Bone Island Tri - Full Iron Course : Official Thread (Page 14)

I had a great experience Saturday although it ended in a DNF after the bike.  My legs were cramping all over the place and I gave all I had to get to transition again.  After an hour plus of rationalization in the last miles in the saddle I decided that I would be ok with stopping at that point.  I had missed key weeks of training due to illness and was feeling the layoff, so I was not disappointed at all with my day especially factoring in the swells and wind (my God the wind!!).  Iron Aquabike for me!  No regrets at all, it was a great trip for me and I had energy to enjoy Duval on Sunday.  Then I slept for 11 hours.  

Stellar congrats to all who toed the line!!  Of 154 who signed up only 111 finished.  Hard core!

I thought the same thing the day before the race regarding that trail.  Would have preferred that surface for sure, but cant imagine how they would have slowed traffic for everyone to cross etc.  I did use the sidewalk along US-1 on the bike and that was a blessing at certain points.

Sorry to hear the day didn't go as planned. I would agree I didn't see the struggle that I ended up with on that day. Looking at it ahead of time it looked like a big time pr course but the swim conditions and that wind all day proved other wise. Hang in there and get your revenge and crush number 6!

Thoughts about this race:

Location and time of year for a vacation destination race perfect

Swim course- Hard to say on this. If the wind is always that strong then I guess I would say make it a point to point swim so sighting might be a  bit easier to see, I did think the swim exit was  good at the pier

Bike course- I am wrestling with this. I thought it was a pretty cool idea that we got to ride up and back US1. But there were cars, trucks, and everything humming up and down there the whole day and heard some horror stories about near collisions. Also the two aid stations that we had to pull off for. The out and backs were sort of nice change of pace. Nice to see where I was at 

Run course- very cool, windy which sucked but to see the ocean and then to run to downtown. I would add more lights to the last 3 miles. I couldn't see anything down some of those blocks. Also figure out how to not run in front of the finish line and get the town more aware of the athletes to get a little more appreciation while running down Duval.

Host hotel= perfect, stayed there and loved it

Pasta dinner- good just needed more food and be prepared for the crowds

Awards Cruise- best idea ever, this tops any race awards I have ever seen, very cool

Things to improve= volenteers, this should improve as the race gets bigger and people learn about it but hard to say a bad thing about them but many had no clue what was going on. Between not directing us where to go or just not paying attention. Many aid station volenteers were smoking, really? A few cops were on there cell phones not stopping cars as I came by.

Overall a great race, needs some tweaks but this one could turn into an instant classic and a must do because it can offer scenery and a destination that many could only dream about

What a day.  This was my 4th IM distance race, having completed Louisville back in August, Wisconsin in 2010 and Lake Placid in 2008.  I ran as a Master Clyde and really enjoyed the venue. 

The swim:  crazy!  gotta love the waves.  spotting was brutal and I too swam past the brokrn seawall at the end and had to swim back to the opening, past an overturned volunteer pined against the wall.

The bike:  can you say spin?  the winds were relentless all headed north but the training paid off.  I did bite it as I entered US 1 south after the turnaround.  I caught a cone with the front tire, went over the handlebars and after some quick repairs and ensuring I was not too broken, I continued on. 

The run:  or the struggle I a like to say.  my weakest discipline of the three.  being gravity challenged, this usually kicks my tail and this day was no different.  I would much rather prefer a two loop run as the third loop killed me, from running that damn pier to to seeing way to familiar sights.  It was just too much of the same trail IMHO.  I made it through with a run walk with Steve from Destine Fla the last five miles.

I will be back to run this race again as we loved the winter get away.  My wife and a group of friends made the trip and cheered all of us on all day long which made the day even better.

I will write up my race report and post it and look forward to reading other's reports as well.