Ironman Arizona : Official Thread (Page 17)

Watching last night's feed I noticed a bunch of fit looking dudes finishing close to the cutoff.  I guess anything can happen out there.

You never know what can happen on the course.  Weather can be a factor that can then affect your nutrition.  Nutrition that worked in training for some reason doesn't work in the race.  Maybe someone is well trained and then gets injured right before the race.  Maybe they went out too hard on the bike and ended up walking the marathon.  All you can do is get your training in, practice your nutrition and hope that you can execute well on race day.

Could that wall you hit be the ridiculously hot Summer we're having in CO?? Well.....hot by Colorado standards. Good luck with the new kiddo.

Been trying to find a route to replicate IMAZ as best as possible and this is what I came up with.

The nice thing is I OWS in this lake every couple weeks so I could do a swim-bike brick her as well. Nice thing is I'd be able to park my car there and do bottle exchanges every loop or so.

Each loop is slightly shorter than AZ, and the hill is about twice as steep, but training here will make race day easy.

Pretty much every where else we have short rolling hills, nothing to really similate the long false flat so I'll do my best with this.

Check it out if ya want.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/117268585

All I could get was your private profile, not the map you created.  I'm in the same boat, the longer rides I can do around my house have a lot more elevation gain than IMAZ.  I would prefer to simulate the actual course instead of having a bunch of climbing.  I know the climbing will make you stronger and all that but I'd still like to simulate the actual course a little more.

Link should be working for anyone now. Yeah it's tough around here, mostly rollers that you can carry speed into and not slow down too much, I compared course this morning and trying to go off memory I think IMAZ from about mile 3-14 it was around 14ft per mile gain, then from 14 to 18.5it was about 57 ft per mile, my course is about 10 ft per mile for the first 13, then from 13-16 about 107 ft per mile.

I've been struggling with the exact same issues that you are...Just getting back into running recently. Still under 5 miles and averaging about 9:40/mile...It will get there.

And if not, I'll have a nice walk on Nov. 18th...

I'm nursing a calf strain this week. I had a long run on Sunday and had to turn around quick to get my swim in before going to a wedding that night.  My legs were cramping like crazy through the whole swim, but I powered through it.  I woke up on Monday with a huge knot and a lot of pain to work through.  I've been wearing a calf sleeve nonstop, using self massage with muscle rub creams and icing it.  I replaced my runs yesterday and this morning with a core workout sessions and light stretching.  The knot was worked out by Tuesday and the pain has decreased significantly everyday.

I have a 20 minute run off the bike on Saturday that I think I will do, but with caution.  After that I'll decide what to do about a mid distance run on Sunday. 

Looks like a lot of us are dealing with injuries right about now. I had some serious pain on the bottom of my foot after my HIM on July 15. It was so bad I couldn't put any pressure on it or walk. I was scared to death it was a stress fracture and went to the doctor ASAP. Thankfully it turned out to just be a soft tissue strain and I have spent the last week nursing it back to health. Lots of ice and *painful* self massage. Starting Tuesday there has been no pain to walk on it and I have done two 1 mile runs with no pain. Problem is...I have an Oly this weekend. I'm debating what to do. I'm thinking I will definitely do the swim and bike and then if it starts hurting on the run I will drop out. It's not an important race for me so I don't want to risk setting myself further back.

I hope everyone heals up quickly! There's still plenty of time until IMAZ...no need to worry!

Also having some calf/achilles issues.  I think it's because I've been running on concrete a lot more than usual.  Dumb mistake.  I switched to the ellipitical machine as a substitute for my runs.  NO, it's not the same thing but the motion comes close to a running type motion without straining the calves/shins/achilles.  And it allows me to get the HR up so at least I have another method for cardio training besides bike/swim.

I did something similar in 2010 just before the Disney marathon.  About 5 weeks prior to race day I had terrible shin splints develop.  For the last 5 weeks of training I did NOTHING but elliptical.  I ended up with a PR at the Disney marathon, and a pain free run.  So this may not be as bad as you think.

For what it's worth.

It's my understanding that most of the run at IMAZ is on concrete, so you may want to build up some tolerance for running on the hard stuff (I hate it too).

  Chris

I was going to say the same thing.  Race day is pretty much all sidewalks and roads which you will be on when your muscles are already pooped.  There's also a lot of stepping up and down curbs. 

The curbs don't jump out in my memory from last year, to be honest.  But I do remember some of the steep sections that go from the road down to the path or the path up to the roads.  The down was the worst because it requred so much strength on tired legs to check your weight - at least that's what I remember.  That, and the "longish" hill when you leave the park area.  Or the mental anguish of passing the finish line chute to go out on the third lap.  It's torture.

The cold water temp is my biggest concern at the moment.  I absolutely HATE cold water.  I plan to start swimming at Barton Springs soon (a spring fed natural pool with a constant 68 degree water temp).  I will start with a wetsuit, but lots of people swim in it all summer in bathing suits.  I figure if I can get to where I'm comfortable with that, then I'll be ok in colder water with a wetsuit.  

I've heard that wearing two swim caps and using ear plugs help, but I have not done this and can't comment on it's effectiveness.

I wore a neoprene head cover for the swim last year.  It is a must!  I decided to forego the booties.  rethinking that for this time around.  I put a bunch of vaseline on my hands and feet as it is an effective cold blocker when running in Minnesota winters, but the vaseline washed off about halfway through the swim and I froze the rest of the way.  Of course, it took me two hours to swim so if you are a good swimmer, you can be nearly done before the vaseline succumbs to the water's forces

I used the standard cap for the swim and felt fine...  If we are taking a poll.

I don't plan to do much different this time around.