Ironman Boulder : Official Thread

It'll be my 2nd IM, first one being Redman. I'm not in great shape - doing this site's winter maintenance, run emphasis until the beginning of the year. I spoke to someone that suggested the elevation isn't horrible and suggested going about 10 seconds slower per mile. You hear anything different?

Mike

IM number one for me. Finished my last tri of the season yesterday, so maintenance training starts now and goes until January/February.

This will be my first Ironman. I did a race that was close to the distance. It was broken up swim bike run four times. Basically 4 Olympic tris in a row. I finished just under 14 hours. I think it was easier doing it that way. Let the training begin

This will be my second Ironman (IM Louisville). Took 2014 off so re-igniting the pilot light! Starting with base running and riding at this point. Will add swim come Jan/Feb

People respond to elevation differently, but if you look at the overall stats, elevation did suck the speed out of folks. I volunteered last year and a lot of folks cooked the bike and were walking by mile 1 on the run. I went from around sea level to Boulder and it took me a long time to adjust to the altitude. I have also done IMLT, so if you can get out early to get a little acclimation I would recommend it. I biked the course last year also. The swim is kind of intimidating in that it is a single loop and looks huge from shore. The bike elevation gain wasn't bad and it was cool this year. It could have easily been 20 F warmer. The course is wide open for wind effects that are usually there also. Not raining on anyone's parade, just sayin. The bike elevation gain wasn't too bad, the run elevation gain wasn't bad and the swim shouldn't be too windy, the wind will probably not kick up until you are 40 to 60 miles into the bike. They had the bike course marked on the pavement, which was nice because the road names change frequently even when you don't make any turns. So heat, wind and elevation make the course pretty tough. If you get lucky on the weather it is a completely different race.

I will be doing IMTX so I won't be counting on too much speed at IM Boulder. Hopefully I can get recovered in time to just have a solid race.

This will be my 5th Ironman with three being at WI and one in AZ. Volunteered and watched last year and did notice people seemed to come in a lot quicker on the bike than I expected but looked pretty hammered on what is supposed to be a relatively flat and shaded run. I'm planning on flying out the week before and doing some acclimating and training. Ended up signing up for IMWI 6 weeks later so have not decided on actual plan yet but someone "survive and preserve" will probably be in the plan.

I finally booked my hotel and am getting my plan together.

I think the stats were that IM Boulder was something like 30 to 45 minutes slower on average than similar other IMs due to elevation.

Been training with an Elevation Mask to simulate 9k feet. Thoughts on how that might translate? I live in VA at about 500 ft above sea level so that is the only true option for training at altitude.

Here are my December numbers, on plan, about where I wanted it distance wise:
Swim: 10h 46m 40s - 22200 Yd

Bike: 20h 21m 55s - 364.5 Mi

Run: 14h 43m 27s - 95.29 Mi

Long run this week was 11 miles, bike 60, swim 2500 yards.

Hope everyone's training is going well.

The elevation mask might make your lungs and diaphram stronger, but won't help your red blood cell count like actual altitude training.

http://pt365.militarytimes.com/2014/03/19/elevation-training-masks-...

This will be my first Ironman after 5 years of triathlon. When they announced IM Boulder a couple of years ago, I knew that it would be the first race for me. Many reasons for this:
1) I'm from Colorado so . . . location, location, location.
2) CU alumni
3) Older brother is also racing
4) Tons of craft breweries for post race recovery!

My training focus right now is the bike so I'm spending a lot of time on the trainer. I managed to get outside last weekend and my ride was great (felt more like I do in early spring in terms of conditioning). I'll start adding more volume in as the weather warms up and hope to get a couple of rides in on the course. Good luck to everyone!

Just pulled the trigger on registering today. Will be IM #2, did Chattanooga last year. Gonna be a fun one for a flat-lander such as myself.

Does anyone know if a disk would be a good idea or not? Did many people have disks last year?

Also, will it most likely be wetsuit legal?

This is my 3rd IM but first at Boulder. Did 2 at Texas.

Don't know about a disc or not, but it will almost definitely be wetsuit legal. I've raced there over the last five years and never heard of it getting warm enough to do otherwise. Good Luck!

See you guys there! This will be my 2nd full distance. First was Redman 2014. Four months to go! Looking forward to training in some summer weather. Anyone doing the Boulder HIM?

The bike course has finally been released!! http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/boulder/at...

It's comforting to know that this is pretty much the route I take when riding in Boulder. The only section that I've never ridden is 52 East and Lookout. It's not going to be an easy ride, but at least it will be familiar.

Coming from Miami (0 ft elevation + no mountains), this course concerns me...

Fortissimo, how would you rate this course compared to other IMs courses? It looks pretty hard with quite a bit of climbing!

Hrm looks like they doubled the difficulty of the course since last year with a double loop in the hillier part of the course, so probably similar to the new CDA course now where it was much easier than CDA last year. It has nearly twice the elevation climbed now compared with last year. The elevation will be challenging for those not living at 6000 ft elevation, heat should be an issue with possible 100 F temps, wind on the bike is likely a moderate issue. It looks like they probably changed it to block less traffic in the area. So the course will be roughly 25 to 35% harder than last year. Yay.

Edited by Baowolf 2015-06-02 12:20 AM

disc is fine; i race boulder 140.6 last year and just finished 70.3 this last weekend.

What was the water temp for the Half there in Boulder? Thanks

Athlete's Guide just posted!

http://www.ironman.com/~/media/f72b14d6244a4c54b50c3d702ea138bf/im%...

Awesome, thanks!