Was I just always right in front of the re-supply truck, or did others experience the same thing? I personally thought it was unacceptable that they ran out of ice early, coke early, and had very warm (hot) drinks for much of the bike and almost all of the run. LP was my 13th IM and the 1st time I have experienced this…it was also my 1st time in LP. Doe sLP always have this problem. Did others experience the same problems?
Not sure what IM’s you have done, but warm drinks are not uncommon. As for a top notch race like placid running out, perhaps having close to 2000 people on the starting line was a bit ambitious. 1750 on that starting line is enough. Meaning register 2000.
“Not sure what IM’s you have done”
IMH x 3, IMC x 4, IMNZ, Roth x 5 (6 counting '89 at shorter distance), and now LP. I have never seen a course run out of Coke for me.
At LP Coke and ice were out by the 3rd aid station on the run for me and I was at least in the top 150 at that point…that’s a bit early to be running out. Again, maybe I was just ahead of the supply truck, but I think that is way too early to be running out. I feel very sorry for those behind me.
yes, there is no excuse for that so early in the race.
Same thing here my running strategy was to drink coke and water…I got it for the first loop but after that no more coke… I was in the medical tent after the race and mentionned it to Graham Fraser who was just walking by, he told me that they had tons of it… So where those liters of coke went??? It was the first year out of 4 that this happenned to me down there in LP.
Didn’t do LP this year. Did it last year and had the same thing happen. I was running in the top 30-35 and a lot of the aid stations were running out of stuff on my second loop of the run. The last couple of aid stations before the turn-around on Riverside Road were particularly decimated. (Not that it really mattered for me - at that point of the run last year that was the least of my problems. All I wanted were the port-a-johns…)
Sorry to hear that they didn’t get their logistics problems sorted out for this year. I agree with you that this is not an acceptable level of service considering the experience and revenue of IMNA.
Chris
This was my first Ironman and I to noticed the warm drinks and lack of coke at certain stations. However, if you have time to worry about this stuff my thought is your going to slow. It’s not a catered buffet… Its a RACE!!
I was shocked how much stuff was at the aid stations… One coke or one cold drink isnt gonna make or break your race.
Hey… It’s an ironman remember!
IMLP must have really sucked this year…I guess the six times I did it I was just lucky…
Overall, I’d say IMLP slipped a notch this year (my 3rd time in a row).
While I still think IMNA is a terrific company that puts on great races, there were a lot of coordination issues at IMLP that I hadn’t seen before. Most of the aid station workers were unaware of what else they had at the station. I asked for ice about every aid station (I was in the top 70) and found either no response or no ice. What is with Oreo’s (drippy vanilla and chocolate)? Does anyone think that is the comfort food of choice when exercising? Why wouldn’t they just get generic, inexpensive choc chip and oatmeal? One station also had some sort of glazed suger cookie, which was likewise a strange (and messy) choice.
The bag & bike checkout laxity was mentioned here earlier.
On the other hand, I thought the Ford, Gatorade and EMS (among others’) sponsorship presence was great for everyone.
Net-Net: IMNA still puts on consistently great, wonderful races.
My favorite… At around the 20 mile mark on the run I came up to an aid station where the volunteer was filling cups with Cola. What caught my eye, though, was that the 2 liter bottle had a silver wrapper; turns out it was Diet Coke. I mentioned it to the lady who very sweetly told me “its all the same” and kept on pouring.
What the F!!k…diet Pepsi at the aid stations…duh. I thought Graham solved this issue when they made this mistake in Florida in 2000. Like MTL, I ran out of coke on loop 2, but I managed to haul my ass in. Perhaps I can now explain my “energy low” between mile 16 and 22 to the fact that I was taking in almost zero calories from coke on the first loop. My energy picked up later in the second loop, perhaps due to the fact that I was now on Gatorade and gels (vs coke and gels).
OK, I can’t blame everything on lack of real coke. My longest long run in the past 3 months was 2 hours.
All in all IMNA does a bang up job. I know we all like to pick on them, being the big boy on the block, but they really are pretty efficient. If they just assume that each person will drink 2L of coke over the day and spread the 4000L of coke out over the 13 aid stations, then they are good to go. Putting out diet coke is not acceptable.
All in all it was a great race, but your are right about the coke. Same thing last year.
At least the warm drinks were made up for by the cold broth.
If this is all there is to complain about though, it must have been a good race.
turns out it was Diet Coke. I mentioned it to the lady who very sweetly told me “its all the same” and kept on pouring.
That’s hilarious. I have this great image in my head now. An older woman, happily going about her volunteering duties, glad she could help out. Thinking to herself (and maybe saying under her breath), “It’s so nice that these athletes are watching their sugar intake…”
-Colin
that is odd. as when i was heading back to the hotel with my friend that did the race, we passed the aid station at the bottom of the hill and there was a rack of ‘coke’ bottles there unopened and across the street was a pickup truck that had it’s bed full of ice with g’ade and coke in. i wonder if it was just a matter of the volly’s not putting it out?
i do hope they get the aid station bugs out and the officiating issues worked out by madison. not had a problem there previously, but then again, neither had folks at imlp.
k
That’s unbelievable. How could diet drinks get anywhere near an IM aid station? Did the organizers have any response to this concern?
Some aid stations on River Road and the last one coming back into town ran out of coke last year as well. I find providing diet coke at the aid stations hard to believe? Last year I think they only had some sort of grocery store brand on the course. Maybe just mistaken label identificiation.
You probably would have realized right away if something was up with your coke. Only thing really worse than warm de-fizzed coke is warm de-fizzed diet-coke. You would have puked up the aspartine right away. 
One coke or one cold drink isnt gonna make or break your race.
Hey… It’s an ironman remember!
I beg to differ - coke is typically the only thing I can get calories from late in a race. If I had been having a good day, which I wasn’t, I can pretty much assure you that the lack of coke would have completely destroyed my second loop. If I would have been forced to drink one more drop of that damn Endurance Formula Gatorade, I would have day-glo puked all over the place. That stuff tastes like syrup to me.
I spent a fair bit of time in several of the aid stations on River Road, and many of them ran out before the 10 hour mark, honest to goodness. And yes, some were serving diet Pepsi. I was actually drinking some when I saw them pouring it and asked if it was diet, and they said “yes”. Typically I can taste that shit in a millisecond, but at the 10 hour mark of an ironman all I taste is stomach acid…
If it is that critical, shouldn’t you carry it with you? Special needs? Just asking.
< If it is that critical, shouldn’t you carry it with you? Special needs? Just asking.
If you’re paying $500 for a race shouldn’t they have the aid stations stocked with what they say they are going to stock it with?
Yes I agree with that…but like he said if it is a critical part of his race plan why leave it to chance?