Ironman St. George : Official Thread (Page 12)

I cannot control the weather. But I can prepare for dealing with it. If I ignore the weather until race day, I cannot be prepared. I must know what I am potentially going up against so that I can make good choices while on the course.

I can think of several reason to pay attention to the weather. Those of you who just want to put it off until race day can if you like. 

• Pace: You need to be mentally prepared for what is to come. You need to know that you might be slower than expected. Getting way off pace can really mess with your game. If you know ahead of time you can be better prepared mentally to deal with this.
• Mental: Weather conditions can play with your head. If you know in advance you can plan for it.
• Strategy: If you know the weather conditions you can better lay out a plan. You need to know when to push and when to stay strong. Without this you are just biking and running.
• Nutrition: You may need to make modifications to your nutrition based on weather conditions and how long you plan on being on course. Calories up or down, salt, etc. These are changes you often make on the course as you need. If you did not prepare for it the only choice you have is what is available to you on the course. That may or may not be enough. If you did not pay attention to weather reports this one could literally kill you if you get it wrong. Getting dehydrated in the sun while trying to compensate by drinking a lot of water is NOT the way to end your day, but it will. Knowing it is going to be hot you can pack what you know you will need.
• Hydration Schedule:  The hotter it gets the more water, calories and salt you will need. And you may need it more/less often. I hope you have thought through this.
• Sun: If you do not plan on there being sun you will dehydrate. You get sun screen coming out of the tent. That's it. It does not last very long. I hope you have some other plan to deal with it. Something other than just show up and wing it.

Luck favors the prepared. If your race plan is to wing it, you have no plan. If you are not thinking about the weather you could end up having a VERY bad day. But, hey, you finished before cut-off and that is success, right.

If you guys take a look at the thread before you race, don't forget to post your race numbers so that we can track you!  I have a couple other people that are doing the race and it would be fun to track a few more people this weekend!

Andy...

MURTHA'S TRIATHLON BLOG!

Hope everyone had a good time out there.  It sure was a hilly, windy, sunny day!  I saw LittleCat as she passed me on loop 2 on the bike just before turning onto the road to gunlock.  I saw here a few times on the run too.

Someone else called out to me by my BT handle on the run course, but we were going in opposite directions, so I didn't find out who.

Just would like to say thanks to all who posted to this forum.  I didn't find this forum until about a month before the race.  Everyones information was very helpful.  This was my first Ironman and first triathlon.  Finished in 14:07.  Not sure if I'll do this again but if I do decide to do another one, I will be back to beginnertriatlete.com to read up on the event and maybe provide input based on my experience.

Thanks again everyone, 

Todd N.

I'm already forgetting how painful the run was, and how much fun everything else was. Of course my legs, which are getting more and more sore, are there to remind me! 

Good day though, and I did make it back down to watch the final midnight finishers come in. 

Congrads!!!!  Your going to Kona!!!!!

#106

Does anyone know if you can access the live coverage and get a copy of yourself coming across the finish line? I had some friends watching and I would like to see it myself.

Congrats to everyone, thank you for all the posts and support!

does anyone know how the two cyclist that were hit by cars are doing?

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2011/05/news/two-participants-struck-by-cars-in-st-george-im_28188

Had a much better race than I thought.... Great day despite the heat, sun, wind, and hills! I'll take 14:23... Congrats to all the finishers!

Does anyone know how many people started the race, and how many DNF'ed?

that was me! thanks for following! so excited. congrats to everyone, it was a tough day out there!

one was our friend from st. augustine. he is doing well. was released from the hospital the next morning with a broken shoulder a few stitches and a concussion. helmet saved his life. the woman who hit him came to visit him in the hospital and was very apologetic. it was a true accident.

Wow, what a day!  I'm so proud to be an Ironman!  There were one or two times out there I wasnt so sure I'd make it but stayed positive and pulled through.  Finished in 13:09.

Donato, that was me that called you out on the run.  You passed me on the first loop of the bike coming out of Gunlock and I recognized your tri suit from your profile pic.  When I saw you on the run I was going through the "this is really painful, just say hello and thank you to everyone you see to take your mind off it" phase.  You looked like you were pretty comfortable.

Getting hit by a car is horrible, but during an Ironman race is unimaginable.  Hard to believe that could happen.  I also heard reports of a near drowning on the swim (guy is still in the ICU) and a heart attack on the run (woman is also still in ICU).  I hope everyone is okay.  It just serves as a reminder as to how much of a challenge this really is.

Was anyone else disappointed in the finisher medal? Seemed a little ummm...small.  And what is that animal?  Someone suggested it was a buffalo but I'm not convinced.

Glad to hear the cyclists who were hit will be OK. I actually did think twice about being out in that lane on the way back from Veyo. 

And, congratulations on the Kona slot! Good job!

I didn't expect to get a Kona slot, but the swim and bike had gone so well I started having Kona dreams. I figured if I could run a 3:30 marathon I'd be at 10:20 and potentially get one. I've never run a 3:30 marathon, but thought it was possible. I only held that pace till the first turnaround though. 

 Finished in 11:11. And I'm totally happy with that--but I might have to give it one more shot. 

on the race tracking results, it looks like there were 1926 registered, but not clear how many actually started.  It looks like from the results book recently posted that 1310 finished.  Just in my AG, M40-44, there were 308 registered, but only 220 finished.

Hi Joshua, sorry we couldn't stop and chat a bit more on the course  Congrats.  You did a great job on a tough race day.  Comfortable?  Sorta.  i think if you do any endurance activity, it's just learning to be comfortable with discomfort (of which there was plenty enough that day).

The medal was unique (which is good), but yeah, rather tiny compared to pretty much any other IM medal (or other race for that matter).

Congrats to all that finished!! I got a 13:50 and couldn't be happier. My swim was great (1:12), and enjoyed to cool refreshing water for it was the last time we were to be that cool.

My bike also went great, and kept it cool (metaphorically) with a moderate HR, except for the steepest climbs. Otherwise, felt good coming into T2 with a 6:23 bike split, avg. 17.5 mph.

Now the run...I expected to pull a 4:10-4:20 run based on my training (and doing all my long runs on hillier run routes here in vegas) but the heat, stomach, and fricking blisters at mile 16 put a stop to that! Never in training had I gotten blisters..quarter sized, one under each ball of the foot. My feet felt like hamburger. So I walked the whole last 10 miles, except for running in the last mile. The energy of the crowd and the adrenaline took all that pain away. Incredible.

3 days later and I already want to do another IM! But just a few HIM's for the rest of this year, and then IM Couer D'Lene in 2012.

Again, congratulations of all of you finishers! Thanks for all the info you all put out on here...see you at the next one!

-Mark

I am glad to hear that everyone did well. I had a really bad race. Friday night I bent down to give my 3 year old a happy birthday hug and pulled my back. I now had an "s" shaped spine, it keep me from sleeping that night. Swimming is one of the best treatments for this long term problem so the swim was great 1:11. But I came out of the water with a GI bloating. I had been feeling queasy since thursday and thought it was nerves not. I had some severe cramping a bloating through the entire bike ride. My time was 8 hours, but my bike cpu said total ride time as just under 7 hours. I spent a lot of time in the very hot port a potties. I finally felt somewhat better on the run. I really just wanted to finish. My time was a disappionting 14:57. 

I am still having back pain and abdominal cramping. I still find myself smiling a big smile when I remind myself that I am an Ironman. I am already looking to do IM Couer D'Lene in 2012.

I am glad to hear that the people who where hit by cars are ok. I passed one when they were loading I think him in the ambulance and was wondering how you crash on a flat area, I didn't even consider you could get hit by a car!

Thanks again to everyone for there support and advice, and Congrats to everyone!

I agree the popsicle at mile 20 was heaven.

Here is a link to my crazy experience...in brief, I had a great swim, great bike and disastrous run, BUT I still finished and can call myself an Ironman.

http://kromeril.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/imsg-part-1/