Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon (Page 4)

I was doing pretty well.  Looks like we may come up and spectate/volunteer as I won't be racing this year   I broke my collarbone doing IMCDA a week ago. 

I'm all about survival.  If I can make it through the swim I should be ok.  Here's hoping for a calm day!

Bike aid stations are at approximately 15, 30, and 45 miles. They usually have bottles of lemon-lime GEF, water, gels, and bananas. Slow down for the bike aid stations and stay wide if you are carrying your own hydration to avoid the congestion and the occasional dropped bottle. The same items on the run except they switch to orange GEF and the drinks are in paper cups. No sign of coke (whic would have been a life saver for me last year), chicken broth, pretzels, etc. No Special Needs for a 70.3, also no changing tent in transition.

Salt tabs are pretty controversial on BT. If you are not a heavy sweater and have not tried them then I would not mess with them, although Steelhead does tend to be hot for us northerners. GEF has about double the sodium and potassium so that helps.

Coop, a lot will depend on where the swim is being started from and temps.  Last year the swim was going to start from the north and with the cold front and high winds plenty of folks had part of there wetsuit on for the walk and most seemed to walk down the beach.  Personally I'd get way to warm and would carry.

When the swim was canceled I walked back on a road as I didn't feel like walking on the beach again, so it was a mix of folks walking back on the beach or road.  If the swim start is at the south starting point (which is the normal start point), I'm not familiar with the roads in the area, but would assume walking down the beach would be fine.  It's a nice sandy beach.

I wouldn't leave my stuff laying around in transition area there are just to many people walking around and even though the area is watched your bag of stuff could easily be moved or missing in the morning and that would pretty much screw your first HIM race, take it with you on the shuttle from the parking area on Saturday morning.  I use a small transition bag and carry, my shoes, helmet, gels, bars etc.

Three years ago they had shuttle buses to the swim start, but I assume that this, unfortunately, won't happen again. It's a nice sandy beach to walk to either swim start, although soft and tiring on the legs. I would walk along the edge of the water where the beach is firmer, and I'd carry the wetsuit. Also I would not leave anything at transition overnight except for your bike, however....

One idea to get a little more sleep, skip the stress of shuttles and transition, and skip the beach walk, would be to set up your entire transition area on Friday and have someone drive you straight to the swim start. I'm not brave enough to do this as I'd be stressed about getting a flat over night, but I can't think of any reason why you have to go to transition in the morning.

Greg