Ironman Florida : Official Thread (Page 24)

Question - I volunteered at Florida last year and saw these tents setup with people getting massages. How does that work? Are they free? How many times can you go? Do you have to schedule an appt? I've never had a massage and was wondering whether it would be better to get one before or after the event? Any suggestions?

Got a question for the group, and was looking for some experienced feedback. My wife and I will be doing our first IM the November when we do IMFL. We were planning our next race for next year and were debating between IM Louisville and IM Canada. We live in ATL, so Louisville would be driving distance, but we really arent necessarily want that to be any deciding factor.

Anyone done either with comments, or even better, anyone done both and able to compare and contrast the good and bad of both?

Thanks for the input and comments..

Jerry

I did IM Canada in '09.....loved venue, crowd support and my kids/husband love the area and they had good beaches for family. We were there a week.

It is tough to get to....flying directly to race town means you need to transport your bike as small planes don't take bikes. We flew to Seattle and spent a day there and drove up. If I flew again I'd go to Spokanne on SWA as bike fees are just $50.

I've done LP, Canada and Fl. Venue and crowd support were best at LP and Canada. FL I found fit my ability better and is easier to do as it is closer, good time of year and weather is typically good.

You should search and read some RRs to get the feel of both races....

Year I did Canada it was hotter there than in KY and they were the same day which was an odd anomoly as KY is usually always hot and humid.

Canada is a great race but logisitically more challenging....great vineyards and lots of nature things to do...more rural than KY

If you've never had a massage and want one before the event, make sure to get it on Wednesday or Thursday and NOT Friday.  You don't want any trauma to your fascia and muscles the day before the race.  At IMLP I had a 90 minute massage on Thursday, 30 Minutes on Friday, and then 30 minutes on Monday (the race was Sunday).  I've found that you can usually book an appointment with a local therapist (although the IM therapists are fine, the massage is just in public). 

Had a great training weekend.  Chris (Jeepguy) and I went to PCB for the weekend and rode the course (with a slight hangover).  Actually did 97 miles which was the full course without the 2 short out and backs.  Legs were great, but my neck and shoulders were KILLING me coming back in on 79.

My impressions of the roads were...great shape and smooth.  Nothing to look at really till you get back on front beach road.  Traffic was fairly light and the bike lanes were available on most of the entire route.  Note:  when you top the bridge coming back in and see the hotels in the distance, don't get too excited, they are a long way off lol.

Our saturday ride was followed by a series of recovery drinks then Sunday consisted of a short swim (I mean real short) as the water was terrible.  And a short 2 mile run.  Monday we finished up with a 7 ish mile run in the florida heat.  It was a tough one.

Great weekend ... really getting excited and motivated for these last 3 months of training. 

DanielG - 2011-08-15 10:30 AM 10 mile run Sat. 75 mile ride yesterday. 7 mile run this morning. I'm ready for a nap I've got to say the longer bike rides give me a definite incentive, though. There's a dairy farm collective that operates a drive through ice cream, malt, shake, cone, etc, shop that's right at the turn around point of a 4 hour ride. With longer rides from now until Nov I get to pass and/or stop there just about every weekend. It's the one exception I make to the no stopping I tend to do on rides.

That's not fair!

Hi..

I was in PCB last weekend and the road all around the event site is completely torn up and seems impossible to use for the event.  Does anyone know any insider info on what IM may do if that road isnt finished in time?  Its major MAJOR construction all around...

Since I was with Plainsman (Barry), I will say that overall, I didn't think the winds were too bad.  They picked up on the way in but it was purely a slight headwind.  Nothing too major.  My main goal in riding the course was to see how my Zipp 1080 front and rear performed in the wind and they were fine.  I never felt like I was out of control.

The best piece of advice I will give is to wait until AFTER the race to go to Tootsies!  It makes the next day much more difficult.  Oh, and don't work for 8 hours, drive for 8 hours, sleep for 3 hours then do a 90+ mile ride.  Wouldn't recommend it.

Couple of questions for the FL veterans.

can you get your special needs bags back at this race?

I know the race is the day before the clocks go back, about what time does it get dark on race day?

and one for everyone, I think I'm going to use Tri Bike transport, anyone use them before?  if so, did you also send a gear bag or just the bike?

thanks

I was able to get my special needs bags back the next day, but they don't guarantee this. They were laid out in the parking lot where transition was being dismantled.

It gets dark pretty early, around 6:00 I think. The run course was mostly dark and cool for me, particularly the park, so I ditched my sunglasses at T2 and put on a long sleeved shirt.

I used TBT for FL and was pleased. I did have them transport a gear bag as well as the bike. I'll probably be using them again this year but I have not signed up yet.

EARLY.  That's one of the reasons the bike cutoff on Florida is sometimes shorter than other IM's.

I looked it up...5 Nov 2011:

?Twi: 6:35
Sunrise: 7:00
Sunset: 17:54
Twi: 18:19

That's 5:54, right?  So pretty much sub-11 gets you a daylight finish.

Check this year's race date to be sure. It depends when day light saving kicks in.

Most years are one way but either last year or the year before it was different so sunset was hour different.

A little Google searching and here is what I found for November 5th, 2011...

I'm still undecided if I'm going to do some or try to do all the race. I want to try some longer walks to see how my knee handles walks. Hills up or down walking are quite painful but the run course is dead flat so that is a big plus.

I have basically three choices, don't start, swim/bike or swim/bike and walk the run.

We haven't made any flight or condo reservations.