Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans : Official Thread

I'm in for year two, I loved this race last year and it was my first HIM. Training through Feb and March gets brutal, that's the only downside. I did a 4:45:00 trainer ride while it snowed for my final long ride. Sucked! But the French Quarter finish made it all worthwhile, it was by far the most spectacular race finish ever and only pales in comparison to an Mdot IM. You'll love it!!

Four hours is a long time. I can usually do about an hour or so and then mentally I break down. Think that will be the toughest part is just getting over that! Going to try and hit a nice long ride Saturday. Other than my nutrition (which i need to get down) so far so good. 

How much are hotels, etc usually priced down there. Met a few Florida fans that were staying in the Holiday Inn right next to the French Quarter and it was about 150 a night. Really, trying to decide if booking a hotel near the airport or farther away out of the city.

LazyMarathoner -

Mental toughness, much?? Maybe once -- maybe -- I hit 3 hours on the trainer. But thinking about it, I'm probably rounding a 2:32 trainer ride up to the closest full hour!

ddel65 -

For me, living in eastern Ontario, long winter rides indoors are essential. I can usually brave outside rides starting in mid-March, but that is really catch-as-catch-can; there are no guarantees at all that it will be possible.

This will be my 11th season of multisport, and N.O. will be my earliest race, ever. To get ready for it, I will put in a lot of hours of a combination of fluid trainer, CompuTrainer, and rollers. But seeing as how I'm hoping for a 2:45 or lsightly less bike at N.O., I will keep my indoor rides under 2:30 -- unless on a given day I am feeling especially frisky! And, really, I would say that a 2:30 would be a huge exception, maybe looking at 2:00-2:15 two or three times, and then hope to hit the rides for a couple of long rides in early April.

The fluid trainer is my go-to machine, easily placed close to the TV. But it is a slippery slope to getting lazy on the trainer, just kind of mindlessly churning out the "mileage" with a junk-mile effort. When Troy Jacobson (Spinervals drill sargeant) is barking at me, I can get more serious.

The CompuTrianer is great for serious discipline, but the computer is in a depressing room and it takes a good deal of commitment to get me to report there regularly.

As for the rollers, I LOVE using them on occasion, and when I'm feeling masochistic I will set out to do somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes. The challenge with this is to be fully alert at all times, and to keep the cadence high. There is really no slack time for rollers, but the limitations come from not being able to effectively get out of the saddle, and it is tough to do drills on them. But they are GREAT for tough-gearing/high-cadence work, which forces me to go to a fairly uncomfortable place! Oh, joy!

Sessions Ratio (trainer:CT:rollers) -- 6:1:1

I've been commuting on my bike 12 miles every morning for swim workouts. Well up until two weeks ago, when I got thrown on a differant shift at work, but to be honest i'm thinking of just getting a Michelin man jacket, my north face gloves and a baklava and as long as it's above 35 - 40 degrees think i'm going to keep commuting on my mountain bike. Dunno, i'll be able to keep up with it, but last year we trained outside from January - March on bike trails last year. It sucked but was tolerable.   

Will be my first HIM.  Combo of trainer and road rides.  One of the advantages of living in the south as the winters aren't that bad (especially compared to WI where we lived for 10 yrs).  I don't mind the trainer and have done a couple of one hour rides.  My training plan doesnt start until the end of Nov, after my 1/2 mary.

It took a heavy dose of HTFU for sure but when it's snowing there isn't much choice. I had to do about 3-4 really long trainer rides, usually 2.5-3ish hours, the 4:45 was the longest and hardest. Not easy!

There were decent rates at the official hotels last year, around 140/night. No need to stay out by the airport. The race logistics are challenging so the closer you are to the buses and other activities, the easier it will be for you.

This will be my first test. Training plan says 1.5 hrs on the bike with moderate hills. Getting off work at 3:00 am and going to be under 40 degrees outside. Have about a 3 mile bike loop at work, see if I actually get all the time in tonight after work. Under Armour cold gear will get a nice test . 

Has anyone/everyone seen the course changes? I just discovered them this morning; I haven't been to the website for a few weeks, so they might be kind of old.

The swim change is significant, and should please everybody. The bike change is minor, just replacing the initial out-and-back on Lakeshore with one later on Chef Menteur. The run change is fairly substantial, with nothing along Lakeshore, but instead a tour up and back on the west side of the golf course, and a zig-zag west on Dauphine and then back east on Bourbon before the finish. I can handle this, but loved the idea of the long, straight run-in on Esplanade before that final turn on Decatur.

LazyMarathoner, who did the race last year -- What do you make of these changes?

Even though the new course maps are up, the course descriptions pertain to last year's routes. I think this makes me feel a sense of vertigo; I hope they update the descriptions soon!!

Posted from the Bear. 



Would really like a point to point swim but can understand why they would change it also. Think i'm more excited about the closed course than anything? 3000 racers how crowded does it get on the bike course? 

I'm in for year two. I may try to make this an annual event. I also have to say that the finish in the FQ was second-to-none, but I've yet to do an M-Dot IM.

Hotels aren't too bad. Last year the French Quarter hotels with a balcony was about $150 a night. I would highly recommend renting a car while down there, at least for race day. You'll probably end up saving money because cabs from the airport to downtown or the FQ are ridiculously expensive and they charge you extra for carrying your bike box.

The downtown area where the expo was last year was more my speed with loungy wine bars and more low-key drinking establishments. I'm not huge on drunk tourists. Though the `Huge-A$$ Beer' for $5 was cool.

Except for not being a point-2-point swim the changes seem good to me.  Eliminates the busing issue I read about.  I have read a ton of RR's and the only complaints on the ride seemed to be aimed at the lack of gatorade, etc on the ride.

FYI, the local Tri group in Baton Rouge that I belong to has a short thread on NOLA and the new changes.  The folks that have done the race before seem to be in favor of the changes.

As for hotels, Tony, you obviously avoided Bourbon street late night if you don't like drunk tourists .  Actually there are a few good restaurants on Bourbon street that aren't usually filled with the drunk tourists.  One usually has a great dixie land band. 

Ha I did! Mostly I just sat on my balcony post-race with a glass, a bottle of whisky and a bucket of ice and watched the goings-on from my ivory tower.

Yeah the bussing issue was funny last year. We walked to the start (1.2 miles, obviously) and everybody chatted. I saw something in the water and asked what it was. Of course a couple of locals said it was a gator, but others assured me it was a river rat. I'm not so sure, though.

Hear that if you turn in the tails of the Nutria you get 5 dollars per. Might be something if you want recoop some of the costs.

Actually looking good found flights to NOLA for under 100 bucks out of CVG and found Hotels in the Garden District for under 100 a night also. It's a great city though, and the Piano Bar at Pat O'briens seemed to be nice and low key place. Just need to make sure to stay away from Bodan Balls, Raising Canes and other Cajun food pre race. Tapering I usually eat like a hormonal elephant so that could be a problem with the food selection down there . Actually very pumped for this race, and had such a good time last time I went for vacation, can't wait to go back.

I'm going to try and make a google streetview of the course when I get home.   

Ironman NO Bike 70.3 - Mapmyride 1 
Ironman NO Bike 70.3 - Mapmyride
Ironman Bike - BT
Ironman Run - Map My Run
Ironman New Orleans Vids
Course Maps

Event Schedule

Shuttle Buses 

Edited by thomas1999 2009-11-10 1:01 AM

Ok, I am in for Round 2. Loved this race last year, just signed up for this year. Time to crank up the training, hope to meet you all in April. Happy Training!!

how are the road conditions for the bike portion of this race? I have read that the roads are completely closed off from cars? Is that true? Thats incredible! Finally, is the wind a factor? If so, is the wind always consistent on those roads around that time of year?

Last year the wind was a big-time BEEYOTCH on the way back. Make for a really crappy 30 or so miles. It happens. The roads are pretty nice, if I recall. Part of it was on an interstate they shut down for the race, and most of the rest was out in the country on closed roads. Super nice. I dont recall the roads being rough -- I just remember that wind.

Oh and the course if very flat. Except that one bridge sucked.