I just got this in an email from USM


Does anybody else think this is ridiculous? It will be opening FOUR MONTHS before the event.

Who knows where they are going to be in four months time? It can't seriously take them four months to organise themselves. They know the places will fill, so why bother? We've just paid up big time for accomodation in the Noosa area so why hit us with another ~$160 fee so far before the event?

It's the way it goes now.
I registered for Noosa 4 months out. That was a month or so after it opened too.
It makes it hard when they are so strict with their crappy refund/ no transfer policy, but the alternative is missing out.

True. I know I registered for Noosa in July so I guess that is four months as well.

I definitely didn't register for Moololaba this year until at least January, if I remember rightly.

Maybe because it's in the next year, it seems further away to me.

Ironman and Half Ironman entries are generally open even earlier than this. The potential danger with races such as Mooloolaba and Byron Bay for example, is that they can sell out. Byron did about 3 weeks prior to the race last year.

I personally like entering as early as possible to lock in the goal event. I'm doing this race and will be putting my cash down on opening day. Same for Byron as I entered the morning they filled up this year and missed out the year before as it was full.

Just be thankful that it is not like the US where some races, you have to register IN PERSON at the race site (interstate?) the DAY AFTER the event for the following year or miss out.

I'm entering a team in this. I'm gonna do the swim, and a mate the ride. I'm waiting on some mates to get back to me about doing the run, otherwise I may ask a cr'er if they wanna have a go. I'm thinking of doing the 5k run on the Friday arvo as well.

My mates trying to wrangle us up a sponsor to kick in some kit. Then we may do a few more events through the year. He's ridden for years now but has never entered anything, so he's all hyper with the thought of actually competing in something.

I dying to see what the atmosphere around these events is like. I'm planning on doing Noosa next year.

I got my entry in today. This will be my first OD triathlon, in fact my first longer than 300/13/3. I think its safe to say I'm somewhat worried about whether I can swim that far! Or whether I can run that far after riding 40km!

Who else is doing it?

Had been planning on this - but too close to 6FT, and now on the same weekend as the Tre-X off-road triathlon down at Wiseman's Ferry

Me.
My second OD.
I am hoping to actually RUN the last leg this time.

I will most likely doing this as part of a team, the swim leg for me. Our rider came off his bike a few weeks ago though, punctured lung and 19 broken ribs but he feels he'll still be able to do it. Otherwise I'd probably do it on my own. We won't be overly competitive - I won't be that fast on the swim, he'll be ok on the ride and I don't think our runner is any faster than me (justa sub60 10k) but we are gonna have some fun!!!

I'll also probably do the 5k run on the Friday night.

Will have to catch up with ya's while up there.

I'm planning on my first actual tri at the end of the month, a 400/12/5.2 at Highfields outside Toowoomba. Again, for fun not competition. I'll also be at the BRW at the goldie, and Noosa for my first OD.

Really happy to see you having a go at this on your own Balri. You'll have a blast!

damn - do we even have that many?

best of luck with the lead-up to all of you - and those that get the OD bug, don't forget the Byron Bay Oly in May

i'm in. i like this course better than Noosa. it's great having the ITU event after the age group event and being able to watch the world's best from 10 feet away. you'll have a great time. hoping for a PB but haven't had a swim since a week after Noosa and hardly any rides for the last 4 weeks but will hook into the training once i get back from holidays at the gold coast.

good on you for taking it on Blair.

look forward to catching up with you all.

cheers
PH

I've entered and it will be my first OD tri. I'm mildly concerned about it - mainly the run. It's not close enough yet for me to start panicking though.

you mean you actually do swim training?

I'm looking to do a lead-up race since I haven't done a triathlon for nearly a year.

Everyone seems to think that Gold Coast on 1 March would be a good one (750/20/5), however the idea of having to rack my bike the day before really puts me off doing it.

The other option is Bribie on 15 March which is also 750/20/5. This would be two weeks out from Mooloolaba.


Thoughts?

I'm doing Bribie. I'm also doing the Bribie short course on 15 Feb.

Cool! good to see you having another crack at tris.

Thanks

Could be a slight hiccup though - I'm seeing a sports doctor this Thursday about a potential stress fracture in my femur!

oi! i did 10-12 sessions in the 3 weeks before Noosa last year thanks very much.

i must confess to you Miners i've had it all wrong thinking i'll just focus on running for tri's. too many eggs in the one basket. gaining 2mins in the swim and 3mins on the bike (at my level) should be a lot easier than another 5mins off my 10k time. what was i thinking?


i'll start tomorrow...err, this week... sometime soon.

Not sure about Mooloolaba, but I will be aiming to go in the Bribie Island series. I did one in December, but my timing chip didn't work . (It's probably a good thing cause I didn't do so well by my stopwatch)

It's been a while since I have seen any coolrunners (except Plaz at the last Bribie), so will look out for you guys there.

Mike

Good to hear from you again Mike. I actually saw you coming out of the water at Bribie and called out "Go Mickey" but I guess you didn't hear me. Funnily enough, I did the short course and my timing chip didn't work either.

I'll be there for the short course again on 15th Feb so I'll look out for you.

53 days to go!

Dying for this too!! I'm only swimming, but there's about 12 or so from my training squad doing this along with my team and I just can't wait for the experience of a big event like this.

ATM, I'm planning on doing the 5k run on the friday evening too. Anyone else doing that as well?

I'm really looking forward to this too. It is my second Mooloolaba (which was my first olympic distance). I only hope it hurts less this time! I've done Noosa and Redcliffe as Olympic Distances since then so fingers crossed they will pay off.



I don't know about the fun run but how about the ocean swim on the Saturday?

Has anyone got any recommendations for accommodation? I'll probably be staying alone and it's hard finding somewhere cheap!

OMG- Ive enterred my first tri event - just doing the swim and the run for this one ( my cycling really sucks) Since Ive been injured and no running Ive got right in to the swimming- even joined a tri squad and even done some cycling. Im missing running but feeling really strong and I have discovered that my swim will probably be my stronger leg. Next year the full Monty.
two sheds

I'd thought about the ocean swim, but I'm not fast and didn't want to do a swim like that the day before. Will probably just go for a gentle ride with the biker in our team. I'll be staying with family in Bli Bli, and the others in the team are talking about staying in Alexandria Headlands somewhere.

2S, I'll be doing the full next year too. Noosa will be my first OD this year.

Well, the sports doctor almost laughed yesterday when I said I wanted to be running 10km by the end of March (in order to do Mooloolaba).

I've sort of resigned myself to the fact that it is not going to happen. But I will do the swim and the ride and do the best I can. I enquired about changing my entry to a team entry however financially it would cost about the same (assuming the runner pays their third), so I have decided not to bother.

Is it OK to walk the 10km with a recovering femoral stressy?

I did it for Ironman once, only a couple of days after having a stressy diagnosed. Admittedly, it was a different injury to yours. Mine was on the concave side of the tibia, so the pressure of walking pressed the fracture zone together, rather having the halves of the bone pulling against each other as would have occured if it were on the convex side of the tibia. The doctor said as long as it didn't produce any pain, I wasn't doing it any damage, so I just went in with the attitude that I would stop as soon as it started to hurt. Fortunately, it felt fiine for the 42km. I think on the chocolate wheel of stress fractures, I had spun up the winner!

Whatever happens Sunset, I hope you are back in full training and competing in not too long.

Four months prior makes sense.

They are organising a large and complex event. Three months out they will almost certainly have expenses to cover and the bills coming in.

It just sounds like trying to establish a reasonable cash flow to me.

Thanks Paul. The positive thing is that I don't have a stress fracture. The negative thing is that the sports doc really doesn't know what is wrong with me and said to give it 'another couple of months'

I will go back to the physio soon and see what they say.

If worse comes to worst you will absolutely cane the swim and the bike with the way you have been training lately and then you can just have a nice relaxing 10km stroll to finish off.

I'll throw some support everyones way. I'm only doing the swim so should be on the beer by the time you guys are half through the ride!! I'll be heading up on the friday and possibly doing the 5k run that night. Maybe a get together somewhere over the weekend?

oh Sunset, walk it if you have to (as long as you can)! I hope they work out the problem soon (and fix it too).

At least it's a nice oceanside walk to enjoy, which is totally overlooked when running, as (at least in my case) all you are do is focus on running, and have to telling yourself to keep running!

I'd rather just not register a time for the 10km if I was forced to walk it. Even a slow jog would be disappointing.

A slow jog should only be disappointing if you know you can physically do better at the time.
My Doc advised me not to even do my first Tri. I knew I was underdone, but the feeling when I finished was awesome!
If you don't do this one, it's another 7 months until Noosa for another chance!
Setting a soft PB is great for the next one!

And it depends on how fast your walk is! It might still be faster than my run...

Hey, I found this website that might be able to help you find Mooloolaba Triathlon Accommodation..
http://www.overnight.com.au/events/Moolool...thlon_Festival/

got a spot 100m from the start line for $40 a night. hopefully it's not too noisy Sat night in the neighbouring tents.

i stayed at Tewantin caravan park for $85 at Noosa year before last and then we payed full tote for a unit shared with friends last year. to be honest, the van park was fine.

since it's all about me for the weekend, i think be alone this year at M'ba so sleeping in the car for night to save hundreds means i can spend it on beer at the recovery instead.

sites still available.

Don't forget Byron Bay, six weeks after Mooloolaba. I did it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've already signed up for both Mooloolaba and Byron Bay. Just getting over an achilles injury so I'm not expecting very much, particularly on the run.

By the way TynoMite, I think I saw you on the run leg at the Bribie Island triathlon last weekend. I yelled out to you - was wearing long skins.

Paul

Yeah, that was me.
I couldn't do much more than grunt a response, but thanks

Hey Guys

Anybody interested in doing the cycling leg in a team at Mooloolaba on 29 March?

We have lost our cyclist due to injury and are desperately seeking a replacement.

Male or female, doesn't matter - maybe looking at a time of 70-75 minutes to fit in with our
usual efforts.

Sharky

I haven't been in the pool for about two weeks and have no desire to return. Was thinking of just doing the ride at Mooloolaba (can't do the run due to injury). I have an individual entry though. Is there some way I could just do the ride? Maybe just rack my bike in the teams area?

And Balri, Tyno, etc - I know I am a wuss. But I just can't face the idea of doing a 1.5km ocean swim

It's not an ocean swim, it's M'ba! It's more like a salt water lake 300+ days a year!

Sunset, Mooloolaba is the easiest ocean swim you'll find.. it's completely sheltered. you'll be fine! Just stick to the back of the pack and if you need to, do some breastroke (just watch out for people around you if you do).

Don't get back in the pool if you don't want to - just take the swim easy on the day and go hard on the bike!

Don't think you're getting out of it that easily Sunset! If I have to do the swim, you have to do the swim! There is no way I am going to let you miss this one if I have to drag you every step of the way so snap out of it and get back in that pool!

Thanks Balri - that's what I keep telling myself! I know that you are so anti-swimming so I think, "If Balri can do 1500m then I can too!"

So this morning I dragged myself back to the pool. I just can't face squad sessions as they are in the evenings and I'm just not an evening exerciser.

This mornings plan was to do the 1500m in the pool (50m pool) and just see what sort of time I managed to do. It was 31.30 at a steady pace. This included the benfit of being able to push off at each end. So I figure I would like to do under 35 minutes for the ocean swim?

I had a look at the results for my age category at last years Mooloolaba and the slowest was 36 minutes, however majority were sub-30 minute times... Eeek!!!

So I think I may be one of the last out of the ocean in my wave.

Sunset
don't underestimate the benefit of salt water. You will find it makes you much more buoyant...you will feel much easier in the swim.
So don't read too much into your pool time and try to transfer it across...use more as a guide to how you are improving in the pool.

meant to add as an example...last year b4 M'bah i did a pool 1500m TT and did about 26...took around 1 to 2 minutes off that at the tri.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised Sunset. i reckon the turns in the pool slow you down rather than speed you up (unless you have a good tumbleturn). the two other benefits are - salt water (more buoyancy = faster) and drafting. the latter is a big bonus. hang onto someone's feet and you cruise along in the slipstream. i do about 31 for 1500m in the pool and did 30:02mins for M'ba last year and 30:14 for Noosa last year. although being in the old farts category, that still gets my about half way in the field.
you'll be just foine.
good luck
PH
p.s. i'm a now show now. had to pull out. no bike no swim no time left and stuff on.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I guess the salt water thing hopefully will help me along. As for drafting, I think I need to be on someone's toes to do that! I picture myself swimming a lonely swim.

PH, sorry to hear you won't be at Mooloolaba.

Nah, there's that many people you catch from the in front are sidle up to you form teh wave behind, you'll always have someone around you to latch on to