LongHorn Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Festival : Official Thread (Page 2)

I did my first 56 mile ride yesterday.  My garmin showed me climbing almost 1600' (plus I live above 4500').  Most maps I see show between 1000 - 1300' for this race.  I rode with a friend and had to wait at the top of a couple of hills, and we took a short break to stretch at about the 30 mile point.  Finished the ride in 3:58:25, which is under my race goal of 4 hours.  Then did a 20 minute run and felt fine.  This is my first HIM and I am beginning to feel like I can really do it.  My only goal is to finish in the allotted time and until yesterday I wasn't sure I could make the bike cutoff time.

How is your training going?

Sounds like you're doing great!  Keep it up.

My training is going fairly well - I need to get more time on the bike.  For the moment though I'm on a business trip so it's just a run today for me.

Does anyone know if wetsuits were allowed last year? 

They were, yes.

Great, I noticed on their site that it would depend on water temperature.  I guess I will keep my fingers crossed.  It will be a little hard to explain to my wife why I have a pretty new wetsuit hanging in the closet!

It's been unusually hot this summer, so the Lake might remain on the upper side of the legal 78 degrees. Godd news? everybody gets to do it without a wetsuit...

Don't forget that as of Sept. 1, 2010, WTC is changing the wetsuit cutoff from 78 down to 76.1. 

If the water temp is between 76.1 and 83.8, you have a choice.  You can wear a wetsuit, and get an official finish, but you can't qualify for age group awards, a Clearwater slot, or year-end USAT points.

Just wanted to make sure you're not surprised on race weekend.

Can you confirm the total elevation gains for the bike ride or any info on some of the hills? I am doing my first 70.3 this weekend (Timberman) which is about 3400ft of total elevation gain, and one killer hill, and I will be in Austin race weekend for a wedding, so I am thinking wedding Saturday (not mine) and Race Sunday...

.. Yes you can see this plan seriously becoming a cluster #%& very quickly...

I saw some maps, maybe 2008 or 2009 that showed about 1000 ft of climbing (997 to be exact) and then found another that said 2700 feet and said about 8 miles of climbing, 10 miles of descents and 37 miles of flat. Also showed average ascent at 2% with max of 16% (Quadzilla????)

Any recon info is appreciated.

2008 & 2009 had somewhat different routes.  2008 had Quadzilla(and one other similar hill) at the end, '09 did not.  I'd say most of the route each year is 'rolling' hills w/ flats mixed in.  It's nothing too serious, I live in Dallas where our hills are overpasses & was able to make it through the routes fairly well with a decent amount of hill repeats.

The temperature in that lake doesn't vary all that much, what with the power plant using the water.  I'd say with the USAT temp dropping, it's considerably less likely that it will be wetsuit legal.  Keith will do his best to make it wetsuit legal though.

I'm probably just going to do it in a DeSoto Liftfoil anyhow.  I'd prefer a wetsuit but the economics of it might not make it practical for me to get BOTH the Liftfoil and the wetsuit especially since I don't have any other likely wetsuit-legal races on my schedule at the moment.
 

Beware - WTC is changing their rules on wetsuits and swimskins as of September 1st, and the Liftfoil may become illegal for all 70.3 and IM races.  (Just checked DeSoto's site.  It says that it's still OK for all of your other USAT races, but won't be for WTC races like Longhorn.)

 

I'm in for this race as well - had to find a replacement for SOMA becoming a duathlon, so Austin here I come! Now to cross my fingers about this whole wetsuit thing :-)

Hmm...I'd better confirm with Emilio then.  I thought he said there was a version of the Liftfoil that WOULD be legal under the new rules.  Perhaps I misunderstood him.

Thanks for the heads-up.

I'm pretty curious if Keith will leave the course the same as last year or go back to including Quadzilla. It was excluded last year because of the severe drought that made the ground uneven and unsafe.

Granted the course map still shows last year's route, but Keith has also probably been pretty busy. Timberman just happened and he's dealing with all of the IMTX logistics, not to mention he's got Memorial Hermann happening in between, oh yeah, and the Seawall running races in Galveston!

How's everyone's training going? I ask that mostly so I can brag about the fact that mine is going fantastic and I'm freaking thrilled with how well I've been doing. I've been more focused and consistent the last 6 weeks than any race I've ever done, including my two IMs. My PR for this course is from 2 years ago at 4:55, but that was with a short swim. I fully intend to beat that time this year.

Speaking of training, it's almost cool enough to head the track for tonight's run workout.

Edited by dgunthert 2010-08-27 6:52 PM

I just biked 56 miles this morning, on legs tired from a hard 12 mile run yesterday. This is my first 70.3 so I feel pretty proud of getting the bike distance in .  Talked with my coach today, he's going to start moving up the distance a bit and make it a brick next time. I'm thinking once that's overwith I'll feel confident about my ability to do this thing after all.

Heather

If you're doing 56-milers with 7 weeks to go, you'll be ready!

My first 70.3 too.  And I ran a 10K yesterday on a hilly dirt course.  It was my second fastest race at this distance in the 4 years I have been running.  I guess all the biking is paying off on the running as well.

Thank you Dennis!! It's good to hear someone say that!

Heather

Is the run on dirt, pavement or concrete? I'm trying to choose my shoes...

Registered and ready to rock!  I've heard nothing but great things about this event.

Mostly roads (asphalt?), though I think there are some patches of dirt here and there.
 

If they have Quadzilla, you're going to have a few miles of dirt.  If it's the route from last year(and it looks like the course map is the same) then it's almost all pavement.

Just over 6 weeks to go.  This upcomming weekend I'll be at the Disneyland 1/2 (just for fun and getting pictures with characters).  In the following weeks I plan to get in at least 2 more 60+ rides.  This is longer in time than my plan, but I know I need the time in the saddle. The other weekends my plan calls for bikes of 2.5 hours as bricks of either swim/bike or bike/run.  Since biking is my week sport, would I be better off to throw in another 60 miler, or should I stick with the shorter rides with other workouts?  This is my first HIM and I know the bike will take me around 4 hours.