I’ve been planning on competing in the Midwest Meltdown even for a while but I just noticed that the Half Championship has general entry. I’m concerned about the Hotter Than Hell Half for obvious reasons; but I’m also scared to do the Half Championship as I’ve never done a tri before and I’m scared I’m going to mess something up. I’ve been training a while and done a lot of reading so I think I know a lot but with anything new there are nuances. According to 2004’s results my goal time will place me at 80 out of 112 participants. I’ve found a lot of valuable info about the Half Championship but can’t find diddly about the Midwest Meltdown. Any
I had planned on doing two sprints earlier this summer to learn how things work at an organized event but didn’t make it to either. My end goal is to do an IM (sometime in 2006) so I figure a Half is a good place to start. I’m not overly concerned about the competition aspect, for me it’s about the personal accomplishment.
My goal time is 6:30 but if I end up doing the Hotter Than Hell Half it may slip into the 7hr+ range.
Other people will write that you should stick with your plan, that it’s all doable, go for it! But my appraoch is that unless you just want to check-off another another accomplishment from a list of things-to-do, you will be best-served by building more judiciously towards this year’s 1/2 and next year’s full iron. Do you want to make triathlon part of your lifestyle? If so, then search out those shorter races first and take your time to learn how these babies work! 6:30 is maybe a realistic time, especially if you come from a solid bike and/or run background, but without a few races under your belt you are susceptible to falling victim to a whole range of problems that can develop over the course of the 1/2-iron distance.
I did Lake Placid last year in my 5th year of triathlon (I’m now 56). It was my 27th race, and had been preceded by nine half-irons. I had a decent enough time of 12:57 (11/47 a.g.), but the race was a great experience mostly because I generally knew what I was doing. If you love swimming, biking, and running, and think you want to do this for a long time, then my recommendation is to take your time working up to the longer distances.
Finally, if you do undertake a 1/2 this season, I’d say go with the U.S. 1/2 Championships - the weather (heat) should be less of factor on September 25. They’ve just sent out some new information on the race, so you might want to check out their website if you haven’t been there for a while.
Did them both last year - I will never, ever do the Hotter than Hell again (problems were too long to list - look at the website on what they have “fixed” this year from last to give you an idea of some of the problems). I will always try to make the 1/2IM Champs - great director, great course, great race.
I did the Midwest Meltdown last year and like many first time races, there were issues they overlooked. It wasn’t a “bad” race, and I would hope they’ll correct them for 2005. Examples: bike check-in at the speedway and then race organizers moved bikes to T1 by the lake in trucks, poor swim course planning, and probably worst of all - running out of food/water on run course. Last year, the race was held on the hottest weekend of the summer. I don’t know anyone that PR’d at that race. But, it appears the organizers are trying to support several area races and so hopefully they learned from their mistakes.
I haven’t done the US Half at Smithville, but Mark Livesay’s (RD) other races are extremely well run. (I think he’s also overseeing the USAT National’s at Smithville in August.) I’d probably opt for a general entry for this race and try to squeeze in one shorter distance beforehand as a dry run. There’s the Midwest Mayhem on July 24th in Lawrence - olympic or sprint. Or Baptist Memorial is a sprint in late August. Might be good to practice racing in the heat, since it could still be warm come Sept. Doing a 1/2 for your first tri is certainly attainable, but it might be nice to be familiar how transitions work, what nutrition you like while racing, etc.
Thanks for all of your insight, please keep it coming!
Longspur - I don’t want to rush through the tri experience and jump straight to a half IM but I’m scared how I would feel about myself if I put the hIM off until next year. For me its about scratching another thing off the to-do-list; and to finish with a respectable time. My plan is to go back and do sprint and oly’s after I get this IM mindset out of my head. Just 1 full IM for me; unless its addictive but I don’t see how it could be.
gjs - Are you doing the half campionship again this year? Will you be my mentor? just kidding, but it would be nice to know someone there. My origional training partner started bike racing and left me alone on this tri thing. Now he’s coming back but thinks I’m nuts for wanting to do an hIM.
fogdog - I’ve done a couple of mock tris on my own. My driveway makes a nice transition area. It will be nice not to have dogs licking me during a transition. Which brings me to another question (see below). I would’ve liked to do an event prior but I live at the lake of the ozarks and my summers are full with house guests; open invite to all, I only request 2 weeks notice. You mentioned training in the heat… Is there any other way living in the midwest?
The new information from the U.S. Half Championship includes that there are less than 150 General Entry slots available. These won’t go all that quickly, but keep your eye on the registrant list on the website.
There is no “typical” transition area. I’ve done races with scads of people jammed into a relatively small area, and races with a small crowd in a vast T-zone. I did a race a few weeks ago where the T-zone was small, racking spots were not assigned, and the existence of race-day registration caused the race to oversell. So, all the latecomers arrived and tried their damnedest to cram their bikes and gear in between bikes from the people who had arrived 2-3 before. It was all fairly miserable – but hardly typical, so don’t worry.
Somewhere I’ve seen a photo of the T-zone at last year’s U.S. 1/2 Championship, and it was very spacious. There were less people registered than was hoped for, however, but at least it shows that a spot with ample space was chosen. I strongly suspect that the race will draw really well this year, but the race organizers run superb events and I doubt they’d create an insufficient transition zone.
Don’t sweat the transitions, everyone starts out with slow transitions and improves in subsequent races. In my first tri (Gulf Coast), I came into T2 at roughly the same time as my wife (hey, she’s a much faster swimmer and was in an earlier wave!), she transitioned, went into and out of the portapotty, and still got far enough ahead of me that it took me 10 miles to catch her. Point is I stood there like Poindexter fiddling with all kinds of stuff, eating, drinking, etc.
I’m not a super-fast transitioner, but I now just use a mantra: T1 - shoes, helmet, race #, GO! (everything else is either already on my body or on my bike), T2 - shoes, socks, hat, GO! It’s pretty simple once you get it down.
As far as mentor - here’s my advice: read byrn.org and slowtwitch.com routinely - everything you need to know about the world of triathlon is contained on those sites (swimming, running, biking, nutrition, lifting, stretching).
If you’re not self-motivated (or you don’t have a slave-driver of a wife who accuses you of being a fat pig if you don’t train everyday), then it seems that a lot of people hire coaches. Search the forums for thoughts on that aspect.