Ironman 70.3 Syracuse : Official Thread

I am in. I will come from Switzerland to make it, just because it is close to NY and I want to go visiting the big apple.

I don't have so much informations but according to this link, I would say that the bike course is pretty fast

I did the inaugural Syracuse 70.3 last year.  I used it as a tuneup race for Ironman Florida six or seven weeks later.  I'm originally from the area so it was an excuse to see my parents and get a race in.

I'm not doing it this year because that September date isn't ideal for me.  Kid in school and all that. Grandparents want to see the grandkid more than they want to see me.

That stated, the event moves to the end of June starting next year so I will be back in 2012.

My bullet point thoughts:

• It was very well run for a first year event.  The only snafu...
• The host hotel and expo is in Liverpool.  The entire race is now in Jamesville.  That's a 20 minute drive.  There's pretty much one road into the race area and it got backed up so much they had to delay the start of the race.  Hopefully, they figured something out but plan accordingly.
• I've been away from the CNY area since 1993 and I live in Texas now.  The temps in Texas were still around 100 degrees last September.  I was so freakin' cold the day of the race as temps were in the mid-50's to about low-60's.  The water was like 62 degrees and I was even cold in my wetsuit.  I was also very cold on the bike.  I see you're from Rochester so the weather probably won't bother you as much since you're used to cooler fall temps.
• They completely fubar'd the scheduling of the swim waves.  I'm in the M40-44 AG which is the largest group and the second fastest group.  Guess which AG they ran before the two M40-44 waves? The W50+ group.  Not sure the reasoning for putting the slowest wave in front of the second fastest group.  I do not understand why race directors do not put the fast waves out first. It should be: Pros, M30-34, M35-39 and M40-44 and then stack the rest of the waves however they want.  Sorry for my little rant.
• The bike was tough but fair.  The Jamesville area is beautiful.  The first 12 or 13 miles are pretty much uphill.  It goes from about 600 feet to about 1700 feet in 10 miles.  It sort of levels off for the next 30 miles or so with some rollers and a couple of big hills.  Those hills are short but steep.  The toughest one is around mile 20.  I saw a lot of people walking up that one.  I suggest running a rear cassette like a 12-27.  I normally run a 12-23 or 12-25 where I live because it's super flat and I switched to a 12-27 for the 'Cuse and I was glad I did.  Be careful on the downhill descent of that hill because I hit 50 mph and most others were laying on the brakes.  The last 12 miles or so are net downhill so you can make up some time lost going up all the hills.  The bike is not fast but it's not slow either.  It's a course where you never completely get into a groove because of the constant up and down nature of the course.  I think I averaged 21 mph last year which is on the slower side of things for me.
• My Garmin Edge 500 listed total climbing of 2700 feet for the 56 miles.
• The run has completely changed for this year.  The run last year was a point-to-point from Jamesville to Syracuse.  It was a fast run because it was net downhill but the run itself sucked from an aesthetics standpoint because Syracuse is an ugly city and we got to run through all the ugliest parts.
• The new run course remains in the Jamesville area.  It should be a very pretty run but it will be a much tougher run because it will be very hilly.  I guess you could say it will be much more pleasing to the eyes but not to the legs.
• Post race food was very good.  Can't remember which restaurant catered it but it was good.
• It was a pain in the butt getting back to transition area last year because we were 13.1 miles away from our bikes and gear.  You won't have that issue this year.
• I know this will sound strange but you'll see what I mean on race day: Best port-a-potties I have ever used.

I can't speak for the BT plans too much.  They're far too generic and not detailed or descriptive enough for my liking.  I train/race with power and all the fancy widgets and BT just isn't for me.  I'm partial to Endurance Nation's training program and coaching (full disclosure that I'm on Team EN).

My best piece of advice is to dial in your nutrition plan.  There's little to no concern for nutrition for sprint or olympic races but you have to have a nutrition plan for a HIM or IM.  Beginners often overlook this fact and pay for it dearly on race day.  Where transitions are the 4th discipline of short course triathlons, nutrition is the 4th discipline of long course triathlon racing.  I can't stress the nutrition thing enough.  I consulted a sports nutritionist after my first HIM ended in total disaster because of a poor nutrition plan.  I wouldn't say I'm an expert but really have that dialed in now.

The most important thing is to enjoy the day!

I did the race last year, the link you posted is wrong. It goes to what the original course was supposed to be(or one of the original courses it changed probably about 5 times over the summer). This goes to the current course. 

You climb a little over 1000 ft in the first 12 miles, but after that its mostly flat/rollers. If you've ever ridden in the north east you know the type of roads. Nothing hard, and the last 8 or so miles are mostly downhill so you get it easy coming into T2. My Garmin had just a bit over 2000ft of total elevation gain. 

My only two real complaints about last year was the ugliness of the run course(over 2 miles of it was in the middle of a four lane road that went past a mall, not exactly nice running), and the logistics associated with a point to point run. I was at the race by myself so at the finish I had nothing with me but my tri-suit and what I thought to throw in my "run bag", which thankfully made it safely to the finish. 

Both of those complaints don't matter anymore since they changed the course and it nows starts and ends at Jamesville Reservoir.

Its a toss up right now if I'm doing the race again this year. I want to, but the new Ironman Pocono's 70.3 is closer to home and the timing might end up working out better for me.

The only mandatory things to do are athlete check-in (at the host hotel) and bike check-in (at the race transition area).  Everything else is up to you.  I'd certainly suggest perusing the expo for a little bit but it's certainly not an all day event or anything.  There's also nothing mandatory about the "mandatory" athlete meeting.  They just regurgitate what's in the athlete guide regarding the rules and course.  I wouldn't waste my time with it but that's me.

Best of luck with IMLP next year.  There's a possibility that next year could be the last year for IMLP. Ironman New York City was just announced this morning and it's 3 weeks after IMLP and Ironman Mont Tremblant (Montreal area) was announced last week and it's 4 weeks after IMLP.  IMLP's contract is up next year and they just added two races to the Northeast within weeks of IMLP.  It doesn't bode well for IMLP's future, IMO.

I live in flat as a board Houston, TX and I didn't think the bike course was that bad.  Tough but not overly tough.  The course isn't flat at all but it's not like you're riding a mountain stage of the Tour de France either.

If you can't get out and ride hills, you can kind of simulate hill workouts on a trainer by doing low cadence, low gearing workouts where you're killing yourself to stay above 55 rpm.  I did some workouts like that for prep.

Gearing will also be important.  As I stated earlier, running something like a 12-27 is a smart move. Maybe even a compact if you got access to one.

I did the Syracuse last year for my first ever tri and loved it. We'll see if the honeymoon is over this Sept. Agreed that the run next to cars standing in traffic last year on Erie blvd stunk. With the run now in the country/jamesville, it will be much nicer. And a whole lot better for spectating.

I would recommend staying at the host hotel. There really are no hotels near the race start, so it is either driving 20 minutes or driving 15 to 10 minutes. Either way it is a drive.

A climbing cassette is needed for the steep but short inclines. Like the above posters said. I switched mine to an easier gear after grinding my legs to death on a few training rides. Speaking of that, I see someone is from Rochester, Syracuse Bicycle last year ran a few traing rides on weekend mornings. A few weeks before the event and there are hundreds out there on the course, so why not come on over.

Not that I will be anywhere near the podium, for those that want to qualify for las vegas worlds there are two races on this course to get to the 2012 sept race, this fall and again in June.

I plan to arrive late morning/early afternoon on saturday as well.  Hopefully there is not any issues with checking in this late.  

On another note - how is everyone's training going?

I am using this race as a tune up for IMAZ, so far feeling very confident in accomplishing my time goals. 

The twenty week full Ironman plan from BT should be more than enough to get you through this race no problem.  I'd have to dig out some of my old training logs but I think the one you are using is the same I used for IM AZ last year and it worked out quite well. That was for a full Ironman so volume wise you should be fine for finishing, it may lack in speed work for the 70.3 distance though. Right now I'm the HIM Intermediate plan for this race and it worked out well with the other commitments I have right now.  Won't know how well it worked until race day though.

On another note I saw that last year there were some coupon codes to get $50 off of last year's IM Syracuse 70.3 and I was wondering if anyone knew of any for this year? I've been procrastinating registering for this race for about a month a half now.

Let me offer this one piece of administrative advice when it comes to driving to the venue on both Saturday and Sunday.  The East Seneca Turnpike to Apulia Road is an absolute nightmare with traffic. You don't want to be stuck in it.

My advice: exit off the East Seneca Turnpike just west of Apulia Road.  Take either Barker-Hill or Bamerick. Eventually you have to get on Apulia but taking either of those two roads will cutoff the traffic snafu around the village.  Google Map the Jamesville area and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Exiting to Barker-Hill:  Take Barker-Hill and make a left on Smokey Hollow, then a left on Coye, and finally a right on Apulia.

Exiting to Bamerick: Take Bamerick all the way to Apulia and make a right.

I think Bamerick is easier to navigate.