Ironman Maryland : Official Thread

Hey everyone - I'm looking to reserve a hotel room. My plan is to arrive on Thursday and stay Thursday and Friday (Thursday solo and Friday with the fam of 5).

I'm a teacher so price is an issue but so to is location. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
DQ

Thanks - I ended up in Salisbury.

Happy New Years everyone!

35 weeks and 3 days to IMMD - hows everyone doing?

I've got a heavy trainer ride planned for today. Can't wait

I AM ABOUT TO CANCEL MY HOTEL RESERVATIONS IN CAMBRIDGE FOR THE IMMD RACE AT THE HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS!!!!!

2715 Ocean Gateway Cambridge, Maryland 21613 United States

I was going to run the race but have decided to run the IMNC race in Wilmington. I made the reservation a few months ago and got the last room. I think my rate was 219$ a night....hope you get it if you need it!

Scott

How was the commute from Salisbury? I'm looking for a hotel for IMMD 2016.

I'm looking for a training plan (book or online) I can use for IMMD which is in 28 weeks. Here's what you need to know about me:

- I'm a back of the packer - finished IMMT in 2014 in 16:22/ Rev 3 Maine in 7+ hours
- I'm often injured - so I'm looking for a plan that has two weeks of hard training and 1 week of recovery
- Money is tight so hiring a coach or buying an expensive plan is out
- I'm current not swimming (inflamed bicept tendon), my long ride is 2 hours and since I'm training for Boston - I'm running 15 miles for a long run
- I don't care how long it takes me - I just want to avoid injury and finish

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I am in
coming from Switzerland, looking for a great fast time

question: is it true we will likely get jellyfish in the swim????

Anybody on this site anymore?

I check the thread once in awhile. Volunteering this year and running it next year.

So I'm out for IMMD. I had not actually officially signed up but did have a hotel set aside. I raced a half ironman this past weekend - managed 2nd in my age group - and also did a number on my piriformis muscle in my left leg so I haven't been able to walk right for a few days. It's all good. My heart is really in revenge on Mont Tremblant so I'll regroup this fall, knock out a marathon and get into a winter maintenance plan. Only about 4 months until I start IM training again for next summer!!

I wish you all the best of luck, beautiful cool weather with a light overcast, no wind, but then a breeze on your run. I'll be looking for race reports!! Enjoy taper starting in about a week, you're almost there!!!

I am officially in. Had a horrible Ironman in Mont tremblant. Looking for revenge and decent weather.

Getting close, Last week

How's it going out there!? I saw the swim got canceled and the bike has been shortened to 100 miles. I've been watching the radar and it seems you've been fortunate with not much rain so far. It looks like maybe by about 6:00 there will be a thin line of storms moving through. Hopefully it doesn't derail anyone.
How has the wind been? I'm showing 3 mph (but this is at 4:00 pm so likely you all are off your bikes by now).
Good luck and finish strong!!!

Oh fun. How are the blisters doing? I saw one of my friends took her shoes off to run through the shin deep stuff- crazy. I had heard some of that is due to the high tide this time of month and some due to the rain leading up to race day. Tough one. That is good to know about in advance of the race. Not enough bandaids to cover those blisters and how the heck would they stay on?!

I heard about the intersection with the cars cutting out in front of the bikes - hopefully you didn't have to deal with that. How were the winds? What we see in the weather channel app can differ from what you actually saw/felt.

Congratulations!!! A hard-earned victory!

Not Another Ironman Maryland Race Report!

If you’ve spent any time at all scouring the internet like a good type-A endurance athlete, you’ve undoubtedly already read way to many race reports. So my honest recommendation is that you don’t continue reading this piece, and instead find something productive to do with your time. Why, I’m certain that at this very moment there must be an NCIS marathon somewhere on cable TV, and failing that, you could always resort to binging on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Though I personally find reality TV even more painful than the soul-sucking agony of mile 19 of a marathon.

If you’re still reading than I guess you chose not to submit yourself to the voluntary lobotomization we call reality TV. Well then, read on if you must, and I promise I’ll omit the usual race report fodder. You know, breathless accounts of pre-race meals, how many times someone pee’d in the wetsuit, how many gels they consumed on the run, etc., etc.

If you’re short on time, let’s cut right to the highlights: (though later on, I’ll probably waste another 1000 words repeating the same stuff again and again. And let’s be honest you’ll probably read that part too.)

1) Atrocious weather leading up to IM Maryland resulted in choppy water and course flooding, so…

2) The course was altered as race officials canceled the swim at the last moment and shortened (slightly) the bike ride, which led to a…

3) “Real Ironman or Not” debate – race officials said yes. Most participants seemed to say “not really” prior to the start and “hell yes” towards the end, mostly because….

4) There was shin deep water for long stretches of the marathon. I repeat, we ran a marathon in shin deep water, as evidenced by the picture below, which honestly doesn’t even do it justice. And apparently, running 26.2 miles in deep, sandy water results in…

5) Heavy blistering which left me with feet that looked like the sides of beef Rocky Balboa used to punch during his training montages. The good news was that my feet hurt so much that I forgot all about my other assorted aches and pains. Though to be honest the overall pain wasn’t that bad, considering I used…

6) Quasi-minimalist training which resulted in a regimen where my longest workouts were (1) 13 mile run, (1) 4 hour bike, and (4) 3 hour bike rides. That training approach allowed me to meet work and family obligations and still finish the race upright and well ahead of any cut offs. I also proved that if you choose to do things that way, you’re butt will be very uncomfortable by the end of the bike leg. More generally, …

7) The townspeople in Cambridge were extremely gracious and welcomed us with open arms and were quite supportive of the race. Unfortunately,…

8) Race organizers have a difficult job, particularly when the weather doesn’t cooperate. But I do have to say that in comparison to my other Ironman experiences (IMAZ 2013 and Oceanside 70.3 2013) IM Maryland seemed a little bit more disorganized. In particular, I found the post race logistics for racers to be clumsy and slow. The pre race activities also seemed muted and low energy, at least in comparison to IMAZ (though to be fair, some of it might have been on account of the dreary weather in the days leading up to the race.) So, in summary,…

9) Congratulations to all the finishers. The race might have been altered, but you completed the challenge assigned to you under very difficult conditions (in addition to the water on the run, the bike was also very windy.) To be honest though, between the two straight years of weather–related issues (not the race organizers fault of course) plus what I perceived to be a somewhat disorganized experience, I’m a little surprised they are running the event again next year. There are so many other IM choices that have joined the circuit; I know I would choose a different location for my next race.

All those extra words for those that just can’t get enough

Like I said above, you’ve already read the good stuff, but here are some more random thoughts and comments on my training and the race.

Training wise, I put in some volume for this race, but not typical Ironman volume. I did bike a lot of hills, which I’m sure made me stronger. I don’t think I would have changed too much with my training approach though, as I’d resolved to not let training consume my life this time (given my work and family obligations and other interests.) Next time, I do think I’d cut back slightly on my pool swimming, but add in a handful of extra open water swims for confidence (though in this case with the cancelled swim it wound up not mattering anyway.) I’d also add two or three additional long bikes. All in all though, the quasi-minimalist approach seemed to work reasonably well for me, given my race goals, time constraints, and lifestyle.

Nutrition wise, I resolved to eat and drink more on the course, as following my previous Ironman I’d been pretty badly dehydrated and undernourished and really didn’t feel well. My strategy worked but with a caveat. I felt much better after the race, which was good. The flip side of the coin is I developed stomach pains that forced me to walk more of the marathon than I would have liked. I’d run for a while, then my stomach would hurt, then I’d have to walk again to calm it down. Then start the cycle over again. For my next IM, if there is one, I’ll have to attempt to find a happy medium with my nutrition, if there is such a thing.

The worst part of the race was: the swim getting cancelled. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. I’m a strong enough swimmer, and as a long-time surfer rough water doesn’t really bother me. But I hadn’t open water swam in three years leading up to the race, so I was nervous about it. The bummer was that I went in the water the day prior to the race. Whereupon I cut the bottom of my feet to shreds on some sharp rocks. Which was bad enough, but considering they canceled the swim, my “practice” was completely unnecessary. And honestly, biking and running with your feet cut up completely sucks.

The best part of the race: well, the finishing line obviously. It was great seeing my family, especially my cheering three year old. And hearing the announcer call me an Ironman, well, I don’t care what Mother Nature does to the course; it’s a freaking awesome feeling. The other best part for me was running through the water and mud. With the course changes, the race was kind of FUBAR’d to begin with, so while I heard some grumbling from other runners, I actually thought the standing water and mud made it an adventure and a hell of a lot of fun. Plus, when am I ever going to run a marathon in almost knee-deep water again?

The good news: I used this race as motivation to get back in shape, and it largely succeeded. I still have a bit of a ways to go, but my health and conditioning improved dramatically over the past six months. I also proved I can do an Ironman while training hard, but not completely letting it consume my life. Also, I finished, and like, I’m an Ironman again and I have the backpack and t-shirt to show other people how awesome I am without having to actually brag out loud.

The still to be determined if its good or bad news: I’d sworn this was my last triathlon, as I want to focus on other stuff, such as mountaineering, some more surfing, and perhaps some ultras or adventure races. But given the cancelled swim, I might be compelled to do just one more IM...

nice report! (and yes, I love NCIS too!)
I don't envy the blisters!!