So people pick IMLOU because of an easy swim but 5445ft of climbing and when does IMLOU sell out? I guess that explains why soooooo many people do IMCA because of an easy swim and 8400ft of climbing?

If I were trying to KQ (which I am not) Chattanooga would not be in the top 3 picks to do that. Do people pick races specifically to KQ? They sure do and most will choose flat bikes and runs because that is where the bulk of the time is spent.

Exactly! People pick races for different reasons but to say that in general people pick a down current swim race that still has other challenges because its easier is a false assumption.

It’s a known fact that the easiest IM is the one the “other guy” chose to do.

🙂

Yep. Many different reasons. I think for me an interesting/fun course makes a difference. I love the Chattanooga race venue and course. The bike and run are great. Barton Avenue is tough but it’s a big party up there which is fun. I did HIM Wilmington and hated the bike course. Unless an IM course is so far beyond my capabilities as a MOPer I don’t consider much how the course affects my race time unless I won’t make the cutoffs or something. IM Louisville is on my list as that sounds interesting.

Some people..... yes they do.

You are the one that said that people don't pick a race because it's an easy swim. That's anything but true.

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blog

I would guess that the vast majority of people are one-n-done and simply pick the IM closest to where they live because that's what the majority of people in their area are doing. If people decide to enter a second ironman and are willing to drive further, then other factors come to play such as the the difficulty of the course. When you get to people who will fly to an Ironman there are a whole lot of other factors going into the decision, course factors for the competitive athletes and vacation plans for the others.

Ya, 4X Oly Dist would be much fairer than the traditional iron distances. The ITU Long Distance Champs used to kinda sorta almost do this; for several yrs it was a 4K/120K/30K but now down to 3K on swim.

Also, your 1:06 is quite respectable. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

This doesn't make sense to me. KQ is not based off a time standard, but how you actually place at that race. I would think you would want to go to the race with the fewest fast guys. If all the fast guys are going to flat courses (and I don't know that that is true), then I would think you'd want to go to the non-flat courses.

I picked IM Louisville for my three IM races because I lived close (Lexington, 75 miles away). I had a free place to stay each time (family). I trained on the swim and bike course often over three years. My wife did IM Louisville because it is her hometown, even though we drove in from 600 miles away. I was looking at her framed medal/bib and noted that now that we are actually living in Louisville, we may have to do the race in 2019.

You read it here first: 1 finished basement for rent (bedroom, living area, bathroom, laundry) for rent during IM Louisville 2019. You must like dogs.

Back to the swim discussion: swimming is short compared to the other events. That means that much less separates FOP swimmers from MOP/BOP. (X)OP is much more important as a factor in biking and running. For people trying to KQ, there's a bit less to worry about in terms of how much effort to put into swim training, because, let's face it, 3-5 or more minutes means relatively little, especially if training for those 3-5 minutes comes at the expense of 8-15 minutes on the bike. With the swim cut-off times as generous as they are (yes, I said it), a one-n-done IM'er or a very weak swimmer can be assured that they'll make it, and, more to the point, have to devote less time to swimming overall, or not worry about safety issues. To be completely honest, a 2:20 cut-off in a swim (especially downstream) isn't even really a test of swimming: 140 minutes to swim 2.4 miles is 3:41/100m, and probably the equivalent of 3:55 with a current. Chattanooga and Louisville are really good choices for these swimmers, and helped out by the fact that both are an easy drive from pretty much the entire country east of the Mississippi River, excluding the upper Midwest and New England. Similar things can be said about wet suit.

My wife is probably on the edge of the MOP-BOP swim barrier, and she was whooshed down the Mighty Ohio River in 1:14, when I was expecting probably 1:30+, given her training. Which has me asking this question: how bad a swimmer must that 1:21 guy in my AG have been especially since his whole day was 10:03? Goes to show you that I got absolutely NOTHING out of swimming it in :57:01, and finishing my day in 11:18. 24 minutes separated our swims, but he completed the last two legs and transitions 89 minutes faster than I did. It's obvious that I trained too much swimming over the build-up, and didn't do enough biking. It's probably better to say I didn't need to swim but maybe 5000m/week in training, and should have used the 3-4 days/week in the saddle and on the run. Next time...

If your a KQ you want to go to events that play to your strengths and limit your weaknesses. Race like IM Choo imo is perfect for a weak swimmer but strong bike/run ESPECIALLY now that the swim is straight up cancelled. Its also why a poor swimmer and strong biker would be annoyed with IM TX because the draft pack affect. There would be really no separation there and you can “sit in” much more.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Anybody in Chatt happen to have an extra Giro Aerohead visor I could buy from you? Mine got cracked in half while shipping it with TBT..

0 for Every bike shop in diving distance on a replacement...

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

I know yours is not a popular opinion here but I agree with you. I would qualify that one needs to consider their goals, current swim capability, overall fitness, etc. I'm not a fast swimmer for sure and didn't grow up swimming but I'm not a god awful swimming and tend towards the MOP-ish in the Ironman events. I worked with a coach for my first IM (only HIMs before that) and swim was not a big concern. I was mostly in the 5500m/week for the swim with her plan. For my goals, it just wasn't worth it to put in the amount of swim volume needed to significantly improve my swim. I'm not shooting for FOP or anything. I will say she did get me fit enough so that for all my triathlons last year I was must fresher out of the water. But that's just me and that plan worked for my goals

So you shipped a gear bag and they dropped it in a game of toss? pink/maybe

Yeahhhhh in know. First bad result in 5 tries with them. Guess I was due.

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

I don't, but will just add that my Aerohead visor cracked just being in a backpack sitting in a car for a long drive. They don't seem to be very sturdy.

I've been hearing that now I've seen some proof. Luckily I got in touch with the crew running the expo and they are bringing one tomorrow.

Thanks for the DM tips everyone!

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

I don't know why i even bother to keep responding but my point is that the swim should not be "just a warm-up". I fully realize that the idea of a longer swim is unpopular but, if "Ironman racing" ever wants to be more than a commercial thing, if an "Ironman" is to be a real sport, then it needs to be an equal test, e.g. the swim needs to be longer. No doubt 7 miles is too much but, if you increased the swim D gradually, say to 3 miles first yr, 3.5 2nd yr, 4 mi the 3rd yr, you could prob get most aspiring "Ironmen" to do a 4-mile swim, which would make the IM race dist close to 4 times the Oly dist race. Most people don't even know what the IM distances are now unless they are triathletes themselves.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

IM doesn't care about this being accepted as anything more than a way to profit. As most other non-IM branded organizations have figured out, that long term profit deal is very hard to accomplish. Swimming is already the least popular part of any IM so you go and increase it and the number of participants will very likely go down (and thus profit as well).

Plus, the idea of giving the IM swim "equal footing", compared to the B and R, is ridiculous. The current IM distances were not just made up to create a sport. The distances were based on Chuck Norris going for a workout in Hawaii, some people followed him as he SBR, and then they started calling the 2.4/112/26.2 an IM

It was more than 12 minutes when I did it.....and I wasn't swimming with much effort.

I wonder how many WTC events have with current swims

IM/HIM Chattanooga
IM Wilmington
IM Louisville (at least part of it)
HIM Augusta
HIM Williamsburg

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Louisville is all current...you swim against it for 1400m, and with it for the rest. Not a really fast swim, though.

Augusta is ridiculous. I remember getting swept under a bridge the last time I raced there. It felt like the ocean current in Finding Nemo.

Wilmington (IM NC) is ridiculously fast...if the tide is coming in when you do the swim. It's tough if the tides are going out.

Chattanooga would had prob rivaled all of those above, although I don't see how it'd be safe to swim in a current faster than Augusta.

Haven't raced Williamsburg.