OK, so any last moment panic. Is this going to be a no wetsuit swim (unlikely, but you know we have to cause a panic on ST). Any other questions you guys have and I will try to get them answered. By the way, any locals have an update on road conditions?

Rode the course last week. Roads are a bit sketchy from about 5-8k on North Portage Road (you'll hit this again on the way home), and Dwight Beach Road (~13-18k) is quite rough in patches as well, particularly the fast downhill after you turn onto it. That first km or so on Dwight Beach Rd is the most dangerous part of the course IMO for sure. Be careful and keep your heads up there my friends! Once you hit the main/highway roads, it's smooth sailing and you can make up for being a bit careful on those parts. Brunel and South Portage coming home were in much better shape than in 2013 when I last was there. Hope this is helpful! Despite the sketchy parts, it's a great bike course...one of my favourites for sure!

If anyone has any pull with the course organizers, I'd definitely suggest they have some sort of warning flags/postings on that section of Dwight Beach Road.

Dev ( and anyone with info about this)

I have been looking in to signing up for the full on August 30. I have a pretty nice training block going and signing up now would give me eight weeks to build to the appropriate fitness to attack the course. I have the week off before and after, and the race is driving distance from my home. All sounds good, right?

My issue (and I suspect a lot of people's issue) is, where the hell do I stay? The race hotel has only 400 rooms and is sold out. There are very few hotels near to the race. My wife schedules all of our travel/lodging so I have to trust her when she says that there is no place that she can find that is convenient to the race and that she is willing to stay. She tells me that there are probably less than 1,000 hotel rooms within a convenient distance to the race.

How does IM expect to sell out a race when there is not enough lodging for athletes? Again, my wife is my travel planner but I have to trust her when she says that there is no place for us to stay. If this is truly the case, then I suspect this race will never be a sell out.

Lodging help would be welcome from anyone. My wife sees these trips as vacation for her so we aren't staying in a Motel 6. It has to be at least somewhat nice.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

I'm renting a cottage with my friend for his 70.3. Is that a possibility? It is cottage country, so there's gotta be some nice ones.

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STAC Zero Trainer - Zero noise, zero tire contact, zero moving parts. Suffer in Silence starting fall 2016

You are right. The actual race site itself has only so many rooms, but the town of Huntsville has plenty and the race goes to Huntsville too. Race morning you drive to a parking lot not far from the race site where they shuttle you in from. Not that much different than other races where they shuttle you to the swim start. This weekend, I am not staying at Deerhurst, but at a Motel 6 in town. Also check Deerhurst, Hidden Valley and Grandview all in walking distance for cancellations. Deerhurst is the host hotel, but the others are really close by. You are right, you have plenty of time to put a good block of training in. This is really nice this year that people actually have many open options. You won't be disappointed with the area and the race. It is the same RD group who put on the ITU World's back in 1992, so some of the most experienced folks in the biz.

Bracebridge, Dwight and Huntsville all have availability still. http://www.booking.com/...pty&sshis=0&

Did Wisconsin in 2011, and Muskoka 70.3 in 2013... Muskoka bike is, in my opinion, much harder than Wisconsin. Runs are pretty similar from what I remember (which isnt much).

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"It's nice to be great, but far greater to be nice"

Just rode the course, and I'll echo what dr pain said Dwight beach road is an accident waiting to happen, please take it easy for the few km. good luck to everyone racing on Sunday!

You sure it's a rolling start. Everything I've seen says wave start, and deep water start... rather than rolling beach start. Waves by age group, rather than swim times...

Since it is also Ontario long course championships, I'm pretty positive, they won't do rolling starts... (unless something has changed very recently)

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Adam

Euro-Sports.ca/The Foodery Team member

The rolling start that was mentioned is in regards to the140.6... The 70.3 will be waves as you described.

Yes, this is correct. 70.3 wave start 140.6 rolling although I would have thought with the numbers and wide start area and big climbs out of T1, mass would be fine as they are doing in Whistler.

Weather for the Sunday race is looking optimal for racing. Low of 10C high of 27C and sunny! I get to start the opposite of Tremblant where M50-54 started after the pros. This race we are last wave. I am hoping that some of the 50-54's from Tremblant 70.3 also come out!

One more thing for US guys, please note that the drink on the course is REGULAR Gatorade not Endurance Formula (this applies to all Canadian races). For the full IM, you'll be down ~ 300 mg sodium per bottle, so after 7 bottles down ~ 2grams which is getting substantial. For the half, count on being down by ~ 1 gram depending on how much you drink off course on the bike. That's probably not enough to make a major difference, but it can. I am adding a teaspoon of extra salt in the first bottle I start with (already high on sodium with Infinit) to compensate. Or salt tabs are an option, but I don't want to play around with that stuff while riding on the Muskoka course. To many hills, bumps, turns and a mix of rough pavement.

ANy fast pros racing?



.

Some guy named Lionel Sanders is racing Muskoka 70.3. Maybe you've heard of him. He's suppose to be reasonable on the bike and run.

Good luck to everyone racing today...perfect day forecast!

Also Cody Beals. Hopefully he will keep it close. And interesting.

This Sanders fella....so far a 2:16 bike followed by a sub 40 minute 11.3k run split!!. Hmm..


.

Bah, he only finished with a 4:02:58 with a 1:15 run


must have been tired. someone should tell him to stay off the elliptical

Vanderlinden was pretty impressive running up to 2nd at the finish, because he was well back after T2, but went out like a bat out of hell.... But it was over once Lionel took the lead shortly after 60km on the bike...

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Adam

Euro-Sports.ca/The Foodery Team member

I talked to Lionel post race and he said his legs felt flat after Tremblant which is understandable! He still ripped it up.

I just got back from Muskoka and the organization as usual was phenomenal....keep in mind this is the same RD crew who put on IM Canada in Penticton for years, so there are among the best in the biz. I have my thoughts on the full IM and although it will be tough, I think it will be easier than people think relative to the IM. The hardest 20K you only repeat once....the rest of the loop that you repeat twice is aerobar and pretty fast. I would say 80% of that is just as fast as Tremblant and 20% you get hammered by the sharp steep saw tooth stuff.

Here is my Garmin Connect File (2:41, 216AP, 225 NP).

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/824862864


This put my in the thick of the action in the 50-54. I came into T2 in 3rd but within 1 min of first (but no chance to run with Greg). Then it was pass 1 guy and get passed by 1, and ending in the same place at the finish as entered T2.


I looked at the time to the pros starting (45 minutes ahead of me) and was hoping I can get out of T2 just when Lionel Sanders arrived and I did exactly that!


In any case having gone through the 70.3 again 3 years later and having run the new "bumpy run course" (you are never on a flat, but there are also no really massive hills....the cumulation of hills just tears you up, I will post my thoughts on how I feel this new course will play out at the full 140.6 distance. My thought is the bike will only be slightly slower than Tremblant, and the run will be around the same. Swims are just as fast, transitions are equally long (my transitions were 4:03 + 1:13....almost identical to Tremblant and Placid).


I "don't" think this course will be "as scary" as people are thinking provided that you are fairly lean. If you are a heavier guy or gal, this course will destroy you, so there are still 8 weeks to get on the Macca approved cabbage and water diet (speaking of which, I better get on that since I have IM Whistler in 3 weeks....maybe tonite was my last ice cream before then)!

Dev, I appreciate your optimism for the 140.6, but I see carnage all over the run course :) I do agree that the bike splits will only be a little slower than Tremblant (tough to say just how much), but this run course will just wreck the majority of the field on a double loop. Beautiful race, really well run with great volunteers. My only complaint that I feel really needs to be addressed before the full is that first section of Dwight Beach Road. It just isn't safe.

I was thinking about the first section of the bike and I THINK that with the rolling start it will be a lot safer than wave start as there will be no clumps of riders. I found myself very frustrated having to slam my breaks constantly trying to find good places to pass groups of riders from waves in front of me (I went from the last swim wave). I am a solid tecnical descender and the speed differentials were a bit terrifying so I had to really play it safe. I think with the rolling start, the speed differentials that create the danger for fast and slower riders will largely go away.


For the run, yes, it is tough, but I don't see this run being tougher than IM LP and just a bit tougher than Tremblant. My perception is a bit skewed as I am lighter runner, but my comments are, to some degree directed at the ST crowd who I would largely classify as mid to advanced capability athletes (anyone who is worrying about latex in their tires, should also be worrying about body composition...I know one is a small spend and its magic watts, one is a lot of work just to lose a few pounds, but both cater to the same mentality of athlete). Yes, if you are heavy, the Muskoka course will be no fun, but not that much worse than LP. I think LP has a harder run. Texas has a harder run due to oppressive heat. Whistler has a similar difficulty run. This won't be IM Florida, but it's not going to be Norseman by any means (you could probably make a really insanely tough run in Muskoka).

I personally think that those who race this year, will be relatively happy that this course does not totally break people much worse than any of the local North East races like Termblant or LP.

My prediction? PAIN!

People better hope it's not an Ontario hot and humid August day, or then it will be PAIN x2! Not an inch of shade on that run course. Not too bad on Sunday, but could be brutal a couple hours later, 2 loops, and if the humidity strikes.

Dwight Beach Rd was ugly, and I think it will be ugly in August. It's so frustrating, because I can imagine how much fun that stretch would be with great pavement. The sketchiest part for me was actually at the bottle exchange. The guy in front of me wobbled while putting a bottle in. The road was already narrow (the volunteers were taking part of the road, too) and I was really trying to not cross the yellow line while skipping the exchange entirely. It was the closest I came to wrecking.

But of more interest to ST, I heard there were drafting penalties handed out! I was talking to one guy while clearing out transition that got busted, and he said 7 were caught in his bunch. Any other stories of this?

Cheers!

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Munq

The saw tooth terrain at Muskoka is very deceiving. I rode a 2:30 yesterday on a 243 avg/257 normalized. I felt like I rode 280-290 but the data includes zeros and lots of soft pedalling down all those small hills. A a result, heart rates fluctuates and power was all over the map. If I was doing the full I would be VERY careful to not surge on the hills. Be patient, smooth and consistent with your power - it will pay off with your run. Tremblant is an easier bike and easier run. You can hold consistent power for long periods of time and the run is essentially flat and shadded.

I had to pass around 1000 people alone on the bike (started in last wave finished 60 something overall). I literally did not see a single person drafting, but obviously I did not catch any guys riding faster in earlier age groups starting 30 min later, so who knows. Wildflower and Muskoka are the two single cleanest races I did in the last 5 years....both races this year, starting in the last wave.

In terms of bottle exchange, we can ask the RD to move the volunteers back closer to edge of road. What wave did you go in? The race organizers rely on feedback from us. I know a couple of decades ago when I organized events, I needed feedback from athletes because from race central/HQ you can't see what is going on at the fringes of the race.

Also on the first out and back of the run, I did not notice a timing wire or anyone taking down race numbers. I shouted out my number in case someone was recording it, but I don't think anyone was. We'll need to make sure that there is some recording going on there if not some slippery person could cut that part of the course.