers inside like an ugly boil. It was my plan to get out of sprint and Oly ASAP and move to middle distance, putting some safe distance between thee and me.

And now you've changed your mind again.

Dammit.

You know, this is entirely why I resisted the dares and double dares and ribbing about starting to compete in the first place. I really don't like what it does to me.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I enjoy these short ones. I don't know whether I'll enjoy or even be able to *do* the long stuff: Dunwich beasts me and a full marathon is genuinely scary. Bits fall off when I run long. But like I said to thud, it's the gold standard.

I'm not competing against anyone but my own preconceptions and the clock. That other people are also *participating* raises my game, not to beat them but to play along. Your light does not diminish mine; rather both brighten the room. Or some such crap. :)

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

I know, I know.

I can't help it. It's genetic. I try to be all zen about it, but some biochemical aggressor hormones kick in and all I can think about is Vicky bloody Begg and how she bloody wins all the time and how come she and her cronies can't leave some of the minor races to us plebs so we can have a go at coming first for a change?

I think I'll enjoy the long ones. I'm getting the sense that I'm really not set up for these short explosive efforts. I'm the sort of person who goes at a steady pace that isn't particularly fast but isn't particularly slow, either, and I can maintain that pace for a bloody long time.

At least the cycling's like that and I think the swimming will be too, in the not too distant future. I do 1500m at the same pace I do 400. Can't go any faster but I can keep it up.

Don't know about the running. That scares me. But not as much as it used to.

Oh. Just got the all clear for weights. I'm now a fully inducted Olympic weightlifting type person who is technically good at performing those lifts. Yay!

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Yay for you on the weights! Sweet.

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

Repeat after me:
I do not want to do the Norseman. I do not want to do the Norseman...

Oh, that's easy: "I do not want to do the Norseman." And I really don't. You do, however, because you're stark staring batshit crazy.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

The problem is one of gold standards. Ironman is the undisputed gold standard of triathlon, and no matter how much I am rightly pleased with what I'm doing, it frankly feels Little League if it's not taking a pop at Iron. And you know, I may not make it, but you gotta aim high, right?

Norseman, that's the fjord start and mountain finish. That's just epic.

Okay, maybe it wasn't Thoreau.

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

And you know, I may not make it, but you gotta aim high, right?

Damnright. Please understand, in the event I haven't been clear: I say "stark staring batshit crazy" with the utmost approval and respect. For wasn't it Thoreau who said "In utter barking lunacy is the preservation of the world"?

Re: Okay, maybe it wasn't Thoreau.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I can read your "stark staring batshit crazy" as intended. ;)

Re: Okay, maybe it wasn't Thoreau.

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

It's okay. You told him he was stark staring batshit crazy. At least he's pretending he doesn't want to do it.

Me? Having just discovered Alcatraz isn't long enough (I can't believe I looked at it and thought "Oh. Is that all? That's too easy.") I'm almost at the point of fully intending to do this. I'm certainly going to do some crazy full Ironman epic in 2009 if next year goes to plan, or the year after if it doesn't.

Aberfeldy middle distance next August. That'll do for starters.

[despaer.livejournal.com]

I just looked up the details of that. the good bit was the water temperature being about 15C plus. Thats about 5 more than I thought. the bit that made me think was the bit where they stated that you need a support team to go on the end of the run with you....

Think I'll pass on that and stick to slightly less mad ones if I EVER decide that such an event is a good idea.