I picked out what seemed to be the questions for me from BrianPBN's thread. Thank you, by the way, for all the kind words. So I'll preemptively answer those questions here. Maybe that will cover everything. If not, ask away. Same "rules" as the other times I've done this. Please keep questions about the race itself as much as possible. (I'm not going to share much in the way of details about training for the race, simply because I don't think answering those questions is actually a good idea, for a variety of reasons which I've covered.) Anyway, this isn't for me, it's for all of you. So ask away.
THE SWIM / SWIM PACKS
In the typical pro Ironman race, it's a long straight shot before the first turn buoy, so there isn't an immediate break, though I think the first pack establishes itself pretty quickly. I'd agree with Brandon's statement that a 5:20 (or 5:23 in my case) 500 time isn't fast enough to make the front pack. I'm pretty much certain that I'd be fast enough to STAY in the front pack if you dropped me into it at about the 1000m mark. The hard part - at least in my case, without a swim background and, according to my collegiate rowing coach, "95% slowtwitch muscle fibers" (though I think I can sprint reasonably well on the run, for a long course guy anyway) - is the swim start. In Texas, I started near Brandon and Rasmus, since I knew that they would be in the front group, so I thought I'd give myself the best chance to get on their feet and get into that group. But by the time I was done with the "just swim as hard as you can" part of the swim, they were already pretty clearly gone. One - only one person - got dropped out of that group (somewhere around 1500m), so it was pretty clear who was going to be in and who wasn't, especially with a wetsuit. I was basically at the front of the second pack the whole day, and, just like in Canada, came out of the water with Mary Beth Ellis. The pace during the bulk of the swim itself was never really strenuous, so I basically start the bike feeling pretty much 100%, but in a race like this - with only 6 guys in the front group - and no wetsuits, I think it's at least another year before I make the front group. And maybe not even then. In a wetsuit-legal swim, I think I'm closer, just because the break happens less quickly because wetsuits help worse swimmers more than they do good swimmers.
Could I have swam faster than 53 (or, more relevantly, could I have given up less than 5min) if I had swam on my own or led the group? Possibly. But I also might have gone the exact same speed and expended a LOT more effort. Generally speaking, it's a bad idea to lead swim packs. However, SOMEONE obviously needs to do it. But with my swim background, I think it's probably a better idea in my case to try to stay in the group I'm with after the start and to make sure I'm in no worse a pack than the 2nd cut (or "main" pack if you have one or two uber swimmers - Potts/Fettell/D. McClarty - off the front) and then do my work on the bike and the run. I think 70.3s are good for doing some experimentation with pushing the pace and trying different things out, but in an Ironman, if I'm the second group, I'm going to err on the side of caution
By all accounts, Kona is actually an easier race to make the front group in - salt water is not quite as good as a wetsuit, but again, it helps poor swimmers more than good swimmers - and because the level of consistency is higher, so rather than having a group of guys at 100% (Potts being like 105%), and then basically one or two folks at 97-98%, and then one or two folks at 94-95%, etc. You have several guys at 100%, 99%, 98%, 97%, 96%, 95%, etc. So if you can make the feet of the guy who is making the feet of the guy who is making the feet of the guy who is... Ben Hoffman is a great example of this - and he's really the one who's explained the dynamic of the Kona swim to me the best. At Lake Placid 2011, with a small pro field, Ben was 2min down to TJ Tollakson out of the swim. But Ben has made the front pack in Kona in both 2010 and 2011, coming out 10seconds behind TJ in 2011, 2.5months after giving up 2min to him at IMLP. Ben is a better swimmer than I am, but not by a lot; we've come out of the water together at plenty of races. But Ben certainly seems to have the swim part of Kona dialed. And, generally, while you definitely need to make that front group to WIN in Kona, you can do well without it; Timo Bracht being the best example of a guy who did his own race all day, and finished 5th on the heels of a balanced performance last year.
COURSE ACCURACY
I have the bike course at 179.7km on a Garmin Edge 500. I have the run course from when I started my watch - just out of T2 - and stopped it - just before the carpet - as 41.50km on a Garmin 310XT for 2:46:40; so probably about 41.6km. However, I'm somewhat comforted by Brandon's GPS putting the run at a more accurate distance. Generally, I pretty much always think run courses are short, but I can think of a few reasons why the Woodlands course is a tough one to get a definitive read on from one GPS file. If you have 8-10, you can correct them to get a better idea, but one file is risky. This because of GPS measures and how we actually run. Basically GPS measure U-shape as V-shape. In the case of a very tight "U", which fits inside of the "V," a GPS measures long. Courses with a lot of hard 180s (around a cone for example) tend to measure long, because the GPS doesn't "corner" as fast as you do. However, on a long 180 - say around a building - the "V" fits inside of the "U" and GPS measures short because it's connecting your path with straight lines on a 1sec interval. There seemed to me to be an equal number of "sweeping 180s" and "hard 180s" on the IMTX course, so I don't know how that adds up. The hardest part of the Woodlands run course - by my estimation - is the section on the path through the trees though. The path is an undulating "S" shaped path through the trees. The 310XT is generally pretty good in the trees, but if the signal gets weak because of cover, GPS *ALWAYS* measures short because it just connects points in a straight line and "|" is obviously shorter than "S." I figure that you could add as much at 2min to my run split, but by my estimation that's probably true of almost ANY Ironman course. There's speculation that the new Kona course - with T2 moved - is actually short, though there's no guarantee that prior courses - except for the period when it was a certified Boston qualifier - were accurate either. In general, I think it's too bad that there all triathlons don't follow IAAF standards for measuring. And, despite setting a run course "record," the run course is different than last year's course, which might have been longer/shorter/faster/slower/etc.
So, if you want to add a couple minutes to my run to get what you think is a more "accurate" time, feel free. Ideally, we can get a couple people to share their GPS files and we can get a definitive answer.
Brandon - turn on your watch in the morning before the swim. A 310 or 910 has 20hrs of battery life; plenty to come into T2 and just push "start" and have it be ready. That's actually the only reason I use a 310 instead of a 610, which I think fits better. Though you could actually have a 610 running off a portable USB charge pack to keep the battery up in your bag... Enginerd ideas...
KONA
I'm planning on 2013. Plan is to do IMTX again as "validation" and then race Kona. IMTX is good timing, because you don't have to be ready super early, but it's also not so late as to not give you the opportunity to do take some real rest afterwards. As far as why not this year, there are two races that I want to do and have committed to for a combination of personal/business reasons - Ironman Canada and the Leadman Epic 250 Bend. The 30th anniversary of Ironman Canada is special to me; it's my (adopted) hometown race. I live less than 1km from the race start. Penticton is an incredibly important part of my life, and Ironman is incredibly important to Penticton. So that's why I'm doing IMC again. Not because I think I need to get more out of that race, but because I want to give back something after all that it's given to me. And Life Time Fitness gave me a great opportunity to be a big part of the Leadman race series that I took because I think it's a great idea for a great series from a great company and because they made me an offer that I thought made sense given that I think that it's a great idea for a great series from a great company. The Leadman 250 in Bend is September 22, and that is just too long a race to do that close to Kona. So that's why I will not race Kona this year. That's not meant as any sort of value judgement on one company or one race format over the other. I am not in a rush to get to Kona, and the races that I'm doing this year make the most sense to me for a variety of reasons. I remember one of the early interviews Lance did, when he talked about why he *IS* trying for Kona; he said, "I don't need a job; I need a challenge." While a challenge is certainly extremely important to me, I *DO* need a job. I have a wife and an 11-month old son to support. And while what makes the MOST "business" sense is certainly not something that is fun to talk about or that inspires people or that kind of thing, it is important. It's not the only thing. And it's certainly not the most important thing - I love being a pro triathlete because I love to train, I love to race, I love to be at home with my son every day, and a whole lot more. But I do factor it in, and I do make decisions and commitments with that as a very serious consideration.
FOR PEDALSAURUS-TEX
Yes, I do get tired of talking about myself...
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
THE SWIM / SWIM PACKS
In the typical pro Ironman race, it's a long straight shot before the first turn buoy, so there isn't an immediate break, though I think the first pack establishes itself pretty quickly. I'd agree with Brandon's statement that a 5:20 (or 5:23 in my case) 500 time isn't fast enough to make the front pack. I'm pretty much certain that I'd be fast enough to STAY in the front pack if you dropped me into it at about the 1000m mark. The hard part - at least in my case, without a swim background and, according to my collegiate rowing coach, "95% slowtwitch muscle fibers" (though I think I can sprint reasonably well on the run, for a long course guy anyway) - is the swim start. In Texas, I started near Brandon and Rasmus, since I knew that they would be in the front group, so I thought I'd give myself the best chance to get on their feet and get into that group. But by the time I was done with the "just swim as hard as you can" part of the swim, they were already pretty clearly gone. One - only one person - got dropped out of that group (somewhere around 1500m), so it was pretty clear who was going to be in and who wasn't, especially with a wetsuit. I was basically at the front of the second pack the whole day, and, just like in Canada, came out of the water with Mary Beth Ellis. The pace during the bulk of the swim itself was never really strenuous, so I basically start the bike feeling pretty much 100%, but in a race like this - with only 6 guys in the front group - and no wetsuits, I think it's at least another year before I make the front group. And maybe not even then. In a wetsuit-legal swim, I think I'm closer, just because the break happens less quickly because wetsuits help worse swimmers more than they do good swimmers.
Could I have swam faster than 53 (or, more relevantly, could I have given up less than 5min) if I had swam on my own or led the group? Possibly. But I also might have gone the exact same speed and expended a LOT more effort. Generally speaking, it's a bad idea to lead swim packs. However, SOMEONE obviously needs to do it. But with my swim background, I think it's probably a better idea in my case to try to stay in the group I'm with after the start and to make sure I'm in no worse a pack than the 2nd cut (or "main" pack if you have one or two uber swimmers - Potts/Fettell/D. McClarty - off the front) and then do my work on the bike and the run. I think 70.3s are good for doing some experimentation with pushing the pace and trying different things out, but in an Ironman, if I'm the second group, I'm going to err on the side of caution
By all accounts, Kona is actually an easier race to make the front group in - salt water is not quite as good as a wetsuit, but again, it helps poor swimmers more than good swimmers - and because the level of consistency is higher, so rather than having a group of guys at 100% (Potts being like 105%), and then basically one or two folks at 97-98%, and then one or two folks at 94-95%, etc. You have several guys at 100%, 99%, 98%, 97%, 96%, 95%, etc. So if you can make the feet of the guy who is making the feet of the guy who is making the feet of the guy who is... Ben Hoffman is a great example of this - and he's really the one who's explained the dynamic of the Kona swim to me the best. At Lake Placid 2011, with a small pro field, Ben was 2min down to TJ Tollakson out of the swim. But Ben has made the front pack in Kona in both 2010 and 2011, coming out 10seconds behind TJ in 2011, 2.5months after giving up 2min to him at IMLP. Ben is a better swimmer than I am, but not by a lot; we've come out of the water together at plenty of races. But Ben certainly seems to have the swim part of Kona dialed. And, generally, while you definitely need to make that front group to WIN in Kona, you can do well without it; Timo Bracht being the best example of a guy who did his own race all day, and finished 5th on the heels of a balanced performance last year.
COURSE ACCURACY
I have the bike course at 179.7km on a Garmin Edge 500. I have the run course from when I started my watch - just out of T2 - and stopped it - just before the carpet - as 41.50km on a Garmin 310XT for 2:46:40; so probably about 41.6km. However, I'm somewhat comforted by Brandon's GPS putting the run at a more accurate distance. Generally, I pretty much always think run courses are short, but I can think of a few reasons why the Woodlands course is a tough one to get a definitive read on from one GPS file. If you have 8-10, you can correct them to get a better idea, but one file is risky. This because of GPS measures and how we actually run. Basically GPS measure U-shape as V-shape. In the case of a very tight "U", which fits inside of the "V," a GPS measures long. Courses with a lot of hard 180s (around a cone for example) tend to measure long, because the GPS doesn't "corner" as fast as you do. However, on a long 180 - say around a building - the "V" fits inside of the "U" and GPS measures short because it's connecting your path with straight lines on a 1sec interval. There seemed to me to be an equal number of "sweeping 180s" and "hard 180s" on the IMTX course, so I don't know how that adds up. The hardest part of the Woodlands run course - by my estimation - is the section on the path through the trees though. The path is an undulating "S" shaped path through the trees. The 310XT is generally pretty good in the trees, but if the signal gets weak because of cover, GPS *ALWAYS* measures short because it just connects points in a straight line and "|" is obviously shorter than "S." I figure that you could add as much at 2min to my run split, but by my estimation that's probably true of almost ANY Ironman course. There's speculation that the new Kona course - with T2 moved - is actually short, though there's no guarantee that prior courses - except for the period when it was a certified Boston qualifier - were accurate either. In general, I think it's too bad that there all triathlons don't follow IAAF standards for measuring. And, despite setting a run course "record," the run course is different than last year's course, which might have been longer/shorter/faster/slower/etc.
So, if you want to add a couple minutes to my run to get what you think is a more "accurate" time, feel free. Ideally, we can get a couple people to share their GPS files and we can get a definitive answer.
Brandon - turn on your watch in the morning before the swim. A 310 or 910 has 20hrs of battery life; plenty to come into T2 and just push "start" and have it be ready. That's actually the only reason I use a 310 instead of a 610, which I think fits better. Though you could actually have a 610 running off a portable USB charge pack to keep the battery up in your bag... Enginerd ideas...
KONA
I'm planning on 2013. Plan is to do IMTX again as "validation" and then race Kona. IMTX is good timing, because you don't have to be ready super early, but it's also not so late as to not give you the opportunity to do take some real rest afterwards. As far as why not this year, there are two races that I want to do and have committed to for a combination of personal/business reasons - Ironman Canada and the Leadman Epic 250 Bend. The 30th anniversary of Ironman Canada is special to me; it's my (adopted) hometown race. I live less than 1km from the race start. Penticton is an incredibly important part of my life, and Ironman is incredibly important to Penticton. So that's why I'm doing IMC again. Not because I think I need to get more out of that race, but because I want to give back something after all that it's given to me. And Life Time Fitness gave me a great opportunity to be a big part of the Leadman race series that I took because I think it's a great idea for a great series from a great company and because they made me an offer that I thought made sense given that I think that it's a great idea for a great series from a great company. The Leadman 250 in Bend is September 22, and that is just too long a race to do that close to Kona. So that's why I will not race Kona this year. That's not meant as any sort of value judgement on one company or one race format over the other. I am not in a rush to get to Kona, and the races that I'm doing this year make the most sense to me for a variety of reasons. I remember one of the early interviews Lance did, when he talked about why he *IS* trying for Kona; he said, "I don't need a job; I need a challenge." While a challenge is certainly extremely important to me, I *DO* need a job. I have a wife and an 11-month old son to support. And while what makes the MOST "business" sense is certainly not something that is fun to talk about or that inspires people or that kind of thing, it is important. It's not the only thing. And it's certainly not the most important thing - I love being a pro triathlete because I love to train, I love to race, I love to be at home with my son every day, and a whole lot more. But I do factor it in, and I do make decisions and commitments with that as a very serious consideration.
FOR PEDALSAURUS-TEX
Yes, I do get tired of talking about myself...
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
