Only one thing pops up in my head.. it's going to be a looooooonnnnnnnngggggg day for everyone racing there... ;)

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http://twitter.com/krepster || http://www.pedro-gomes.com || follow all the action on facebook

nice guy E, you pmed me and I answered back to you...did you get it???

Let me remind you that IM races are always LOOOOOOOOOOOG DAYS :-)

anyway, the profiles can be deceiving but I don´t think that it will be harder than IMMOO.

Not nearly as many turns and less up and down energy drainer course. The marathon profile looks easier than IMMOO too.

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S�rgio Marques
When it hurts is when it feels good ;-)
Sergio-Marques.com

Looks much less hilly than Lake Placid for both the run and the bike.

If you go to the course comparison page, it looks mor gradual, when compared to the otehr course. But I have no idea how this translates to actually riding.

http://www.ironmannorthamerica.com/comparebike.html

Anyone know why Canada is the only NA IM to be excluded from the Run comparison tool? It is included in the bike comparison, but not run.

ccy

i live in phoenix, but i haven't had a chance to ride any of the course yet. there are definitely some short steep hills in that area.

using that comparison tool, the course looks fairly similar to ralph's absent one long sustained climb. also similar to wisco, albeit with a few less rollers. should be pretty fast heading back into the turn around for the second lap and also into transition...

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f/k/a mclamb6

All I know is that training for this thing is going to be a bitch since I live in New Orleans and we don't have hills!

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under-trained and over-tapered. . . .yet still hopeful . . . does that make me an optimist or a masochist?

I just completed the SOMA Half that supposed to use the same roads as IMAZ. The major difference would be an extra 13 miles added onto the loops (one way). I can tell you that the bike and run will be very flat. I'm surprised to see a 300 ft. elevation change in the topo maps.

Maybe someone else that did SOMA can confirm what I'm saying.

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TheBikeRacer.com

Going into Fountain Hills, you are going to see some pretty good hills. There are some good steep climbs there but they are relatively short in length.

Well once you pass Beeline/Gilbert is does pitch up a little more and includes some good rolling hills while in Fountain Hills. The wind on Beeline can be a b%$^ sometimes since you are totally exposed. However what will make this bike course difficult is dodging all of the FH retiries that will find a way to drive into the course :)

They don't mind closing down roads for a Arts and Crafts fair but a Triathlon! Oh boy

I rode the course last weekend into a 20mph or so headwind all the way out. Coupled with the gradual uphill, it took me nearly 2/3 out and 1/3 back elapsed time. There isn't anything I would call steep, surfaces are good (occassionaly a bad joint to bunny hop) until you get past FH, then the chipseal is a little rougher but not bad. That was a worse than typical wind. I'd say an 11/23 should be plenty for anyone, keeping a big gear available in case a strong tailwind blows you back home (I never completely pedaled out my 11/53 combination on 650's, but was pretty close).

The run is similar, no big hills.