Ironman Arizona 2015 : Official Thread (Page 3)

Originally posted by kloofyroland

I recommend a dynamic warmup routine like swinging your arms in circles, side to side, freestyle motion. Anything that will warmup your swimming muscles on land and get your heart rate up a bit but keep it short.

Originally posted by mikoy

Hello everyone,
About the swim start. I agree that for IMAZ the mass start they have had is fine. There is a ton of room to spread out. For those who are worried about the swim they have a lot of room on the side or just what 60 seconds and then go at an easy pace.
I had no contact in 2013 and finished in 1:04. The other problem with rolling starts etc.. is when you finish the clock does not show your real time. Not that big of a deal if you have done multiple, but a big bummer if your a first timer. Your finish photo is all messed up.

I also wanted to thank everyone who posted concerning my lack of motivation several months ago. The posts really helped and I was surprised to see so many responses. So thanks!
After getting over 4 weeks of pneumonia my training has been gong well. I don't think I will PR but I should still be able to do well. I was hoping to get a sub one hour on the swim but with the time starting on the deck I doubt that will happen. I like having time to get water in the wet suit and swimming to the starting line. (I plan on bringing warm water and pouring it down my suit to get it comfortable. Hope it works)
So for motivation I started watching the almost weekly Ironman races online. I would just pick one or two people to randomly monitor during the day and then watch them cross the finish line. It was amazing how excited you can get to see a perfect stranger finish. I also met a guy who gets on the podium in almost all his Ironman races in my age group it was fun to talk with him. He has 10 kids and still gets it done. We even went on a 5k run together. I ran into him while I was on vacation.
Hope everyone is doing well with the training. For the first timers just stay consistant with your training and then on race day trust your training. Also remember to enjoy the last 100-200 meters! Slow down and soak up the cheering and have fun with it. Its never as good as your first one in my opinion.

Originally posted by kloofyroland

I'd sacrifice a short run at this point to get another swim in. 3 swims a week here on out will definitely help one of which should be an hour to hour and a half long continuous OWS.

We all should be peaking in our volumes the next few weeks and I'm talking training 15-20 hours worth of all 3 sports in addition to that, some ST to keep the body strong and injury free.

Originally posted by StevenC

This is my first, so definitely starting to get nervous.

Originally posted by kalish



Right there with you, Steven! Me too!

Originally posted by kloofyroland



First timer here too!!!

Originally posted by StevenC



Cool I just hope fall comes to the southwest at some point. This is one looooong summer. Bailed on Silverman this weekend to concentrate on this race and another 95 degree race might put me in a deep hole. My wife saw me at finish line last year and thought I should quit the sport. It wasn't pretty. Let's push thru these last few weeks and enjoy race day.

Originally posted by tmoran07

Amen to that! It looks like it's FINALLY going to start cooling down here into the 80's.

Crazy story from yesterday...for those of you from So Cal, I was riding on the SART (Santa Ana Rivertrail) and I left from Angel Stadium, cruised down to HB and planned on doing around 25-30 miles. About 4 miles into my return trip I was cruising along in the aero position and was coming up on a guy on a beach cruiser. I yelled "On your left" and that's when he TURNED LEFT. I basically t-boned the guy with my aero bars jamming him in the ribs. I flipped up and over him and landed on the other side. Needless to say neither one of us was happy. I don't know if there has ever been more f-bombs collectively dropped in an exchange of profanity that would not make my mother very happy. This guy was asking for my ID saying I was liable for any damage and all this. I'm fine and he seemed ok. Freaked me out more than anything else. Funny thing is when I got up the first thing I thought of was "Oh God I hope my bike is ok.". Maybe I should slow down...

Originally posted by kloofyroland



Oh man, scary thing to happen this close to race day. Whenever I'm on a MUP and I see kids, beach cruisers, or anyone with no helmet, I slow way down and pass carefully if it's safe. I sure wanna go as fast as I can but then I think, the few seconds lost from slowing down will be better than getting hurt or hurting them.

Is your body still feeling okay from that crash? Did you give that guy your ID?

Originally posted by StevenC



Glad you and your bike are ok. That trail is great training for AZ because its flat with no lights, stops signs or cars but pedestrians, pets and slow cruising bikes can be worse. Be safe out there.

Originally posted by kloofyroland

Whew, good to hear there wasn't a brawl or anything like that.

Dude, you're right! Less than 7 weeks away! Woohoo!

I've been putting alota work in my bike fitness the past couple months and it's showing (tagged a 12% increase in my FTP during a test ride this morning).

Gonna do an IMAZ simulation starting with a swim at Malibu this Saturday morning. About an hour swim, super long bike ride, and a run after. Super excited to test my bike mettle on the flats since I've been doing so much climbing during all my long bike rides since Vineman 70.3 last July.

Originally posted by StevenC



That's a big jump in FTP. Awesome. Be safe on PCH. I crashed a couple months ago right by the pier in Malibu. But, it's a good place to do some flat, longer rides. I have a 95 mile ride on Sat too and then short run. I will probably head from the South Bay up to Cross Creek then back down and do a bunch of loops behind LAX. If I leave before 6a, I can beat the beach traffic.

BTW, I see on your logs that you swim at Verdugo. That's my pool too. I swim during lunch with GRA team.

Originally posted by tmoran07



Looks like this is going to be a big weekend for most of us. I have a 80+ mile ride planned followed with a 60 minute run after. I'll be practicing race day nutrition and pacing. On Sunday I'll be running my first 20+ mile run ever. Kinda stoked about that. We will see how my fueling and recovery go.

Originally posted by StevenC

That's a big jump in FTP. Awesome. Be safe on PCH. I crashed a couple months ago right by the pier in Malibu. But, it's a good place to do some flat, longer rides. I have a 95 mile ride on Sat too and then short run. I will probably head from the South Bay up to Cross Creek then back down and do a bunch of loops behind LAX. If I leave before 6a, I can beat the beach traffic.

BTW, I see on your logs that you swim at Verdugo. That's my pool too. I swim during lunch with GRA team.

Originally posted by tmoran07

Need some feedback here guys,

The tri club that my wife and I are part of put on their own Half-Iron distance race and this year it's on 10/24. What do you guys think about me doing that "race" with my wife (about 75% of my usual effort level) and following it up on Sunday (10/25) with a long easy ride to finish up peak volume and begin my taper phase? It'll give me a good indicator of what I need to adjust on the bike and run for nutrition on a course that is very similar to IMAZ for the bike. Thoughts?

Originally posted by kloofyroland



Hmmm, 3 weeks out is really close but it's a good idea to use that race to lock in your nutrition plan. I recommend dialing down the effort exerted and just "participate" at an effort slightly below your IMAZ race pace. I'm thinking an effort that will not make your long bike ride performance suffer the day after.

How long of a bike ride are you planning on doing after that race?

Originally posted by StevenC



I'm not an expert since this is my first 140.3. I agree I wouldn't push anything harder than your AZ paces but wouldn't think that type of mileage would affect you 3 weeks out. My plan has my longest bike ride on 10/23 and run on 10/27. So pretty short taper for me too.