Ironman 70.3 Raleigh : Official Thread

I'm in. Looking forward to a lake swim for a change.

This is going to be my first Ironman event. I have done an olypic tri in October and have another scheduled for April 25th in preperation for the Half Iron distance. Anybody think a month is too little recovery time from an olypic to a half iron for an 18 year old?

Does anyone know how many slots are available and if they sold out last year?

1 month recovery is fine. Gauge your fitness during the olympic race and remember to decrease the intensity of your training after the race on the 25th and before Raleigh.

I am thinking in this race to be my first 70.3, is the bike course hilly or mostly flat?
I have done many sprint and olympic distance triathlon, so I think it's time to go ahead and do the half.
I can't decide between this one in Raleigh or the one in Boise, Idaho. Anyone knows which is easier
Thanks

The bike course is moderately hilly; most of it is loaded on the back half of the course, but it is not difficult. The toughest climb is coming directly out of T1, when your legs are the freshest. I have not done Boise, but looked at the elevation maps. Boise has a little more climbing and it comes in 4 big ascents; less rolling than Raleigh. Both run courses look similar. In my opinion, the swim is the toughest part of Raleigh. The lake usually has a little chop and the longest section of the swim is right into sunrise (makes navigation difficult). I can't wait to get back to Raleigh and recommend the race to anyone interested.

This will be my first 70.3 event. Looking forward to it!

So happy to hear you say it is moderately hilly!! Really excited for this race

It is a bike course where it is easy to burn your matches in the first 50-60% of the course. I am in for year 3! Looking forward to it.

me too. see ya there Mike. 2nd time. didnt go last year after hit worlds at NOLA in apr. maybe this time i will bring a flat kit ha!

I added this race at a late should be fun. Need to see if there are any technical decents on the bike. I always like to ride the decents the day before the race so I feel a little more comfortable during the race. 7 weeks yeah

Granted I have done several mountain rides and I am comparing the Raleigh ride to that experience. There are no technical descents to be concerned with; most of the ride is rolling. There are a couple sections that can make or break the ride for you in terms of tempo. Maintaining your cadence on the descending portions will certainly help with the corresponding ascent. Keeping that momentum up the rollers makes this a fast ride; otherwise, it feels somewhat sluggish. Hope everyone's training is going well!

In addition to racing both editions of Raleigh 70.3, I have ridden the course a 3rd time in training and I don't agree with this information regarding the "toughest climb". The "climb" out of T1 is just a false flat. The toughest climb, IMHO, is at mile 31 after you pass Harris Lake and have to climb up Avent Ferry Road. YMMV.

so do I need max gearing for the bike or are these hills low grade climbs 1-4%

I have done this course several times with a standard 12-25 rear cassette. There is nothing that lasts more than a couple minutes and nothing that is intense in its grade.

thanks think I will go with the 12-29 instead of the 12-32

Hey did you guys see that they changed the bike course slightly? After Harris Lake instead of turning left on Avent Ferry it continues up Rex Road and then left on Cass-Holt then wanders over to Sunset. On the positive side, it cuts out 55 (which I speculate might be the reason for the change). On the negative, it pulls in that long hill on Rex. It just so happens that the hill on Rex is where I do hill repeats quite often. It's 5-6 minutes long.

To the posts about the hilliness, you can see that if I'm calling 5-6 minutes a long hill the route can't be too bad. It's more rollers. Having said that, I do like a 12-28 cassette around here but it's because it allows me to keep it in the big ring on the front longer for the rollers, not because of the granny gear.

Oh yeah, I forgot one or two other minor changes. It cuts off on New Elam Church instead of following Pear Ridge all the way to 1. And it goes out and around Shearon Harris (nice addition because of the smooth road).

Edited by smoom 2015-04-20 12:59 PM

lake temp is currently 67 any chance it will get above wet suit legal temp before the race?

I don't remember where we were this time the past couple of years. But with a month left and some warm temps I have to believe it'll be a possibility. Having said that, this race definitely defaults to wet suit legal (I'm assuming everyone knows the history by now).

The past couple of years we had fgump to rely on for predictions. He had spread sheets with historical temps. He's not racing this year but maybe he'll chime in.

Swim waves are posted.

Numbers are up #188 here

Got my wetsuit today (sleeveless); 68F water temp and 3 weeks to go. Looked at the extended forecast and daytime highs hover near 85-90 and nighttime lows in the 60's. Sure, water temps can move up 10F in that period of time, but I am hoping for recurring phenomenon this year...morning of race announcement...wetsuit legal.

I would disagree with this advice. As you gear up for Raleigh you should keep your intensity high and decrease volume. If you want to hold the run back a little bit because this is a new distance for you that's understandable, but the recovery from some short speed work in swimming or biking is minimal and you will keep your body from allowing itself to get sluggish and slow. Just my two cents...