Ironman St. George : Official Thread (Page 9)

Just a word of warning.  When I do a race the conditions are terrible.  I'm anticipating the worst.  I want to fly to Vegas next month and drive over and do a quick loop or two. 

i see that times are slower due to the hard course if your a 12hr finsher on a flat course what saught of ball park would you say for a stgeorge finsh

Hey Pbman! Thanks for the ride info and tips.

I got a little cold on the way back to St George.
Shifted gears and decided to make it a "Brick" day instead; went for a trail run up at the Barrel Roll. WAY more fun.
I'll do the double looper when I come back thru in March.

That headwind man... I hope on race day its a little more forgiving.

I'm thinking of renting wheels and was wondering if anyone has experience with renting. This is my first Ironman and I'm just a tad nervous to try something new (I'm plenty nervous on several other levels as it is). There is Ironwheels.com and racedaywheels.com. I'd appreciate any feedback on the different companies and also a suggestion on the choice of wheels (thinking 808 front and back, but that is a beginner talking, 'essentially throwing a dart at a dart board').

One last thing (for now, I'm sure) .... earlier in the thread it seems alot of people are swapping out their cassettes.... is a 25-11 too aggressive? (From what I gather bryancd may be the goto guy on these questions) Any help would be nice.

Ok ladies and gentlemen, I am in. My original plan for 2012 was to do Arizona, but the darn entry form gave me the dreaded message it was full just as I was entering my credit card expiration date. I was THAT close (imagine image of two fingers so close together they are almost touching)! Ugh.

Before signing up for St. George, I wanted to make sure I could continue solid training and I would decide at the beginning of the year.  Well, I've had probably the best biking month I've ever had in terms of quality and perhaps second best in volume. I have lost weight during December instead of gaining it and I'm feeling terrific so it was time to take the plunge.

This will be IM #2 for me following CdA last year. I had a nasty ankle injury while training for that one so I was in pure "just finish" mode. Even though St. George is a tough course, I'm definitely aiming for a multi-hour improvement over last year. Plus it'll be my first year in a new age group (45) so I'll have to try to make a decent showing.

Happy training!
Brad 

Swam my Pacific Ocean Open Water workout yesterday- 58 degrees- forgot my swim cap!!  Guaranteed if you see me on Race morning I will happily be wearing a cap!!

Eric

Just curious how everyone's training is coming along at this point? 118 days out!

The weather is in the upper 60s here today so I got a chance to get out for a long ride and hit some hills for the first time in a while.

Hope everyone's training is going well!

Ryan

Upper 60s? No fair! Count me as envious. I think I'll be on the trainer for almost all of IMSG training since we're in our steady 4-month rain phase here in the PNW.

Training is going well for me. I did the Spinervals Challenge in December that Troy Jacobson put together. Very hard, but it was 826 trainer miles (including a century on the last day) and my fitness gains and weight loss were terrific. Running is going well with lots of base miles over the last two+ months. Just had my first relatively fast run in a long time and that felt good. I do have to get in the pool more often though. That's always my Achilles Heal. 

Cheers,
Brad

Maybe I can help.  I use Race Day Wheels, absolutely great service and perfect wheels.  For IMSG remember we will likely have some wind to challenge us.  My plan is to rent 404 in the front and a disk in the back, both will be tublars.  That combo can be tricky in the wind, but I'm comfortable with it.

Special needs will likely be handed to you, it's your job then to restock and leave the bag at the same location

Good Luck

Ok,

Thank you. So do you have the race wheels sent to your home or do you have them put on once you arrive? I am comfortable on the bike at both high speeds and high winds, but since I have never used a disk would you be nervous about trying that for the first time on race day?

I can't help you with the wheels since I haven't rented them before either. With special needs bags, I actually stopped to put stuff into the bike one at CdA last year. I knew the water would be cold and I didn't want to be freezing the first half of the bike so I stopped at the bike S/N about halfway through, straddled the bike while a volunteer held my bike steady and helped open the bag on top of my aerobars. I took off my arm warmers and some light gloves, put them in the bag and off I went. Plus the brief stop just felt good. Really great volunteer. For the run one, I only put in something I figured I might want that wasn't otherwise available on the course. So I put in a Snickers bar. I only ate half of it, but man, that was the best Snickers I have ever had.

Cheers,
Brad