Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 28)

Incoming tide.  The swim is in a channel leading to the intercoastal waterway, so they plan this race on dates when low tide works out for a decent current, thou that didn't pan out real well in 2010, the other years have had good currents.  If you look at 2010 RR's you'll see the times aren't nearly as fast.  The race date has ranged from this years 10/29 to last years of 11/13 (i think) so it's not on a set weekend like most races.

My time was around 53 minutes in 2009 and my normal IM swim time would be 1:05-1:10.  

Rottieguy is spot on, as usual.

The tide is a major benefit at this race, particularly for "non-swimmers".  I swam a 49:xx in 2009 and a 42:50 this year.  I would guess that I am also around a 1:05 IM swimmer in a non current aided swim, so the benefit is big.

ben

So what is the best clothing to wear in conditions like Saturday? I usually stick to the trainer when it's cold or wet, so I don't know what to do. From winter hiking I know that insulation is pretty useless if it gets wet. Do you wear leg warmers, jacket, gloves that have wind blocking fabric? Or water proof?

Last year, when air temps were cooler at the bike start, I wore less than this year and was fine. Added some this year and was really, really cold.

I wore a bike jersey, arm warmers, cycling vest and dry tri shorts along with smartwool socks, toe covers on shoes and fingerless gloves.  At one point, my fingers got cold and stiff but I need fingerless to open my nutrition (no nutrition would be a bigger problem than cold hands) and fortunately, my hand warmed up a bit after a while.  (FWIW, last year I wore a tri top, arm warmers and used a disposable ziplock bag "vest")

Arm warmers still keep me warm when they are wet. 

I agree 'insulation is useless when wet', so I had a nylon cycling rain shirt, rolled up in my jersey pocket.  I put it on about mile 20, just before the mist turned to drizzle.  This outer shell kept the underlayers dry enough.

50F + wind + wet = dress for 40F.

Long finger gloves, helmet liner cap, arm warmers, short sleeve bike jersey (with full length zipper, easy on when wet in T1), wool socks, toe covers and a plastic bag under my jersey.  A lot of clothes, but I was comfy.  

Took off the rain shirt at mile 75, and unzipped jersey a little.

I wonder what the 364 day weather forecast is like.

...WIND

I wound up feeling very comfortable on the bike and I wore the following:

wet tri suit

pulled dry short-sleeved jersey over that

arm warmers

wool knee snocks (thick ones)

wool liner gloves with grippy stuff on the palms (these but I bought at LBS)

A beanie with ear covers

My feet were a little bit numb and my face hurt some, but overall I was happy as a clam. I think the key was wool on the digits and thin layers on the bod. 

Those are all athletes with recorded chip times but I understand some others started but did not finish the swim.

Plus relays.

FedEx just dropped off my bike, on initial inspection it looks like it survived unscathed.  I hope everyone's steed arrives home safe.

RR:

http://luisrauldefreitas.blogspot.com/2011/11/beach-2-battleship-1406.html

I finally got my pre-race booklet in the mail yesterday.  Just a bit late.

Congrats to all who finished!  Haven't posted many times on this thread, but have read it religiously over the past 8 months and really helped my on race day.... thanks for the great advise!  I had a PR at 12:50...  although that was also my slowest time too since this was my first IM, but thought I'd focus on the positive.  It was also my first marathon...

I don't know if everyone else is feeling this way, but really happy to take a some time off from working out for the first few days.... though now I feel like I need to get back to training.  Too soon?

Btw, my Athlete's Guide came in the mail yesterday...

Cheers!

Congrats again to everyone that completed B2B. I had a blast (except for those two or so miserable first hours on the bike!). I was just looking over some race data.

I was measuring my data in 4-mile increments on my Garmin, and I thought it interesting that my fastest 4-mile split was my 27th split (miles 104-108) where I averaged 26.4 mph - the funny thing is that it was also the 4-mile increment where I had my second lowest wattage of the race (167 watts), so the wind must have been at it's strongest at that point - I was literally coasting with the wind at my back!

In my slowest 4-mile split I averaged 19.2 mph, and that was my second highest wattage (234 watts) - it was miles 40-44 when it was most miserable (rainy and windy).

I'm already looking forward to my next IM - I'm just not sure yet which one it will be. I hope to see many of you again in the future!