Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas : Official Thread (Page 4)

No beach at all.

You walk out on a pier about 10 feet above the water.  The wave ahead of you is in the water.  They start.  You jump in a minute later, you swim around for 4 mins, you start, the next wave jumps in the water.

I've done both and I actually prefer the deep water starts.  I don't like touching with my bare feet whatever creepy-crawlies are on the bottom of the lake/ocean/etc...  Like others have said, you get a few minutes to adjust to the water before you have to start swimming, which is nice.  The cold water always knocks the wind out of me a little bit, so I like having that couple minutes to get my breath back before starting the swim.  And your wetsuit does make it so you don't have to really tread water that actively.  If you are a BOP swimmer, that would even allow you to jump in the water a bit later, minimizing your time in the water before the start. 

GMAN 19030 - 2012-03-12 6:58 AM

rbalazs - 2012-03-11 5:07 PM Are the winds always headwind and tailwind or are there cross winds? I'm trying to decide between a 404 or 808 front wheel. If it's a constant wind with minor gusts I'll go with the 808. But if it's Kona like winds where you get a 50mph gust that blows you from one side of the road to the other than it's the 404. Anyone with wind experience on the course I'm all ears!

Rick, winds normally come from some southerly direction.  Last year was SSW, the year before was more S.  That meant headwind/tailwind (with some crosswind) last year and a lot of crosswind in 2010.  I rode a disc both years with a Hed H3 front in 2010 and a Hed Jet 6 front last year.  I'm running the H3 again this year.  It can be very windy in Galveston.  Prepare as such.

My wife and I rode the course yesterday.  There was a cross wind the whole time coming off the ocean in what I assume was a NNW direction.  Effectively this meant a cross wind on the way out and a cross / head wind on the way back.   There were some gusts, but mostly pretty steady. 

We were riding the wheels that came on our bike (read:cheap with no depth) but my wife (who races as an Athena) still felt like she was being pushed toward the traffic on the way back.  Of course there was some relief where the houses blocked the wind.

On a seperate note the first 20 miles of the out and back are great road.  The last 8 starting on the way off the Pass are horrible.   I wanted to hammer down the hill off the pass but it is patched all over the place.  Then there were several potholes that made me go to the middle of the lane to avoid them.

There was about a mile where they have apparently cut part of the shoulder off, but haven't removed it yet so what was left of the shoulder had occassional large pieces of road on it, and if you went too far over your tire would either be caught in the grove they cut or running over what looked like a pile of rocks strewn where the shoulder use to be.

Hopefully there is no vehicle traffic on that side of the pass durring the race.  I know the pass itself will be closed.

Thanks for the update on the winds/road!  We had a lot of cross winds on our 66 miler this weekend.  I would prefer cross over head for sure.  I'm still hoping for head out and tail back though.  A girl can dream, right?  There will be wind, just the direction is the wild card.

Clothing/shorts question for everyone....I've been riding my long rides on my tri bike in my tri shorts that have really no padding at all.  I haven't had any problems for several weeks of doing this until my ride on Saturday.  I've done up to 70 miles in my tri shorts and haven't had any problems.  Saturday was a lot warmer/humid than I've been training in, and I'm a sweating beast so my shorts were wet the entire time.  I now have a giant saddle sore.  Since I knew I was going to be hot and sweaty, I used a ton of Body Glide on the nether regions hoping to avoid the chafing and friction.  What has been working well for weeks failed miserably on Saturday.  :-(

Thankfully, all my long workouts are over, but it's now making me think of possibly changing into bike shorts in T1.  This is my first 1/2...am I crazy to consider this with what just happened this weekend, or should I just let the saddle sore heal the next couple weeks and tough it out with the tri shorts, which have been working fine until this point?  The ride on race day will be shorter....  I thought I had all my plans in place, but this new development has me questioning those plans.  :-/

You won't really have a spot to change unless you wonder over to the bathroom or something.  I think you need to come up with a solution that doesn't involve changing.  Did you use different shorts then you usually use?

Nope...same shorts I've been riding in for at least the past 2 months.  :-(  Only thing that was different was the heat/humidity.  Guess I'll just need to suck it up then.  I'm not swimming in bike shorts.  Didn't know there wasn't anywhere to change.  Could be a lot of standing pedaling the last few miles!  LOL!

bzgl40 - 2012-03-19 7:45 PM Yeah, hay is in the barn already.  Best to not aggravate it even more.  Extra taper.  Try to not go too crazy.

Epsom salt soak last night worked wonders, much better today, but still not 100%.  Workouts were supposed to be much shorter/easier this week anyway.  Was going to do a recovery week this week and taper next, but I'll just enjoy the additional time off.  Had a run planned for tonight and after getting pulled and yanked every which way in physical therapy today, my therapist told me it's best to wait until tomorrow to run.  Just can't win!!!  Hey, at least my house is getting really clean with all this free time on my hands, and I won't be able to say I wasn't well rested come race day!  I'm certainly not a "sit still" kind of person, just don't know what to do with myself when I'm not working out in some way!  LOL!

se7930 - 2012-03-22 7:46 AM T-10days and counting !!!!  Lets hope the current weather forecast holds up .... "Sunny, Less Humid, high of 76 with SE winds at 7-16" That would be AWESOME race day weather

Ok, for someone who lives in Tucson and notices when we get up to 10% humidity, what exactly does "Less Humid" mean in Texas?!?!?  lol

In Houston/Galveston area if it is "Less Humid" then your clothes are not soaked the minute you walk outside, they stay dry ALMOST till you reach your car. If it is really dry the sweat will stay on your body, and not be joined by beads of humidity.

More Humid would mean that you could tell people you had swum 70.2 miles.

LOL! Used to live in Houston.  You are bringing back repressed memories of the heat and humidity!

My first HIM too.  But I did do the 5150 on the same course so I'll suggest Sunscreen.

X2!  :-)

My workouts this week have been a mess working around this stupid saddle sore.  Got on my trainer for a couple minutes last night and it was a no-go for a full workout...still a bit tender, but hoping it will be good enough for my ride this weekend.  Had a bad run yesterday too, which has frazzled me a bit.  Only ran for 35 minutes, but felt like a slug the entire time and had dizzy spell when I had to stop and tie my shoe.  Messed with my head a bit...  :-( 

Tapering gives me more time to think and I don't think that's a good thing!  LOL!

bzgl40 - 2012-03-22 10:05 AM

se7930 - 2012-03-22 7:46 AM T-10days and counting !!!!  Lets hope the current weather forecast holds up .... "Sunny, Less Humid, high of 76 with SE winds at 7-16" That would be AWESOME race day weather

Ok, for someone who lives in Tucson and notices when we get up to 10% humidity, what exactly does "Less Humid" mean in Texas?!?!?  lol

I grew up near Sedona, lived there for 23 years before moving to Austin.  The first mile I ran in Austin I felt like I was drowning....litterally....  Now when I come home to AZ to visit family, it's like I can feel my skin drying out as soon as I step outside of the airport.  Not a problem for me in TX 9 years later, but it really did take me time to adjust.  In all fairness, I moved here in August...dumb, dumb, dumb....  I think we're all in for a real treat if we can just hold on to this weather streak we've been having!  Cross your fingers and hope, peeps!

Remember to not overdo it on the bike.  Bike hard, but within your limits.  You'll be jacked up, excited, etc etc.  Same thing on the run.  The run will eventually start to hurt.  That's ok, it'll finish soon enough, embrace the hurt.  Remember to keep up with your hydration and calories on the bike.

Oh, and most important, HAVE FUN. 

YMMV but my partner had/has bursitis in her hip and one ART treatment and she was 100% fine.  Able to fun and everything.  Periodically she has to go back but all in all it is excellent.  Even the provider was surprised, he thought it would take a few sessions at a minimum.  Might be worth looking into. 

Make sure you enjoy the experience and have fun!

I can totally relate!  I've been battling some ankle flexibility/stability issues and a strained left hip flexor.  I've been in PT for 12 consecutive weeks and things are getting better, but I will also not be racing this event the way I had hoped.  For the most part I've been able to train around the injuries.  My run is going to be a run/walk combo with 5:1 splits, which is how I've been training my long runs.  Maybe I'll see ya out there on the run and we can chat while doing our run/walk victory march!  LOL!  Since it's my first 1/2 I'm just going to go into it with the thought process to learn as much as I can about the distance and event and enjoy the day.  Then come back next year better than ever!  :-)