Ironman St. George : Official Thread (Page 26)

My last workout is on Wednesday night.  I never do anything 48 hours prior to a race, except stretch.   

Oh my! That's 11 degrees up from CdA last year. Big smile!  

What was the thing somebody said earlier in this thread about them filling up Sand Hollow at some point before the race and it cooled the water down? I take it that already happened a while ago, yes?

Brad

LittleCat - 2012-04-24 10:37 PM Sand Hollow temped today at 65 degree....its gonna be a beautiful swim! Swimming in this reservoir during race week is such pure joy for me. I swim in San Francisco bay year round but not only is it cold but its so dark you can't see you hand after about a foot from your face. And at Sand Hollow(unlike sf bay) the chances of getting hit in the head with a turd are super low Hello crisp clean clear water!

I wonder what the chances are of needing an insulated swim cap are then....

I'm going to be really disappointed if the is no IMSG next year. An injury prevented me from training for it this year. I'm planing to sign up for IMSG 2013. I hope it will still happen.

Tiana

I wonder what the chances are of needing an insulated swim cap are then....

It depends how long you will be in the water.  65 is nice but its not 98.6.  The answers vary just like all other topics.  If the cap doesn't bother you than why not wear it? 

This ^.  I did a 2.5 mile OWS on Sunday and the lake was 67 degrees.  All I wore was my full wetsuit and a normal cap.  I was pretty darn warm to be honest.  I would be really worried about overheating with a full wetsuit and neoprene cap in 65-ish degree water.  I'd double cap it if you tend to get cold.  Otherwise, go with the race cap.   

Personally, I think there are three big factors. 

The winter training is definitely one. I'm very excited about this race and the location, but I can't deal with another winter/spring having to do so much training indoors. I will need to REALLY love the race next week to even consider doing a big race this early again.

The challenging nature of the original course is another one. It scared people. Let's face it, while there are many of us who train very hard for these things and like the challenge, there are many who do these races without adequate training. The original course ate people up. Now, endurance athletes have been known to seek out big challenges and pay through the nose for them, but a fair number of the IM participants don't want a challenge that big. Which leads to the other major factor ...

It really hurts St. George that they plopped IM Texas two weeks after it. It's a less challenging course that draws a lot of those southwest participants instead of them going to Utah. St. George only had one year to stand on its own and had a hard race in tough conditions (cold water, colder than normal temps) so word spread quickly that it was brutal. When some people had another option in the same region at the same time of year on an easier course, they chose that. 

Judging by how difficult it is to get into many IM races, it would seem there is a big enough audience to support two IM races so close in proximity and dates. But having those races be in May makes training difficult for many people and maybe WTC has found the number of willing participants at that time of year isn't what they thought it was.

Just my two cents.

Brad

I think you pretty much nailed all the reasons it doesn't sell out.  I was thinking the new Texas one really hurt St. George.  It'll be a cool 70.3.  It'll be competing with Wildflower if they keep it the same weekend.  oops haha  

p.s. I wear a 5mm desoto cap pretty much no matter what the temp is.  I also have painful ear trouble and the part that covers the ears helps keep my ear plugs snug.  

PBMan or others - Is there a group ride this weekend from the ball park? Seems like I remember there being a Sat or Sun ride usually formed up...

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SGIM weekend just showing up today in the 10-day. Can't complain too much about this one boyz and girlz.

A teensy bit warm, but with the super low humidity it won't feel too bad.

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I wish there was going to be more sun.