I’m doing the half!

I think this might be the first time they’ve run them on the same day. I haven’t raced it before but am hoping/expecting it will be better than the carnage seen in Italy. Part of the issue there was that they had the full start first, whereas in Barcelona the half has a 30 minute head start. So I imagine the fastest full distance athletes will catch the slower half athletes at some point on the first loop of the bike, but when they go onto their second loop it should be clearer.

Barcelona has a reputation as a draft fest though even when the races were on separate days, so who knows! Weather forecast looks great at the moment though and I’m looking forward to it :)

I did the full back in 2018 (crazy swim that year) and there was quite a bit of drafting during that race (although well marshaled-- tons of people in the penalty tents).

Im traveling from the US/RI next week. Lets hope that forecast holds up!

The half was always held in May but moved this year. Normally the half is a different route, which physically would still be possible. Can it be done logistically, not sure - you need to double up on patrolling and aid stations, which would be super difficult (police, refs, volunteers)

I am training on the IM route (N-II from Masnou to Calella) on a weekly basis. Its going to be a drafting havoc, sadly.
Even with just 2000 athletes out, it is IMPOSSIBLE for groups not to form.

Enjoy the race and do your own thing. Go to Barcelona after and have some beer :)

T

I did it last year. It was a draft fest because they had to cut the swimming because of 3 meter tall waves and with a 900m swim almost everyone left T1 together. The faster folks of the full distance caught the mid ones of the half. My only annoyance here is that Judges were not stopping and giving penalty cards to the people in the front, only middle and rear people. But the roads are very good and have good width, if the swim is done fully there should be enough space if you want to avoid drafting

Last year that week the weather was truly terrible, we had thunderstorms and a couple of days before Calella had streets drowning because of the rain. The first week of October in this area is always crazy and weather is super random. Im a local and I trained twice a week in that route ( Masnou to Calella and back ), did it so many times in the three months prior to the IM that I literally had every single Local legend in Strava and let me tell you something. I never, EVER in my life we had such strong wind. Its very common to have heavy winds that make sometimes going south or north hard and slow, but super fast and easy the other way around. But oh god that day. It was really hard going over 25km/h on one side even tucked into aero position, and I saw several people with disks almost crashing because of the gusts.

We had rain the day before and the same morning. Thanks to the volunteers that were helping us getting out of the water https://www.youtube.com/...hannel=TheDarrenlast because it was hard getting out. In my case I was hit by waves several times until one of them lifted me and I ended up standing in the sand, so it was easy, but I had a friend that was there watching and the told me "I literally saw the same person coming out of the water 4 times"

Other than that, this year im doing the half in Platja d'aro instead, and I plan on repeating the full one in one year or two. Good luck and enjoy it!

I’ll be doing the full next week.

8 months of injury free training and then a hamstring strain 2 weeks ago - shocker, hoping for the best on the run.

Can anyone tell me anything about the bike course? The website says 1000m total elevation, but I was under the impression it was even flatter, comparable with IM Italy.

Its mostly flat, even more so, like a straight line going down, then up, with an small detour in the middle that has a 1-2% gradient climb of 100m aprox that doesnt slow you down so much but on the way back to the main road you make up for it more than enough with the descent. Besides that, 3 small ramps ( maybe 50-60m each ) right after leaving calella that you have to do twice per loop, they are nothing serious.

Theres a city in the middle called Mataró where you have to cross 4 or 5 roundabouts. You dont need to do a recon of the circuit as its super simple, but if you have never been there, there are a few holes and the tarmac is not in very good condition, just be careful the first loop or follow a local to avoid those, as last year I saw many flats there and some people almost falling as they were on the aerobars bouncing like crazy :P

Wondered how those who raced last weekend got on?

I did the 70.3 and thought it was a great experience. Drafting was nowhere near as bad as I had been led to believe. There were points where people got a bit bunched up, particularly where there were inclines (can't really describe them as "hills") and when the headwind was stronger, but also long stretches where I could hardly see the competitor in front. Can't comment on how it was for the full, though.

For me it worked well having both races on the same day, as it meant we (the 70.3 athletes) got the full Ironman razzmatazz at the start and finish, whereas for a standalone 70.3 it's usually a little more low-key.

Happy to get a PB, although slightly disappointed to miss out on a 70.3 Worlds slot by 1 place :( Next time!

Hope you all had a great race.