Good luck to everyone participating this weekend. And thanks to those who offered advice.

Swim may be in jeopardy?

https://host.madison.com/...ource=home-top-story

Thanks for the update! I'd rather be prepared for a cancellation then be surprised.

I had a meltdown when I did it as milkman (heat and I bad wounds from a crash 2 weeks prior). I also had some friends suffer being unprepared for the even worse heat last year.

Swimming is my weakness, but I'd hate for it to be cancelled. I'm hoping that the drop in temp and rain will fix this.

Good grief. Wasn't the swim cancelled two years in a row at Racine 70.3? 2016 and 2017? And now possibly Madison. How quickly can an algae bloom pass? I have no idea.

Not another year of a no swim for a 70.3 in Wisconsin - painful

i wouldn't worry about it. We had the swim the last 2 yrs. Last year had algae blooms too. These lakes get them all the time in the spring-ish. They disappear as fast as they come. People swam at Olin yesterday morning and there was nothing.

Don't worry about what you can't control.

Just to throw fuel on the flames, now a change of rain/thunderstorms too ;)

You're quite welcome. The early heat has caused a number of algae blooms and I wasn't aware that that area was affected. I can try to find out more but it may be a morning of decision....

The article you posted was citing Lake Mendota, not Monona. I was in Monona this morning (from the terrace) and the algae was BAD! Hopefully it is not the Blue-Green Algae though. If it is I was in the thick of it :(

Thanks for the update. I know it usually depends on wind direction quite a bit as to where it can settle. They usually have the weed clearing machines at the start area of the 70.3 as it really gets weedy. Perhaps they cleared algae as well? That seems to be the problem with these not so deep lakes here. After being spoiled with a lot of swimming at Geneva Lake, sometimes it feel like swimming in gel here. Hoping for the best for all racing....

well, I looking more into it, Olin park Beach is closed today. I am just hoping I was not swimming in it this morning...

I found the bad stuff to be really thick. I'd be surprised if you swam in the worst. Have a great local beer to kill any bad germs... ;-)

Yep. And it's raining today. :\

Here's the Olin Beach status page: http://www.publichealthmdc.com/...ions/beach.cfm?id=15

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I ride Felt.

And now there is an 85% chance of rain at the start of the race (7:00 a.m.); 75% for the next 3-4 hours.

Just saw this posted...

"Attention Athletes,
After several days of unusually warm temperatures and low winds, Public Health Madison and Dane County has closed multiple beaches, including Olin Park based on high levels of blue-green algae blooms found in the water. These levels currently are impacting the swim location for the IRONMAN 70.3 Wisconsin triathlon.
IRONMAN is working with local authorities to monitor the levels and are preparing adjustments to the swim course if a change should be needed. Please continue to check the IRONMAN 70.3 Wisconsin event website and Facebook page for updates. Information will also be posted at registration check-in and announcements will be made during the athlete briefings on Friday and Saturday.
Sincerely,
The IRONMAN 70.3 Wisconsin team"

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

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Also T-storms and no good window.

https://www.wunderground.com/hourly/us/wi/madison/KWIMADIS52/date/2018-06-10

Sweet username.

At 2pm athlete briefing. City repeated algae testing. All good and swim is on.

How was your WI 70.3? I'm curious to hear others' impressions. It was my first half, so I don't have much of a basis of comparison.

Overall, I had a good race- top 7% in my age group (45-49), so I'm pleased. It was harder than I anticipated. My swim was terrible- I'm an average swimmer and the choppiness killed me. The bike course wore me down- hills, wind, rough roads, and lots of turns. I'm thankful the rain stopped- I can't imagine doing that course in the kind of rain we had for the two hours we stood around in before the race. I didn't love the long bike path in and out of the transition, especially going out when it was close to two miles. I just tried to hang on during the run. Thank goodness the hills were early in the run and the last 2 miles were flat. And as wet as it was, at least it was cool.

The volunteers were great, both that the packet pick-up and during the race. I'm grateful for their efforts. The communications from the race director(s) before the race, when the transition area was closed due to lightning, was less than ideal. It's 24-hours later and the last Facebook message still says its closed and advises that we "shelter in place". But overall it was a well-organized race in a great setting.

Congrats on your first 70.3!

This was a very interesting race - a HTFU one type if you ask me :)

Anyway, yeah, the swim was a bit more choppy than I thought. Going out on the first leg I definitely took in some additional hydration - ha!. I managed to muscle through it with the thought that going back to shore the swells would be working in our favor. I ran into more seaweed than normal on open water swims too.

Transition was a swamp/mud pit. Oh well, it is what it is. I had a towel at transition that I used to wipe my feet off before putting on bike shoes.

I also was worried that the rain was not going to let up on the bike- thankfully for all of us it did. To be honest, I typically shy away if there is any kind of moisture since you just never know the true road conditions and how people will react. Heck, I could be the most careful person out there, but if another person isn't.....well, that doesn't typically end well. I did not get the opportunity to ride the course (I drove it), but having done the full IM in Madison I had a good feeling that the hills would be just as challenging - and I was not disappointed. I just told myself to keep in in check for the first 20 miles knowing that there were hills basically up until the very end. The Observatory road hill did not disapppoint; lol. And the downhills were fun except for the 2 that had immediate turns and we couldn't take advantage of the free speed - NOT FAIR! (Funny I yelled that out that to some other athletes during the turns we got a kick out of it; good times).

Again, more fun times going back to the mud pit transition and I wiped off my feet again. The 2 transitions I had were by far a LOT longer than I typically take, but I set expectations accordingly due to how the day started.

Felt GREAT during the run. My long training bricks really prepared for me to feel comfortable. Weather was outstanding by that point and a nice cool breeze.

Finished with a smile on my face knowing that I mentally and physically handled what the day threw at us. Grubbed on a couple sandwiches before driving back 2 hours to a NW suburb of Chicago (massaged legs when i could...argh; a little sore!)

Hope everyone that completed the race had as "good" as experience as possible. Feel proud of yourself!

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Tomorrow is not promised. Increase the Peace.

First time racing Wisconsin 70.3. Thoughts:

Pros:
Good call on the thirty minute delay for the swim. IMO it appeared to be much better after the delay.

The least amount of drafting that I've ever been part of for an Ironman event. The hills really broke up the packs. It's definitely an honest bike course.

Volunteers and support. They were great. I know for myself, I would much rather be tucked away inside on a 65 degree rainy day. Kudos to them for sticking it out and helping out all the athletes.

IMO the bus transportation system was spot on. Hardly any wait for the two instances that I utilized the bus.


Cons:
The typical, "the bike path" con to this event. It really sucks for slower swimmers like myself. Large packs going very slow (for good reasons). However, I'm assuming for a top tier swimmer it was more of a clear path so you could get out more quickly.

In and out of the transition was a nightmare. It took a good 5-10 minutes to exit transition due to the large amount of people taking their bikes out, going to the restrooms, and entering transition. It was a single file line in and out of transition.


Overall, it was a good experience. I would recommend it to people. I would say a 7.5 out of a 10.

Great call in the delay. By the time I got out, no rain! It turned out to be a great day. My swim was slower than expected, but I'm reasonably happy given how choppy the out of the swim was. Other than the mud pit of transition, the course was in really good shape. My transitions were ridiculously slow. The bike was challenging but a whole lot of fun. The run was hillier than I expected, but that is my own fault for not looking too closely at the run profile. Volunteers were phenomenal. I agree with another post below that course officials were everywhere and there was minimal drafting. Loved this event and would definitely do it again.

I agree... great race! Challenging and fair.

I'm a front pack swimmer and the chop didn't mess with me but my time was 1-2 minutes slower than expected.

Transitions were shit... I cannot believe they didn't move the swim mats into transition while everyone was on the bike.

Bike course is incredibly demanding and favors someone who is willing to risk pushing too many watts on the hills. Also, I've done IMWI four times and the roads on this 70.3 course are other worldly. The worst roads I've ever ridden. I wanted to quit around mile 45 from all the tar strips.

The run was far hillier than I expected and that mentally sucked but I loved it in the end. Just didn't mentally prepare for that.


FUCK THE ROLLING START... seriously, what an annoying mind fuck for people racing for the top 10. I would imagine that some people who finished around 4:35, started the swim almost 2-3 minutes behind the first couple athletes in the water.

This is interesting. I’ve been thinking of IMWI for 2019, but the combination of hills, turns, and bone-rattling roads at the 70.3 has had me thinking of other destinations. I know the elevation change is about the same (on a per mile basis), but you’d say the 70.3 course is significantly harder because of the quality of the roads?

It’s hard in its own unique way. St George is hard in its own unique way. I’m not sure which is harder but I know why each is hard.

If you absolutely do not have bad roads to train on, you’ll be shell shocked on race day. It’s managable if you can’t but it’s annoying.

But I would highly recommend this course.

I though the Madison 70.3 course was the worst road conditions I've been on, but my perspective might be skewed due to the technically difficult course too. I think it's worse than when it was milkman and also worse than Racine. I don't remember seeing so many flats and mechanical issues in a race.

I've done IMWI once, but have ridden the course many times for training (including the temporary revised one). The road conditions aren't nearly as bad and not as technical. I thought the 70.3 was a more challenging course with the exception of the distance. I highly recommend preriding the course.