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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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As others have said, it all depends on how much contact you are comfortable with. I am a lousy swimmer, but I have no problem with the bumping and thumping (even though I am pretty small), so I started front and center. The draft effect of everyone swimming past me really helped pull me along. I swam 1:37, which may not sound like much, but it was 20 minutes faster than I expected to swim. I credit that largely to the draft from starting at the front. If I had started at the back I would have been swimming alone in short order and not gotten nearly the benefit. With the bottleneck at the swim start at Canada, you will be waiting a bit to start if you want to start at the back.

Incidentally, you picked a hell of a race for your first one. Penticton is the best course/town/crowd/start/finish I could even imagine. I love that race and look forward to going back again. You will have a blast.


__________________________________________________
The plural of anecdote is not data. :-)
- Andrew Coggan
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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If you read a hundred ironman race reports, you will probably have over ninety of them say something like - "I was happy with my bike split but could not hold it together on the run."

What you will almost never read is "I wish I had gone harder on the bike". If you go easy enough on the bike that you can honestly say "I wish I had gone harder on the bike", your race report will really stand out.

Most of the people who write those reports knew that they had to pace the bike conservatively and thought they were.

It seems to be nearly impossible for most people to go as slow as they should on the bike in order to have a good run.

Grant

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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CCF] [ In reply to ]
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CCF wrote:
Micawber wrote:
The only thing I'd add is to avoid finishing the swim too far to the left. There are lots of larger stones near the shore that make very uncomfortable footing out that way.


Ahh, excellent, that's the info I was looking for. This will be my third IMC, and each of the two previous times I've finished with 1+ min of stumbling over large rocks in knee deep water trying to get to shore. I just assumed that they were everywhere. I swam 58:09 last year and thought I really had a chance of sub 57 without the rocks. How far inside should you go to avoid them? I'll definitely go check it out before the race last year. As I said, I never did before because I figured they were everywhere!

-Colin
Sorry if I mislead you. I've only done the event twice myself and since I usually swim wide of the crowds, and hit the rocks, I just assumed there must be better footing nearer the beach side of the finish. It should be worth a try anyway. I'm sure someone on here could comment. Good Luck!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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I've done this race the last few years and lined up front and center in the swim both times. I don't think there was any more or less contact than Coeur d'Alene, Arizona or Florida. That said, based on the photo below from last year's start, I'd probably line up on the far right if I was going back this year. They don't care which side of the outbound buoys you are on as long as you make the turn around the houseboat at the end.



Good luck and have fun!

Craig
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [Micawber] [ In reply to ]
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Micawber wrote:
CCF wrote:
Micawber wrote:
The only thing I'd add is to avoid finishing the swim too far to the left. There are lots of larger stones near the shore that make very uncomfortable footing out that way.


Ahh, excellent, that's the info I was looking for. This will be my third IMC, and each of the two previous times I've finished with 1+ min of stumbling over large rocks in knee deep water trying to get to shore. I just assumed that they were everywhere. I swam 58:09 last year and thought I really had a chance of sub 57 without the rocks. How far inside should you go to avoid them? I'll definitely go check it out before the race last year. As I said, I never did before because I figured they were everywhere!

-Colin

Sorry if I mislead you. I've only done the event twice myself and since I usually swim wide of the crowds, and hit the rocks, I just assumed there must be better footing nearer the beach side of the finish. It should be worth a try anyway. I'm sure someone on here could comment. Good Luck!

I did IMC last year for the first time and swam to the right of all the people standing up at the end. I ended up swimming almost until I was parallel to the exit banner, then stood up and quickly made my way onto the mat. I don't remember very many rocks in that section at all. It definitely saved time to swim more and walk less. Stay to the right (into the the lake) as you come up on the finish. That should help.
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CSpread] [ In reply to ]
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Great picture! I've heard from multiple friends that sticking to the inside of the buoys is the best to avoid the crowds....
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CCF] [ In reply to ]
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We could always scout it a couple days before ; ) you never know what you can find down there. I think I'll be starting left though, I think I could walk the first 200m, and you know about my swim times...

Brent

DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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My first IMC as well.

So I did a few calculations. If you line up 200m to the left, your 1500m swim to the first buoy will be 1513m (a2+b2=c2). If you line up to the right you better be fast.
If you have a natural tendency to fade left or right, start the opposite way and if you breath one side, make sure you can see everyone.

I fade right, breath right, and I can't see the buoy till I hit it.
So guess I'll be over in left field.

The rest I leave to the gods!

good luck

ps, don't drink the water anywhere near the start :)
Last edited by: phog: Aug 3, 11 14:36
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [dfru] [ In reply to ]
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You don't want to give me any more of an advantage at the start than I already have...

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CCF] [ In reply to ]
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Haha I know. Dang swimmers - this is why my 8 yo daughter is doing swim team...

Inspired to go train up there this weekend. Three days on the course in heat. Enjoy our 71* days ; )

Brent

DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [tritiger] [ In reply to ]
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tritiger wrote:
Careful here on this! I did IMC and I too am a climber (and thought the same thing), but it didnt work out well for me on this course, beacuse......I climbed strongly up the three climbs, passed lots of people, but wound up shuffling the run affter 6 miles. Passing people was fun on the bike was fun, watching them all go running back by sucked. I now know that I made the classic IM mistake.

Well, if you like me are a slow enough swimmer (1:16 on that day), then you can pass ~1,000 slower bikers on the bike and still not shuffle the run. Not that I was running fast on my first marathon, and a big unknown after two stress fractures training.

So remember: the key is to swim slow so you can reel in more bikers ;)
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CSpread] [ In reply to ]
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Is it a deep water or beach start?
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [jellyfish] [ In reply to ]
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wiiiiide, shallow beach
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [jellyfish] [ In reply to ]
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It is a wide beach as OneGoodLeg said, waist deep right at the start rope in the middle, shallower on the flanks. Here are a couple pictures taken shortly after the cannon went off.






Craig
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CSpread] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the pics, very helpful!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [CSpread] [ In reply to ]
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Is it just me or does the bottom picture look like the left is more crowded than the right?
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [TriZag] [ In reply to ]
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might be somewhat, but I think it's also exaggerated by the fact that the start wave kinda forms an arc so you're looking 'through' the near end but 'across' the far end.
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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I did it 4 times, this is my preference:
1. You can sight off the hills in the background (a house or tower) not the houseboat...much easier
2. Start slightly left, wait until you are comfortable (15sec-1:30 depending on you) then go!
-although waiting will kill you cause of the energy and desire to go, the time wasted will pay back dividends with a stress free swim...energy later on!!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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Good luck on your race!

I did IMC last year. It was my one and only Ironman I've done. Here are some of my tips and things I wish I had done:



  • Swim on the outside or the front to avoid the 2:00/100m crowd. It is very hard to pass or move once you are caught in this group.
  • On the bike, the one section I wished I pushed harder was after the McLean Creek Road area to Osoyoos before the Richter climb. It's very flat here and I held back more than I wished, in retrospect.
  • Do not stop at the port-o-johns at the base of Richter. I waited 5 minutes to pee here when I should have just climbed Richter and pee'd off the side of the road somewhere further ahead. Wait nevermind, I see you're a female. I guess pee on the bike to save time if you don't want to wait at port-o-johns.
  • Somehow the Cawston out-and-back is where they cram 160kms of the bike leg. Seriously, it's not that long, but it felt like I was in there forever and started to lose focus during that time. Stay focused here and keep the pace up.
  • Bring flat repair for a potential 2 flats or more. That's what I had that day.
  • Make sure the rest of your bike is in perfect condition! This is the portion of the race where you could DNF because of equipment so make sure your gear doesn't fail you. I had an unknown damaged freehub body that cost me dearly, but thankfully, I only lost time and did not have to DNF.
  • My run was executed perfect: I paced the entire first 27k, keeping my HR in high Z2-low Z3. Then, with 15k to go, I stopped looking at my HR watch and just ran. I managed a 3:45 run this way with a negative split.
  • The last few kms of the race were the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my legs. Jens Voight quote 'Shut up Legs' was my mantra and I said it often. Know that your mind and heart is stronger than your legs. Keep mentally strong and after your legs have expired you run on heart.

Last edited by: feldon: Aug 4, 11 9:37
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [feldon] [ In reply to ]
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Any risk peeing on the side of the road or ducking off into the bushes as long as you come back at the same point? Don't want to risk DQ...
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [Khyron] [ In reply to ]
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Khyron wrote:
Any risk peeing on the side of the road or ducking off into the bushes as long as you come back at the same point? Don't want to risk DQ...

Hmmm. Just say you stepped aside to avoid the drafting packs. That should do it.
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [Frenchman] [ In reply to ]
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Been there about 10X to IMC. Great race and truly a quality event! Be prepared to stand in line (the 4th event)....you will probably be standing in line for EVERYTHING from registration to the pre-race dinner to the post-race dinner to signup for next year...you get the picture. Try to stay off your feet before the race and get to dinners, etc. early. Love the one loop swim course, bike course (with out-back though) and run course. So much better than the loop courses!!!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [wrichmond] [ In reply to ]
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wrichmond wrote:
Great picture! I've heard from multiple friends that sticking to the inside of the buoys is the best to avoid the crowds....

Yes, that was going to be my advice. You can swim along the inside of the buoys as long as you go to the outside at the corners. Hardly anyone swimming there, it was perfect.
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [beeotch] [ In reply to ]
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The pictures posted give a pretty good idea of what the start looks like. IMC was my first Ironman last year - I am an average swimmer (1:10) and the mass start scared the heck out of me. I opted for starting on the mid-right, fairly close to the front. It was a good choice on the day - the start was busy and congested, but there was a fairly clear line inside the buoys out to the first turn. With nearly 3,000 athletes in the water, you will notice a distinct drafting effect.

The beach area is very shallow and a bit rocky - I'd highly recommend that you go in for a practice swim before the race to see what I mean. When you are finishing, swim as far in as you can before you stand - you are faster swimming than you are walking! Try to head straight for the swim exit and not left or right to avoid having to walk in the rocks.

The sun will be directly in your face on the return to the shore. Unless it is overcast, wear tinted goggles and pick something big to sight off of (the Lakeside hotel or the condo buildings work well).

Have fun, good luck!
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Re: Advice for IMC - My First Ironman [lostinT2] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks again everyone. I feel so much better about this race. I just finished my last century ride Sunday and I am starting my taper. I swim out at Lake Mead every Saturday with a big group for about 1.5 hours. With all your advice and that swim practice, I think I will be okay. I will let you know how it goes in a few weeks.

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No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
Laura
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