Fellow STwitchers, I am considering Sman next year. I have completed a few IM distance races and would love feedback regarding the difficulty (i.e. elevation gain). I have read on this site how well run it is. I am just trying to get my arms around how much more difficult it is compared to other IM races. Thanks
Hmmm - I’ve done Silverman twice and the only other IM I’ve done is Brazil. My time(s) at Silverman hovered 14 hrs…Brazil was 12. The hills on the bike aren’t necessarily steep…they are just long…(except the last three are short and steep - 18-ish% grade). If you want more info, send me a note and I can try and help. The run is pretty hilly as well, but very even…you’re running uphill as much as you’re running downhill. It is a great race and I highly recommend it!!
Everything you could want and WAY more:
http://www.hawkislandestates.com/triathlon/Silverman/Race_report_2007.pdf
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I am interested in this too, since I am planning on that race as well.
Especially the run; I understand it is hilly, but is it steep? By steep I mean Boston steep or more. Or long, gradual hills 1 mile long?
As far as the bike course, I would like to re-ask what I said in a Muskoka 70.3 thread: I’ve done it last year, and somebody mentioned that net elevation in Muskoka half was over 7000ft, which is 1000ft more elevation than the Silverman half. Do I deduct that Muskoka is tougher than Silverman? Or the arrangement of the hills make the Silverman course, in fact, tougher? Let’s just compare half course to half course. I am curious if somebody who has done Muskoka and Silverman could chime in. That would give me an idea of what to expect.
I’m trying really hard to not want to do this race again. I did it last year and got pummeled by the wind, the bad weather and the hills. It was my first and thus far only 140.6 thus far. The darn thing is just so well run and was so much fun that I’m finding it difficult to stay away. I want to find another race as well-run and entertaining and challenging. I don’t know that I’ll ever find it with a 2k+ person mass start, marketing whore-enginge, draft-fest and/or flat course that many of the M-Dots offer.
Same as above, nothing terribly steep, just long. Great descents, too. Fabulous volunteers, personalized emails from Frank (RD) & some entertaning signs to pull you through the lows. Great swag w/o being overbearing (and charging you an arm and a leg for a bleeping dog t-shirt…really necessary?) and some great meals. Nothing in the race is unmanageable and the scenery is breath-taking.
I loved the whole experience. I’ll be back out there this year cheering and am still trying to not think about 2010. Best race I’ve ever done, hands down.
x2
FWIW it seemed to me the wind on the swim and bike was as big a factor as the hills. I went ± 45 minutes slower on the bike from my typical IM times and maybe 10 to 15 minutes slower on the run. Yes there are big long hills on the run, but you go both up and down them. (some of the hills on the bike you just go up-really:). A very different, I’d say old-school, feeling race from IMNA. Truth is both experiences are great and if lifes’ circumstances allow, do both.
I hear you, but downhill does not make me feel any better. I’ll take a long, moderate uphill any day instead of a sharp downhill, especially at the end of an IM distance.
Wind, noted.
Great race report, ~M. I want to do that race now.
Great race report, ~M. I want to do that race now.
It wasn’t my report. Just reposting it as the best race report ever done.