Ignore the profile. It is accurate, but doesn't do the difficulty justice.

Plain and simple...The rolling hills on the bike combined with a strong headwind for the final 12 miles made for a VERY tough day. The course is relentless and it's really easy to blow up because you spend the first lap just banging over every hill in a big gear...Then it hits you that you've got the same hills and your legs are a bit toasted for another lap.

Add a run with 4 trips over Observatory Hill and you've got a challenging day.

I have a cycling background and live in a hilly/mountainous area (Portland, OR). IMMoo isn't about long, sustained climbs. It's about REPEATED power climbs (short and steep).

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http://wattieink.com/elite-team/
Raising funds to help wounded veterans and racing RAAM 2013 with http://team4mil.org/
"If you are gonna charge... CHARGE HARD!"

thanks for the infos.
I'm doing IM Coeur d'alene in June and the profiles look very similar and fast, so I was wondering why.

I'll be racing CdA as well.

I'm going to recon the course in April or May. I'll let you know how it rides.

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http://wattieink.com/elite-team/
Raising funds to help wounded veterans and racing RAAM 2013 with http://team4mil.org/
"If you are gonna charge... CHARGE HARD!"

Alot of people thought IM Wis was going to be very fast...me included. Then you get there and it is anything but. The bike course was refered to by several other pros as the toughest course in NA, and with good reason. It is always going up, hits every hill twice, and very windy the entire way. Add to that all of the turns (something like 66) on each lap, and you've got the makings of a slow bike course. The run was the same way, and that Observatory Hill was just absolutely brutal. It was an awsome experience though, and I'm of course going back :)

tommy

"...and I'm of course going back..."
I think this, in a nutshell, is what makes triathletes just absolutely rock! I love the concept that the hardest course we can find is the one we want to do over and over again!
Oh, and there were warnings that the course wouldn't be as fast as a lot of people thought, but no one seemed to want to listen to the Cheeseheads! ;) Seriously, though, I showed the course to a good friend who went to UW-Madison to which she replied, "They have to do these loops TWICE?!" Observatory Drive is infamous to all of the students there, but has an incredible view from the top.

I went to my LRS at lunch (after a hard morning of posting on slowtwitch, I might add) to look for some shoes, and who should happen to be their, trying on shoes herself?

Heather Gollnick

I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I chatted with her for a bit, trying to sound intelligent, but probably babbling like a fool. She is really, REALLY nice (not that I expected her to be anything but).

Way cool...

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Dave in WI
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"What you once were isn't what you want to be anymore" - Wilco