Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 33)

Thanks for posting your course elevation image. After looking at your elevation chart and looking at my 100 mile ride on Saturday I feel pretty good.

From mile 61 to mile 72 there is a pretty good climb. Anything like that for IMCDA?

I had a FANTASTIC race in St George.  Such a confidence boost.  4 min PR on the swim - I finally got a swim time that matches my swim ability.  Bike was only 6 min off my PR, which was in Galveston.  And my total time was only 8 min off my PR from Galveston.  St G is way harder than Galveston (duh) so I'm incredibly happy.  The new bike kicked .  I was passing people up Snow Canyon, which is the big climb.  My coach has done both St G and CDA and she promises me that St G was a harder bike (in terms of climbing).  And I'm positive that the run won't be nearly as hard at St G.  St G was laughably, ridiculously hard.  Garmins recorded 1,000+ ft of climbing.

I am so ready for the next 7 weeks.

M_E. Glad you had a good race in SG. The weather was perfect, no crazy wind storms, nice water, nice roads, volunteers, community. I am signing up again for sure. I bested my Boise time by around 40 minutes but I still have some work to do. Feel good all things considered and I am ready to get back to the CDA training.

As for the gearing I think the 12/28 is the way to go but I like to spin fast going up those hills. Seems to save the legs for the run.

I'm gonna swim first thing for 30 minutes, than thinking on heading over to cda to do 1 full loop plus higgins as I have a 4:00 ride scheduled than about 50 minutes. I just gotta check with the wife first. 

So thinking like 930 to start or roughly that. 

Other option is to start riding about 8 than run than swim.

I posted on mine I am running 50/34 with 11-28. I do have a 12-25 as well but I would be mashing the hills than.  I guess for kicks, I could ride my 12-25 this coming weekend to see how much it beats me up . Umm not thinking I really want to do that lol. 

the good about the 12-25 is you don't jump in gearing so drastically like you do the 11-28. the 11-28 does give you one more top end gear that you could maybe use on the downhills. I don't very much other than a light spin just to keep the legs going. I don't think I am really putting out in power.

How safe do you think it would be to keep a wetsuit in the car for part of the day? I just get worried about the heat.  I did have a friend who did a quick dip in it yesterday and she said it wasn't too bad. She said she might swim today or tomorrow so I'll hopefully find out more from her on how comfortable it is. 

I have a 30 minute swim for saturday that I could do after riding and running.  So thinking that if we started riding at 8 that would be great. The cold swim afterwards would help our legs out.

Really helpful, mb1530. Much appreciated!

If you had to put a grade on the longer climbs what would you guess? I'm used to doing multiple repeats, on rides lasting longer than 4 hours, that hit up to 12% grades (though not for any great distances..remember..mountanous region of Chicagoland). I know the CDA route wont hit that type of incline but what is fair to expect on the sustained climbs..5%, 6% or so?

Here is something from strava  gotta love tech these days to figure out stuff.

http://www.strava.com/segments/n-hwy-95-mica-grade-687289

I imagine that if you look at Derek G who is second place that might be Derek Garcia who is a local pro out in CDA. He is a pretty good biker and you can look through some HIMs and IMs from the past perhaps to get an indicator of his avg speed so you can relate to yourself. Just a thought that might be right or wrong. I know I didn't climb it in 4 minutes. I was probably closer to 7-8 minutes based upon avg speed.

I think if you had it on the floor, or in an under floor compartment if you have one, it would be ok.  It wont really heat up til a little later right?

There are signs on the highway that say 6% grade for the long (2 mile) climbs.  I would say that a portion of those is 4-5% and 6% is the max.   You won't see anything over 6% on the course.

WOOT! 

Crap, I just bought a new Xterra Vector Pro wetsuit. I'm wearing it no matter the temperature 

I've left my wetsuit in the car while I rode multiple times. As long as you keep it out of the sun you should be fine.

I have a question of my own. Is anyone planning on taking a hydration/nutrition belt with them? I know the aid stations are numerous, but would it be more efficient to fill a couple bottles and stock up on nutrition at one aid station, then skip the next few?

I tried Infinit Go Far for my drink on my long bike ride Saturday.  I liked it and am thinking about using it during IMCDA.  Anyone else using Infinit?  I also like Skratch Labs Secret Drink Mix.  I used that on my last IM.  As far as solid food I like the Stinger Waffles but I hate how crumbly they are.  It makes it kind of tough to eat on the bike.

I'm using Infinit.  I used the standard Bike formula last year for my HIM and for a few training rides this year - it works well for me.  I just ordered a custom formula that I will use for the rest of training and the race.  I basically used the same standard formula but decreased the flavoring by about a third because I plan on using two triple concentrated bottles to get me through the bike.

Their customer service is great, when they saw my order they emailed me and suggested I try adding a little caffeine and even checked back to make sure it was working ok for me.

||What do others think about leaving a wetsuit in the car till around noon or so on Saturday? Good bad? Maybe if out of direct sunlight be fine?||

Spie34:  I know it may sound crazy, but I have done a swim after a really hot day and I just put my wetsuit in a cooler in my car.  I didn't put any ice in with it, but when I took it out it was not warm at all.  I was worried about leaving it in my car also.  Just my 2cents.

I guess I never replied to this in a way that confirms meeting up.  I am in, I can be there a little before 8.  If I read a previous post right, you want to do a full loop plus back to Higgins point, that's about 70 miles or so right?  Follow that up with a 50 minute run and then a 30 minute swim?

Yes that seems to be close to what I want to do. We might be a touch over 4 hours on the ride but thats fine. I've been doing rides mainly by time vs distance but I'm flexible on it all. I'll send you a pm with my phone number. 

Awesome idea. I never thought about doing that. I don't think things will be a big concern as long as the suit isn't in direct sunlight inside the car. I mean during HIMs, the suits sit out there for 4+ hours in the sun until you get your crap after the run.  Just have heard not to leave sitting in hot car.

And here is a site to check the water temps.  

http://www.lakecoeurdalene.com/lake-conditions/