IM Lou Impressions

Triathlon Forum
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First to all of you who were there volunteering or just cheering…Thanks for the support!

For a first time event that was faced with some challenges (the river current issue being a major one), this IM came off very well… Are there some things that could improve or will get better “with age”? Certainly! But this is a first class production in a very nice venue with lots of volunteer support and a race course that for the most part was “spectator friendly”.

My day went pretty much as planned except for my swim…in summary:

SWIM: 1:21:02 (108/207 in AG M45-49) I don’t really know why I didn’t go any faster except that in hindsight I might have been better off letting myself drift towards the center of the river on the downstream leg…I did not get much “push” on the way home…For all the fuss about the time trial start it went very smoothly and was not an issue for me.

**BIKE: **5:54:34 (31/207 in AG M45-49) I had ridden the course before and knew what to expect. My plan was to conserve “power” by spinning as much as possible and work on avoiding any grinding up hills. My nutrition plan was pretty solid and ended up peeing twice on the bike so my hydration was good as well. I just focused all day on not blowing too much effort on the bike so that I could run a decent (for me) marathon.

**RUN: **4:15:14 (14/207 in AG M45-49) I knew the course was flat but I also found that my watch/HR monitor was flooded during the swim so without clocks on the course I was going to run strictly on perceived effort… During my long runs I was always able to find a solid sustainable pace so this is what I focused on finding during the first half, leaving a bit extra in the tank to allow an even split for the marathon. Missed out on that by only 2 minutes or so… I was dreading the turnaround near 4th Street Live but with the way the crowds were arranged and fenced off the energy was awesome and sent me back out for my second loop ready to “Git 'r Done”…got into a groove and before I knew it I was cruising past mile 23 thinking “O.K. just a quick 5K or so and we are done”…nothing really eventful on the second loop except I added the chicken broth to my hydration in order to maintain my sodium intake…

**FINISH: **11:41:17 (17/207 in AG M45-49) 4the Street Live is an awesome venue for an IM finish…the noise and the crowds was just fun! Got done, got the amazing finishers medal, and did the usual post race drink and eat. Despite the fact that it got “sneaky hot” on the run course due to low humidity, I held up pretty well and was ready to head to “The Pub”…unfortunately, my brother-in-law would need some refilling of his fluids in the med tent so I was obliged to make sure he was O.K. and missed out n a cold beer post race…

Aftermath: I have never dreamed of being anywhere in the top 50, much less the top 20 in my AG but when the results were in I was indeed 17th…on a dream and a prayer I attended the rolldown but our AG had only one spot to roll and I don’t think it go past #6…oh well, it was exciting just seeing my name on the list outside the rolldown room!

If you are considering this race in the future…DO IT! I will be back in 2009 as I am scheduled for IMCdA next year and can only afford one IM per year.

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Great job on a very steady and solid race!

Dan
www.aiatriathlon.com

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My first impressions:

Swim: Loved the swim. it was very xterra. Mentally it was itneresting and that made it novel and fun. The no-wetsuit thing was great, since I love swimming without one. I think the lack of a wetsuit and the current made the times pretty close to a more traditional course. I wish they let the pros warm up a bit longer. I don’t know how it was for the AG athletes and the TT start. I think its a cool idea, but not knowing how one is doing during the race is sucky.

BIKE: I liked the course, i thoguht the out and back was hard and the course needed something to make it too easy, it also spread out the pros and made for a very fair race. I loved all the farms. I thought the heat was tough and really punished those who went to hard on the first half. I passed two people who blew up about 100k in. The heat and wind on the bike hurt those who hurt themselves.

Lap two was insane. We came through the whole field almost. Huge groups of cyclist as we lapped them.

Also the roads have no shoulder, which when combined with the cars on the course ( roads not closed) was a bit of a problem. THere was or will be car/bike crashed at this race for sure.

The run was great. Hot, but great. Good crowds all the way, and the aid stations were great. The urban setting was fun, and i bet in a few years this run course could be a big party. Get some of the students out there and I predict this thing will be off the hook. The finsh line was LOUD. I think the cheering bouced off the buildings and outdoor roof and it just made the finish really good.

Medical was inside, spread out and much better then being under a tent with mud, dirt ect…

The WTC has a few rules that are annoying and not user friendly, like not being able to get yout transition bags morning of the race, nor being able to cover your bike (they were calling for rain), nothing but food in special needs and while I like the look of the ink pad numbers they take a while to put on. But non of those factors matter much.

Over all: Better than IMFL, and IMAZ. Not as good as IMLP, IMMOO.

I was really impressed with the high level of pros and AG athletes. it had lots of heavy hitter there. I thought it would be a good place to grab a Kona spot for the pros and AG athletes but looking at the times and the course/condtions, it was a stacked field.

John Hirsch
Blogging and coaching @: www.johnhirsch.org