Ironman Lake Tahoe - Triathlon

Impossible to sight with so much fog. Water chilly, waves a nusance but not bad.

Having swim socks would have been very nice, stores were sold out.

T1 sucked, no lighting in changing tent, not nearly enough room, went all the way in to find an open spot then gave up.

If it were the same event with the same layout I would just drop on the ground and change as I wasted time going into the changing tent.

Bike was cold and hills sucked. I actually pulled muscles around right and left kneecap (top and center) and calves were iffy from mile 40 on.

12 months of ridding 12,000 feet on a ride every weekend with sustained hills of 10 t o 15%. grade might help.

Was ok, had to get gear ready for a long cold walk/run hit the bathroom.

Nothing really, maybe a bit faster if the bike went better.

This was just a sufferfest as my knees and calves were seriously shot from the bike. It was an act of will just to finish this part of the race. It got dark, cold, was long, but got it done.

Couldn't do the run because of the bike. Bike course was significantly beyond my bike shape, not my aerobic conditioning but my leg muscles for really steep climbs.

Just got food, warm dry clothes and sleep.


The hills were way worse than indicated in race condition. There was a 35% DNF rate for this race making it more than twice as bad as the previously hardest course. It was just that bad and I don't have the bike fitness for it. I did finish it, but not nearly as well as I would have liked to have done it. It was the muscle issues that dropped me out of hitting this race hard, probably cost me 2-3 hours.


This was a poorly organized race for an IM branded race. Gear was left out overnight in rain and freezing temps, no one know how the transition for T2 worked or where the finish line was going to be, T1 was a complete nightmare with no lighting in a tent that was nearly pitch black and about 1/4 of the area needed for the athletes. T1 was very long, extremely long distance running in bike shoes and with bike. The standard stuff, food, aid stations were fine. Given how cold the race was and now nasty the bike was with such a high DNF rate, I really can't recommend this race to anyone. If the race would have been the day before folks would have been in rain and snow all day long. If the race were held the day before the race completion rate would likely have been around 10-20%. Risks are just too high to do this one again.