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How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions
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ST folks who WERE THERE.

Trying to figure out how tough it was out there since I've seen very few early reports or comments.

I raced the event in 2008 and it still ranks up as the hardest day of IM racing I ever completed. That day in '08 was 92 degrees with 70% humidity. I heard yesterday was a lot hotter and higher huidity.

So, if you were there and racing, can you tell me how bad it really was? Did you survive the day or did you DNF?

Was there a lot of carnage on the course with folks just cooked by the heat and humidity?

Thanks,


Dave Stark
dreamcatcher@astound.net
USAC & USAT level 2 certified coach
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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Can only compare it against my 1 other full distance (CDA) but the race yesterday really put a hurting on me. Had some bike issues, actually was very lightheaded, stopped at an aid station around mile 60 and could not muster the coordination to clip out..so boom down I go. Rear brake lever in shambles and not engaged, bruised hip, and jammed wrist (oh and I looked like a complete dbag as well!) .From there the heat just kept working me (did not feel the need for an iv or to get pulled), off the bike feeling relatively as you didnt really notice the temp until you dropped below 13mph or so (clearly it did have an effect as I got lightheaded). Felt decent, or good as I could getting off the bike, but once stepping out into t2 the heat just dominated me.

Went to a death march pretty quickly, but completed with PLENTY of company. In fact this was the most challenging mental event I've ever done. Talked myself out of stopping at least 20 times during that march.

Anyhow, to get it back to the comparison part I was in better shape for Lou however Lou was much more difficult for me due to the weather I feel. No acclimation in the fairly mild summer we've had in Chicago certainly was the #1 contributor.

Things to know:
-MOP/BOP fella, so take that for what it's worth
-hydration plan was rock solid, roughly 36oz per hour, salt supplementation etc
-nutrition was pretty good, roughly 350kcal per hour for me, which seems to be a good area..but maybe more/less in the heat/humidity?
-One of the volunteers last night told me the heat index was 104f, no idea how accurate since we call all go to 3 different weather sites and return with 3 unique numbers.

Humbling and educational.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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It was tough for sure.

The bike was cool and roads were wet. Overall, I had no issue with heat on the bike, but the wet roads slowed things down a bit I'm sure.

The run started off fine but I think I just overdid it too early on the run. I was out there to push myself and test where I am at. I payed for it in the conditions. If one was to take a more conservative approach from the start of the marathon, the race would have been much more managable. I would compare it to 2012... It definitely could have been way worse.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [Skipjack] [ In reply to ]
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oh and the humidity was ridiculous. The clouds were a double edged sword (after about 6/7pm or so). Sun was mostly cut out of the mix though it just felt like pea soup out there with the humidity trapped. Again coming from a mild summer here in Chicago so this might be just fine to folks from the area.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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To quote a buddy of mine who raced yesterday. "It was awesome until I left T2" :) He still finished and I think he even PRd


Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [rbuike] [ In reply to ]
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The day was a mixed bag. Swim was fast b/c of rains and the current. Either that or I suddenly learned to swim overnight.

Conditions on bike were good. Cloud cover first 3.5 hours of the bike. It was so humid my sunglasses were perpetually fogged. Wearing a speed suit so nowhere to put them. Wore them down on my nose like a librarian so I could see over the top of them. Otherwise I'd have hit every pot hole on the road. Sun came out last 1.5 hours of bike but it was still in the mid 80's so manageable. Made a calculated risk to push the bike a little b/c I knew the run was going to be tough and it would be hard to make up any ground if needed.

As expected,the run was brutal. I guess I didn't realize how hot it was until I got off the bike. As soon as I hit the run course I wanted to throw in the towel. Definitely a mental and physical barrier for me. Pushed through but ran 20 minutes slower than planned.

Nutrition plan was solid and probably saved my day. Stopped at both bike and run special needs to get more (and specific) nutrition. I know some of you don't like to take the time to stop but I'm confident the :90 seconds combined it probably cost me was made back up b/c I had the nutrition I needed.

Definitely toughest race conditions I've encountered and I live and race in the Midwest. Heat + humidity were definitely a tough combo. Congrats to all that struggled to the end.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [colinlaughery] [ In reply to ]
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I was wondering how it compared to 2012. I know it was hot this year but I did 2012 and it was just asinine. Does anyone have historical race day temps for the 3-5 years?
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [7ofClubs] [ In reply to ]
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Rough day! My friends bike computer showed 97 degrees - I thought it felt like we were baking - inside and out. Felt good coming off the bike and through mile 17 on the run - then the puking started. Finished - which is always a plus ;)
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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I was there spectating and doing some training. I think the temps were actually hotter for most of the day on Saturday but the humidity seemed higher on Sunday due to the cloud cover. Once the sun came out it was miserable just to be outside, even more so in the sun. I sought shade everywhere I could and was still sweating buckets just standing there. The death march on the run was atrocious to watch. I saw lots of puking, some collapsed bodies, and heard a lot of ambulance sirens - it was not pretty.

FWIW, I ran 10mi along the course out of LaGrange (probably saw some of you folks) and I was starting to get light-headed and nauseous about 45min into the run, so I picked up some half-full dropped water bottles along the way back to LaGrange. It was bad.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [MSUtri] [ In reply to ]
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I think the fact that the fastest run of the day was Gerlach's 3:07... about sums it up. The 2nd amateur overall ran 3:25. Even bike splits looked just a little slow too.


TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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I was spectating, but not racing this year. Since the first race in 2007 I've been keeping track of the race day weather. IMO this year was almost as bad as 2010. 2010 was a bit warmer for most of the bike and the first part of the run, though this year's heat index was slightly higher after about 4pm. 2010 also had much warmer water for the swim and less help from the current.

Heat Indexes are shown below for various times each year (sorry, I know the formatting sucks):

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
7am 69 70 60 75 72 74 67 74
11am 86 86 67 92 81 90 84 88
2pm 90 94 73 96 84 91 88 94
5pm 90 93 71 93 83 91 90 95
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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I volunteered in am and ran 1 loop of the course at 3 pm heat: I was glad I didn't swim and bike before and I was glad I could carelessly wander around without bothering about my time unlike the participants

What was going on there was a Saint Vitus dance in a steam room .

Until the sun went down.

Saw a lot of folks picking up their bikes looking like DNFed on bike.
Saw the end of the "death march" of the 17th hour. Those who stayed there for longer are probably even more tough then the ones finishing earlier! :)
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Post deleted by japarker24 [ In reply to ]
Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [jplouky] [ In reply to ]
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jplouky wrote:
I was spectating, but not racing this year. Since the first race in 2007 I've been keeping track of the race day weather. IMO this year was almost as bad as 2010. 2010 was a bit warmer for most of the bike and the first part of the run, though this year's heat index was slightly higher after about 4pm. 2010 also had much warmer water for the swim and less help from the current.

Heat Indexes are shown below for various times each year (sorry, I know the formatting sucks):

YEAR 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14
7am 69 70 60 75 72 74 67 74
11am 86 86 67 92 81 90 84 88
2pm 90 94 73 96 84 91 88 94
5pm 90 93 71 93 83 91 90 95


I was there in 2011 & 2012 and there was a world of difference between the two!!!

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.
Last edited by: japarker24: Aug 26, 14 8:52
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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I showed up in great physical shape but with litte heat acclimatization due to mild summer. Had a great swim, great bike, great 1/2 marathon, then the wheels came off. Puked, puked, and puked some more on the second loop of the run. Had everything nailed except nutrition which ended up nailing me! I actually think we were lucky in the fact that the temperatures on the bike seemed pretty mild to what they could have been. Congratulations to everyone who finished!
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [TJ56] [ In reply to ]
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I completed this race in 2012, 2013, and on Sunday. I thought 2012 was brutal. Sunday easily topped that. The lack of summer heat affected me and I live here on the course.

My salt and nutrition was spot on. I was conservative on the bike and I think that helped my run somewhat from being a death march to a jog. Thank goodness for cloud cover during 90% of the bike. Still needed two bags of fluids in medical at the end.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [TJ56] [ In reply to ]
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I generally like warm weather racing and felt warm in the run but never miserably hot. Aggressively pushed fluid, calories, and electrolytes on bike and early on run. Kept run pace easy the first five miles and then was able to pick it up a bit and even or slightly negatively split the run.

Also dumped a lot of ice water on my face and grabbed ice at the end of each aid station and carried in my hands til it melted. I thought the aid stations and workers were incredible


Coach at KonaCoach Multisport
Last edited by: Terra-Man: Aug 26, 14 9:43
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [Terra-Man] [ In reply to ]
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It was my first full, so I don't have a lot to compare it to. The swim current was similar to what I've seen at B2B (extremely fast). The cloud cover during the bike helped to keep the temps down. I drank a bottle of water from each aid station, and felt fine.
It was hot on the run, but I went aid station to aid station and did the ice bucket challenge thing. Just as I would start to feel the heat again, I would hit another aid station.
I think it was a fantastic event. Will really be interesting in October with a wetsuit swim, and lower temps.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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I raced Louisville in 07, 10, 11, 12, 13, and this year. This time was easily the most oppressive conditions in my opinion. It was 100% due to the dew point. There was little to no evaporative cooling. Other than China in 09 (where temps hit 43C or 109F) this was the hottest "feeling" IM I've done. That includes Malaysia, Kona x 4, Texas x 2, Cozumel x 4. Others I've done have had higher ambient temps alone, but the humidity from about 1-4pm Sunday was stifling.

Pat
http://www.patrickevoe.com
Twitter: @patrickevoe
Facebook: /patrickevoeracing
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [pjevoe] [ In reply to ]
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Dave Ragsdale (race announcer and generally funny dude) told me that they had 300 plus finishers during the final hour- said it was unheard of and never seen anything like it. Could be number of first timers but I would say conditions of the day.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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Agree with everyone else, the humidity was a killer, but that wasn't the demon of my day.

On another note, anyone that raced get a weird skin rash? There were several folks out there that remarked on it and said they had the same during the run, my legs were covered in red bumps during and after the race.

I did use the sunscreen people...
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [karma] [ In reply to ]
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I am so happy to see everyone else suffered out there as much as I did! This was my first IM and I nearly quit a couple of times. And I am from Central Florida where those temps and humidity have been the norm.
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [ATLTri] [ In reply to ]
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I've got some bumps on my face...and that is the one spot where there wasn't any sunscreen put on me (was wearing a hat). Strange
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [ATLTri] [ In reply to ]
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ATLTri wrote:
Agree with everyone else, the humidity was a killer, but that wasn't the demon of my day.

On another note, anyone that raced get a weird skin rash? There were several folks out there that remarked on it and said they had the same during the run, my legs were covered in red bumps during and after the race.

I did use the sunscreen people...

swimmers itch? Warm water + bird poop? Though not usually not in faster moving water... and looking at swim times, the water was moving pretty good. Though I thought this didn't show until 24 hours later.


TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com
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Re: How Tough was it out there on Sunday? - IMKY conditions [ATLTri] [ In reply to ]
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Some rash for me, but they looked a lot like chigger bites. I remember them fondly from field time in the Army. My guess would be since our bags were kept on the ground, and chiggers live in warm/humid environments and close to the ground that they are a likely candidate for at least some of the bites.

Just my opinion but if it was from the sewage overflow most of us would be having much..much...worse symptoms as that water got in, at least, everyone's mouth.
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