The previous post was about our sea swim in Denmark. To round that off, we had a great swim without any upsets. After a few test swims in our wetsuits where Alex was introduced to the jellyfish soup, we could only wait for calm waters which came a week after our arrival on island.
Jellyfish soup may sound a bit terrifying and it certainly took a few swims to become comfortable around them. For some reason the first test swim we did, only 40-50 m off shore, was probably in some of the worst jellyfish conditions we would experience. There were literally hundreds if not thousands of Moon Jellies and one in every twenty was a Lions Mane capable of a nasty sting. During the actual swim jellyfish were not really a big issue. We did go through patches with fairly large concentrations, but by and large they did not cause much concern (I think Alex might have a different perspective). I did get one fright when I came within 5-10 meters of the mother of all Lions Mane. The largest Lions Mane I have ever seen, a body 80 centimeters across and with tentacles 5-10 meters long.
It was a great experience to do the swim and it has given me a completely different perspective on the waters that surround my home island. We are indebted to Svend who took the time to sail with us all the way. Thanks Svend!
Once we reached Ærøskøbing we were greeted by a journalist from the local paper. Her spin below (I won’t bother translating it) with picture of Alex and I.
Once back in Cayman after a much too short holiday in Denmark I started my ramp up towards Ironman Louisville 30 August. Training has been going well and without the family around I have been able to put in some very solid hours.
With less than two weeks to go I am tapering for the big event and gathering information on the event that will help me lay a race strategy. My primary goal is to break 10 hours and set a new PB (current PB is 10h17m). If I can do that there is a reasonable chance of qualifying for the world champs in Hawaii. Unfortunately I was reading on a forum the other day that the bike course is pretty tough and could add as much as 3o min to the time you would have on a flat course. Having looked at its profile and watched several videos from the event I think 30 min might be an exaggeration (it should really be measured in relative terms as well), but I guess we’ll just have to see. A couple of weeks ago I did 4h56m in training for 180 km in the flat and horrendously hot conditions here in Cayman. I expect sub 5h15m to be possible. My run training has been going really well lately and I’m going to pace myself for a sub 3h30m marathon off the bike. I won’t know for certain whether that is the right choice until half way into the run (on the second loop). Regardless, during my last (and first) Ironman I played conservative during 95% of the race. That strategy worked like clockwork. This time I intend to take some chances and accordingly reap the benefits that may bring or bear the costs should I struggle.
For those interested below are youtube links to an overview of the Louisville course with Heather Gollnick (split in 7 parts):
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgwRSdmPf9A
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB5-fWb1YYg
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgjravy9PGs
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiAxQ1-9KcA
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15sfllGuj6M
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHSiakDpGbo
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA5WYXhspHA
And here is a profile of the bike course.
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