Wishing all of you a great race. I was supposed to race at IMFL but I canceled due to the wife giving birth to twins who are currently in the NICU until mid November. Maybe next year.

We'll spot each other at check-in then, and pose for a wetsuit twins photo. Trucker hat for me though.

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I talk to myself because mine are the only answers I'll accept - George Carlin

This is my first ironman. IMfl only my 3rd triathlon. If I read too many posts i get freaked right out lol Just got to take it one stroke at a time, sing worship songs on the bike and remember I've run 7 marathons.

I really want a wetsuit!

Now that Kona is over, can we have some discussion about the only other U.S. Ironman with a swim that is truly open water (meaning a saltwater ocean swim, probably without a wetsuit)?

It's been wetsuit legal ever year except one, so history says it'll likely be wetsuit legal again this year. I just checked and one website has it at 79 today, another has it at 76.8. But who knows. I'll take no wetsuits over 4 foot swells and swimming through puke.

It'l probably end up being wetsuit legal. It was almost legal temp this morning, and a lot of cool nights forecast in the next two weeks.

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I talk to myself because mine are the only answers I'll accept - George Carlin

Anyone here have any experience with a late check-in? I just found out I will not be able to get into town until Friday afternoon. I have e-mailed one contact already and they stated I will not be able to check in after 5pm on Thursday. I understand the schedule was posted several weeks ago but shit happens. I may not be racing after all.

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USAT Level II- Ironman U Certified Coach

You're going to need to get in touch with the RD directly or some other official assigned specifically to IM Florida. Anyone at the corporate offices is going to come back with the canned "No" response.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

\does anyone live near or has ridden on the course? what is the state of the roads? has there been any resurfacing or any nasty chip laid recently

Yeah it looks like wetsuit legal. The forecast the next two weeks is a high of mid 70s. No way the water stays above 76.1 degrees. Damn....

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blog

Nighttime temperatures are expected to drop into the low 50s this week. Should certainly bring down the water temperature. Water temperature this morning is 77°.

Anyone know when registration closes for foundation spots? Had an ok race at Louisville, but not what I hoped for. Debating flushing more money down the Ironman toilet

Carpe diem

http://m.ironman.com/...lorida/register.aspx

I'll be there too. But then there is 2 weeks left, just enough time to get injured doing something stupid :D

Has anybody ever rented just the front wheel for the race? Mine started squealing really bad yesterday so when I was taking off the hub caps to regrease the wheel bearings the cap Allen wrench hole cracked. It isn't going to affect usability since it gets cranked into the bike but I can't fix the squealing now and it's messing with me mentally. Too little time to send it into Reynolds to get rebuilt.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I have a few extra front wheels which don't squeak that I would gladly lend you. Nothing fancy (Planet X 80 mm tubular, Real Design, and Ksyrium).

I don't have any experience with tubular but I REALLY appreciate your offer. Reynolds told me to take it to my local machine shop and have them replace the squeaking bearings as they are standard 6208 bearings. That is IF I can get the hub caps off. I am going to give it a go this week and if they split I will send you a PM to meet up. Thank you.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Good luck.

I'll be there for my first (and last) full. Excited and terrified(marathon) at the same time.

Current water temp is 73... dropped about 3 degrees in the last 24 hours. Im OK wetsuit or no... but obviously would prefer to have one.

Weather looks, at least for now, to be almost perfect... although the high temp on the day has been creeping up. Winds look mild.

I'll just be happy to get this over with... it's the first time I've ever loathed training. The taper hit at the perfect time, cause I was fucking over it. Starting to feel better mentally... physically my taper has been weird (granted I have no reference as this is my first IM taper). Been feeling great in the water; have felt like shit on the bike with the exception of my last trainer ride where i felt OK; have generally felt good on runs but after yesterdays run my right foot hurts and I'm more sore than usual.

I think IMFL has jumped the shark

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

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Nah, Clearwater-based Kennedy Law Racing has 34 team members going up for this year's edition. It's still the hometown race for everybody in this state.

Is there just less interest in Ironman events, or has ST "jumped the shark?"


I few things worth noting:

1. The ST crowed tends to be a bit more sophisticated than the general triathlon crowd, and by that I mean, into trying new and different things in multi-sport or generally in endurance sports. I first noticed this years ago, at the now defunct Leadman Long triathlon (an awesome race) in Bend, OR - there was a super-high percentage of ST folk who were doing the race. Jordan Rapp, made his victory-speech all about, trying new things in multisports and endurance sports. So in that light, I'm guessing a good percentage of ST folk have "moved on" from IM.

2. Numbers generally in the sport in North America right now are down or flat - depending on how you look at things. IM races that used to sell-out a year in advance, the day that reg opened for the following year, are now back to a "normal" reg process. In other words, the hype, and mania, from 5 - 10 years ago, is not there.

3. I've said this before, but the demographics in IRONMAN races in particular, are very heavy in the middle-aged men AG's - 40-55 year-olds. People get into triathlon in their late 30's early 40's, do a couple of IM races, then realize the factual reality, that 40- year old bodies can only take so much pounding and stress. So they are either in and out quickly in triathlon or, they go to shorter racing!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I wouldn't blame it on IMFL. It is still one of the most popular Ironman events. It just takes a lot longer to sell out than it did when it had no real competition.

I live outside of Tampa. Eleven years ago when I started doing Ironman events, Lake Placid was the second closest Ironman (IMFL was obviously the closest). Now Cozumel, Louisville, Texas, Chattanooga, and Maryland are all closer than Lake Placid. People in the Southeast have a lot more options.

General question - Does anyone know, when the Tri-Bike Transport bikes will be showing up at the event?

Is there a bike-shop, who will possibly be in the Expo who will be doing mechanical pre-race work on bikes?

I'm going back a few years, now, but Inside-Out-Sports used to do this.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog