Ironman Wisconsin : Official Thread (Page 22)

I believe you have to wear a top. 

Wear your tri outfit for the swim so you don't have to change.  Otherwise you should be fine in a wetsuit - unless you are going for a podium spot.

I wonder where they take the water temp - near the beach or out at the buoy.  Maybe USAT should define that.

Does a tri top stay put on the swim?  I tried one of mine this past weekend and it was too loose.  It moved around too much for me.  I ended taking it off and my HRM strap and put them on in T1.  If I could get a good fitting top, I would wear it for the swim and bike, then maybe change for the run depending on how I feel.

That sounds good.  What model 2 piece and bike shorts do you use?

I think the chances of the water being 76F on 9/13 is about 50/50. All we need is a few nights in the end of August and Early September to be in the low 50's and the temp will drop like a rock. In 2008 it was very hot the week of the race and we were all fretting but the lake temp never got above 74. Remember the days are going to be much shorter and the lake levels will drop by September.

To the comment about changing in the transitions, I have done it both ways and highly recommend complete clothes changes in transition. The extra two minutes didn't put me out of the running for a Kona spot, the extra 20 lbs and my LIFE did. Put regular bike shorts on with butt butter for the ride and completely change for the run. The dry clothes will make you feel spring fresh for the start of the run.

Hee hee hee..  you don't have to wear a top during the swim.  That's ridiculous.  I'm going banana hammock if there are no wetsuits.  The hard part is getting a top on in transition if you are all wet.

I know it's the boyz who are asking about tri tops with a no-wetsuit swim, but I'll throw out my girly perspective.

I plan on wearing the same shorts for swim and bike (DeSoto 400-mile shorts) and up top I'm going to wear the top of one of my TYR 2-piece racing suits or my Zoot bra-style tri top. Both are basically like a sports bra top, and very tight. Plan on keeping that top/using it as my sports bra (I am very aero up top so don't need anything else) and throwing on a bike jersy in T1 since I want the back pockets for my extra Infinte bottle. Will competely change in T2 into running shorts and a tri top.

But this will be my first IM so take all of that with a grain of salt!
 

Seeing I will not be qualifying for Kona, I will be wearing a wetsuit, so no worries about my top being to loose.

Great info about changing.  I was always wondering about that chamois cream if I wore the same bottoms for the swim and bike (if the cream would wear off).  So far, I've found that I slide around too much with regular bike shorts during the long rides.  Tri shorts and chamois cream are imperative for my bike.

Lisa, I have the Forza Tri Shorts.  Do the 400 mile shorts have a much larger chamois and do you know/think they will feel too heavy when wet?

I'm not sure specifically compared to the Forza line, but the 400-mile shorts are awesome so far. Fairly minimal padding but enough for long rides. They are designed to swim-bike-run in, so they perform like tri shorts when wet.

If you are comfortable with the Forza's I'd just stick with that. Unless you really want to invest the dollars into the others. They are not cheap.
 

All these posts about what everyone is wearing is giving me the suttle nudge I needed to get figuring this out for myself. I have worn 3 different outfits in my 3 IM's  and had no issue with any. I basically wore tri shorts and a top from start to finish and lathered ridiculously up with body glide and butt butter prior to the race and never worried about it again. No chaffing in any of the races. Sunburn??? now that's a different story.

This is also my experience.  Make sure to lather up good and to sunscreen up more.

I did the excat same thing.  Just wore tri shorts and a tri top for the whole thing.  As David said, be sure to hit the sunscreen whenever you can.  I missed a couple of spots 2 years ago and was burned really badly.  Not fun. 

I enjoyed the sunburn last year....kept my mind off the pain in the rest of my body

Rode the loop twice on Saturday - what FUN! It is such a lovely course!

And I am really a dummy when it comes to my own components, but my bike shop informed me I was working with a 12-23 cassette on my training setup (what I rode the course Saturday on) and a 12-25 on my race wheel setup. So I'm putting the 12-25 on my training wheel and getting a 12-27 for my race wheel. Hopefully that will make those big ol' hills suck a little less on race day

 

Anyone riding the course this weekend? A handful of us are coming up to ride the loop with the VQ bunch - couldn't pass up $15 for a supported ride - of course, we may pile on a few miles. Looking forward to getting my first look/feel of the course!

Hope everyone's training is going well and everyone's health is in order - 8 weeks!

So what is your opinion of the hills? I ask everyone who has road them and get completely different answers everytime. From the hardest things ever to no problem just spin up them. I have the Real course video for my computrainer and ride the course all the time but feeling the grade on a trainer and actually riding the hills are two different animals.

Yeah I don't wear any lube on my neck with my wetsuit, that way when the skin is completely rubbed raw it makes any other pain minor the rest of the day

I did the loop twice last weekend for the first time - the hills were significantly "worse" than I anticipated, especially on the second loop

By "significantly", I mean this: not huge hills, but plenty of them, and they just never allowed you to settle into a comfortable rhythm.  I think that was the hardest part - I felt like I was constantly shifting throughout the course.  Now, keep in mind that I'm not a super biker, so this is just my MOP take on it

I am switching up my gearing this week - I don't have a compact crank, but I am putting 52/38 rings on my standard crank, and a 12-27 cassette in back - when I did the course last weekend,  I was on my standard (53/39) crank with an 11-23 cassette - that was wayyyyyy too tall for me.  I think this new gear combo will work out well. 

With better gearing, I'm now looking forward to the course - I'm very thankful I went out to see it... My current gearing combo would've totally smoked me on race day!

Cheers, Chris

x2.  I will be in my f/s wetsuit - no doubt about that.  I don't overheat much even in warmer water, and I really don't think the lake will be in the high 70s on race day. 

Cheers, Chris

I agree with Hydro with respect to the hills.  What surprised me is how long and steep a few of them were.   They definitely take their toll....

For the 3 big hills, they are not fun for the legs. However, I must say that the fan support on the first two make them worth it. The fans make a chute like they do on the tour on Timber lane, it is pretty cool. In 2006, some dude gave me a piece of bacon. My advice is not to do that.

I come from the flat part of Kansas (yes there are hilly parts!) so I have to make a huge effort to find and ride hills. Which I have been doing about every other weekend, but it's not something I get to ride on every day. I was mentally prepared for having to stand the whole way (LOL), but of course it wasn't that bad. I was really only taken aback by two of the hills... where I had to stand about halfway through and was gasping for air immediately. Now realize I am usually a BOMOP/BOP rider so take that with a grain of salt. But I did do the Kansas 70.3 course (which has been compared to the MOO course as about the same, just only 56 miles) and averaged 16.8mph a few months ago. The hills were a lot like the ones on the Kansas course, just... longer. A few were steeper, but mainly just longer.

Another word of caution that 1TT gave was that there are these little black strips of patched road that run parallel to your wheel direction - look like long fat snakes on the road. They are kinda squishy in the heat and if your wheel catches one, it could be bad. Mine did once and the front wheel caught pretty bad and I had to quickly correct. Could have been really bad on a downhill. Just a caution.

I rode the loop a total of four times a couple weeks ago.  I train in terrain very similar to the IMKY course, and I was a little surprised by the difficulty of the IMWI course.  There were more steep sections than I expected, and the IMWI road conditions are quite a bit worse than IMKY.  As said above, it was tough to find a rhythm due to the combination of the hills and the rough road conditions in several places.

I plan to incorporate more steep climbs into my remaining training.  And I've started praying for little/no wind!