Ironman: My talk with my wife

Triathlon Forum
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…so the day before Muskoka I broke it to my wife that I would like to do Ironman LP again. The caveat is that I needed to qualify. Lots of studs in my age group, and only 2 slots:

Roxanne: You want to race Ironman again ? (looks at me with a perplexed look)

Dev: Yes, but it is going to be really tough to qualify. Perhaps I have a 10% chance tomorrow.

Roxanne: It’s around a month away right…so that means most of your training is done ?

Dev: Yes, that would be it ?

Roxanne: OK. But you better start looking for a hotel for us

Dev: Hang on, I have to qualify first…

Move forward 18 hours…I cross the line in 3:03, 8th in my age group

Roxanne: Dev, you finished 5 min earler than you thought. Do you think you are in for LP

Dev: I have no clue. There were 7 bikes in T2 ahead of me, I past one and got passed by one. I think I am 8th.

5 min later, I find out that the studs are either already signed up, going to Wisconsin/IMC or are not doing Ironman

Dev: I think I have a 95% chance of a slot

Roxanne: OK, then you better start looking for a hotel

3 hour later after roll down:

Dev: I’m in

Roxanne: OK, get a hotel, and it better be nice ! (God bless my wife :slight_smile: )

You can see where I am going with this…

Anyone have LP accomodations for Ironman LP weekend that they are not using or cancelling.

email me at devashish.paul@sympatico.ca or call me cell 613-297-0091.

thanks a pile

Dev

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Congratulations man! My wife and I are both doing IM Lake placid. We got in the old fashioned way- sign up a year in advance. Have you considered that route for IM racing - I mean getting your wife involved? It has worked well for us. Every weekend is a triathlon training camp- sleep, eat, train, sleep. We don’t have kids and have suspended relations with all family and non-triathlete friends. It’s great!

3

…funny you ask. My wife has been with me for 15 years and 11 Ironmans, purely as support crew. She swims from time to time and XC skis from time to time (more now since my son does it to…so it is a family thing) and did the odd 10K. Someone asked her this past weekend if she did tris and the answer was “no way”. She’d likely fit in as the patron Saint of Support Crew category, along with Joe Boness’ wife, keeping the household running and raising my 8 year old while I am off playing athlete :-). As you can imagine, just putting up with me and my endurance sport habit is a full time job for anyone !

4

Paul:

My wife, daughter and me are staying downtown LP in a rented house. It has a sofa bed in the living room you can use. I’m not sure if it will sleep two or not. I’m assuming yes. We will have three of us there for only three days, including two days after the race. It’s nice but not luxurious. I’ve paid $1,000 for the week.

-Robert

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Robert, thanks for the generous offer. I need room for my wife, myself and my 8 year old son though !

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Sorry I can’t help you out Dev. I would love to as it would make the week just that more interesting. :wink: Great race at Muskoka by the way!
Remember what Alex said…just start calling and hope that somone is cancelling at the same time you are calling. What about staying at Sarnac or somehwere out of town?
Mark

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With all due resepct, getting in the “Old-Fashioned Way” to an IM was to see how the training was going in the spring and then maybe have a go at a qualifier during the season or even just sign up for the IM you want to do. I know it’s hard to believe for new folks, but This sign-up-the-year-before-the-race deal we have now is a relativly recent phenomenon.

Fleck

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I agree with Fleck. It used to be nice in the old days when you could train your way into shape in the spring, do a race in June/July to guage fitness and then only commit mid summer. I guess this is the boat that I am in now (ie piled on bike miles in May and whipped my ass into some semblance of qualifying shape)…

So, anyone know of any place in LP with rooms. I’ve started calling around a bit, but nothing so far :slight_smile:

Dev

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I have one reserved at the Comfort Inn. Some family members were not able to make it at the last minute. I think it is a minimum 4 nights with two double beds but will have to check my reservation details. Its about 2.5 mile from the transition. Let me know if your interested.

http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-US/html/HotelInfo?sid=f0xN.JXXhggWUf.5&hotel=NY296&sarea=15111&sname=Lake+Placid&sstate=NY&scountry=US&sradius=40.22&slat=44.27939987182617&slon=-73.98030090332031&schain=A&exp=&scity=Lake+Placid&sort=

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Hey Dev…how did the wife like the B&B? Was it swanky enough :wink:
Mark

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…yep the B&B in Muskoka was fine, but even she agrees that it is a bit pricy for our family income so we are hoping to stay at the Holiday Inn at Muskoka next year :-).

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Nice race, Dev! Good luck in Lake Placid.

So how does slot allocation go at Muskoka? I’d like to do IMC next year and am thinking about trying to qualify there. Do you pre-designate the race you are trying to qualify for? Do all the slots for IMC get distributed first, and then the slots for IMLP and IMW? Or do all AG slots for all races get handed out before proceeding to the next AG?

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Dev, Likly knows more than I do about the system.

My sense is the priority and premium is on IMC and IMLP slots - but it’s getting late for the latter. Keep in mind that it’s generally the better age-groupers such as Dev who are gunning for these spots in this manner. The have built their season around qualifying at these sorts of events, so it’s not a given and not easy. Now for the other IM races that slots are available for, IMFl and IM Wisco, they keep rolling down in each age-group until they find people who want to go. Then after that if not taken, they put the spots in a pool and go back to the AG’s that had the most demand and hand them out in those AG’s. It can be a little surrealistic as some people who had no hope or expectations can get a spot in an IM even after they had been passed over on the first roll-down or missed on purly qualifying, it may come back to them if they hang in there and stay right to the end!

For example their was someone I know, who was 26th in her age-group and ended up with a spot to IMFL, because she hung in there until the end of the roll-down.

Fleck

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So Dev, I hope you are still coming to Tupperlake next weekend?

My congratulations on the race. What would your wife say if in five weeks you get a slot for Kona? “You better start looking for a nice hotel”?

See you in Tupper?

Stefan

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Stefan…see my “Woodstock and Tupper Lake Thread”. As for other races beyond LP, my only goal is to cross the finish line a quick as possible. My Ironman times do not match my half times, so I have no illusions of Kona.

Slot distribution: They call up all the guys in a given age group (say 35-39 in my case) and they go to the first guy…what slot do you want…“IMC”…next second place…pass…next third place…“IMLP”…next fourth, fifth pass…sixth…“IMC”. They go through this till they give away all slots. In my age group, it was harder to get LP, Wisconson or Florida slots as there were 2 of each of those only and 6 for IMC, but the case may have been different for others.

At Muskoka, I would say that the premium was on LP and Wisconsin, races that people could drive to with their families from within 6 hours radius of Muskoka (which is where most athletes came from).

Dev

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At the IM registration they said something about having 72 hours to go online and fill something out, do you know what/where that is?

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… where did you find that woman!!!

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Eric, I have the info at home. Email me at devashish.paul@sympatico.ca and I will forward to you tonite.

Brider, bless her soul, I actually met her in a bar 15 years ago. That’s when we actually went out and partied at nite. Now we are a typical suburban couple, packing it in at 10 pm after the days chores are done, son in bed, and things prepped for the next day ! I can’t remember the last time either of us were in a bar…sad, but true. Hey, I’d rather be doing tris or hanging out at home than be in bars anyway !

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congrats man :slight_smile: and GL with IMLP ^^
.

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Nice race, Dev! Good luck in Lake Placid.

So how does slot allocation go at Muskoka? I’d like to do IMC next year and am thinking about trying to qualify there. Do you pre-designate the race you are trying to qualify for? Do all the slots for IMC get distributed first, and then the slots for IMLP and IMW? Or do all AG slots for all races get handed out before proceeding to the next AG?

Here are this year’s qualifying times: http://www.trisportcanada.com/Muskoka-spots-05.htm

If you want to qualify for an IM slot at Muskoka I recommend that you bring some good chairs because you’ll be waiting around for a long time. First the race to be completely over. Then all the awards and draws. They seem to go on and on when you’re there just for an Ironman slot. :slight_smile: If you want something other than IMC you’ll have to wait until IMC is over with which takes some time because there are 40 slots. I got an IMLP slot last year and I think I got out of the arena parking lot around 5:30 ish. So it makes for a long day if you have a distance to drive after the race.

Also, if you want something other than an IMC slot, bring your A race because some age groups are very competitive (i.e. male 35-39).

Plus go to the trisport website and read (and re-read) on what to do and bring (i.e. how to pay) when and if you do get a slot (i.e. Credit Card’s not excepted; it’s hard to get a money order in Muskoka on a Sunday :-))

Cheers!

Trevor