Bone Island Tri - Full Iron Course : Official Thread (Page 10)

Last nights long ride was an epic fail. Back was throbbing and couldn't get comfortable. Felt like garbage for most of today but at night I said enough was enough. Jumped on the treadmill and knocked out a solid 20 miler. My abs are throbbing now, guess I didn't realize how much my 8hrs of "giving back" last Sunday did to my body.

We will try for  a long ride tomorrow and see what shape I am in.

4 weeks peeps!

I mean, it is Key West... I've been considering just partying the whole time and settling for a barely finishing in time. I did decide to use and extra vacay day and I'm not flying home til Tuesday. One or two more days in Key West in January beats the hell out of work in the Midwest.

I did IMAZ in 08 the first time they moved it to November, came in completely undertrained. Got into IMCDA that year via the Foundation slots but my buddy wanted to get married and I was the best man that weekend so I switched out to AZ. Well.... my wife got pregnant shortly there after so I was on my own for AZ and she said I had to bring a friend with. Took a buddy and told him it would be a free trip but a long race day.

Friday night after the race dinner we went to  a piano bar and had got blasted. He gave up after round 9, I was still going strong.

Moral of the story, I pr'ed on Sunday

So I am in

Amen brother!

I saw that the other day... When I asked set up a couple weeks ago they said they had 2 swim courses mapped out to pick the one with the greater current benefit. I guess that being the case, looking at the smather's beach start we'll have ~900 yrds against current?

I don't really care as long as I don't get stung by a jelly fish. I've been letting that paranoia get to me lately haha.

Right now the water temps are about 4 degrees above normal (@ 76 degrees).  That will drop, but would take a lot to get down to avg. January temps of 69.  So say we are lucky and it gets to 72 or so.  Some folks would be fine doing this even without a wetsuit, but not this warm blooded Floridian.  

I was going to invest in a full sleeve for this race, but having hard time justifying the $$$ for what would be basically jellyfish precaution.   Going sleeveless since it is what I have and what I feel most comfortable in.   Will just cross fingers for the critters to stay away. 

I'm bringing both full and sleeveless with me and will see what the water temps are and if there are any MOW.  At 76 degress I would be too hot in a full so more than likely I'm wearing my sleeveless.

I'm starting to get anxious about race day now.  I'm following the Be Iron Fit plan and it has a 3 week taper but I may cut it to a 2 week taper instead.  I tend to recover really quickly from my long bike/run so I feel like I'll be fine.

Are you talking about Matt?  If yes, I've been meaning to ask him what happened.

I got some of that Safe Sea product online.  For about $12 it seems like a good investment for sting protection.  I have awful allergic reactions to fire ants, so I'd imagine I'd have a similar one if I got stung and that would end my day.  This stuff is supposed to prevent the reaction as opposed to treating it. 

I'll probably go full wetsuit to be safe but I'll bring the sleeveless and test the water Friday.

Day 4 of lung infection....getting better though.

I think I'm going to stick with sleeveless. I bought some sting relief stuff that I'll have at T1. I'll maybe try to find something that is a preventer as well.

Anybody going to have there longest runf'd up by Draco? (Seriously, since when are winter storms named? And named after Harry Potter characters to boot?) I've got a 22 miler in 15 degree weather and possibly 6 or more inches of snow. Yeah... Maybe I'll just do back to back centuries this weekend on the trainer. (the lesser of 2 evils?)

So I am having a horrible time wrapping my head around this stupid decision of a wetsuit. The biggest body of water I swim in is Lake Michigan and there ain't no critters in there.

So being a MOP swimmer and more than likely having swimmers around me will these suckers sort of "swim" into our path or do they simply float and we would run into them? Oh google and those smarter than I speak to me and make me wise.

I had heard they would scoop up the ones they saw but couldn't guarantee we wouldn't run into any, this is getting confusing. I heard the stings can be nasty. Like a 1000 little needles poking? And once again, there is crap to rub on pre swim and also stuff to rub on if you do get stung? In case it isn't completely obvious I am starting to way overthink this.

I am going with the sleeveless. I am debating using a longsleeve compression shirt underneath the wetsuit (I haven't tested how much water it absorbs) sort of like a rash guard that surfers use. I plan to have some sort of spray or vinegar solution in T1 if I get stung. Getting stung will most likely be the exception more than the rule.

I am a BOP swimmer and estimate I will have just passed the 1.3 buoy when the first wave for the half starts and guess almost 3/4 of the half will pass me on the swim. I am looking at about 300 people clearing the way before me and I almost always seem to have a support kayak following me.

Having lived close to the beach all my life, the only times I really remember a lot of jellies was just after bad storms. The stings are relative to the species and how sensitive/ allergic you are to them. It has been a long time since I have been stung but I don't remember it being THAT bad. It doesn't feel good but it didn't cripple me. I plan to comb the beach a bit and see if there are a lot of dead ones washed up. I think that will be a good indicator of what's out in the ocean. Jellies do swim [reallllly slowly] but they are mostly pushed around by currents. In terms of speed, think turtle going uphill slow.

Now, the MoW... um, they will hurt. A LOT. The good news is the bladder [the "sail" air sack like part of them] floats above the water and if it's a relatively flat ocean everyone should see them before anyone runs into them. If you do see one... try to keep about a 50ft radius away from them to avoid the tentacles which will be floating with the current. MoW do not swim they float.

Quite frankly, even if I am wearing a full wetsuit my hands and face will be exposed. The odds will be pretty good when swimming freestyle that anything will most likely hit me in the face or neck and I am pretty sure my day will be over.

(MoW.jpg)

Man, I sure am losing it in the bike. I don't know if it's a lack of motivation/fitness/overtrained or whatever but I am feeling weaker on the bike the last 2 weeks than I have in a looong time. This is the first 20 wk IM program I've done without have a couple races in the middle of it. Not sure if that plays into the motivation factor. 

On the bright side, I'm more confident in my swim and run than I ever have been. I'm ready to do this though. I'm flying out in exactly 21 days.

So, what is everyone putting in their special needs bags? And what nutrition (other than Gu) does everyone have planned?

I am the type of person that tends to just carry with me what I think I will need. So I don't really see myself needing them and just using them as emergency backup supplies (Gu's; bike: extra tube & co2 canisters; run: dry socks, long sleeve shirt, etc.)

I feel ya...

For every swim workout I feel good, the other two suck horribly.

But hey... 10 days until TAPER!!!

Just started thinking about my packing list and what I might want to bring for transistion bags and special needs if any.

I have had a lot of luck with candy bars in the past if the weather is not too hot. A snickers or a payday 80 miles into the ride has hit the spot. A buddy swears by roasted potatoes in salt and olive oil. Messy but feels like you are eating solid food.