IronMan Cozumel : Official Thread (Page 5)

For those IM Coz veterans and locals,  how easy is it going to be for my wife to go from the swim park back to town.  She usually waits until I get out of the water. Is there going to be shuttles or taxi services ?

getting more and more exited by the day !!!

THANK YOU for the HEADS UP!  I am a magnet for all things that bite!!! 

Mimir98 - 2011-09-30 5:34 AM 8 weeks to go!!!  Hope everyone is feeling good and getting ready for some fun

8 weeks?!?  When you put it like THAT, it doesn't seem like enough time to train!    Good luck with peak training!

I am getting excited! I had a good race at Rev3 full, did a two week recovery, and now I am back at it again training for cozumel.

Very excited! We are staying at Hotel Cozumel. I got our plane tickets, but I need  to book our tri bike transport.

It is going to be such a great race!

7 weeks of training, 1 week of tapper/travel.... I am getting exited and nervous at the same time.   The weather is getting colder around here so no more hot weather  training, oh well.

Bike is on track, run in on track, swim is behind a little... 

All the logistics are done and taken care of.  Just more training left to do...

awesome!  the body is pretty amazing, eh? 

We are currently 90 degrees, but only 48% humidity, down from the 87% this morning!  Cozumel checks in at 84 degrees, 70% humidity, down from 97% this morning!  

Glad you brought this up because I've been trying to get some advice on how best to deal with this situation (i.e. loop course where wind picks throughout the day).  Most feedback has been to ride the first lap easy to conserve energy (physical and mental) for the inevitable frustration as wind picks up.   Then be patient and not try to 'beat' the wind during the last two loops.  I've also decided to do most of my remaining time in saddle on the trainer to simulate the constant-pedalling nature of the flat course.  At first, my trainer time was more by necessity (worst heat wave/drought ever Texas), but now I think the mental battles on the trainer may be helpful prep for the inevitable headgames from riding long stretches in head/cross wind.  Not sure but we'll see.  I will probably throw my trainer off a canyon cliff when this is over

That is very interesting.

When I did Cozumel the first year the winds not only picked up, but they started to change!! Since I had mechanical issues and lost nearly 45 mins- 1 hr, my bike split was crazy slow and I was out there forever.  By my last loop the winds had changed- and instead of getting a super nice tailwind coming back into town it changed into a head/cross wind.  Talk about frustrating.  It was getting to a point to where I didn't get any help to make up from the headwind and cross winds that I had earlier on that lap.

Honestly, with that said I'd have to somewhat agree with the concept above.  Definitely don't go balls to the wall the first lap and turn your legs into rubber.  But if I had to do it all over again, I'd do whatever I needed to do to get as done as fast as I could without killing myself  

YIKES!!!   Sorry to hear that about your son  hope all is well now!  some things are just more important that Ironman...  You will be ok..maybe not as solid as you had hoped, but look what you just survived!  IM will be like a piece of cake  

I think it's interesting, too, but ultimately, I think that going really hard and trying to "beat the wind" on your bike is a bad idea.  An increasing wind will slow you down in the second and third loops, but it will slow you down even more if you have blown all of your reserves on the first lap.  And this is not even taking that pesky 26.2 mile run into account.    

For those who live in hilly areas (like my wife and me), a race on a flat, windy course can be a real challenge.  We're accustomed to changes in cadence and gearing, and we have trained ourselves to get out of the aero position from time to time in order to push up a hill or off a corner.  Pedaling non-stop, staying low, and maintaining a steady effort for the entire ride will be tough.  Doing a ride on a flat, windy course can be like riding on a course with a lot of uphills that require more effort and slow you down, yet no downhills for you to coast, recover, and still make up for lost time.

On a different note, is anyone planning on wearing a swimskin?  I'm a terrible swimmer, so I will probably get one in hopes that it will help me to go a little faster.  Any boost I can get . . . even if it's only a minute or two . . . is worth it for me on the swim.

Less than six weeks!!!  

Yeah, now I'm looking to just finish.  Next year will be my do-over.    See you on the island.

That gives me a lot of consolation, too.  I'm kinda counting on it, actually.