IronMan Cozumel : Official Thread (Page 20)

First congrats to all who finished it was great to hear those words you are an IRONMAN mine was in Spanish it made me laugh just a little bit more. I loved the race venue the atmosphere of the locals. We got some snorkeling, diving, training, and relaxing before and after. We stayed at the Palace had to be the best staff on the island. All inclusive breakfast was awesome anything you could think of, lunch was ok and dinner was pretty good. We stayed for 6 days and it was great I would recommend staying there to anybody who is doing this race. My wife was able to see me passing on the bike and it had to be the shortest walk afterwards to get to your hotel. They completely catered to the racer. I will have a race report up later. Once again congrats IRONMEN.

I would like to know who the BTer was that I met on the dock prior to the race start. Did not catch the name because of the loud speakers right next to us.

Cozumel Palace was the PERFECT hotel for the race!

The bike course goes right by it. If you are staying there... it's easy spectating. If you are racing, the hotels photographers come out and take pictures during the race. You can get the photos later.

The run course and finish line are maybe 0.25 of a mile from the hotel. Close and easy for spectators.

It also had a nice area roped off for swimming. Good way for practice swims.

On top of all that, they cater to the athletes. Breakfast out at 3:00 AM the morning of the race, etc. Not to mention it is an amazing hotel. I would recommend it to anyone!

Who knows. I would suspect the heat. A lot of racers reported having gatro issues... vomiting... which I think is common for high energy levels in the heat and humidity. Many just aren't use to that kind of heat and humidity.

Also, overall, about 20ish people didn't make it out of the swim. We were there till the clock cut off and there were still a decent amount of people out there swimming. They said 20-25 on the mic. I will say though, I'm not sure why... because it was a nice calm swim.

Hey, is your wife Adrian by any chance? Are you Matt? This is Karen... I was with her all day cheering all of you on.

We too stayed at the Palace. If it's you... you flew out Tuesday around Noon... right?



Edited by KSH 2010-12-01 10:56 AM

Congrats to all of us!!!! What a fantastic race, I loved it and will be back for sure. The Palace Hotel rocks!!!

Now for some recovery time... ;-)

How did the wind this year compare to last year's on race day?  Just curious since I did the race last year.

yeah, they didn't show up.  You'll see that only 5 of the 77 who started DNF'd (had partial results), there were 22 that DNS.  I was watching a neighbor who did this in that age group so I had seen it it earlier.  Our local morning sports anchor was one of the DNS - stress fracture in her hip this summer.

Awesome race- it was my first but I don't think that you could find a more beautiful venue for an ironman... Besides kona! I think everyone will agree that the crowd support was amazing & the peoe of cozumel really make this a great race.We stayed at the Wyndham, which was a host hotel. It was nice, but the food options were a little limited & bland, though the staff was really great. I would recommend staying in town closer to the finish, check-in, convention, etc

I hope everyone had a great time in Cozumel.  I thought it was fantastic.  I would recommend this race to anyone, although I also think we hit it on a good weather day.  If anyone was around on Wed after the race, you saw how the weather can be a bit more harsh.  

My goal was sub-12 and I went 11:28, which was my "beyond wildest imagination stretch goal."  It was all due to a great run (3:37).  I think I've discovered a latent talent for running well in hot weather.  I swam and biked about what I was hoping for - 1:33, and 6:07, respectively.

For those wondering how it compared to last year, I've heard it was hotter this year, but not as windy.  Not sure what the wind was on the windy portions, but it was nothing compared to what I was expecting and we got great tailwinds, too.  Again though, I think we got very lucky with the weather.

We stayed at the Presidente Intercontinental, which was a host hotel, closer to the swim start (not an all-inclusive).  We were happy with the hotel, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a bargain.  It was on the pricey side for lodging in Cozumel.  Good beach for the kids though, and good snorkling right from the hotel.

Hope others post some reports!  I want to hear how everyone's day went.  Congratulations to all!!

Edited by *Jen* 2010-12-02 10:59 PM

I had a great race.  I finished under my goal of 15:00 with a time of 14:20.  I continued having doubts that I would be able to finish this race even up to the 2nd half of the run.  The swim seemed to take forever but I think I did very good and just treated this as a warm up.  The water was so clear and beautiful.  I took it easy on the bike and tried to save my energy for the run.  This is where I discovered my first training mistake.  I live in western Pennsylvania  where most of my bike rides are in mountain areas.  Although my training rides were tough as I rode up and down big hills every Saturday and these rides often lasted 5 to 7 hours, going downhill allows my legs to rest.  During the race although the course was flat my legs were in constant motion and were totally spent by the time I hit mile 90 or so.  I will add more flat terrain bike training next time. 

The run is where I thought I became an Ironman.  I was in constant pain during the run.  I didn't feel much different at mile 1 than I did at mile 25.  It wasn't an injury type of pain but just my body asking me what the heck am I doing?  I just put the hammer down and although the run for me was a turtle pace of 5:16 I was very proud that I kept the walking down to just the aid stations.  Of course I started crying at the finish and could not believe I accomplished something that I didn't think I could ever do. 

Right after the race I said never again.  That quickly passed and now I am ready to not just finish but take myself to the next level.  I will definitely return again to beautiful Cozumel in 2011.  I love the people of Cozumel and the little kids are so cute and inspired me during the race.  Congratulations to everyone and thank you for some of the great tips I learnd here!

Congrats to all of you IM finishers. I am very interested in this race. I see where the swim is a deep start swim. Do you jump off of a floating barge or what? If anyone has a chance, give me a little more info on that. Thanks! And congrats again.

There is a huge dock surrounding dolphin cages. You could jump of the dock or walk down some steps into the water. The start was great. When the horn went off the dolphins started doing jumps and flips. My wife got some great photos. You float in the deep water in a big group until the gun goes off. It is very easy to tread water in the buoyant salt water. I will try and post a few photos when I get home or look om my Facebook page Peter Schriver. The photos should be open to the public


Edited by pschriver 2010-12-06 9:27 AM

It was my great, long training rides east of town that helped me feel good on the bike, and therefore, run fast.    All I could think on the bike was, "Matt was right.  This does feel easy compared to the wind in Denver."

Look forward to reading your report! 

Richard,
Great job!
I will see you in Cozumel next year as well!

Alex

Congratulations to you all !!!!

I am signed up for 2011.  Would you mind providing feedback on your hotel choice and experience?

They do  not have the host hotels posted ont he website yet but I was wondering what your experiences were.

KSH yes it is Matt sent you a message. Awesome race I had a little GI issue atleast for 124 miles of the race. Mine was what I ate I do believe anyway. I don't have problems with the heat living in SW Florida we get the heat. Just hadn't got rid of a virus. Oh well better luck next time. I would go back to Cozumel for sure. Would love to do the race in a different venue first. I am addicted atleast my mind is my wallet cant keep up with it lol.

MrSolis,

I also did Coz and I loved everything about it!!! My family and I stayed at The Palace Hotel and it was a fantastic experience in every way. First of all they catored to all the triathletes to the point that I had a letter in my room from the head chef stating that due to an "ironman staying in the room to please call the kitchen for anything that I needed in particular"!! On race day we also had a huge breakfast spread starting at 3am.

But, best of all!!! it is across the street from the finish line so I just picked up my bike and crossed the street to my hotel. The choices of food the whole week was also vrey tasty, the service amazing. I really can't say enough how good this hotel was. I booked it through www.vacationstogo.com . My agent was Karen and she made everything so easy.

Good luck and ask me anything u want about this race!
Alicia

I finally made it back to the Philippines and am enjoying an extended "recovery" period. We had a great time in Cozumel. Finished a little slower than I had hoped, but being able to work through some gastro struggles on the bike and finish with a strong run makes it feel like that much more of an accomplishment!

Thanks to BT.com and all the advice of fellow BT'ers for the guidance along the way.

Race schedule for 2011:

Ironman 70.3 Philippines Aug
Ironman Western Australia Dec (sold out in a matter of hours...good thing I got up early!)


I stayed at the El Cantil Condos and most strongly recommend it! The only place closer to the finish line than the Palace and it was nice to be able to go grocery shopping and have a kitchen with my familiar food on hand.

Maybe I'll be back in 2012.

Congrats to all of us!

Hi folks, for anyone who was around for the last year, did this race sell out, and if so, when did it sell out?

Thanks so much, congrats to all the finishers!

Q 

I can't find specific dates but I think last years race was sold out by mid October, whereas this years race had more slots and sold out in early Septermber.

Hello All, just wondering who is doing Cozumel this year and how we can get a new race group thread going?