Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas : Official Thread (Page 2)

Overall, the bike course roads are in great shape. By Texas standards, there is about 20-miles of "light" chip seal around the middle of the course, starting a few miles before Richards. You can feel this chip seal, but it's not the bone-jarring, rattle the fillings out of your teeth type of surface you find some places in Texas.

With the exception of a few short sections on some of the of the smaller roads, the remainder of the course is in excellent shape.

When is the best time to register for the general entry? Info please?

I signed up. It will be my first of two IMs in 2014 (and my first IM ever). I'll have completed 4 HIMs by then, 3 are behind me and Galveston 2014 will be the fourth.

I second anyone who mentioned the heat at IMTX. From those I know who have done it, the heat has consistently been a factor on the run. The weather in Texas often takes a turn for the daytime hot side in late April and May, which means that even if the morning is great, the mid-day heat can be surprisingly hot. In fact, there's a rule of thumb in my neighborhood in the DFW area that if you don't get your outdoor house work done by May, you might as well forget about it for the year.

oh ok this is 70.3 Galveston thread sorry is there an IMTX official thread???

I'm in!

Look forward to this race and will be asking tons of questions, over the next months, about what to expect (besides the heat!) for this race!

Did IMTX 2013, it was great. HOT. Electrolyte caps are your friend. Drink, drink, drink.

Stayed in Conroe, Tx. 10 to 15 minutes north. Easy to get to hotel and race locations. Staybridge Suites. Nice. About 180/night.

Enjoyed the race so much, I registered again for 2014.

Just over 6 months. Enjoy your holidays

I am in! IMTX '14 will be my first IM. Here's hoping for wetsuit legal!

Or put another way, only 25 training weekends remaining. Take 1 or 2 weekends away depending on taper length and that means 23 or 24 longer traiining weekends.

I know the build up has started for me!

IN! Just finished IMAZ, and just got back to Houston and I thought I gotta keep this going! Did IMTX in 2011, and coming back for 2014! Maybe this is the year the weather will be nice, yeah right... Light training through Dec. then back at in come January!

Would IMTX-Woodlands be a good first IM?
only have 5 months to train after HIM.

Any IM is a great one for you first one! Only advice is be ready for it to be hot, it's ussally only the first or second weekend of hot weather in Texas so unless you can train in South America it is tough to prepare for the heat, have your nutrition and hydration plan down and enjoy the day! If you have a HIM 5 months prior you should have a very solid base to start on. Good luck!

I haven't done this race, so can't agree/disagree with the above comment, but from what I've read, it really is a good race. It's well supported, the race itself (minus the weather) isn't super difficult, and it has some uniqueness (canal swim, for one) that would make it a non-forgettable IM.

The heat is the big thing, as you'll see mentioned over and over. Just be ready for it.

Oh Well theres always 2015 , last time it lasted up to Feb before closing. Not stopping me for going the Iron Distance.

Who's started training for IMTX?

I'm just doing base work at this time. Working to improve FTP on the bike and to improve the swim.

The plan is to start IM training in January.

Anyone else care to share their plans/strategy for training?

I did this race in 2012 and 2013, and heading back in 2014...just to do better. Agreed, it is very hot and humid, and I live in a dry climate. Salt tablets are the only way to survive. The run is very tough just because it is just that hot/humid late in the day heat. However the dark brings magic along the course.

Structured training started this week. Doing 2 weeks on, 1 week recovery. HIM Galveston in between just to prep. Also doing a regional USAT championship sprint between Galveston and IMTX, but that's not even half a training day.

ATP shows base through to Feb, then build.

Key workouts are Wed, Frid, Sund (long run, long swim, long ride). Saturday is my ever unpopular (to others) Oly-simulation day. I love that workout.. Mondays is power day for run and drills for swim. Tuesdays is power day for ride (2x), plus a medium swim. Thursdays is another 2x ride day and swim. Friday morning is a tempo run. Long rides always followed by 15 to 20 minute run. Weight training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (high reps). Volume goes up slowly during base all around, then "long" workouts much longer during builds. Long run stretching to 17, 19 and 22 miles. Long ride to 100 miles. Long swim to 4k. Other sessions strategic - intervals, drills, Zone 2, 3, 4 etc. Recovery is 1/2 distance on everything but shorter swims, runs and rides. OWS starts in March when local water reaches 50's.

Nightly revitapump sessions. Nutrition focuses on gluten free, fish, chicken, general good carbs, red meat every 15 days (sirloin or tenderloin). No more than 2 or 3 drinks per night, except race weeks. Sweets allowed on any day were TSS is pushed. Coffee pretty much anytime. At least 7 hours of sleep each night.

Pretty simple really (not). The key is consistency. Experience shows that life will introduce rest days.

AVOID INJURIES.

Edited by FranzZemen 2013-12-16 8:43 PM

5 months to go. I am really looking forward to this race after my health issues at IMCDA last year. It will be strange not getting on a plane to race an IM.

My coach is switching it up a little this race and has me running 6 days a week right now. Even if they are just very short runs on a given day he wants me running. Bike will ramp to 4 days a week sometime in January. I'm looking forward to a shorter amount of time on the bike on this flat course and will need to adjust nutrition/hydration accordingly. If I can get off the bike in a shorter amount of time with less effort I should be set up nicely for the run.

Sometime in March/April I plan on heading down to Houston to ride the course a couple times so if any locals want to ride we should plan on it.

did anyone notice if Ironman posted that slots were limited for this race? Last year I noticed that you could click on the race you want to do and it would say "slots are limited or sold out".

what do you mean? it's sold out now...I think there are foundation slots available....

are you talking about kona slots?

Just thought I'd mention that the CB&I Sprint tri opened for sign-up on 1/1. It's already way over half full and will sell out soon. This race is the first Saturday in May, right in The Woodlands. I've done all three years of IM-TX and used this as a great little tune-up race all three times.

All three legs share a portion of the IM-TX course, and it's a very well run event. You could always couple this race with a long ride out on the course later in the day!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Races/link-details.aspx?id=5219&l...