wow; thanks everybody so much! this is most helpful.
my brain tends to think in sequential order, so honestly, reading all of this helps me to “get it down”. i like to know the steps before finding myself in the midst of it!
i felt anxiety not knowing what happens; now it’s resolved! 
don’t feel sorry!
Lof ot people are wondering about it and do not want to ask!
Cheers,
Fred.
to be honest, it is difficult to even know what to ask! there has been alot of talk about tents, so that was a start.
hopefully this thread helps more than just me.
Not to be stickler but they don’t explain the transition bags or the tents, or even mention the special needs bags in the athlete’s guide. These are the types of little details that can make a newbie anxious as they try to visualize their plans. While I think a lot of these details are provided at registration, it would be good if people knew (especially about special needs) before hand.
When I did LP I had known a lot of people who had done Ironmans so I knew the deal. But I remember meeting a woman who had lived in the middle of nowhere. She had said she didn’t really know any other triathletes, etc. She had know idea until registration that there were special needs bags. Whereas someone who is “in the know” might plan their nutrition different based on that info.
Great thread, like Kittycat I also tend to think in sequential order.
My question: Where does your first nutrition/water bottle go before the race? Can you/Should you put it on your bike or does it need to go in the T1 bag and you stick it on your bike when it’s delievered to you outside of the tent? I’m hoping I can put it on the bike since I could see myself running out of the changing tent without it in the T1 chaos…/
Thanks!
Not to be stickler but they don’t explain the transition bags or the tents, or even mention the special needs bags in the athlete’s guide.<<
That is a big oversite on their part then. They used to have it in there (or maybe that was IM NZ or Hawaii I’m remembering?)
clm
I won’t repeat what everyone’s already said, but I will add that for my special needs bag on the bike, I put in two water bottles that contained only my drink powder. I carried these to the next aid station where I stopped and topped them up with cold water so I had fresh drinks. This, of course, is only applicable if you’re planning on drinking something other than what they provide at the aid stations.
<<My question: Where does your first nutrition/water bottle go before the race? Can you/Should you put it on your bike or does it need to go in the T1 bag and you stick it on your bike when it’s delievered to you outside of the tent? I’m hoping I can put it on the bike since I could see myself running out of the changing tent without it in the T1 chaos…/ >>
You can enter the transition area before the start on race morning and drop your bike bottles in the cages (as well as add any other nutrition stuff to your bike).
Kittycat…
For IMWisconsin, there aren’t tents…the transition areas are rooms inside the Monona Terrace. You run up the parking garage helix from the swim and into the building. There are plenty of signs to guide you. You will first run into a big room where all of the T-1 bags are lying on the ground…there are signs with numbers on them so that you can find yours. You grab your bag and then follow the signs to the women’s T-1 room. There, you put on your bike junk and then just toss your bag to the side. Volunteers will put back in its place later. Head out to the bike corral and grab your steed. Coming back in on the bike, you do the same act…ride up the helix, give your bike to a volunteer, and then run into another big room that has all of the T-2 bags laying on the floor, then into the changing room. Throw your bag to the side when done, grab something to drink (they have an aid station in each transition room), and then out the door for the run.
Give me a call if you want to talk about it further…its actually a fairly painless setup, although that run up the helix from the swim is a pain in the ass. Only cool thing is it is lined with people cheering you on.
Spot
J - I did not read all the responses, but the ones I looked at were not specific to IMWI. And I believe that is the race you are doing.
Some specifics to IMWI: You will exit the swim and run about 200m to a circular entrance to a parking ramp. Around and around you go. Once to the top, you’ll enter Monona Terrace (a convention center) and run down a hallway (carpeted) to one of the ballrooms. All of the T1 bags are in this ballroom in numerical order. You’ll grab your bag and proceed to the women’s changing room and get ready for the bike (i.e. dump out your bag with your helmet, sunglasses, shoes, and anything else you think you’ll want on the bike - which may include a change of clothes). You’ll get ready for the bike, and then stuff your swim gear into the bag and run back to the hallway and outside into the parking garage where all the bikes are lined up.
Then you will go for a little bike ride throughout the scenic Wisconsin countryside.
When you get back to town on the bike you’ll ride up the helix and drop off your bike just outside the doors to Monona Terrace. Just like T1, you’ll go in and grab your T2 bag (which is in a different room than your T1 bag was…don’t worry the volunteers tell you where to go) and then into the changing room again. You’ll do normal T2 stuff and then head out on the run.
If I recall correctly, bike special needs was closer to mile 60 than mile 56. And run special needs is on the SW corner of the capital square (by Best Western Inn on the Park)…so just a few blocks before the halfway point. I have always been able to get my special needs bags back the day after the race. The race director says that it is not a certainty though…
You turn in your T1 and T2 bags on Saturday (at the same time you turn in your bike) and drop of your special needs bags on Sunday morning before the race. You will have access to all of the bags on Sunday morning.
There is also a “dry clothes bag” that you can put all of your stuff from pre-race clothing into. So if you are wearing sweats and jacket when you go to the race you can leave them in a bag for post-race.
Another little secret you can try…
Freeze any liquid you have in special needs, then put it in a padded mailing envelope. This will act as a very basic cooler and will help your stuff stay cooler a little longer than it would have otherwise been. I packed lots of candy in both special needs (chocolate, jelly beans, etc). I froze these the night before as well, put them in the envelope, and also put a cheapo $1 ice pack in the envelope as well to keep everything cold. My peanut butter m&m’s were still intact at mile 14 of the run in AZ!
Something else that was kind of nice that they did at IMAZ - you could just leave your “dry clothes” bag at your bike in the transition area before the race started and the volunteers would collect them during the swim and get them all organized for you to grab right after the race. I brought my own bike pump and put the pump in the bag and was able to just leave it at my bike instead of trying to figure out what to do with it. They also had a designated area to turn in your dry clothes bag, but in case you were running late or didn’t want to walk back to where it was, you could just leave it.