explanation of IMWI for spectators

I put together an e-mail to send to all of those who might be coming to watch me race but don't know anything about Ironman, and thought other people might want to borrow parts of it, the format, whatever. I hope all of the information is accurate. Here it is:
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The race starts at 7 a.m. on Sunday with a 2.4 swim in Lake Monona. The start is a sight to see, with 2000+ people swimming at the same time from the same start line in Lake Monona. If any of you are ambitious enough to try to watch the swim, I would recommend trying to be there for the start, which is generally described as a "washing machine" for the athletes. The best places to watch the swim are from the roof of Monona Terrace (if you want to take in the whole scene), and down by the shore (if you want to be close to the action). That being said, I wouldn't necessarily recommend trying to be there for the swim. Watching people swim for an hour plus is not the most exciting thing ever. Unless the water is choppy as hell, because then you can watch people get sea sick.

Projected swim time: 1:20-1:35 (Best guess 1:25)
Race time: 1:20-1:35
Clock time at exit: 8:20 a.m.-8:35 a.m. (Best guess 8:25 a.m.)

Once the athletes exit the swim on the shore of Lake Monona, we head to a pack of people called "peelers", lay on the ground, and get our wetsuits peeled off of us- the only time that is ever done for you in a triathlon. In previous years, this is where I have watched the race, as it's fun to watch people who are thrilled to just have made it out of the swim (like I will be if I don't drown), and fun to watch the peelers do their thing. If anyone is there in the morning, I would recommend watching the swim start, watching the swim for a little bit, and then heading over to where people leave the water to watch the peelers in action. Be warned, though- I have had a devil of a time the past two years trying to figure out how to get from the roof of the Terrace to where the peelers are at, which is by the lake on the East Side of the Terrace (that Terrace is like an M.C. Escher painting).

After getting wetsuits peeled, the athletes run up the parking "helix" and into the Monona Terrace to get changed for the bike. The helix is also a good place to watch, but you have to get there early and park your butt to get a spot.

No spectators allowed in the changing rooms. I'm taking my sweet time to get comfortable for the bike ride ahead, so I project the transition from the swim to the run to take about ten to fifteen minutes overall.

Once we get changed into bike gear, we head out to the rooftop parking area of the Terrace, grab our bikes, bike down the Helix and exit onto John Nolen Drive for the 112 mile bike ride. The bike course is often described as a "lollipop", in that we head out 16 miles (the "stick" of the lollipop) to a certain point in Verona, do the same 40 mile loop (which starts and ends at that same point, obviously) twice, and then back to Monona Terrace the way we came, for a total of 112 miles. The bike course goes through Fitchburg, Verona, Mt. Horeb, and Cross Plains, among other small towns.

There are two popular opportunities for spectating during the bike portion of the course: Verona (town), and Old Sauk road/Timber Lane (streets). For Verona, you can catch a bus from downtown Madison out to Verona (just ask around to figure out where to pick it up), which has a town festival and supposedly a lot of people that hang out and watch the race. I've heard that if the weather is all right, the fan support resembles what you see in the Tour de France with people lining the road (Main St.), though I don't know if that's an exaggeration. Main St. in Verona is about 55 and 95 miles into the ride (1st loop, 2nd loop). Old Sauk road/Timber lane is at about 45 and 85 miles, and are two of the steepest hills on the ride, which makes it interesting for spectators for three reasons: (1) people are going slower, so they don't just whizz by you, (2) you can yell at bikers to motivate them up the hill, even run alongside and yell at them if you are ambitious, and (3) it's fun to watch other people suffer. To get there from Madison by car, take the Beltline west to the Old Sauk road exit, take a left on Old Sauk Road, and take that until you hit Timber Lane, which will be the bike course. From there, you can walk to the hills.

Here is a Google map of the bike course:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=156377

I will provide a word of warning that the bike portion will be the hardest to watch. Watching from the same point on the loop, for instance, would mean that I will bike by once, and then again but not until over two hours later, and you probably won't even be able to tell that it's me until I'm past.

The festival in Verona might be fun, especially if the weather is nice.

Projected bike time: 6:00-6:45 (best guess is 6:30)
Race time: 7:30-8:30
Actual time: 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. (best guess is 3:05 p.m.)

Another caveat: the bike time is the hardest to predict. If the weather is nice, I feel good, and it's not windy, I could possible come in around 6 hours (though that's very ambitious for me). If it's windy, rainy, whatever, who knows.

After getting off the bike, we waddle into the Terrace again to change into our run gear. This one should only take me about 5 minutes.

If you are watching the race around the time that people are coming back into Monona Terrace (1 p.m.-6 p.m.) after the bike course, it is worth watching people get off of their bikes- the looks of agony you see as people try to run/walk after 5-8 hours on the bike are pretty funny.

We then head out of the Terrace and onto the run course, which is 2 loops of a 13.1 mile course. For anyone who wants to watch some of the race but doesn't want to spend 12 hours wandering around Southeast Wisconsin, the run course is your best bet. It's later in the day, it's by far the easiest to watch, you can watch the finish, and it's fun to watch people's agonized faces as they do the "Ironman shuffle", that mixture of running/walking that is unique to the Ironman. You can't quite get your legs to run, but have enough left in you to not walk. Anyway, the run course loops around downtown Madison and the UW campus (including State St., Camp Randall, Lakeshore Path, Breese Terrace), and has a lot of beautiful places to watch. I would recommend State St., because the race crosses State. St. multiple times and at different points, so you can walk around, enjoy State St., and decide where you want to watch the race.

Here is a map of the run course.
http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/run.html

Given that we run the course twice, and there are spots on the course that we run by in both the "out" and the "back" portions, you could pick one of these spots (Dayton St., University Ave, Breese Terrace, State St. by the capitol, etc.) and see the same person go by four times.

I realize that I was wrong in saying that the bike is the hardest to predict; the run time is equally hard, because it is the last "discipline" and I don't know how I'll feel. I hope to run a 3:45 marathon, but that's also pretty ambitious for me, and if I feel like crap, I'll take my time. Plus I want to finish in the dark, so even if I do great I may have to ease up a little bit to not finish before 7:20 p.m.

Projected run time: 3:45-5:00 (best guess 4:00)
Race time at finish: 11:20-13:05
Clock time at finish: 6:20-8:05 (best guess 7:10 p.m.)

If there is one thing to watch in this race, it is the finish -- which takes place on Martin Luther King Dr. right off of Capitol Square -- especially later in the day. People finishing earlier (first pro males will probably finish about 4 p.m.) in the race look strong so it's not as exciting. Later in the day, though, people really wear their hearts on their sleeves when they fnish, and it's inspiring to watch. Some people are clearly in agony, some people have already broken down and started crying as they cross the finish line, and a lot of people just look happy as hell. Stay until midnight and you'll really see something. Stay past midnight, and you'll feel for the people: can you imagine how it feels to have been racing for 17 hours and then technically not finish?

Another general word of caution: with the race going on, parking and driving on Sunday is a nightmare. Two years ago on race day I needed to drive from the Camp Randall side of campus to my apartment by the Capitol, and it took me about half an hour -- even though I know Madison well -- because so many roads were closed.

Also, people in the world of triathlon are notoriously friendly. Anytime I've been watching a race and wanted to figure something out, I just started asking the people around me. I've had only good experiences. Any questions on race day, ask your neighbor.