Ironman 70.3 Florida : Official Thread (Page 28)

Im in. Been wanting to race Fla 70.3 but the old course sounded awful. Ill take rolling hills ove 3 loops of running by a canal on dirt roads. An more reports of the new course would be great, how bad is that section of road?

How was the course?  Curious about the road condition.  Swim wave time as also up.

I wrote up a post with all the information I have on the course. I don't have the eye of a pro or anything, so I'm sure I missed some stuff, but it may be helpful.

Tom Ziebart is the race director and he repsonded to my question on ST about the swim change and he responded.

"The swim course is designed to keep athletes in 4 ft or more of water. Along the shore, the lake is shallow. There is also a shallow section between the two large areas of the lake. When we first looked at the lake last year, that shallow section was about 4 ft. deep. It is now about 2 ft deep, so we will not be able to go into that other section of the lake. Polk County is working with the State of Florida to dig out a channel between these two sections of the lake in order for boats to have a route between them. For this year, we will use an M shaped swim in the section of the lake on the Lake Eva Park side. I swam the course and the only time a was able to stand up was at the start and than at about 30 years from the finish. Even if we do not see any rain during the next three weeks, there will still be plenty of water in the lake for the swim."

Never really felt there was a long stretch where I could lay out all aero. Please note, I am not a big league biker but this course is a drastic change from St. Anthony's. A bit alarmed after hearing the roads were recently improved.

Regardless, I was happy to ride the course to get a feel for all the rollers and occasional false flats. If you have ridden at San Antonio this course should be a straight forward challenge for you; no big whoop.

Being a Floridian I was prepared for the heat. Make sure to hydrate and hydrate often. It gets hot out there and unless you plan to podium make sure to fuel reasonably and get your water at all the SAG stops.

Enjoy! I am looking forward to this one.

Just wanted to say good luck to everyone Doing the race this weekend!!!!!!!!

3 more days before we'll be running into Lake Eva! I'd forgotten I posted at the beginning of this journey, only biking 26 miles and running 3.5 miles at the time.  It's a good reminder that I have come along pretty well biking quite a few 3:30-4:00 rides (55-60 miles), running is still a slow pace but feel comfortable for 8 miles and swimming 3000 yds is not difficult.  

My longest brick was a 55 mile bike and a 3 mile run in a very hot and humid day which also turned out to be my most memorable. I fainted in the parking lot and ended up going to the emergency room hospital nearby.  So, please everyone, be sure to hydrate first and worry about your time 2nd!  It was not a fun experience, but a good lesson learned! I've been hydrating all week so start drinking everyone!!  

There is always that question: did I do enough?  How does everyone feel going into this?  What kind of training have you done? What is your nutrition plan?  

  GOOD LUCK and have fun out there!!!!

Actually this was my worst 70.3 to date.  Hey, one of them has to be the worst right?  I was tired from the time I got on the bike.  Not from the swim, that was a nice swim actually.  Not sure what it was.  Yea it was hot and hilly but so are other courses I raced.  Just one of those days I guess.  Actually the 2nd and 3rd loop of the race were much better than the first. 

I'll be back though as it was a nice course and pretty well run.

Duane

Well,

I made it and will be back next year.  

While the swim started and ended in muck it was a challenge to negotiate through all the masses as they rounded each part of the logical M course.  The one alarming bit was happily walking  to the end of of the swim and then falling 3 feet into the muck 3 steps before the bank.  Yikes.

The bike course was a challenge but not as rough as when I biked the course earlier.  The police were wicked strict on the intersections and made you feel safe.  Lance of course finished in 2 hours.

Learned to love the 4.4 mile run loop.  Wonderful fans and the best ever volunteers made it a great course.  The hills of course would not be denied.  And a big hats off to the "hose" lady who kept us warm for 3 hours straight as we conquered the big hill.

Well Run and Fun.