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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [stevej] [ In reply to ]
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Steve, congrats on the race. I'd be interested to know what line you took on the 2nd loop of the swim.

Eric

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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [ericMPro] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Eric!

Are you referring to the start of the second lap heading out to the turn buoy specifically?

I had a lot of issues sighting buoy's on both laps which made my lines not the best, especially on the 2nd lap.

Side note: I probably had the wrong goggles on for the lack of light we had which made it really really difficult to sight the red turn buoys and orange buoys. I had no issues seeing yellow buoys or volunteers with bright yellow shirts on.

I followed the smaller yellow buoys on the 2nd lap which were farther left. But I found myself getting pushed right towards the larger yellow buoys and into the masses. I really wanted to head straight to the far turn red buoy and stay left of the masses but I could not sight it from that far out in order to find that line.

FWIW, garmin had me at 4414 yards....

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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [stevej] [ In reply to ]
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yeah just wondering how you navigated the big red turn buoys and the timing tunnel on the 2nd lap.

For me, I came out of the water with a group, "dropped" them (including a guy in a sleeveless) starting the 2nd loop, but sure enough when we came out of the water at the finish there was sleeveless guy again so I don't know how effectively I managed the 2nd loop

E

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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [ericMPro] [ In reply to ]
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The first lap of the swim I thought was great. I started near the front and had no issues navigating the course. Came out of the water with 30:xx on the clock. Back in for the second lap I looked over towards the start and saw people were still streaming in. When the courses rejoined, all hell broke loose. I lost 3 minutes to traffic on that second lap. When we went through the timing tunnel the second time I didn't swim through it, I crawled over bodies through it. It was absolute MADNESS. Ended up with 1:04 which was really disappointing considering how well my first lap went.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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yeah I was afraid for people when I went through the 2nd time... you could have walked 20 yards and not gotten wet at that section.

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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [ericMPro] [ In reply to ]
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I was in a group of 5 or 6 for the first lap. Once we joined the masses on the second lap, it was impossible to stay together. I lost some of them for a while but miraculously found some of them later on.

As far as lines go, I operate under the motto: “what’s the shortest distance between 2 points?” The turns and timing mat were a cluster. I took them pretty tight and just navigated through the best I could. I was definitely slowed down and had to modify my stroke several times. I was kicked and punched a few times as well. I just try to do my best at threading the needle between folks and try not to disrupt their swimming to the best of my ability.

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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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g_lev wrote:
The first lap of the swim I thought was great. I started near the front and had no issues navigating the course. Came out of the water with 30:xx on the clock. Back in for the second lap I looked over towards the start and saw people were still streaming in. When the courses rejoined, all hell broke loose. I lost 3 minutes to traffic on that second lap. When we went through the timing tunnel the second time I didn't swim through it, I crawled over bodies through it. It was absolute MADNESS. Ended up with 1:04 which was really disappointing considering how well my first lap went.


That was my experience exactly (including the time)

Also I think if I started a bit further up I would have been able to swim with faster people. Instead, I was taking it quite easy until middle of second lap when it turned into a wrestling match. I think that the self seeding rewards aggressive seeding (i.e. 5 minutes faster than what you think you can do solo)
Last edited by: dgutstadt: Nov 6, 18 18:53
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [stevej] [ In reply to ]
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thanks. I took the inside of the turn buoys on the 2nd lap as well, and I also lost my swim mates at the start of the 2nd loop and miraculously found them at the end. The only real trouble was getting through the tunnel for the 2nd time.

Interesting that people had it at 4400-4500... I wonder if the course was actually long or if that's just an artifact of GPS and the turns

E

stevej wrote:
I was in a group of 5 or 6 for the first lap. Once we joined the masses on the second lap, it was impossible to stay together. I lost some of them for a while but miraculously found some of them later on.

As far as lines go, I operate under the motto: “what’s the shortest distance between 2 points?” The turns and timing mat were a cluster. I took them pretty tight and just navigated through the best I could. I was definitely slowed down and had to modify my stroke several times. I was kicked and punched a few times as well. I just try to do my best at threading the needle between folks and try not to disrupt their swimming to the best of my ability.

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [eye3md] [ In reply to ]
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I feel that Ironman did a good job, considering the circumstances, but the real heroes were the volunteers. They were plentiful, cheerful, and eager to help.
The swim was tough and there was lots of congestion. Very few spots to get away from the packs and find clean water. The mid-swim timing antennas worked great (except for the congestion on the course at this point). I hope that we see more of this in the future.
The bike was pretty fun, although there was lots of vehicular traffic which made passing impossible for some pretty long stretches. And many of the descents ended at a turn, so it was impossible to use the momentum to carry you up the next incline. The officials did a good job finding the cheaters and issuing penalties.
I ended my day at T2 due to cramps, I didn’t have any cramp relief/salt and neither did transition volunteers. The run course looked pretty brutal, though, and quite possibly the least scenic of any race on the circuit.
That being said, Ironman did a great job considering the circumstances, but I’m glad to see that the race will return to PCB next year.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [Lsamuel1976] [ In reply to ]
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Race Analysis

First and foremost, I am VERY grateful that I was able to race at all after the hurricane blew through PCB. Nothing short of a miracle WTC was able to pull this off. Hats off to them. Job well done. This was my second IM with Maryland 2017 being my first.

Swim: Was very happy to learn that the swim was wetsuit legal. I lined up about 15 rows back and started 1:30 after the gun went off. Course was well marked and no issues on first lap. 29:12 first lap split. Second lap was a different story. Lots of bottle necking with all the turns and at the timing mat in the middle. Multiple times, I was suddenly swimming right on top of a lapped swimmer that stopped to tread water. The other place I got held up was at the finish. A lot of lapped swimmers stopped swimming as soon as their feet could touch the bottom. They were wading through waist deep water as I was trying the swim by. Once they noticed I was trying to get by, everyone was polite and let me through. Time was 59:29. My time from Maryland was 1:08, so I was felt that improvement justified all the swimming this past winter. I would estimate the course was 1-2 min slower than IM Maryland 2017.

Transitions: T1 in particular was pretty long. Probably close to ½ mile of running when all said and done. I thought I had my transitions down pretty well but still was in T1+T2 for over 9 min. Compared to Maryland, where I stopped to use the Porto-John in T2, I would say the transitions overall were about 1-2 minutes slower.

Bike: Felt great first half of lap 1. Noticed some potential drafting near me. Course marshal on motorcycle was immediately on it. They rode along and watched the pack of 4-5 cyclists for a good 10 min, then came back and sat on the pack again for 5 min. There was one guy in particular I felt was lingering in the draft zone multiple times. The course marshals didn’t do anything initially and eventually this pack sped away from me, but this same individual on the second lap was in the penalty tent. Second half of bike course had some decent hills that slowed overall times. Roads were maintained well and course marked/staffed impeccably. My time was 4:58. Maryland 2017 was 4:53 but that course is a pancake and only 110.5 miles. I don’t have a power meter to compare efforts but consider my effort at IMFL to be a much better ride. I would estimate at my speed, this course was 15 min slower than Maryland 2017.

Run:

The course ended up being well marked and the volunteers were very attentive. The elevation changes and multiple turns made for a very challenging run. You never could get a solid rhythm going. I started the run and someone told me I was top 20. Looking back at the data, I was 18th and can only remember passing about 5 people the first lap. It was hard to tell what lap someone else was on during the 2nd and 3rd laps. When I finished, I thought I was probably around 10-15th place. Was shocked to learn I was 5th overall. Time was 3:20. Maryland was a flat course and I ran 3:16 there but I definitely was in much better overall and running specific shape for this year’s race. I would estimate that IMFL was 10 minutes slower than Maryland 2017.

Overall time: 9:27. I also finished in 9:27 at Maryland 2017.

Weather: Maryland 2017 and IMFL 2018 were both 80 degrees, humid.

In summary, I would estimate at the pace I was racing, that IMFL 2018 was 30 minutes slower than IM Maryland 2017. This was largely due to the longer and hillier bike course and the challenging run course. The transitions and swim course also added a few minutes total. I felt that I had a lot of upside going into the race since I only started training for tris 3 months before Maryland. Maryland was only my second tri ever. I’m a life-long runner with a 2:35 marathon PR (Philly ’07) but have little swimming and essentially no biking background. I’m an AOS who first tried swimming at age 18. I went out for my high school swim team but only lasted 6 weeks after I incurred a rib injury. I didn’t receive any stroke training. Recorded a 500 scy PR of 7:10. I took 19 years off from the pool and started up again when I started training for Maryland. Over the past 12 months, I put in about 1,000 hours of training. I did a swim intensive block for 2 months this past winter swimming 50,000 yards per week. The 3 months leading up to IMFL, I averaged 200 miles biking, 60 miles running, 12,000 yards swimming.

Again, I am very grateful to have raced at all and felt that the course was very well directed and marked. I meant no disrespect to the race director by skipping the awards and roll down but I decided prior to the race that this would be my last full IM. From a family standpoint, this was a non-sustainable venture, and I am grateful to the ironman community for allowing me to participate in the 2 fantastic races.



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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [ericMPro] [ In reply to ]
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ericMPro wrote:

Interesting that people had it at 4400-4500... I wonder if the course was actually long or if that's just an artifact of GPS and the turns

I suspect people were swimming wide in an attempt to avoid traffic. I clocked 4277 and my GPS track was basically perfectly overlapped for both laps, so the course was measured correctly as far as I could tell.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [CJHess] [ In reply to ]
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This is the greatest mic drop that I’ve seen in awhile. That’s one hell of a race and I’m glad that you were able to have the experience.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, I had 4250 on the button. I was 7 minutes slower on lap 2 as I have a hard time fighting through crowds with my concussion history, as well as puking in the water following some chop with one of the jet skis in front of me.

I DNF'd following an incident with a car on lap 2 which is about all I will say about it publicly at this time. (No, I was not the one medflighted).

That said, I'm astounded at the job they did to pull this together. Some of it was done on the fly (e.g., stuff got added to that first aid station right outside T2 after the first 20-30 people rolled through). Kelly (the better half) was women's change captain. Everything "felt" like the right experience. I could have seen them doing an early season full here if there was an appetite for one.

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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [ericMPro] [ In reply to ]
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I swam a 1:04. My garmin reads 4674y. I remember being pretty tight with a lot of the buoys but my second lap definitely looks a bit less straight than the first. Maybe they drifted a bit? I did get hit with a few random “waves” in there probably from the Jet Skis, etc.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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g_lev wrote:
ericMPro wrote:

I suspect people were swimming wide in an attempt to avoid traffic. I clocked 4277 and my GPS track was basically perfectly overlapped for both laps, so the course was measured correctly as far as I could tell.

This is spot on for me... I wanted to avoid the chaos near the buoys so I swam wide the first lap, ended up inside them/near them on the second loop and couldn't get back outside due to traffic.

This was my first 140.6 distance race, and I'm from MN, the temps killed me, I was ecstatic when the rain began. I concur with what most have said here. Bike course was good, roads were amazing coming from MN where the temps impact our road smoothness. The hills on the back didn't bug me lap 1, but they hurt me lap 2.

The run course... ugh. I don't want to complain, because I am sincerely appreciative that I was able to check the "Ironman" box, BUT...
The out and back was just plain evil/sadistic to me, ran up some of the toughest grades on the run course in the warmest part of the day; and to someone else's point, made loop 1 feel like FOREVER. That out and back is where I had my little personal pity party.

So I have a question, after doing Madison 70.3 and this FL 140.6, is the Ironman's MO? Mouse maze run courses?
Assuming it's to limit the impact on road closures or something?
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [MJGuswiler] [ In reply to ]
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MJGuswiler wrote:

So I have a question, after doing Madison 70.3 and this FL 140.6, is the Ironman's MO? Mouse maze run courses?
Assuming it's to limit the impact on road closures or something?

No this is not typical. Most courses are pretty straight forward with a couple laps around something, or a double out and back scenario. Look at IMTX or IMLP's run courses for example. IMTX is a pretty simple loop around the neighborhood and lake. IMLP is just a double 13.1 out and back on 73, River rd, and Mirror Lake Drive.

This absurd course we had in Haines City was entirely the result of having to put together an extremely last minute 26.2 mile run course that didn't affect too many local roads. I didn't like that run course in the slightest, but I very much appreciate the fact that we had it at all, so I am not going to complain about it in any way!

What Ironman was able to do to pull this off on such short notice is nothing short of amazing, and whatever minor glitches they had should be entirely forgiven.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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g_lev wrote:
No this is not typical. Most courses are pretty straight forward with a couple laps around something, or a double out and back scenario. Look at IMTX or IMLP's run courses for example. IMTX is a pretty simple loop around the neighborhood and lake. IMLP is just a double 13.1 out and back on 73, River rd, and Mirror Lake Drive.

This absurd course we had in Haines City was entirely the result of having to put together an extremely last minute 26.2 mile run course that didn't affect too many local roads. I didn't like that run course in the slightest, but I very much appreciate the fact that we had it at all, so I am not going to complain about it in any way!

What Ironman was able to do to pull this off on such short notice is nothing short of amazing, and whatever minor glitches they had should be entirely forgiven.

100% agree, Ironman should absolutely be commended, and I appreciate the opportunity to use 6 months of training for its intended purpose. Also happy to hear this isn't the normal run course experience. I cannot tell you the number of times the word, "never" and "again" came out of my mouth as I navigated the neighborhoods of Haines City. Knowing this, maybe it's time to reconsider? Definitely will be looking for a cooler venue.
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Re: IMFL - Haines City...how was it? [CJHess] [ In reply to ]
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CJHess wrote:

Race Analysis
In summary, I would estimate at the pace I was racing, that IMFL 2018 was 30 minutes slower than IM Maryland 2017. This was largely due to the longer and hillier bike course and the challenging run course. The transitions and swim course also added a few minutes total. I felt that I had a lot of upside going into the race since I only started training for tris 3 months before Maryland. Maryland was only my second tri ever. I’m a life-long runner with a 2:35 marathon PR (Philly ’07) but have little swimming and essentially no biking background. I’m an AOS who first tried swimming at age 18. I went out for my high school swim team but only lasted 6 weeks after I incurred a rib injury. I didn’t receive any stroke training. Recorded a 500 scy PR of 7:10. I took 19 years off from the pool and started up again when I started training for Maryland. Over the past 12 months, I put in about 1,000 hours of training. I did a swim intensive block for 2 months this past winter swimming 50,000 yards per week. The 3 months leading up to IMFL, I averaged 200 miles biking, 60 miles running, 12,000 yards swimming.

Again, I am very grateful to have raced at all and felt that the course was very well directed and marked. I meant no disrespect to the race director by skipping the awards and roll down but I decided prior to the race that this would be my last full IM. From a family standpoint, this was a non-sustainable venture, and I am grateful to the ironman community for allowing me to participate in the 2 fantastic races.




That is a stellar performance, and training. I wish I could try to do 50,000/week of swimming but there's no way my shoulders could handle that volume.
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