LongHorn Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Festival : Official Thread (Page 5)

I went swimming at Decker Lake today with one of my training buddies for about 50 minutes (from 6pm - 6:50pm.) We swam pretty much parallel from the shore, about 75m out, in the no-wake zone at the swim start/finish area.

I took temperature measurements in the water with a digital multimeter and a K-type thermocouple. All temps were taken approx. 18" below the surface, and I let the meter settle for about a minute. Granted, these are totally unofficial...

Location 0, At the shore, in ankle-deep water, 77° F
Location 1, 75m from shore, 73° F
Location 2, 65m from shore, 72° F
Location 3, 60m from shore, 70° F

Average Temp (not including the shore temp) 71.33° F

The sun was setting when we finished, and the water definitely felt cool but not too cold. Again, this is not anything official, but this is promising!

Sa-weeet! :-)

Wow! I heard that was a power plant lake, so I am suprised that the temps are that cool already. But I will definitely take it and wear my weatsuit with pride on race day!

Hey, thanks for sharing that info!!!

Heather

Thank you for all of the course reports! I know that they will be helpful. Well, I have been with the Physical Therapist and it looks as if my leg will not be healed enough to run. I actually have 3 tears in my right calf! Anyhow, I am still going to make the best of it and switch to plan B. Swim like a fish and bike like Lance so I have the time to complete the entire 13.1 walking if I have to. Did a dry run last Saturday. Biked a very hilly 56.7 miles and then walked 6.4 miles (took me 5 hours). So my new goal is to stay on pace to finish! Stinks big time that I can not run, but I am not going to quit. So I will be cheering all of you on as you pass me on the run!!!

Oh bummer! Sorry to hear about your leg!  I'm one of the last waves to go and I'm not terribly fast so if you end up walking I'll be on the course still! I'll make sure to say "hi" .

Heather

No shoulders on most of the country roads.  Shoulders don't really matter though because there is very little traffic and what little traffic there is, is well controlled by police and cones.  The bike course has been very well regulated and controlled in the past.

There is chip seal in some places but it's mostly smooth asphalt.  Not sure if the 1-2 mile stretch of torn-up road has been paved or if the course will be re-routed but as of last weekend, it was still under construction.  I'm sure the RD has it under control.  Keith does a top-notch job.

I agree with Tyrell's assessment.

I'll be out on the course tomorrow. I'm curious as to the progress on the road construction myself. The only part that concerns me during training is the first 10 of the last 14 or so miles, on 969/Weberville Rd. There's no shoulder along that portion, and that's where the most traffic is.

On race day, it shouldn't be a problem.

I concur.  That stretch is pretty sketchy during training.   I always try to get through it as fast as possible.

Second to last wave.  Well, that should help my bike split even more, since there'll be plenty of people to slingshot off of! 

What I said earlier about transitions looks to be wrong.  The athlete's guide says you can't have any loose gear in T1 or T2, that all you stuff has to be bagged.  Now, it said the same thing last year but it wasn't enforced.  Best to find out for sure.

I rode the course yesterday. The road construction on Hog Eye Rd is not complete. Soon after turning off of Upper Elgin, around the halfway point and for maybe a couple of miles, the road is basically packed dirt with oil on it. Its not terrible, just rough and slower.

I still hope they can have it finished by race day.

Please be legal on the 17th!!!!!!

I rode the entire course on Friday morning.  The wind was pretty intense. The first 1/3 has some turns and rolling hills.  There are some road surface cracks in the first 1/3 as well.  These cracks are over an inch wide in a few spots and run long ways in the direction of traffic.  I assume they will have these marked on race day.  I would say that 1/2 of the course is chip seal. As Greg pointed out, there is construction on Hog Eye road.  It is not too bad. 

There are some awesome cruising sections on Upper Elgin and the 2nd part of Hog Eye.  You will be able to make up some time in these stretches.  There is one bridge on Hog Eye where I was in aero going 25mph and hit a 3 inch lip.  I was unable to see it coming.  I nearly became road kill here.  Needless to say, I caught some air (which was cool for about .00001 seconds before I realized that I was going to land) and it shook me up.  I may try to get out there and mark it with spray paint and a stake on the Friday before the race.  It's a sneaky little bugger and will put a hurtin' on you.  Decent climb at around mile 47.

When you see the Exxon (gas station) on your left, you are about 4 miles from the bike finish!

Overall, I liked the bike course.

Lance

Edited by TexasMotion 2010-10-04 7:26 AM

Lance and Greg - thanks very much for the bike recon reports. Very helpful, as I am coming to race from CA, I won't have time to ride the course before the race. Thanks for the heads up about the lip by the bridge on Hog Eye. 

Fingers crossed for a wetsuit legal race! 
Looking forward to my first HIM!

Thanks Heather!  I am in wave 10, so right in the middle.  I should not be hard to find, I should be one of a few African American's in the race.  (We generally do not like to get our hair wet!...Kidding) LOL!!!

Completed my last long ride on Saturday...it was killer...did 51 miles all hills - over 3000 feet of climbing with one hill over a 16% grade and another over 1/2 mile long at about 9%.  Finished in 3:20 ....a bit off pace, but the wind and the hills were tough.  That is Pittsburgh for ya! 

Looking forward to the race!  Also looking forward to the taper!!!

D.J.

How do you know what wave you are in arlready? Also, I so posted that the Athtlete guide is posted...cant seem to find that either..

Thanks all

IUScott99
Both documents can be found on the home page
http://ironmanlonghorn.com/

So, we're apparently running down Quadzilla. Very interesting. We'll see how that turns out.

What goes down must come up. Yes, we're going down Quadzilla, but the run back up along the dam is a little longer (but not as steep), and will probably still hurt nicely on that second loop!

That reminds me,

About 1/3 of the run course is off-road. Its grass, packed dirt and in some places, bark mulch. If you like running Cross Country, you'll feel right at home. Watch your footing, especially on the downhills.

If you only like to run on pavement, you're going to have an interesting time!

I'll be headed down next Friday from Oklahoma City. I'm just hoping for a cooler day then we had in Branson at 95 and a bit less moutainess bike coarse. Thanks all for the info on the coarse.