Ironman 70.3 Racine : Official Thread (Page 17)

Hello everyone-  I was swimming at the beach in Racine yesterday, and the water was the warmest it has ever been for me in Lake Michigan swimming...easily in the 70s.  I was a little warm in my wetsuit.  Granted, we went at about 2:30pm, but it was definetely warmer than when I was there last week and the water was in the high 50s/low 60s.  Typically, if there is an east wind, the water temperatures tend to be a little warmer than if there is a west wind, and they are forecasting east winds for the rest of the week.  If it is colder, the best advice I can give is to get in the water early and get yourself used to it. 

If you want to swim Saturday, I would recommend sticking to the roped off section and the buoys by the end of the swim...there is A TON of boat traffic in the area.  Lots of jet skis and power boats.  You can get a good idea of the water conditions from swimming that area, and the roped off section is about 250 yd long. 

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!  This is a great race and a lot of crowd support.  Plus, Crowie is racing again this year!

Jenny

Waves....

I keep hearing a lot of hope for an east wind and the resultant warmer water in the thread here.  This morning I went out for a swim  (on Chicago's north shore) and that east wind had brought in 2-4' waves.  Called off the swim to err on safety. 

Two things related to this-  

There is no gaurantee the lake will be calm on the morning of our race.  If there happens to be a N or E wind, as it sounds like there is forecast for this week, the lake could be a cauldron on race morning.  I've spent a large portion of my past two summers working on the lake just north of Racine and I can vouch that the wave forecast can change every hour.  If anything, pray for a sustained gentle west wind to blow in on Friday.  Water will be chilly, but it will be calm.

Is anyone aware of the precedent should we have a morning of 1-3' or 3-5' waves?  1-3s could be managed, but it would be difficult (for us and rescue personnel).  I'd imagine 3-5 would cancel the swim portion, as support boats can't even be on the water in those conditions.  

On another note... If anyone is in the Chicago NW suburbs area, Thursday evening, Runners High-n-Tri in Arlington Heights is hosting "A Night Of Champions with Craig Alexander and Dave Scott"  Tickets are $20.  They will be talking and giving away prizes at the event.  On second thought, no one else should register so I can win the prizes.

Info here: http://www.runnershigh-n-tri.com/

It was a little choppy yesterday, however the waves were actually pushing you towards the path of the swim course and into the shore.  The swim course for Racine has you swim out, then parallel to shore and into the beach.  The waves were MAYBE 2 ft. yesterday with an occasional 3 ft.  Typically unless it is windy, the beach in Racine tends to be more calm in the AM and waves pick up in the afternoon. As for cancelling the swim, I think that would be highly doubtful.  They would probably modify the course before cancelling the swim.  The Chicago Triathlon had easily 4-5 ft waves last year and that wasn't cancelled.  Door County three years ago had 4 ft waves and they moved the swim course closer to shore, but still had the swim.  Regardless, we can't control what the conditions will be like on race day, so we will have to adapt to what Mother Nature hands us, whether it's 4ft waves, 50 degree water, or heat indexes in the 100s.

So says Muncie 

Anyone notice that Crowie is the big pro racing Racine?

Did a quick look at the participant list and really didn't recognize the other names from a HUGE name perspective.  Know one of the others, but he is just a local pro.

Just as an FYI, Steelhead is routinely changed to a Du because of waves.

Also, I did the Spirit of Racine Sprint a few years ago (same course, previous RD) and the waves were a good 2-3 foot chop (2007 I think) and they still had it.  Lots of folks were pulled out but they still had it.

Found some surfing website for Racine County -http://blog.nosaltsurf.com/

Yesterday he posted "Not much in the forecast for waves for the next several day's so hope you got your waves in the past weekend."

I would think if anyone is gonna have an idea of surf conditions it would be a surfer right? haha

HI everyone,  Not sure what everyone has planned for the busy Friday/Saturday but thought I'd toss out at least what Cyndi and I were going to do in the case that anyone is interested in meeting! 

We are picking up on Friday evening about 5:30 and then racking early Saturday so we can get a swim in after.  If anyone is interested we will be swimming in the buoyed off swim area in the center of the beach.  We can meet at the concession area on the beach around 11 if that would work for anyone??

Amy 

I'm going to try to check in early Saturday morning and hopefully join you for the swim at 11:00.  Would be good to get in the water and move around a little bit and meet some other BT'ers

-Michael

anyone up for a round of golf saturday afternoon?

Looks like it will be under 90 for the first time in a few years. wahooo

oh man, i wish i have checked this site out the last few weeks. I kinda forgot about it. It would have been great to have met up prior to now. Anyway, I biked 28 miles of the course on Saturday morning and then swam a bit. It was my first time checking out the location, despite living quite close. It truly eased so many of my nerves now that I have a visual of it all. First time I ever swam in lake michigan too. The waves were quite crazy but I feel prepared if that happens again now. :-)

Thanks to everyone who is posting and answering, I just spent the last hour or so reading through it all and learning so much. Much help as this is my first HIM. I have only done a few sprint tri's back in 2009.

I am gonna try to meet up for swimming on Saturday at 11am though. I would love to meet someone else doing the race!

5 more days!!!

:-)

Ashley

Yes I will meet you for a swim Saturday at 11:00. I may try a little swimming on Friday too if anyone is available?

I'm staying at Cliffside Park, anyone else staying here?

Walinda

Also... I'm gettting super excited!! Woo-hoo!! :-)

This will be my first Triathlon of the year.  I did Door County half last year, hopefully it won't be as HOT!! Ugh!

I'll try to meet up for the swim at 1100 too! I plan on driving and riding parts of the bike course also since I can't get there before the weekend.

Can't believe its almost here! Everyone at my work is convinced I'm crazy but they continue to send me "good luck" messages.

thx!

Probably won't be able to make any of the get togethers.

The wife is doing the Crystal Lake OWS on Saturday morning.  Going to brunch with the friends we are staying with and then heading over. 

Good luck to everyone.

Oh, and right now, the 4 weather websites show 92, 85, 89 and 92.  One of them shows potential for rain.  That is an average of 89.5.  (yes, I am still obsessing.  )

Just North of the parking lot that will be transition there is a small building that is the concession area for the beach, we can meet right around that.  There is a blue plastic mat that take you to down to the water from there too.  Too bad they don't roll one of those out for our run from the water to T1

Glad so many people can meet up, looking forward to it! 

Amy