Ironman Florida : Official Thread (Page 12)

This cold weather is definitely keeping people indoors...road my trainer last night.  I'll run this afternoon...low teen's @ night here in PCB...who would have thought?  I may be hitting the treadmill this afternoon...not use to this cold.  At least I don't have the snow and ice...oh, that's right they expect rain tonight...and I said it was low teen's...this will be interesting...

VolsFan, we are suppose to get a frigid blast of air here in Texas tonight as well. Low temp of 19 with possible rain/sleet. We've had an unseasonably cold winter so far. I did one of my runs last week in 29 degree weather and several in the 30s. It's tough to do. I won't ride outside if it's that cold. Only hard core women like Kathy G do that!

Stay warm and safe everyone!

tridawg- I'm in Atlanta in the Grant Park area. Let me know when it warms up if you guys have any rides or OWS planned. You going to be doing Augusta HIM or Gulf Coast 70.3?

hey guys we are in athens ga training too for GChalf and IMFL. Give us a shout if you ever want a ride.

Here is the Athens website for rides:
http://www.athensgabicycling.com/

We will be doing alot of our long rides on the Silver Comet. I'm racing the 1/2 in Charleston. I am tied up the weekend of GC. I will probably do West Point, Chattanooga and Augusta leading up to IMFL. Throw in the half mary in March and the tundra time trial in Feb.

Well it's official - I have withdrawn from Ironman New Zealand. Totally gutted.

The problems that I had with my hip/leg that stopped me running off and on for a couple of months, along with a few other niggles have forced me to withdraw. I just hadn't got enough miles in, either running or biking, to make it a sensible thing to do. I may have been able to finish but I could have wiped out the rest of my year - or worse. So it just wasn't worth the risk. Once I'd stopped my heart ruling my head I knew what the correct decision was.

At least I still have Florida to look forward to.

300 days until we line up to start IMFL!

Sorry you had to make that tough decision

Sounds like you thought this out carefully and were looking long term which I think is wise.

How is the hip/leg issue? As I recall you started back gradually.

sorry jaro0606
that blows.
the good news as kathyg said is that IMFl is 300 days away. it will be here and you will be feeling fit! i can't friggin wait. letsgetiton!

Thanks Kathy, and everyone else, for the kind words.

Totally at peace with my decision now.

The hip/leg issue has near enough cleared up. Don't really get anything when I run or afterwards now. Unfortunately the other knee is now playing up! Think it's a bit of ITB and not sure if it's down to the old running shoes I was using when trying to fix the hip problem! Again, the knee doesn't hurt when I run, it's just afterwards. My physio is going to do a full body check to ensure there are no other underlying issues. She's thinking that all of this is down to lack of core strength as well as possibly not giving my body enough time to recover after IMKY!

millarg. id love to tell you how to taper for that but i havent a clue. thats badazz though! good one..

millarg:

Depends on how you plan to ride that long weekend.

I suspect with your level of fitness and the number of long rides you have done it will be a matter of being comfortable on your bike for the length of time each day, changing out of your bike shorts quickly after each ride, nutrition on the bike each day, post bike recovery food first two nights.

I'm not sure I'd taper much. Your mid week rides are they hard & fast zone 3/4 or easy zone 2 rides? Depends what they are like if you need to alter them.

Sounds like fun weekend of riding..jealous sitting here when it was 4 degrees outside this morning, ice on the driveway and a 65' computrainer workout ahead of me today. I'd rather be riding in lovely warm location like you are!

Does anyone have any info about the kids triathlon the day afterm IM Florida? I can't find any info on it..

Thanks

I am serving no purpose here other than to bump this back above the 09 thread because I went into that one tonight thinking it was this one and was trying to figure out how we got to 103 pages suddenly.

I still have to deploy and come back before IMFL so I'm hardly even thinking about it yet...

ok, figured I'd share with the group that the other day I had my first, and hopefully only, "OMG, what have I gotten myself into!" moments.
This happened after watching the highlights video on the ironmanflorida.com home page.

It occurred because my last swim workout was rather lack-luster. My energy was low, so I worked on form and going a respectable distance. But it made me worry about the swim portion of the florida ironman.

The only mass starts I've done have been AG starts of 50-100 other guys. Starting with 2500+ looks a little intimidating.

Anyone have any thoughts or direct experience on the swim portion of this event?

TIA,
Dave

I was thinking about the swim start this morning.  I live in Midland Texas.  It's about as close to one ocean as the other.  So I was really worried about OWS in the ocean when I did it in 08.  I'm really glad that I went down three days early and did the practice swim each morning.   They are a tremendous confidence booster.

As for the number of people in the water, there are really only four or five to worry about.  The one in front, the one behind and the one on each side.

Actually I started fairly far to the outside and it worked out just fine.  Only got whacked pretty good one time and that was on the second lap coming in.  someone was passing and I got a hand to the back of the head.  There was some bumping and jostling, but you're in a wetsuit (ie flotation device and you're in salt water ) so you float real well.

The other hint is don't try to go to close to the turn bouy.  It's a traffic jam there.

Well, IMHO it isn't any worse than starting with 50-100.  Really.  Haven't done IMFL but did do IMAZ.

If you're THAT worried about it then you can hang back at the start and let the pack beat on itself in front of you...that's really only going to cost you a few minutes at the start of a very long day.  What's 3-5 minutes in a 10-17 hour race? 

The only other option is to just try to seed yourself appropriately and go for it.

I got nothing to really share but want to keep the thread from falling down to far.

I do think we need more smack talking going on. Read the IMLP thread and those guys have lots of smack talking going.

I'm doing a 12 week Paleo challenge at my Crossfit Gym starting tomorrow. I might get cranky giving up dairy, diet Pepsi, dk chocolate, but I gave up grains and sugar a few months ago. I would like to lean out so I have lower body fat for summer and our IM.

Weather here will be in 40s over the weekend..hope to squeeze in outdoor ride if I can.

here's some smack. i got smacked today. Swam 3200 then did 56 hilly miles in very mild conditions and realized that 1. i have not been outside on a bike since about IMAZ 2. im slow as molasses and 3. my arse got very sore at mile 39. Take that!

troyboy - are there any tris with mass starts around there?  I have done two tris with them.  The first was kind of freaky (had about 300 people on a smallish beach), the second one had about 500 on a smallish beach.  i kind of freaked a bit the first time.  Not really bad, but definitely not as comfortable as normal.  The second time was fine since  I knew what to expect.

Nice job..how's your rear feeling now you are off the bike?

I can't remember last time I rode longer than an hour...I suspect I'd have a similar bum or neck or lower back issue.

You live in GA and haven't been outside on your bike since November..you're killing me...gosh I rode in a blizzard in MA in December. Or is cold to you anything under 60?

I drove our son back to college today and on the MA Pike there are nice long hills, that every time I drive them say I wish I could ride my bike on this...nice smooth pavement and long hills...dang it looks fun. My plan is to get the Governor to have one day a year they close a lane and only cyclists can ride. What do you think? Probably he'll go for the idea I think

I have nice "long" workouts scheduled for this weekend and it's supposed to rain...boo!  I have no rain gear with me...boo again!

I may have to suffer a 1:05 run on the treadmill...triple boo!

The rain might disappear finally on Sunday for my ride...

kathy,

I'm from Canada (ontario) and i'm a big weather wimp.  Won't ride outside under 50.  I'm going a little trainer crazy right now (last day >50 was early november???  probably actually october).

Every year in Toronto, one of the main highways (highway going downtown on the east side) is closed down for a charity bike ride.  http://www.rideforheart.ca/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=296517