Ironman World Championship 70.3 : Official Thread

T2 and the finish are at the same spot. T1 and swim start are quite a distance away

Swim start and T1 is at at Lake Las Vegas resort.
T2 and finish like are at Henderson

Checkin is at Henderson


The biggest challenge for those staying at Henderson is getting to the start in the morning. In 2011 there were no shuttles
The biggest challenge for those staying at LLV is getting to checkin (cab or by bike) and getting back after the race although there are shuttles to get back, but a PITA with your bike

I'll be there Start training Monday.

My tri club puts it together so we got 25 slots. I got #25 out of 25.

My goal is to NOT be last. If I beat one person, I'm good

Hi, I also qualified at IM Raleigh, my first Half! Heading to Vegas was also a huge suprise and will be my second Half, a slot rolled down to me after I finished 7th in my age group. I'll take it, if nothing else for the experience!!! I'm not as in good of shape as I was for Raleigh, but hope to pick up the training a bit and hit my goal of not getting crushed in my age group Also looking to do IM Lake Placid 2014!

Just qualified a couple of weeks ago at Ironman Philippines 70.3. Took the last of 3 spots for the M 40-44 age group. Not really expecting to be competitive here (or any WTC IM race) so will be there for the experience.

Anyone have any tips on bike gearing? I normally race with a standard 39/53 crank and a 11-25 cassette (and 11-23 on flat courses like Galveston). How severe are the inclines?

Hi All,

I qualified at Steelhead on the 4th. I'm racing IMAZ (it's my A race this season) and have no goal other than enjoy the experience of getting my a$$ handed to me by some amazing AG athletes, and do no harm! Oh. and to buy lots of swag!

I did this course in 2011 in November for ITU Long Course Worlds. It is a . No other way to say it. Long rolling climbs all through out the bike, the possiblity of very strong winds, and Vegas heat. When I did it , it was so cold (and had rained the whole day before) that the swim was cancelled. High of 57. I had done the American TTT and Lake Placid that year so I felt prepared for hills. It will be a whole other level of suffering with the expected heat of 100! Hence my goal above.

The run is all down, then all up, repeat. About a 4.5 mile loop. I am unprepared for hills or heat. I have already put my compact crank on and am training at the hilliest park in my area until I depart on the 5th. Get as many gears on your steed as you can...you won't regret it!

I am staying at the host hotel. I'm sharing a suv with a friend to pick up our bikes from TBT in Henderson. I will only have to deal with hauling my own tired a$$ back to the hotel on the shuttle. I am excited to go to the awards, as a local beast is the defending OA AG male from last year, and I look forward to seeing him on the podium.

Thanks! I'm going to play it safe and put on a 27. I do race with a powermeter so I am able to keep the surging uphill to a minimum.

I'll have a race report up soon but I ended up putting on an 11-28 cassette. With my standard crank, I was on the 39/28 combo quite a bit on those long uphills in order to keep the cadence reasonable at my wattage target. If I had to do this all over again, I may have considered putting on compact cranks, as I would've given up going to my 53/11 on the descents (but I have a quarq so kept my cranks). Bike course was the toughest I've done. In 4 previous HIM races, I finished between 2:40 and 2:45 on mostly flat courses. I was around 3:15 for this one! Limited training and getting sick leading up to this race just made it worse, but probably would not have gone more than 5 minutes faster at best, even in the cooler weather when it was raining. Slick roads near T1 made for a couple of hair-raising descents. Also the first time that I had full on cramping happen on the bike and it was almost within sight of T2! Had to stop on the hill and wait for muscles to relax before starting back up again. I knew at this point that my run was also going to be long...

In any case, I survived getting kicked hard in the groin just before the first turn buoy in the swim, cramps at the end of the bike, and cramps for most of the run (quads and hamstrings and calves depending on which portion of the run). Just glad to have earned my finisher medal as there was a race and I was definitely not in it. Still enjoyed the experience as I am not expecting to be able to qualify again anytime in the near (or far) future.