This is a follow on to the other post regarding the CA 70.3 mens field. The Womens field at the New Orleans half is stacked as well. Take a look at the women racing:
Joanna Zeiger
Yvonne Van Vlerken
Cait Snow
Kate Major
Nina Kraft
Heather Gollnick
Desiree Ficker
Linsey Corbin
Natscha Badmann
Lisa Bentley
This is good to see - it’s this sort of field with this mix of athletes that people in the know in the sport have been talking about happening at this distance for years - IM races are too long and to race them really well many times in a year. 1/2 IM/70.3 on the other hand you can race 5 - 6 of these a year. I note that this was both Craig Alexanders and Linsy Corbin’s program last year - race a decent number of 70.3 races and minimize the IM races.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the Pro fields at the main IM races this year.
I think that is a good point. Once a pro qualifies(top 10 previous year in Kona) he or she will probably go the Alexander/Potts route. The pros that don’t qualify will race early in the season to qualify(Sindballe at IM Florida) then probably do more halves.
Mike
Interesting point. I think that strategy would work well for a more seasoned triathlete. I only say that because I think there is so much more then just fitness involved in racing an ironman. You gain experience when competing in IM that you cant gain by racing a half. When to push, when not to push, nutrition, etc… Linsey for example, is a great example of that. She is a younger pro and she only has the world championship on her schedule for this year. I know she had a great year last year, but it may do her better to do an early season IM just to gain the experience. Of course you always have exceptions to this rule, and some athletes just have “it”.
I know she had a great year last year, but it may do her better to do an early season IM just to gain the experience. Of course you always have exceptions to this rule, and some athletes just have “it”.
IM and IMH in particular has been about that in the past - you have do do the race X number of times to get it. High profile melt-downs and flame-outs of more than a few well known favourites over the years have re-inforced this. Then their is the whole IMH mystique and the legend and Madame Pele and all that - some buy into it. The WTC and in particular the NBC show like to play that up big time. However the more recent trend is race fouvourites or black sheep, preparing well going to IMH for the first or second time and rocking out - Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington are perfect examples of this. It’s a long race. It’s a hard race. It has some unique characteristics to it, but it’s just abother race! 
Good training preperation, smart execution of your racing plan, consistent daily training will yield much better results then doing an IM to gain experience. Don’t you think multiple 6-8hour training days will yield that same info that a race will, if not better info b/c you will have more data points.
What pro men will be in the field? I know of Macca and Lieto but who else?
This is going to be an awesome race.
Don’t forget Catriona Morrison (3x duathlon world champ), either.
Phil
Luv Van Lierde will be in the field.