LongHorn Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Festival : Official Thread (Page 9)

This bike course is pretty much flat. (Really, sorry, I laughed at whoever said it was hilly). Vineman has real hills. And lots of them :-)

Its all a matter of perspective, right? If you grew up and trained only in the Houston, TX area, Austin is hilly. If you train anywhere else in TX, you don't know what flat is.

Look at the course elevation for Lonestar Galveston. That is flat.





Edited by GregInAustin 2010-10-20 11:01 AM

Well of course it's all relative. The point being, to compare Austin and Vineman, one has to look at Austin as flat to even understand the kinds of climbs on the other course (and for *cyclists* out here, as opposed to triathletes, it's more like rolly with a couple cute hills, but they also think nothing of 6000 feet of climbing on an easy 50 mile ride day). My friends that came out to do Vineman from other parts of the country this year described it as a highly technical course - for us it's normal Bay Area riding but for East Coasters it was much more twisty-turny and steep than they are used to. Hope that helps provide some basis for comparison.

I had a blast in Austin at my first 70.3! Goal time: 5:30 / Actual Finish Time: 5:30:06. How's that for pacing?!

Already looking at 70.3 races for next year.

Well I am slow, so the turny part isn't an issue.  I live in So. AZ and my long rides have had total climbs of 2000 - 3000'.  I know Chalk Hill is about 400'.  I have a hill I ride that is 700' in 3 miles.  I guess I could do repeats of that.  And I would have almost a year to continue to train the bike.

I need a HIM that is "driving distance" so that limits the opportunities, and I really don't wan't to do Soma in Tempe since I swim there for other events.

Yep, you live somewhere with enough climbing that you'd be good, plus the heat probably wouldn't bother you if it's one of the infamous hot years. It's a beautiful course! What's NOT talked about as often is that the run is also very hilly, so train some hills there as well!

Just put my 2011 HIM collection together to get framed this week. It looks nice with my tri top and my 2 HIM race medals/Numbers/pictures. Happy to have Longhorn 70.3 as part of the collection!

Edited by Stickyrunner01 2010-10-20 3:53 PM

You are right about the heat not being an issue for me, and I run hills almost every week.  Plus I have family in No. Cal who might show up to spectate.

I may sign up as soon as it opens, but still have some time to look at other options.