Ironman World Championship 70.3 : Official Thread

Got in at one of the early races.

Expect 100F. Not kidding around. I wasn't there, but that's what was reported.

A number of people here did last year and wrote up race reports. Check out what BryanCD and Gadzooks had to say especially.

NewYorkfan- Yeah, qualified at Syracuse last September...then realized that I have LP also like 6 weeks before Vegas, so should be a challenging season!

Brigby-What race did you qualify at?

I read some of the race reports from last year too, and I was kinda hoping it was a big conspiracy to scare me about the temperatures, haha.  I'm actually from north of Lake Placid, so I have a tough time in the heat because I'm not acclimated to it at all.  Hopefully these long island summers will help me though, although the humidity will be very different at Vegas.

I qualified at Pocono, so will have to see if I can swim! It was cancelled due to flooding.

I'm in the Chicago area, so will have some work to do with the heat as well. I've heard of overdressing for workouts in the weeks leading up, and seemed to help others. Going to see how summer goes though.

Nice Nate! Here's hoping for our wave to start about where last year did.

And does anyone know how technical the bike course is? There is lots on the elevation changes, but not much on how this is. Does that mean fairly easy from that perspective? I'm getting in as much as I can on the hillier back-roads of Wisconsin, so I doubt anything there will be an issue, but it's nice to know and it's good to have an idea of what others might be doing.

Waves are up already. Wave 7 for me. I'll take it. 19 waves this year, wow. 5 min between each too. Should help with possible course congestion.

I rode and ran the course last week.  The bike is not technical, imo.  The first 40+ miles are a straight shot on Lake Mead drive/North Shore road.  It contains lots of rolling hills, but no sharp turns or technical maneuvers.  The final ~10 miles (going into Henderson) contained the most turns, but nothing difficult. The rolling hills are more of a concern for me.  After riding the course, I'm definitely training on hillier routes.

Dang, I"m in the same wave! Pros will be halfway through the bike before we even start.

In regards to housing, there is a thread going over on ST. The host hotel near T1 is sold out, but an option is to stay kind of near the finish, which is what I'm considering. Green Valley Ranch is a pretty fancy place within walking distance of the finish, but I'm thinking of a place that has a breakfast for the non-race days. It's going to cost quite a bit to get to Vegas from the east coast, so I'm probably going cheap on the housing. There are quite a few places like Best Western or Comfort Suites in between T1 and T2.

I'm a teacher, and taking off time at the beginning of the year is going to kill my two personal days for the year (can't complain about summer vacation, though). I'm planning on arriving in Vegas on Friday, then heading home on Monday, so three nights in all.

Very nice! And for your reward. Now you need to put everything together from your races, all the "fun" stuff. Combine all the heat and the hills from the two. And no wetsuit on the swim.

Congrats! What's the gearing in the bike in your avatar pic? I think you may need to change it for the hilly Vegas course!

Better start doing some training in the heat of the day (if you aren't already).

It's a fixie.  

On a serious note, I have a standard crank with 12-28 cassette.  It worked fine for me at Knoxville, but looks like Vegas may have slightly bigger/steeper hills.  Anyone have some feedback on the toughest climbs on the Vegas course?

Question for those that have flown with their gear before- any advice on which airlines have better rates or may consider a bike case a normal piece of baggage?  

Looks like Southwest isn't the cheapest option for me, but I prefer to fly with them, especially if they do a better job with bikes.