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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [jab] [ In reply to ]
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jab wrote:
Congratulations Jordan. A brilliant effort and I especially loved your awards presentation speech. I have a question regarding using tubular vs clincher wheels on a course like IMC. In 2001, I did IMC and was running tubular wheels. I ended up getting two flats due to tacks on the road. I had two spares and was able to quickly get going again. However, since it was early in the race, I still had all the fast descents to do on less than well glued tires. I did have residual glue on the spares and rim, but a replaced tubular will never be as secure as a properly glued tired. And the fear of rolling a tire on those descents had me riding the brakes down every significant downhill. After that experience I switched to clincher wheels and learned to change a clincher flat almost as fast as I can a tubular. With a repaired clincher, I felt that I had as reliable a tire/wheel interface as I did before the flat. On a flat course like IMFL, I would not have the same reservations. But, 50mph on a questionable tire is down right scary. With more courses experiencing "tack attacks", wouldn't clinchers be a better choice for courses with fast downhill sections?

What I think would be really good is if we could catch the tack bandit and string him up by his family jewels... That would prevent needing to make such a choice. My opinion remains the same, for everyone other than a pro male, clinchers are the only choice. And if you are a pro man, then tubulars have some appeals (you can ride them flat), but clinchers are still a good choice.

I'd also suggest trying sealant for the tacks. That might have worked. 50% stan's & 50% automotive slime seems to be the magic combo for tubulars. I put about 30ml in each tire. I actually put on a new rear tire for Calgary (and IMC), and I cut open the old one. The slime/stan's mix was still liquid. I last put the mix in for Abu Dhabi.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [lakercr] [ In reply to ]
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lakercr wrote:
Do you find the 15 minute head start is enough, or does it bother you all day that I'm back there, and I'm coming for you...?
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:-)

If you are coming back in 2012, I will ask for 20min. Maybe more...

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Yes I wanted to try the mice but was warned I might get lost and herd the KVR is great.

Interesting on riding the rails I was worried a tire might get caught between the rails.

Coming from Ontario its so beautiful out there and some met some great people. I already looking into teaching jobs out there or visiting for most of next summer. A great place to get fast.

Congrats on the win. Now time to use my training out there at Muskoka 70.3 hopefully there's another W left in your old wheels...
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [yikes] [ In reply to ]
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yikes wrote:
Congrats on the win! Just curious, is there a reason you generally do not take water? Also, do you manage to get your target calories on the run from the 1perform/1coke (I believe that is what you wrote in the other post). Last, do you start to ingest let over the final miles or do you try to stay with it right through the last aid station?

I've found just through trial and error that water generally doesn't sit well with me during exercise. I don't feel that I struggle to make things work because of that, so I never really let it phase me. On training runs, I always bring some salt caps or efs liquid shot. If I do a training run, and I drink just water (like at a tap), I quite often cramp up.

I usually start to scale back with 6km/4mi to go. And at 2miles o go, I'm not concerned with calories at all. Though I still sometimes hit the aid station just to keep my mouth moist.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Rappstar wrote:
My opinion remains the same, for everyone other than a pro male, clinchers are the only choice. And if you are a pro man, then tubulars have some appeals (you can ride them flat), but clinchers are still a good choice.

Just for clarification Jordan, are you talking specifically to long distance racing or short course as well? I run stingers for short course because I don't even carry a flat kit. I run Jet's/H3 for longer stuff when I do run a kit.


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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Fastyellow] [ In reply to ]
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Any race where you pay to do the race. In other words, if I pay to do a race, I want to finish that race. If I was racing as an age-grouper, I would change a flat even in a sprint. Because I paid my money to do the race. Why would I want a flat to send me home without a finish?

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Gotcha....and I totally get that mentality. For me, finishing is really low on my goals for a race. I have no problem packing it in once my goals are no longer attainable. Obviously, the longer the race, the more *adversity* your time can absorb and still possibly accomplish your goals for the race.


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Wattie Ink Triathlon Team
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Rappstar wrote:
...I think the way our sport exists currently, with ALL roads leading to Kona is a very, very bad thing. I would be unhappy if I never raced Kona. However, I would not at all be unhappy if I never raced The Ironman World Championships in Kona. In other words, I think that WTC should make Kona the equivalent of the Daytona 500, and that the World Championships should be held, sometimes in Kona, sometimes in Frankfurt, sometimes in Canada, etc. Or they should make it like Wimbledon, with equal calibre races at Germany and some other locations, and perhaps not necessarily have a "World Champion" for pros...

I just wanted to say firstly congratulations on a great win and what sounds like a perfectly executed race, and secondly that I think this is one of the most intelligent suggestions I've ever heard about the current state of IM racing.

Rob
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [ In reply to ]
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"My opinion remains the same, for everyone other than a pro male, clinchers are the only choice. And if you are a pro man, then tubulars have some appeals (you can ride them flat), but clinchers are still a good choice."

Congrats, Jordan!

Why do you say this regarding tire choice based on gender and amateur vs. pro?

Thanks!

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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Jordan,
Awesome win. Awesome performance.
Funny, the whole GI issue thing reminded me of 2001 when Peter Reid won. He said that at some point in the run he needed to visit one of the porta potties. I remember him saying that being in the lead of the race was enough pressure without having the car with the massive roof clock waiting for him outside. ;)

I just had two questions:

1) How much time do you spend riding your TT bike compared to your road bike. As I understand it, if your bikes are setup correctly, then training on the two bikes should mostly provide the same muscular stress, but there must be some adaptations that necessitate training in the TT set-up?

2) When you train on the TT bike, how often do you ride your race wheel set-up (Disc/808) ?

Thanks,

Will
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Rappstar wrote:

I used an 11-23. That's what I'd run for pretty much every Ironman course I've seen. For Arizona, I'd would prefer an 11-21. I can't think of any courses where I'd want an 11-26; maybe Embrunman?

Congratulations with your win.

It would be awesome to see a great cyclist like you fighting with Zamora, Herve and Loy in the Alps. Is Embrun on the list of races you want to do one day?

I remember that after your accident you wrote about using a mountainbike more often to avoid dangerous traffic situations. Have you done that?
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I think it is, though I'm trying not to focus too much on next year since I still have some big goals for this year. In my most ideal world, I'll *NEVER* have to shift my focus to Kona. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't race Kona, or even make it a priority, but I believe that the singular focus of this sport on a single race that is controlled by a for-profit entity that makes decisions based on that status is a bad thing. In other words, WTC could decide to do basically *anything* with that race, and no one could say anything.

Look at this way - the only race that really, really allows to "make it" as a long course triathlete is a race, late in the year, in relatively hot relatively humid conditions, that's relatively flat and relatively windy, with an ocean swim, etc. What I mean is that it NEVER changes. I can think of several corollaries in other sports - The Masters, which is always played at Augusta. Or the Daytona or Indy 500 or Le Mans in auto racing. Or Wimbledon/US Open/French Open in tennis. But in every other case where there is a single event that is of significance, it is neither the overall championship (in the case of NASCAR, Daytona is one of the first races of the year, and has no special impact on who wins the overall series) nor is it the only "championship" (such as with golf with the four Majors or tennis with the Grand Slams).

Simply put, I think the way our sport exists currently, with ALL roads leading to Kona is a very, very bad thing. I would be unhappy if I never raced Kona. However, I would not at all be unhappy if I never raced The Ironman World Championships in Kona. In other words, I think that WTC should make Kona the equivalent of the Daytona 500, and that the World Championships should be held, sometimes in Kona, sometimes in Frankfurt, sometimes in Canada, etc. Or they should make it like Wimbledon, with equal calibre races at Germany and some other locations, and perhaps not necessarily have a "World Champion" for pros.

Right now, if you win Kona, you get huge media attention. But if you finish 2nd or 3rd, you basically get nothing. You might get some attention if people think you have a good chance of winning the next year, such as Andreas Raelert, but look at Cameron Brown, who's been on the podium four times. He's finished 2nd twice and 3rd twice. But, especially in 2005 when he finished 2nd, I think he got very little exposure from that. And I think it's because people didn't seem to have the same sense that they do with Andreas Raelert that it was "inevitable" that Cameron would win.

Simply put, WTC has far too much control over the trajectory of a successful long course pro career. And I do not like that, in large part because they haven't necessarily shown that they make decisions with very much regard for how that influence affects pro athletes. Obviously, the ITU also makes drastic decisions - such as the shift to the WCS system - that can have huge impacts as well, but in that case, you have a IGB, that must respond to NGB, etc. There's a formal and normal and logical way to protest and address changes, etc. In other words, there's a system in place with some checks and balances.

None of this exists with WTC. WTC decided to drop the number of pro slots to 50 men and 30 women this year. There was some very minimal "discussion" (and I use the term loosely) about this, but basically, they decided that this was the way it was going to be and that was that. That same sort of decision couldn't happen with something like the ITU. National Federations would protest. And they have leverage. I have zero leverage.

Right now, everyone complains about this, but in the end, the best athletes all go race Kona. But what it they didn't? What if Crowie and Raelert and Lieto and Vanhoenaker all decided to work with Felix Walschoffer and to all race Challenge Roth. And to NOT race Kona? Sure, Kona still have the right to be called the World Championship, but tell me who you think the best athlete in the world would be? Many folks say, for example, that ITU LD World's is not a meaningful World Championship because the best long distance athletes don't race it. But whose fault is that? Some if it falls on the ITU, for not making it a race of significance. But some of it falls on the athletes for not making a race of significance.

Dan and I had a conversation along these lines a while back. He wrote something to me that I hadn't considered really. He said that Kona is the birthplace of this sport, and that WTC wasn't just the owners of that race, they were STEWARDS of it. And that, as stewards, they had an obligation to leave it better off than they found it. And I think that's true. And I don't necessarily think they've done a good job of that. However, I also think that, as a person who makes his living as a result of this sport, I *also* have an obligation to leave this sport better than I found it. And I don't believe that just putting that typical focus on Kona is doing a good job there either. I think Challenge is leaving this sport better than they found it. I think Rev3 is doing the same. I think Lifetime Fitness is as well. And I think WTC has the most enormous ability to do so if they choose to.

But in my ideal world, I'd like to see this sport - for pros - grow beyond a single race on the Big Island in October. And if I can facilitate that in some small way, I'd like to do so.

JR,

Heavy and important stuff that everyone should read over. FWIW, I have similar views and have been saying/suggesting the same thing for a number of years.

This is not to knock the WTC, they are a great race management and marketing company that as Dan says, have been good stewards of the sport and the IM brand over the years*, but with as you say essentially all roads in long distance racing leading to Kona, it's not good for the sport or the pro athletes as a whole. So much more could be done with it!

* Just adding an edit here that, currently we are clearly in boom times for the sport of triathlon and IM racing, but you don't have to go back too far (just over 10 years ago) when the whole sport was in the doldrums, and it really was the WTC and IM that kept the lights on and the fires burning. Two significant happenings kicked things back into high gear and the ramp up to where we are now 1) The addition of Triathlon into the Olympic Games, 2) and germane to this thread, Graham Fraser, selling the WTC on the idea that, we could have multiple IM races in North America (up until that point the WTC had been opposed to this)





Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
Last edited by: Fleck: Sep 2, 11 6:27
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I'm kind of surprised about this. Do you use sealant in all your race tires? I thought this increased rolling resistance a lot? Am I wrong, or is it a calculated loss you're willing to take?
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [highflyer] [ In reply to ]
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highflyer wrote:
"My opinion remains the same, for everyone other than a pro male, clinchers are the only choice. And if you are a pro man, then tubulars have some appeals (you can ride them flat), but clinchers are still a good choice."

Congrats, Jordan!

Why do you say this regarding tire choice based on gender and amateur vs. pro?

Thanks!

Because you paid to race. And pros race in order to get paid.

EDIT: re: gender, the margins in women's races are generally much larger. Especially Ironman. And not just when Chrissie Wellington races. So a top woman should easily be able to change a tire and still place in the money, if not outright win.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
Last edited by: Rappstar: Sep 2, 11 7:59
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Barlow] [ In reply to ]
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Barlow wrote:
Hi Jordan,
Awesome win. Awesome performance.
Funny, the whole GI issue thing reminded me of 2001 when Peter Reid won. He said that at some point in the run he needed to visit one of the porta potties. I remember him saying that being in the lead of the race was enough pressure without having the car with the massive roof clock waiting for him outside. ;)

I just had two questions:

1) How much time do you spend riding your TT bike compared to your road bike. As I understand it, if your bikes are setup correctly, then training on the two bikes should mostly provide the same muscular stress, but there must be some adaptations that necessitate training in the TT set-up?

2) When you train on the TT bike, how often do you ride your race wheel set-up (Disc/808) ?

Thanks,

Will

1. I ride my TT bike about 40% of my total mileage for the year.

2. Usually about a couple times per month. I usually do a local 20km TT, where I ride them. But when I'm not riding that setup, I ride dual 808s, which actually handle worse than 808/disc because a disc provides stability. So I actually find it easier to ride my race wheels than my training wheels.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [big slow mover] [ In reply to ]
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big slow mover wrote:
Rappstar wrote:

I used an 11-23. That's what I'd run for pretty much every Ironman course I've seen. For Arizona, I'd would prefer an 11-21. I can't think of any courses where I'd want an 11-26; maybe Embrunman?

Congratulations with your win.

It would be awesome to see a great cyclist like you fighting with Zamora, Herve and Loy in the Alps. Is Embrun on the list of races you want to do one day?

I remember that after your accident you wrote about using a mountainbike more often to avoid dangerous traffic situations. Have you done that?

Embrun is definitely a race I'd love to do. Not sure if I will do it as pro (though I'd like to; just there are more races that I'd like to do than I can; and I don't always have a choice; and sometimes a race I'd like to do is too close to a race I'd really like to do). But I hope that, at some point while I am a pro, I could make it work. I love these iconic races with iconic courses. Embrun, Alpe d'Huez, Canada, Wildflower, and then new races like Leadman, American Zofingen, Savageman, etc. that carry on the tradition of "real" courses.

In December and January, I basically rode my mountain bike exclusively, except for doing a few of the local TTs. It was really nice. I walk it a fair bit, especially when I'm tired, which isn't fun. But I also try to be safe. But I actually think it was a really good thing. I enjoyed riding more, so I rode more, and it was good hard riding. I plan to do the same this winter.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [trexleradam] [ In reply to ]
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trexleradam wrote:
I'm kind of surprised about this. Do you use sealant in all your race tires? I thought this increased rolling resistance a lot? Am I wrong, or is it a calculated loss you're willing to take?

I've never seen any data showing it increases Crr. And conceptually, I don't see why it would. It's a liquid sealant. I'm sure that, as it dries out a bit, it will somewhat increase Crr. But I would consider that to be a worthwhile risk. Perhaps Alan Morrison will do a test. I'll see if he's interested. And would provide the tires for him.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I know you love this race and the community... but I can't help but ask here... is this a poorly organized/executed event? I've been considering doing it for a while now since it happens to be very close to family and friends, but after reading some of the posts here, it seems like a real mess.

-A history of locals dropping tacks on the road
-Cars all over the course and someone actually being HIT by a car!?
-Running out of water on the run
-I didn't follow up, but I saw a thread about a bike missing for an athlete in T1...

It sounds like a race to avoid. I'm sure you have personal relationships with the RD and I dont intend to stoke any ill will. If you do feel its a poorly run event, do you have any insights as to why?
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [amclean] [ In reply to ]
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amclean wrote:
I know you love this race and the community... but I can't help but ask here... is this a poorly organized/executed event? I've been considering doing it for a while now since it happens to be very close to family and friends, but after reading some of the posts here, it seems like a real mess.

-A history of locals dropping tacks on the road
-Cars all over the course and someone actually being HIT by a car!?
-Running out of water on the run
-I didn't follow up, but I saw a thread about a bike missing for an athlete in T1...

It sounds like a race to avoid. I'm sure you have personal relationships with the RD and I dont intend to stoke any ill will. If you do feel its a poorly run event, do you have any insights as to why?

- They have deployed police (to what extent, I don't know) to try and catch the tack dropper, but I guess the person changes how they do it. I personally think it shouldn't be that hard to catch the person. They probably just need more police. It's a relatively short stretch of road, so it should be that hard to really monitor it super effectively. This is the only thing that I think is a relatively easily solvable problem that hasn't been solved for whatever reason. I do think this a legitimate problem, one that everyone involved in the race should want to really prevent, and which I think is not that hard to prevent. McClean Creek Rd, start to finish, is about three miles. You could simply space out volunteers in a line where every volunteer could see every other volunteer. I'd wager that would require ~25 volunteers (one every 200m). I can't imagine anyone being able to drop tacks successfully with that level of monitoring. And since that section occurs relatively early on, (i'm guessing that from first to last athlete, it takes less than two hours to get all athletes through. Why this hasn't been done, I have no idea. And I think it's probably the biggest issue on your list.

- cars are all over the course because it's a one loop course. You couldn't close 112 miles of roads. It would be totally impractical. But it's also what makes the course awesome. I think the car issue would be less of a problem if the size of the race was returned to what I think is a more reasonable amount of athletes - 2200ish. As far as athletes being hit by a car, that happens at plenty of races. It was not at an intersection, meaning I don't think there was anything the race could have done to prevent it. Even with less athletes, a careless driver is not the race's fault. Any race that is not on a totally closed course has the chance for athletes to get hit through not fault of the races. I've never heard of this happening before at this race (doesn't mean that it hasn't), but it's certainly not chronic. To me, this is like saying you wouldn't race in Kona if someone ever got bitten by a shark there. Maybe you wouldn't, but I don't think you could pin that on the race.

- Running out of water on the run. I won't make any excuses here. However, I also don't know what's involved in being a race director, so I also won't offer any criticisms either. This is, to my knowledge, also the first time that this has happened at this race (though, as I said before, I don't know 100% of what happened over the previous 29 years). Everyone makes mistakes. If this happened again next year, then yes, I might reconsider. But even the very best races have mishaps. You have to remember that this race has been going on for 29 years. I think that gives them some "money in the bank." I'm not saying a free pass on this, but I think that 1 out of 29 is not bad.

- Apparently, the guys ex-wife stole his bike. And one of his running shoes. This is one that I'd definitely put in the "fluke" category.

Historically, this has been a fantastically run race. The only consistent issue has been the tack dropper. Other than that, two of the "issues" you mentioned are not things where I'd put the race at fault. I would put the running out of water as a fault, but it's certainly not a consistent complaint; it's not even a complaint I've ever heard about this race ever before.

-

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Jordan,

Not sure if this is breaking the rules but how many weeks was your taper? I've been seeing some local pros do as little as 1 week tapering for an Ironman.

-Nick
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I enjoyed riding more, so I rode more . . .

You sir, are a one man Quote Machine!

If you really enjoy doing something you'll do it more. Who knew? Pure brilliance. Seriously!





Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Jordan,


When you got off the bike and started running were your sights set on consistent 5K splits, progressive 5K splits or something else. Clearly don't give anything away just a general sense.

Great insight on Ironman Racing and going after Kona.

Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [iheartfestina] [ In reply to ]
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iheartfestina wrote:
Jordan,

Not sure if this is breaking the rules but how many weeks was your taper? I've been seeing some local pros do as little as 1 week tapering for an Ironman.

-Nick

2 weeks.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [SDJ] [ In reply to ]
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SDJ wrote:
Jordan,


When you got off the bike and started running were your sights set on consistent 5K splits, progressive 5K splits or something else. Clearly don't give anything away just a general sense.

Great insight on Ironman Racing and going after Kona.

Basically everyone positive splits an Ironman marathon. And I knew with a Northern wind (tailwind on the way out), I was going to inevitably have a reasonably large positive split. But I wanted to run relatively even splits for the first half. And then on the way back, do what I needed to win. I thought if I was pretty consistent through 30k (which I was), that'd probably get it done. That last 12k, I slowed down quite a bit, but still ran reasonably fast (like that it'd be really hard to catch me), but at a pace that was quite comfortable.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Official "Ask Me Anything About Ironman Canada" Thread [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
Rappstar wrote:
Landyachtz wrote:
So I think you've said before that your plan was to come in to the 30th anniversary of IMC as the defending champ. Is that still your plan regardless of what happens at ITU LD worlds and IMAZ? At what point are you going to shift focus to Kona and what do you feel you need to improve on to get to a point where you feel like you can compete for the win there?

Second question: does your cadence on the bike vary depending on what distance you're racing? Do you think its a result of your rowing career that you prefer a lower cadence? Or is that just a function of the distance?

Congrats again on the win. I'll be up at the turnaround at IMAZ cheering you on in November.


I think it is, though I'm trying not to focus too much on next year since I still have some big goals for this year. In my most ideal world, I'll *NEVER* have to shift my focus to Kona. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't race Kona, or even make it a priority, but I believe that the singular focus of this sport on a single race that is controlled by a for-profit entity that makes decisions based on that status is a bad thing. In other words, WTC could decide to do basically *anything* with that race, and no one could say anything.

Look at this way - the only race that really, really allows to "make it" as a long course triathlete is a race, late in the year, in relatively hot relatively humid conditions, that's relatively flat and relatively windy, with an ocean swim, etc. What I mean is that it NEVER changes. I can think of several corollaries in other sports - The Masters, which is always played at Augusta. Or the Daytona or Indy 500 or Le Mans in auto racing. Or Wimbledon/US Open/French Open in tennis. But in every other case where there is a single event that is of significance, it is neither the overall championship (in the case of NASCAR, Daytona is one of the first races of the year, and has no special impact on who wins the overall series) nor is it the only "championship" (such as with golf with the four Majors or tennis with the Grand Slams).

Simply put, I think the way our sport exists currently, with ALL roads leading to Kona is a very, very bad thing. I would be unhappy if I never raced Kona. However, I would not at all be unhappy if I never raced The Ironman World Championships in Kona. In other words, I think that WTC should make Kona the equivalent of the Daytona 500, and that the World Championships should be held, sometimes in Kona, sometimes in Frankfurt, sometimes in Canada, etc. Or they should make it like Wimbledon, with equal calibre races at Germany and some other locations, and perhaps not necessarily have a "World Champion" for pros.

Right now, if you win Kona, you get huge media attention. But if you finish 2nd or 3rd, you basically get nothing. You might get some attention if people think you have a good chance of winning the next year, such as Andreas Raelert, but look at Cameron Brown, who's been on the podium four times. He's finished 2nd twice and 3rd twice. But, especially in 2005 when he finished 2nd, I think he got very little exposure from that. And I think it's because people didn't seem to have the same sense that they do with Andreas Raelert that it was "inevitable" that Cameron would win.

Simply put, WTC has far too much control over the trajectory of a successful long course pro career. And I do not like that, in large part because they haven't necessarily shown that they make decisions with very much regard for how that influence affects pro athletes. Obviously, the ITU also makes drastic decisions - such as the shift to the WCS system - that can have huge impacts as well, but in that case, you have a IGB, that must respond to NGB, etc. There's a formal and normal and logical way to protest and address changes, etc. In other words, there's a system in place with some checks and balances.

None of this exists with WTC. WTC decided to drop the number of pro slots to 50 men and 30 women this year. There was some very minimal "discussion" (and I use the term loosely) about this, but basically, they decided that this was the way it was going to be and that was that. That same sort of decision couldn't happen with something like the ITU. National Federations would protest. And they have leverage. I have zero leverage.

Right now, everyone complains about this, but in the end, the best athletes all go race Kona. But what it they didn't? What if Crowie and Raelert and Lieto and Vanhoenaker all decided to work with Felix Walschoffer and to all race Challenge Roth. And to NOT race Kona? Sure, Kona still have the right to be called the World Championship, but tell me who you think the best athlete in the world would be? Many folks say, for example, that ITU LD World's is not a meaningful World Championship because the best long distance athletes don't race it. But whose fault is that? Some if it falls on the ITU, for not making it a race of significance. But some of it falls on the athletes for not making a race of significance.

Dan and I had a conversation along these lines a while back. He wrote something to me that I hadn't considered really. He said that Kona is the birthplace of this sport, and that WTC wasn't just the owners of that race, they were STEWARDS of it. And that, as stewards, they had an obligation to leave it better off than they found it. And I think that's true. And I don't necessarily think they've done a good job of that. However, I also think that, as a person who makes his living as a result of this sport, I *also* have an obligation to leave this sport better than I found it. And I don't believe that just putting that typical focus on Kona is doing a good job there either. I think Challenge is leaving this sport better than they found it. I think Rev3 is doing the same. I think Lifetime Fitness is as well. And I think WTC has the most enormous ability to do so if they choose to.

But in my ideal world, I'd like to see this sport - for pros - grow beyond a single race on the Big Island in October. And if I can facilitate that in some small way, I'd like to do so.

I'm sure that was more than you wanted, but it's something that is particularly important to me.

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Jordan, Tim Carlson, Dan, the three of you need to work together to take this content from this post and convert it into a front page article. Please don't let this well thought out response sit in the forum where only a few hundred people will read it (not everyone reads every post) buried in a thread about IMC. When you put this on your front page, it will not just be read there, but also pushed out on your newsletter. I really don't think that most involved in the sport are thinking about "how to leave the sport better than they found it" and that message deserves to be more widely disseminated than just here on this thread. Please consider this request.

fantastic. please spread this where others will see it. this is a post that carries great weight. bravo. congrats on a great race, and thanks for being an athlete that others can actually look up to.

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I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it--
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