Ironman 70.3 Kansas : Official Thread (Page 8)

I'm not familiar with the area, but I did see this in the athlete guide from last year.  So it looks like you can swim from the beach

Pre-Event Swim Advisement
The majority of our events are held in locations 
where the swim course utilizes a body of water that 
is open to the general public for swimming, boating 
and other recreational and commercial activities. 
Ironman wishes to caution all participants that 
it does not provide lifeguard services prior to the 
event, and that all participants who swim prior to 
race day will do so at their own risk.
Athletes mAy Not swim the swim course prior
to race day. there will Not be a pre-event swim
at the boat dock. Athletes wishing to swim prior
to race day may do so at the public swimming
beach located at bloomington beach at Clinton
Lake.

I don't know the answer, but I think it depends on your overall conditioning and how long the ride is.  My plan has me doing a 2 hour bike this Friday and another 1 hour bike on Monday, plus some run/swim mixed in there.

Omahabritt - 2012-05-28 7:37 PM I crashed today!! So I was out for an easy ride w/some friends in prep for an adventure race next Saturday. I was was turning around to talk (we were going slow) and I went off the trail into the grass. No big deal, done it lots of times before. The grass was long so I underestimated the size of the concrete lip, and went down landing on my chin. My teeth went through my lip (about a inch on the inside, & 1/4 inch on the outside-so all the way through) & I scratched up my chin pretty good. The amazing thing is I'm not sore or scraped anywhere else! Granted my lip is the size and resembles a bratwurst, I have 4 stitches in my mouth & am on 2 antibiotics. My 1st question to the Dr..."I've got a HIM in 2 weeks, when can I run, get on the bike, & get in the pool?"

Holy smokes, that sucks.  I think every time I've ever had anything bad happen to me on the bike it was when I turned around.

Hopefully the Doc had good news for you.  

Omahabritt - 2012-05-28 7:37 PM I crashed today!! So I was out for an easy ride w/some friends in prep for an adventure race next Saturday. I was was turning around to talk (we were going slow) and I went off the trail into the grass. No big deal, done it lots of times before. The grass was long so I underestimated the size of the concrete lip, and went down landing on my chin. My teeth went through my lip (about a inch on the inside, & 1/4 inch on the outside-so all the way through) & I scratched up my chin pretty good. The amazing thing is I'm not sore or scraped anywhere else! Granted my lip is the size and resembles a bratwurst, I have 4 stitches in my mouth & am on 2 antibiotics. My 1st question to the Dr..."I've got a HIM in 2 weeks, when can I run, get on the bike, & get in the pool?"

Oh no!! Well better that this happened at the beginning of taper than in the middle of training? Maybe?

I had my last long ride and run this weekend. Hot out at 90ish degrees both times. Good race prep, but I sure am not acclimated yet.

I had my last long ride on Sunday.  Went out with some friends who wanted to do a Century ride.  We were a pretty fast group so i figured it would take us 5 or so hours of riding with a few stops.

Silly me, they picked a route that had around 5000 ft. of elevation change the first 40 miles and with the 20mph winds (35mph gusts) we ended up spending the final 40 miles heading directly back into the wind.  Oh yeah, and 95 degree heat.  All in all we were riding for 6 hours.  I was starting to feel some heat exhaustion at the very end.  it was a good test of my nutrition strategy though.  

I'm going to struggle with this taper.  I don't like not working out.  

My plan has me taking two days off this week, but I think i'll still do light runs or bikes on those days.  (don't tell)

Thanks for that information Tony.  Lake Michigan is still very cold here and even our smaller lakes are either too cold or not open for swimming until this weekend.  Someone earlier had posted a link to Clinton Lakes information and the water temp is 73!  That is lovely!

Amy

Is anyone interested in a BT gathering? Pre-race usually seems to work out best. 

We could meet up sometime Saturday for a meet and greet? Or head into town for dinner? Or just chill at someone's camp site after dinner?

I'm rolling solo so was hoping to see some friendly faces

I was kind of hoping we'd have some kind of get together so I could meet some of you guys.  We're bringing the RV down Friday during the day so I'm good with Friday night or Saturday night.  I'll be making waffles Saturday night, it's my traditional night before race fuel.  lol

We're only driving the RV down and I don't have a way to get to town so I'll offer up our campsite as a meeting place. (Site P139 Campground #3) 

FYI... 

I am getting word that the lake is 76 to 78 deg. This swim may not be wetsuit legal.

It registered today at 78 degrees.  There will be cooler temps here in the middle of this week, but I think it heats back up quickly.... I'm not counting on a wetsuit legal race right now, unless we get a ton of rain.

I'm up for dinner in Lawrence or just hanging around someone's campsite. I'll more than likely be camping solo (another friend/triathlete may join me).

I might normally agree with you, but two years ago(?) the water was announced to be 81 degrees on Saturday. The next morning it was wetsuit legal. It seems they found a spot somewhere in the lake that was 0.1 under the wetsuit cutoff.

Yeah that was awesome. They made such a hub-bub over the intercom that it was 81 degrees (so much batching and whining from the athletes! Threats to just drive home right then and now! Hilarious.) and then all of the legal speed suits at the expo sold like hot cakes. Then, magically, the temp was legal in the morning. Hmmmm 

Bring it either way, is my motto.

I remember last year at the Hy Vee 5150 championship in Des Moines the water was 84 degrees the day before the race.  They even said in the pre race meeting that there's no way it will be wetsuit legal.  Then the next morning it was wetsuit legal and half the people left their wetsuits at the hotel.  There was some serious raging going on.

I'd prefer wetsuit legal just because I'd like to hit a goal time more than I care about what place I get.  But, if its wetsuit legal I'd probably swim better than more people in my AG so I'm ok either way.

heading down on thursday, campsite 54, would love to see some other BT people. I may be crazy but did the bike profile change, from just a few days ago?

Also for those that have done this race before, does the wind blow in one direction over the other. It's been really windy up in IA, and really hoping we luck out with only a little wind, come race day.

First HIM, glad to be doing it will you all.

Lawrence will be a less than 10-minute drive to the lake.
Topeka will be more like a half hour. 

Not sure on race morning traffic as I've been camping most years.