Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 16)

I will pass on to what someone told me about riding my tri and in aero. She said to get used to it stay up in your handlebars to get used to the feel. Then, when you're on a straight or feel comfortable, start going down into the aero bars a little at a time. You'll start spending more and more time in them and kind of "break yourself in" slowly. It was the best advice I got. I really thought my tri bike handled differently, too. Someone described it like a road bike being like a big oldsmobile and a tri bike handling more like a responsive sports car. Made sense to me maybe it will to you, too.

Mailed me check for the rental house on Friday.  It's about 1/2 mile from start.  And a block from run and bike course.  First time renting via VRBO, so hope it works out. Don't suppose I'll find out if I've been had till I show up in June.

Josh, great point on race weight.  When I trained fo IMLP I hovered around 185-190 up until January (which was 2 months before my first marathon), then decided to diet and lose 15 before the marathon and then maintain.  The problem with that tactic was that I was already running 130-140 miles/month, which is really hard to do 1) while being 15 pound over weight and 2) while dieting.  When I did the marathon I had gotten down to 169, but because of the rapid weight loss I actually was back up to 174 by the IM in July.  

This time I decided to be smarter... Again started at 191, but have been slowly losing over the last 2.5 months  down to 178.5 now with a goal of 165 by IMCdA.  I hope the progressive weight loss will accomplish much less pounding on my knees (and body in general), more productive workouts because I am lighter and not starving (ie - bonking) everytime I go out and hopefully I will be better able to maintain the weight up until race day.

It is all about power to weight ratio.  The irony is, the less you weigh, the more able you are to build power.

On another note, I booked 2 rooms at the Holiday Inn Express about 3 miles away (there are 2 HIE, the closer one off of I-90 is full).  Not ideal, but they were relativelly cheap for IMCdA race week and they can be cancelled up until 5pm the day I check in.  This allows me to look around for a better place, but know I am not stuck in Spokane come race day.

We ended up booking a condo about a mile from the IM expo. I'd looked at several houses/condos and this was a bit less expensive for the week. It's a VRBO and  it was all very legal, signed a contract, gave them a deposit and there's an out clause if you need to cancel but I think the date is in May. That helps in case of injury or if my DH can't make it after all. There was a cute little condo a bit closer to the expo but just wasn't big enough for our family. It just had one bedroom and a pullout, but would be perfect for a couple. Also booked a hotel room as a back up just in case....The properties were going fast a month ago when we reserved a place.

Smart man should be prepared for anything from 100 degrees and sunny to 50 degrees and raining.  Smarter man shouldn't decide to leave his rain jacket in T2 when it was already low 50s and looking like rain to start the run

Arm warmers, vest, skull cap, rain jacket, long sleeve shirt..... Get them and bring them.