Ironman St. George - Utah : Official Thread (Page 20)

I ride a Cervelo and answer to the name "Mike" in the real world. We will probably be in my pal's car, so I am not sure what we will be driving. It would be cool to ride with the two of you.

Mike

I went on a recon-trip to SG last weekend. Biked 2 loops of the meat of the course, and ran 1 loop of the run. In summary, it was a shocker. I expect it to be my hardest Ironman (I've done 6), by a long shot.

I heard the same thing from a group a couple of weeks ago.  So I say "Good"....if you finish now you can say that you finished not only one of the hardest race distances in the world, but also did it on one of the hardest courses! 

Interesting review of the course and recommendation on how to race from well known triathlon coach Rich Strauss.

http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/2010/03/03/coach-rich-ironman-st...

http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/2010/03/11/racing-in-a-box/

Amen, Chad! That's how I'm going to feel about finishing. I'll fill in my 70.3 M-Dot tattoo with pride.

I just finished riding the IMSG course.  I wasn't quite ready to put my thoughts into words but I came across this on slowtwitch (from someone who rode yesterday) and REALLY could not say it better:



Most importantly - ITS NOT THAT BAD!  In fact, if you have been training your hills, you'll be fine.  But the wind...oh my GOD the wind.  But nothing we can do about that.  I do have to say I rode my Reynolds (40mm) and it was terrifying at times.

Hills - there are really only 3 to contend with.  The one out of Gunlock is STEEP and if the wind blows like it has been, you could have a 25mph headwind blowing you all over the place.  The switchback is gradual until a very short pitch at the end (the wind blows you up half of it!) :p.  Every hill is VERY short and will have flats to recover on.  Although, again with wind you will be riding a 30 mile hill until you turn around in Veyo.  I am not a GREAT climber and I am NOT concerned about any of these hills.  I am riding an 11-28 on my compact though, keep that in mind.

Road conditions - I have heard ALOT about the poor road conditions. Other than a VERY short stretch of 91 (which is pretty terrible) the rest of the course is VERY nice, I thought.

Downhill - there is nothing even SOMEWHAT steep on this course.  WHy people are talking about descending skills is beyond me.  Then again, there was a headwind UP the canyon so max speeds were not high but all downhills are short, relatively shallow and with flat runout.  Nothing technical at all.

There was a century riding the loop today, they rode it in REVERSE of what we are doing.  How I wish we were doing that, would have been a nice tailwind.  Although one person did get blown over in the crosswind during that ride today.  WHEW!

SO - good news the hills are nothing to worry about, bad - wind.  But if the Ironman Gods are on our side, we'll have a BLAST on a beautiful course!

 

I just got finished and the wind was every bit as mad as you can imagine. The good thing is it pushed me up the wall twice. I rode a 12-28 and thanked everything holy that I had it. If you don't have one, get one.

Mike

How long did it end up taking you?  That wind was intense. 

Well, I spent a few weeks healing up and feeling sorry for myself that I may not be able to run it; I'm pretty sure for a week I convinced myself that I was done.

Then I nutted up.

My volumes aren't up there but they should be right before the race; I still have to treat my achilles with kit gloves but I'm fairly certain they can hold up to the training load to finish this thing (plus I have a run / bike background).  Since its my first IM my race tactic is to basically take it easy as I can until ten miles into the run; that doesn't necessarily mean going slow but within my means.  So long as my leg holds up I'll finish it.

Edited by furiousferret 2010-03-27 11:26 PM

Sounds like LA and St. George had the same weather...for my ride in the mountains and foothills here today, I had sustained winds up to 39mph, gusts to about 50.  I was doing 8-10mph in the flats at one point and all I could think was, "Man, I hope it doesn't blow like this in Utah."  Guess maybe it was today.

Kinda scary...besides almost getting blown into a canyon coming down a switchback...if this had been race day, I might not have made the bike cutoff:  Took me 4:18 to get to HIM distance (which is a full hour slower than I've ever done the bike in an HIM).  Yikes.

The wind was bad out here in the Temecula Valley yesterday too. First long ride on the Flashpoints and I really felt the wind on them. I took the descents slower than normal with the new wheels and winds. I managed to put in 126 miles, but was a bit slow with the winds took a little over 8hrs. Every climb yesterday had a headwind and made for a slow, long day. I kept thinking that this was prep for IMSG and to just accept the fact that it will be windy. If it is calm on race day then it will be a bonus.

Edited by bwiens 2010-03-28 10:34 AM

I think the wind was bad every were.  It was just 20+ here in Austin, but to make it worse the organized ride I was on Saturday ran out of water.  So what was going to be 100 miles had to be cut short by 30 miles and the last 30 mile was with out water.  Because of the wind 30 miles took 2 hrs.   So what was going to be a 6.5hr day turned out to be a windy 4:30 fight to just make it back to the car.  I have never felt so tired and drained in my life.  Now because of that effort  I am feeling it this moring. 

Well, IMSG is a full month away and deep into spring; hopefully there won't be winds. 

I am curious about using an aero helmet in high cross winds? Any thoughts here?

I don't think it helps in xwinds, but I'm no expert.  I do know it helps in head / tail winds, so if you have one you may as well use it.

Besides deep wheels the next best aerodynamic gain can be made using an aero helmet. Even in the wind it would be beneficial. The only reason not to use it would be if it's really hot as aero helmets aren't typically as ventilated as regular helmets.

I plan on wearing my aero helmet but will keep an eye on the forecast in case it's really hot in which case I'll wear my regluar helmet.

How long did it take me? It is almost embarrassing to admit.

The wind was brutal. Coming up over the climb at Eagle Mountain Ranch I literally felt as if I had a bungee cord anchored at the bottom of the hill tied to my seat post. On the flip side, I felt like I had someone dragging me up the wall at the switchbacks. That was pretty solid.

Overall, it took me 5:59, which does not include time I spent at the end of the first loop waiting for my buddy. The way we did the loop it was 88 miles. A month ago I did it in 5:31 with the same number of kJ for the ride, but with 92 miles instead. My normative power was about 10 watts higher yesterday.

I may go back down in two weeks with another friend and ride the loop a couple of times. I should be doing this ride in 5:30 at the most. My goal for the race was going to be finish the bike in less than 6:30, but I may adjust that up to a 7:00 bike after yesterday.

Mike

The aero helmet would be fine as the majority of the wind is a headwind, the crosswind sections are relatively short.

Rollin Thunder - I wish I was as "slow" as you.  I was running that loop in 3:20!!!!! OMG!  I was keeping my effort incredibly low as I have a HUGE week ahead but was hoping to be MUCH closer to 3.  

I rode the Veyo downhill today (and back up, long story) and the headwind was still there - was nice riding back up! :p  I had hoped to get back to the Gunlock side to see the winds today as they were reportedly much less, but no suck luck.  I wont ride the course again until race day...hoping for the best - of course!

Thank you Jen. I think we are all used to faster times on other terrain but just have to get used to the fact that we will be slower on this course. I think what you heard in my post is me getting accustomed to the idea that I don't have a chance at a sub 6:00 for this course.

And I am sure we will all be fine come race day. Things tend to workout that way. Have you heard/seen anything on the location of the bottle exchanges? I am assuming Ivins for convenience of IMNA...



Mike

Don't know if I am the first one - but I am out!
Got hit by a car this weekend while doing some hill work. tore up the bike and more importantly my shoulder. out at least 6 weeks.  good luck to you all - I know you will rock it!

That is a h3ll of a way to go out! Sorry some butthole decided to text while driving...

Since you are the first out, does that make you the Kramer of this group?

Mike

Man that sucks - glad to hear you are not worse off and can get back at it.  Had a junky pick-up come up from behind today and he was laying on the horn.  scared the crap out of me, for a few moments i thought i was with you.  I gave him a nice salute for all of us....

Just found out my dad pulled the trigger on making the trip from out East for the race.  He's 73 and not in good health, so I think he's feeling this would be his only chance to ever see me race.  I have a feeling it's going to make for a very emotional race day...glad he decided to make the trip (he's apparently been worried he'd "be in the way").

That's terrible! Sorry to hear that. Glad you're ok.

Sorry to hear about that.  I'm dedicating miles 10-11 of my bike portion to you, I'll go extra fast