Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 12)

Hoping the weather sticks to the averages....

From page 6:

"NOTE: Half distance athletes do not have to go into the changing area during transition. If you choose to change clothes during the transition, you MUST use the changing area to do so."

Well, it has finally happened.....I have run so long that I got bored before I got tired. The down side on this fact is that I have gotten so bored that I blew off my long run this morning; so I'll have to make it up on Saturday morning.

Has anyone else gotten to the ready for taper and race time frame?

I don't know about everyone else, but I am definitely ready for the taper. It's getting difficult to fit these longer workouts into the day. 

Jeff

The weather this weekend is going to be great for training. Long run Saturday morning and then a +/-4 hour ride and 1 hour run after. I have found a pretty good 2 hour run loop here in town so it will at least be interesting.

To top it all off, my blushing bride of 20 years is skating in her first roller derby bout on Saturday night. 

It ought to be a fun weekend.

So, looking at the tide charts for race day (I looked here: http://www.americantides.com/tide-predictions/wilmington-north-caro... .  You have to jump ahead to 10/20, but it doesn't take long.), it appears low tide is at 8:30am.  Which means when we start at 7:30, we will be swimming against the last bit of the outgoing tide, and then in the slackwater.  We'll only get that little tiny bit of a boost from the incoming tide in the last 20 minutes or so.

I'm not worried about the slackwater part, but I can't imagine swimming against the tide.  That sounds terrible.

X2 on the time advantage. I was shooting for a 1 hour finish last  year and came in at ~42min (and overshot the left turn by a bit).  Even if this year isn't as fast as last year, you guys should be flying.  And an earlier start this year should equal warmer temps on the bike and run.  Last year people seemed really worried about the water temp... which is funny, because it turns out that the swim was the warmest part of the day...

Good luck all!

Don't sweat the swim, the tide really is a help.  I raced in 2008 and to quote the race director" You could be a crumpled up bag of Doritos and make the cutoff".

I'm a slow swimmer, and did 38 minutes for the half.  Contrast that to IM Cozumel where I swam 1 hour 40 minutes (sans wetsuit mind you).

You'll be lucky not to overshoot the last turn, trust me.

I'm still sweating it a little, not the cutoff factor, but just being in the water longer than anticipated. I'm no tidal expert by any means, but I would think any incoming tide will be beneficial versus nothing? 

Does anyone know how to read these things?  Is there that much difference between the tide coming in at 7:30 and the one coming in at 8:30/9:00 or is it more like a Cat 4 hurricane versus a Cat 5 hurricane in the eyes of the non-experts?

According to the tide chart low tide at Masonborough Intlet will be at 6:22 am. There is a period of anywhere from an hour to three hours at high and low tide called the "slack" tide. This is when the current stops, and then reverses direction. During slack tide you can expect little to no current, or a swirly current as the tide reverses. (it's also when the crabs like to come out!) And the further in you are, the longer the incoming tide (aka "the push") will take to get to you. Another way to think about it is that with the point to point course, you will be swimming "away" from the push and into the "slack" (best case scenario) or "swirl" (worst case scenario).

All tide info is an estimate, so nothing is is guaranteed, but based on the tide chart and a swim start of 7:30 my guess is that swim times will be closer to the slow swims of 2010 than the lightening fast times of 2011.

In 2010 I made a late season decision to sign up for B2B counting on a push and easy swim. I was undertrained for the swim conditions (no push and very swirly) and came out of the water trashed for the bike. In 2011, trained for a typical 2.4 and came out grinning ear to ear because of the push. I would plan on a typical swim time and conditions, and be jubilant if you come out faster.

Yep, that is exactly how I felt 2 weeks ago.  I decided to back off on the intensity and discovered that I'm in great shape and enjoy workouts that I'm not trying to crush.  Forget about the race during your workouts and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

I have fully embraced the taper.

The ride this weekend is only 2.5 hrs with a 1 hour run....the down side on this is that my in-laws are in town (staying with us) and a long ride could have been really useful about now.