Ironman 70.3 Muncie : Official Thread (Page 9)

I have to say I am a little ticked about this too. I trained my you know what off for this. I didn't do 70+ miles of intervals or run descending 13 mile workouts to race 37.1 miles. We drove from NJ (My wife has family out here so at least we didn't have to pay for a hotel and my son gets time with his cousins) 11+ hours. I could have done Rhode Island 70.3. I could have done a local sprint. I could have done the Philly olympic last weekend. I gave up almost all my other regular tris so far this year to prepare for this race. I understand they are concerned with the heat but give us a choice of what distance we want to do. It's been hot and humid at Eagleman the past three years and I know people who have done it each time. That race hasn't been shortened. I am a bit angry and bummed out. I guess I will just have to take my anger out on the course tomorrow. 

p.s. This is a WTC race, meaning the chance of us getting anything in terms of $$ or credit is going to be very small or very little $$$

Finished in 3:28. Great swim and bike, the run was what it was. HOT and lots of walkers. GREAT course management by the Muncie gang, water and ice were everywhere. Bless you if you helped out with the race!

The bike course IS as mentioned: FAST. I couldnt keep up with the fancy bikes, but my old reliable handled the course well.

I will second making lemonade out of lemons. I trained hard in the heat as alot, no all, but alot of us did. This was to be my second 70.3 but it is what it is. That being said, I was a little disappointed in my swim, BUT, someone with a gps told me it was actually 1.1 m not 1m.

So I decided to see how fast I could go on the bike and not walk the finish. I did the fastest bike I ever have at 21.2 avg, second to 19.8 last month at an olympic. I was pumped, I didnt walk the run and thanked everyone. I was excited to be there and the volunteers were awesome. If anyone saw me I was the one saying "isn't this weather great for December" and singing Christmas songs. I had a blast with many runners and eventhough I am really disappointed, in my heart I know I would have had a great 70.3 and had a great time anyway.

I may register for steelhead or Timberman. Looking to make a long vacation out of it.

Just got home a little while ago.

I have to say a huge THANK YOU!!! to the volunteer that couldn't get the ice to me quick enough at mile 3.5 on the run due to a big crowd of runners.

I didn't stop and figured i'd get some ice at the next aid station.  I'm running along sub 7:00mm pace and next thing I know this guy jogs up next to me with a baggie of ice cubes and says "I haven't missed a handoff yet today and I don't plan on missing any!"  Awesome.

Great support out there on the course today.  Tons of drinks and volunteers on the bike course.  And, what can I say about the run... there were aid stations everywhere.  At least every half mile if not more, and they had icy sponges, ice water, ice cubes, gatorade, and some had pretzels, soda, bananas, and gu.  The sponges and ice were HUGE!!!  Strategically placed icy sponges and ice cubes down the tri shorts and top really saved the day for me.

All in all, I had a good time.  Obviously, like everyone else, I wish it would have been 70.3 miles.  But at the end of the day we can't control the weather and I can understand the liability of putting people out on the course in 105 degree heat for the full 8.5 hour cutoff.  Things could have gotten ugly.  As it was, I still saw one person being removed on a stretcher and the ambulance taking people away from the race site.  Also talked to a guy that was next to me in transition who ended up having to get 3 bags of IV fluids after the race.

Finished in 3:12 today.  Good swim (28min), decent bike (1:33) and a deliberate slow run (1:01).  I agree that the swim seemed probably a little longer than a mile, I wonder if they even bothered to change it.  The bike felt good and I was able to pace myself at 19mph which is good for me.  It still amazes me to see people on the bike passing me like I'm standing still, very impressive!!  Goal on the run was to not walk and run comfortable which is what it did.  Felt very good after, wished they had a little better food spread though.

I wished it would have been the full race but I'm filing this away as one of those things I have no control over so I'm not going to worry about it.  I'm just happy I'm healthy enough to be out there.  Congrats to all who finished, it was a hot one!!

Couple of reflection from my MUncie 37.x experience.  I too like most was pretty upset Friday night and Saturday morning about the change.  WIth my day job being in corporate America, I couldn't help but think of ONE thing aside from all our dissapointments:  PRECEDENT SETTING.  It would seem to me that IRONMAN now just set a precedent on any and all future IM races where the heat/heat index reaches what ever temp was experienced during the race yesterday.  In the briefing, they specifically stated that due to these temps and "FORECASTED" temps/indexes that the race was being shorted for SAFETY.  Looking forward, if IM ever allows a race to go on full distance where the conditions meet or exceed what was recorded in Muncie yesterday and some athlete goes down with serious issues, well then...any attorney worth their salt could be all over that.  Just sayin....

Finally on the corporate front - the discount for the races offered is a great case study on why REV3 will continue to grow - complete disregard on how to serve the customer's best interest on IM's part will allow competitors to jump and seize upon those things if they ever encounter them in the future.  I did REV3 Cedar Point last year and now having personal experience on both brands, REV3 is/will continue to grow as a worthy competitor.  I don't have a dog in either's camp, but that discount disgrace really shows a complete lack of appreciation for the customer.

Moving on,

First - Volunteers where friggin awesome -left a very positive experience of the community support

Muncie was to be my learning race for IMKY which is my goal this year.  By race time, i had let the frustrations go and just enjoyed the race.  I echo what many said about the swim, man that felt long.

If i ever need a ego boost for my spectacular average biking skills I think i will make the road trip to muncie and ride that course.  Optical illusion? Downhill both ways?  I don't know, but that was the fastest 30 miles ive ever clocked.  

FInally, experienced my first hint of dehydration at mile 4.5 on the run.  Weird, all of a sudden i felt my hands nice and cool and DRY - looked down and my entire arms were bone dry and i got a little chilly.  I think i was so busy pouring water on me, i forgot to drink enough of it.  Great learning experience for me even though i had to walk until that big hill just before the finish.

I hope IM reconsiders and offers us the discount for next years, but i can't see that happening as almost everyone would take them up on it and make that a negative profit for IM Muncie next year.  I think / hope i can come back next year to just say i completed it for the entire distance.

On a personal note, I'm more bummed that i have to get about 3 hours training in today to make up for yesterday  was hoping to enjoy a day at the beach and big ole Reeses Blizzard!

I was initially pretty upset about the decision, due in large part to the poor delivery of the bad news by the race director at the 2:00 briefing.  While I'm still very disappointed I didn't get to complete the full 70.3 distance, I do think it was the right decision. The (awesome) volunteers weren't prepared for the heat. There were a BUNCH of first-time triathletes there, and I'm positive some of them weren't even prepared for the 70.3 distance, much less the heat.  ("Running a 5k was your race prep???")  While I'm quite certain my hottest-part-of-the-day training over the past month prepared me for the heat, perhaps it didn't. No race is worth someone's life.

The offer of a discount of for other events is kinda lame, and I won't use it, but I can't identify a more fair alternative for both the participants and WTC.  Having said that, I have no strong desire to enter another Ironman event. I can do a Muncie Multisport event and skip all the event logistics associated with Ironman, such as: meetings the day before race day, no on-site registration, having to get a nearby hotel for the night before, the early opening/closing of transition, the long wait before my swim start, the high expense, etc.  The larger field and the pro athletes was OK, but not a big enough benefit to outweigh the negatives.  The biggest plus for me was there being ice at every aid station. Having ice during the run was awesome.  That alone was worth the higher cost admission.