I handle heat pretty well, and I've done some hot races. But cold... not so much.

Tahoe 2013 just about destroyed me. I remember sitting on the beach because the sand was too cold for bare feet. The 20 min T1 mosh pit of people doing full clothing changes. And the first part of the bike course down to Truckee I was shivering so much I was worried about controlling the bike. I overbiked early on just to get warm and paid for it later on.

Great venue, miserable day.

Every time there's a hot ironman this seems to come up - there was one talking about DNF rates last month after IM Boulder.

From a heat standpoint, I believe IM Coeur d Alene in 2015. The race reports on ironman.com and the local newspapers stated it hit 106 while pulling up historical records on accuweather sites show 102. With 6000-7000 feet of climbing on the bike and a bike and run course that left athletes exposed to the sun for the majority of the race it was brutal for sure

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Matt

1988 IM Canada (Penticton) official high was 98. Of course almost any year at Kona will kill off most. Not to mention the Mumukua winds can totally bring you to your knees.

4 IMs probably 15 HIMs including wildflower this year which was crazy hot

There are always worse (China?) and can’t compare to others I haven’t done obviously but in 15 years of racing Whistler yesterday was the hardest I’ve done. Very easy to overcook the bike because it started relatively cool, but then the heat slammed in and fueling was difficult. Total shutdown and only recovered at mile 17 of the run as it started to “cool” into the high 80s

Silverman has STUPID big waves the year I did it. My joke was Silverman....where even the water has hills. That was the only time I swam for 2 hours straight. It was awful.

I don't recall any race having as tough conditions as the old (now defunct) Ironman China.
IIRC, 44C temp plus humidity making it feel like 50C?
Just do a thread search here...

I don't think Whistler was any hotter than many of the Penticton races back in the day.

For me it was Wisconsin in 2005, or as Mike Reilly put it "Kona heat, wind and humidity meets Wisconsin hills". Temps hit 98 and the dropout rate was pretty high.

I know Lake Placid in 2008 was bad with torrential downpours/cooler temperatures all day long.

IM Utah in 2002 had freakish winds/currents during the swim that were strong enough to break the buoys free and scatter everyone across the lake, leading people to get to shore any way they could and in some cases needing a ride back to the race venue. Sadly, one participant passed away.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Honestly. Kona 2016 killed me.. i just wast prepared for the heat.. and the headwinds... I got in via the lottery.. and had some GI issues on the bike from saltwater i think that made me pretty slow out there from what i'm used to.. i was starting the race in "just finish mode" and i got headwinds BOTH ways on the queen K..

My NP was ~ 20 watts higher than any other ironman i have done, and i was 4mph slower that i normally am.. and they ran out of water on the queen K on the way back so i had to refill my bottles with dirty "ice "


eventually that lead to me passing out on the run and being forced to walk almost 24 miles to ensure i finished (by that time i had targeted to finish in the last hour anyways since i wanted to experience that part of the finish line)

last week in Lake placid, i made the first descent down keene in the wind and cold rain.. i was a popsicle at the bottom turn into jay... i stopped at a porta potty to pee and put in my rain gear and was seriously surprised with how much "shrinkage" had occured.. i gave somebody a good laugh outside the port o john when i yelled (OMG it dissapeared)

2016 IM Chattanooga sounded pretty bad. I think I bread somewhere on this forum the DNF rate was close to 25% and I would imagine most of those were do to heat.

IM Wales 2017

Pissed with rain all day in howling gales. I damn near got hypothermia. And some non-well wishers poured oil over a particularly treacherous stretch of dangerous hilly road just to add a frisson of extra danger for us.

I didn't do IM Canada in '88, but I did do it in '98 and the temps were the same as what you highlight above - temp on the bike segment was high 90's F and temp for the run segment was low 90's F, with a decent amount of wind on the bike. If memory serves, DNF's that year were >20% or higher. Lots of carnage out on the course that day. I spent over an hour on massage tables DURING the race battling through cramps (I was a clueless wonder on nutrition and hydration back then). I remember sitting in a tent in the Cawston (sp?) out and back section of the bike trying to eat and having zero appetite. Rough day, but great memories! Christian Bustos killed it out there that day, but Lori Bowden did even better on a relative basis (I think she finished top 10 overall...crazy good day for her).

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

2004 kona and the winds. Very few dudes under 5 hours on the bike. Only 7 cracked 9 hours for the race. Only 2 women under 10 hours.

Playing the relative game... that's 40-50min slower on the bike and race than normal.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

IM St George -2012- anyone there that day would probably attest to its brutality.

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"There are two ways to slide easily through life- to believe everything and to doubt everything- both ways save us from thinking "- Korzbyski

2005 Wisconsin was brutal...I was one of those that dropped out midway through the run. Came back in 2006 to the exact opposite; rain, wind, and cold; another tough day but one that suited me much better than the heat and humidity and I got my first IM finish. The really lean folks were seriously shivering while they ran when the sun went down and the temps plummeted with a cold rain. Half the field seemed to be wearing garbage bags to try and keep warm.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

2010 IM Loo-

99 degrees with a heat index of 114 plus they ran out of water on the bike course. I needed 4 IV bags after.

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Team Zoot

What newguy said. 2012 St. George was insane.

I raced Wisconsin 2005 as well (my first full). Doesn't come close to StG 2012.

2000 and 2001 Kona. Both had insane head winds on the bike and brutal humidity on the run.

I had friends doing IM CdA 2015, people were collapsing from the heat with the surface temp hitting 106 or higher. The residents had to dig into their freezers to get ice, because they ran out of ice on course.
One of the same friends that did CdA 2015, did St George 2012 - white caps on the water, they had to pull people off in the swim due to the waves. That was the same one where going down the back side of the wall was slower than going up it - headwinds. Going 15mph downhill xD.

I went to the start line for that CdA race and I just had a gut feeling it wasn't going to turn out well and I walked off and took a DNS. I didn't feel bad about it either, after seeing how things looked later on the run course.

Buffalo Springs this year. I did Wildflower this year as well and BSLT was MUCH harder even though it's course is easier than Wildflower. The wind combined with the heat at BSLT this year was miserable.

Silverman 2008 was the closest I've come to dropping out of a race. The weather on Saturday was nice (blue sky, sunshine, 70 degrees F, no wind), and Sunday morning (race day) was fine when we went into the water. But a cold front blew in about 30 minutes later. The wind was pretty strong (at least 20 mph with higher gusts and it blew the inflatable "horseshoe" at the swim finish into Lake Mead). The wind created some big waves on the lake, but worse for me, the spray off the water made it tough to see the where the buoys were. When I finally got on the bike, it was raining, soon to be followed by sleet. I hadn't brought a jacket (who needs one in Las Vegas/Henderson, Nevada) so now I figured, "I might get a little chilly on the bike." With the wind and the wet roads, my feet were soon soaked and everything else was wet. Combined with the low temperatures (40 degrees F or so), I started to shiver uncontrollably. About the time I figured I'd had enough and should call it a day, the sun poked out from behind the clouds and it started to warm up just a little bit. The volunteers at the bike turn around were bundled up like it was Christmas in NYC. I don't think it ever got above 50 degrees for the day, and once the sun went down (which happens pretty early in November in the northern hemisphere) it got cold again. The race director (Frank Lowery) was passing out space blankets on the run, and I gladly took one. I never want to be that cold again.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

IM St. George 2012. First and only time water has scared me. Had to keep myself calm and focused on getting out of the water.

Proud podium finisher at IM Coeur d’Alene in 2015 in the 108-degree heat.

I thought the conditions at Kona 2011 were extremely windy (got my slot in the lottery) but it turns out I got one of the milder wind years.

Lake Placid 2018, first bike loop was rain, wind and hail, and I flirted with hypothermia, but the second loop warmed up nicely and the run was very nice.

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Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018

IMSG 2012 had a very high DNF rate due to high winds during the swim and bike. It was something to behold.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
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