Ironman Louisville : Official Thread

I am a maybe for next year.  I am going to apply to the Norseman Xtreme; if I do not get in via the lottery then I am going to pull the trigger on Lou.

For training plans, I am using a coach again for 2012. www.All3Multisport.com

On the fence... I'm from Florida and I'm afraid of the hilly bike course. IM Augusta 70.3 was a shock to me 

Curious about the swim too. 

Louisville was my first IM this year.  I am considering going back to try and beat my time, but have not made up my mind yet.

As for the hills, they are no joke, but if you train on hills on a regular basis then you have nothing to worry about.  Just make sure you have appropriate gearing.  On the other hand, if you can't train on hills, then that would be a concern.

iJen0311, what questions do you have about the swim?

Alan

I was a finisher this year and plan to return again, for now I'm trying to get into Florida.  As for the hills, the out and back are relatively tough, but the rollers aren't you just get sick and tired of them.

Adam

I am from the Savannah area, just like Jacksonville it is pancake flat here, I really struggled on the hills during IM Lou. I finished, but I was disappointed in my time. I didn't do any hill training except for the occasional overpass bridge (you know,since that's all we have here). I tried to compensate by doing "hill training" workouts on the bike trainer, that didn't even come close to preparing me for the hills in Louisville. I am a risk taker so I went for it and signed up and finished this year, so of course I will say go for it. That being said, I am going to try to get into IM FL for 2013, mostly flat, go with what I know.

The swim at IM Lou was awesome. Was  PR swim for me, and I am a very poor swimmer. After the turn around after the island, the current really helps you to the swim exit.

IMKY 2011 finisher here.  What makes this bike course challenging is not the size of the hills.  It's not the length of the climbs nor is it the gradients.  It is the fact that once you get past the first flat 10 miles the hills just keep coming at ya.  Virtually you'll have 88 non-stop miles of grades and hills to climb and descend.  I've rode this course 3 times with the third time being race day. 

The bike course is very manageable yet if you try to grind out the hills it will chew you up and spit you out.  Especially when you add in the heat.  I trained on hills leading up to this race but I don't have the rollers like they do on that course.  I just did the best I could with what I had to work with. 

I'll be back in 2012.  Can't wait!

I did the Muncie 70.3 in preparation for IM Lou this year. Worked out well, felt like it was a good time to throw a half in there. Muncie was my first HIM and IM Lou was my first ironman.

Midwest, thanks for the course recon.  That is very helpful. Sound alot like where I train (Athens, Georgia area).  I though about going back to IMFL to PR at the iron distance, but I have heard some many great things about Louisville. 

And Jillian, I ran across your blog-site when I was deciding about which Ironman I would do in 2012.  Your story is a true inspiration!  Well done in Louisville too! 

I did IM LOU 2011 as my first ironman in my first year of triathlons and finished with 12:51. Train on hills if you can. It's not that the hills are killer but like someone said earlier, they do get annoying. But more importantly, If you can train on hills you are mentally prepared and your legs will be prepared for the run if you pace yourself properly. The heat is the other thing (which this year was a God-send with 80's) try and train at least a couple times a week in the heat so that you can get your nutrition/hydration plan nailed.

As far as a half. I did the Cardinal Harbor Half Ironman by headfirstperformance.com. The swim is a 2 loop in the ohio river. The bike is on most of the bike course so you will know what to expect for hills. You don't do the full Lagrange loop but part of it. It does include the out and back which is great. And the run is nothing but rolling hills which is great for the training bc the IM run course is completely flat. This race was on July 9th which gives you 1 week of recovery, 4 week build and 2 week taper into the IM race.

I encourage you to do this Half as a prep race for IM Lou bc Muncie is expensive and flat bike. If you can complete Cardinal Harbor Half strong you know your on the right track in being prepared for LOU IM 2012. Enjoy the journey. I am taking a year off of racing to focus on training and coming back to LOU in 2013 strong. Cheers.

Current, wetsuit...

I don't think the swim has ever (or will ever) be wetsuit legal.  I did use the BlueSeventy PZ3TX swimskin/speedsuit, though.

Many people told me before the race that there is not enough current to be a factor.  I disagree.  I firmly believe that the current took AT LEAST 8 minutes off my swim time.  Probably even closer to 10-12 minutes.

And don't let the reports of the "nasty" river get to you.  It was murky, but not anything worse than the murky lakes we have here in North Carolina.

Good Luck!

Alan

I think that you were just juiced up with adrenaline. There was no noticeable current on race day. in 2007 if you swam further out more towards the middle of the river there was moving water. This year I tried the same and it ended up just adding time to my swim. I spoke with a couple of friends that were all at or under an hour and they also said that there was no noticeable current.

I don't have a definite answer.  I'll start by saying I'm a slow swimmer. The Louisville swim remains as the only time I have gone under 2:00/100 yards open water swim without a wetsuit.  I did a half IM on May 14 '11 and swam the exact same pace (1:56/100 yards) as Louisville and that was in a lake with a wetsuit.  Three factors could have been at play in Louisville: 1. better fitness (I don't think this is the answer 2. Speedsuit (probably contributed a little) 3.  Current (I'm convinced this is the answer)

There were a couple of reasons I used the speedsuit:  1. I was somewhat concerned about making the swim cutoff and wanted every advantage I could get.  2.  I wanted to go without a clothing change through the day.  The tri top I used had big back pockets (like a bike jersey) and I didn't want them to act as parachutes in the swim, so I wore the speeduit over my tri suit (2 piece).  This worked out just fine for the race.

I wasn't uncomfortable with the combination of the speedsuit and water temp.  It was about perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks! And thanks for checking out my blog!

I can usually predict my swim times to the minute based on my efforts in the water.  Based on my several 2.4 mile swims leading up to the race I was fairly confident I would come out of the murky Ohio in 1:15.  Also as I was on the down stream run on race day, I stopped and floated a couple times as I came upon a buoy.  I simply wanted to gauge how fast the current was.  I was quite surprised how fast we were being pushed along.  Between poor sighting, fighting traffic and stopping to smell the roses, I guess I gave up 45 seconds to a minute on the swim.  So that being said I would have expected to come out of the water about 1:16ish.  Actual was 1:12:15.  So my vote is that the current gave me 3 minutes and 45 seconds of push downstream.  I typically don't suffer the "adrenaline rush" on the swim but rather consider myself a steady eddie in the water.  So can't say that would be a factor in my swim time.  If anything, I probably held myself back more-so as I knew I was in for a long day.    

While you are swimming you simply don't notice the current at all.  Stop and float next to something in close proximity and you'll see it for sure.  Don't think it would give you 12 minutes but one can't negate that you do get some benefit from it.  IMHO