2015 IM Louisville Deep Thoughts and General Discussion Thread
Team, here are some random notes (no particular order, apologize for
the stream of consciousness style) for IM Louisville. NOTE:
These are just my thoughts and some personal interpretation of the
Athlete Guide. Please read it (the
Athlete Guide) for yourself and attend one of the official athlete briefings to
get the ‘official’ word. As we go
through the taper, add your own thoughts / questions / answers as to general
Louisville race prep / race day stuff. I’ll
be adding another post on this thread about some ‘around Louisville’
recommendations for those times when you don’t want to be around the shaven leg,
compression gear / ‘my last race was tougher than your last race’ t-shirt
wearing crowd.
-
There are multiple WTC Athlete Briefings
starting Thursday and continuing through Saturday. Full transparency – I’ve never attended one
because at all of my previous races, there has only been 1 on pre-race Saturday
evening (a point at which I definitely don’t want to be hanging out with other
triathletes, all on the verge of mental breakdown). Now with all the available options, I will
try to hit one, mostly likely the Friday, 2 p.m. brief. -
Bike check-in goes Noon – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday. If you wait til 2:00 p.m., the
crazy long line of type A people handling bubble wrapped carbon fiber blessed
by his holiness will likely be much shorter / non-existent.
-
According to page 7 of the athlete guide, helmets and bike
shoes may be on your bike (not in the bike gear bag). This is new for a WTC race for me.
-
IMPORTANT – READ ME: If you want to participate in the practice
swim, YOU MUST BRING YOUR TIMING CHIP.
They will turn you away if you don’t have it. Period.
It’s an accountability / safety issue (they actually chip you in / out
of the water). This is a hard WTC rule
and I’ve seen tons of athletes get their feelings hurt by volunteers / race
officials enforcing this at every WTC race I’ve done. They DO NOT have ‘loaner’ chips for the swim. -
Your SPECIAL NEEDS bags (run and bike) will not be returned to
you after the race (i.e. don’t put anything in them that you aren’t willing to
part with if you don’t pick it up during the race). -
You DO NOT need to put your race number (bib) on
for the bike. The ~138 adhesive race
number stickers adorning your helmet, bike, body suffice for the bike
portion. You DO need to put it on for
the run. -
If you get an ill-fitting finisher’s shirt,
there is an opportunity to replace it on Monday (12 Oct) from 9-11 a.m. at the
information booth. -
Everyone will have a full 2:20 to finish the
swim, regardless of what time you jump in the water. The time for the last person starts when the
last person jumps in. However, if you
take longer than 2:20 to finish YOUR swim, you will get a DNF (i.e. if you are
the first person to jump in the water and take longer than 2:20 to finish your
swim, WTC will give you a DNF (in the final tally), even though there are
people behind you still swimming. -
Volunteers will be manning kayaks in the
water. If needed, you can swim to one
and ‘hang-on’ for safety, to adjust, insert your own reason. As long as the kayak does not make ‘forward
progress’ while you are hanging on, you are okay (and will not be DQ’ed). Example, during 2012 IM Coeur D’Alene (mass
start prior to the ‘swim-smart’ initiative), I got totally crushed by the
masses during the starting swim scrum. I
swallowed tons of water and got sick. I
ended up hanging off two different kayaks during that swim, dry heaving for
what felt like forever (TMI – sorry), and then finished the swim. The kayaks were / are there for safety, I
used them for safety reasons, they didn’t move forward while I was on them, and
I carried on with my day once the friendly kayak paddlers got done rebuilding
my devastated ego. Use the kayaks if you need
them without fear of having yourself DQ'ed.
-
Bike – Drafting – 5 Bike lengths between you and
the bike in front of you. I have
personally witnessed a good number of marshals and penalties handed out at
Louisville. Once you are passed, it is
YOUR responsibility to drop back 5 bike lengths, regardless of what the passing
rider does (i.e. even if he slows down the instant he passes you… it
does / will happen). The second lap of the loop can
get crowded. Get your mind in the right
place with respect to this. -
Bike Traffic note 1– Most of the bike ride is on
roads open to traffic. Both years I have
raced the Ville, I have gotten ‘stuck’ behind cars. I have never seen any driver be intentionally
rude or intentionally slow down racers.
I have seen cars forced to drive slow due to the sheer volume of other
cars and triathletes on the road. Bottom
line: Expect to be forced to slow down
at some point during the bike ride.
There are no shoulders on the route.
If YOU make the decision to take action to pass a car (spike 700+ watts,
pass on the left illegally – I’m guilty [and stupid] on both counts), that is
YOUR (my) stupid decision, not the car driver’s. Like the previous note, make your response to
this potential race day scenario part of your execution / pre-race
visualization plan (I recommend patience patience patience) and have a plan to
respond to the emotions (grumpiness) this causes in you. -
Bike Traffic note 2 – Fellow EN superstar Steve
Ross took a major hit during IMCHOO.
Initial reports indicate a volunteer cleared a vehicle directly into his
path while he was going in excess of 22 m.p.h. and he went down hard and
required hospitalization. Bottom
line: Stay alert and trust no one with
your own safety. While this isn’t Rugby
League, triathlon is still a moderately dangerous pastime and no IM time or
placing is worth a bad vehicle-on-bike encounter. The bike never wins. -
Check out the insert box (map page 21) of the
run course. There is a small section of
the run at the beginning that you only run once. It’s a little section from T2 – admin stuff –
out to the ‘rest of the run course’. If
you have family supporting you, ensure they know that you will only run this
small section once (or they will sit there the rest of the day wondering why
you haven’t come around again – yes, again, guilty of this one). -
Family members / supporters are not allowed to
cross the finish line or enter the chute with you.
Please add your own thoughts and questions to this thread as we spend the next weeks contemplating the lead up to race day. 
Comments
Thanks for the thoughts. I'll add another one for us to think about. We have talked about the line for the swim and several of us have indicated we are "get there early" types. I hope we can establish a plan to get us closer to the front rather the back. We should be able to use our numbers to establish a place in line and then rotate out as necessary to manage morning business. Just something to think about. I want to get in the water early for 3 reasons: 1) I don't want to swim over/around 1000 people 2) I want less congestion on the out and back and 3)I want to finish sooner so I can drink more beer. Thoughts anyone?
Scary about Steve Ross, missed that. But good reminder, I was nearly roadkill at the Honu 70.3 fortunately the driver of the truck and I were a bit more aware than the two volunteers one of whom was waving the truck directly into my path the other was furiously waving at me to keep going. I am grateful for volunteers but as the RD at my Aquabike said at least five times during the briefing keep your head up and stay aware.
I have a few questions (sorry if they are silly). While waiting in the swim start line I think I'd like to have a sweatshirt and some flip flops (so not cold and barefoot), etc. Is there a place to ditch items like this? I know at some races a lot of people leave their flip flops in a big pile near the start (same with sweatshirts, etc) and they get picked up and donated. Do you know if I have to have a family member nearby to collect the items, or if I'll be able to just leave them behind?
(2) about the bike course - I know you did Vineman - do you think this course is somewhat similar in terms of the rolling hills? Or more/less?
(3) And lastly, a weird question - I know we cross a timing mat when we get in the water - but do you happen to know if there is a way for spectators to know when you entered the water? Or do they just have to find you in the line and watch you go in? I only ask because my husband has always been able to predict the general time I'll be getting out of the water based on my start time. With the line it seems like I could start anywhere between 7:30 and 8:10, which isn't that helpful to him in trying to "find" me. Any insight would be appreciated
@Jay - I'd like to be in the water early too. My reasons are different in that I just want to finish the race before midnight, but nonetheless I want to be in line early. If there is a way to coordinate with a few other "early" people to take turns holding place in line and rotate in/out like you said, I would like to be part of that plan.
I would like to be in somewhat early as I also expect to be slow, but a bit nervous that as a slow swimmer I'd get swum over a lot. From what I read it's about 3/4 mile from T1 to the swim start, so i assume we'd have to get out T1 stuff done and since transition opens at 5:30, I assume the earliest you can get in line would be closer to 6? The good thing I think is I read they wouldn't allow family members to get in line for you.
1) I will probably attend the briefing because I usually pick out 1 or 2 pieces of important information that is not in the athlete's guide.
2) I wish WTC could get their stuff together and make a universal rule about whether you have to wear the number on the back. Seems to change every race I do. At Austria last month it was a hard requirement...even with all the other numbers as Roy notes.
3) I did IMCDA in 2010 - the only race I've had to hang onto a kayak. That was my most brutal swim ever and the only one I ever had thoughts that I might die. This will be my first TT start and I'm 100% for it.
4) I am thinking about starting at the end of the line, sling shotting through the bike ride, and getting slightly cooler run temperatures. Start sooner, and you are running more in the warmest part of the day.
A deep thought is that the Packers are winning right now! I have time to watch football.
@Jennifer - Clothes, see Anu's comments. They didn't have a collection point in my previous go's (a la most major marathons), but maybe they have gotten better. Previous years have been stupid hot, so warming layers haven't been a concern of mine. I hope to have that problem this year. Louisville vs Vineman - I have a horrible memory and Vineman was my first, so take this with a huge grain of salt. I think Vineman had less total rollers, but Chalk Hill made it 'harder'. In all honesty, I think the Louisville bike course is just right, enough rollers to encourage position changes without anything depressingly steep or long. I would repeat the Ville even if I didn't live there. Due to my size, I'm more of an absolute power guy, not a watts/kg kind of guy, and I think the Ville is just right to let both types get a good ride in. Your opinion may differ. Swim line positioning for family: There isn't any 'easy' way for your family to pick you out. There is a'stadium' area where all the supports crowd up and the line does an "S" right before you get to the pier split, so your supporters should have a chance to pick you out of the line. It snakes three times on top of itself before you jump in. I always hear my wife yelling at me from the crowd.
@Anu - Sighting - once you make the turn, you'll swing underneath a large bridge. I use that for the first third of the way. After that, I just follow the current and try not to swing out too far right (a problem of mine). If the splash / near-by folks allow, breathing on the left helps you maintain perspective on the bank.
@Stephen - You must be talking about that other sport they play on Sunday. Being from the south, I pray at the alter of college football
Friday - I'll be doing race registration and a bike course recon on Friday. The EN taper plan says to do this on Thursday, but my personal schedule doesn't support this. I'll be at registration at 0900 when it opens, and then when done, will drive from the Galt House / Great Lawn to the Church at the Out and Back turn. I'll dismount there, hop on my bike, and ride the out and back. I'll probably doing the hill(s) twice. There have been road cracks / holes at the very bottom of the outbound hill which is worth looking at / riding over. After riding back to the Church, I'll load my bike back on my car and then drive out and drive (not ride) the loop. I'm in an Explorer and can fit 3 people and 1 bike (more if you are willing to break it down in the back) and welcome company either in my car or trailing me in another car. This is also a good opportunity for a group photo (either at Registration, during the ride, or afterward). Lunch after the recon is another option if anyone is interested.
- Saturday - I will be coming to the swim practice. I'm just coming to see the water, mingle, and talk about how cool I am with any other triathlete that wants to listen. That last part was a joke
Please let me know if anyone is interested in any of the above contact points either here in this thread or on GroupMe once that gets stood up for this race. As you know, I will unfortunately not be able to attend the Team dinner, but for those are able to (and haven't done one before), they are absolutely one of the best part of any EN team race week.
I get in Thursday afternoon, need to check when my bike gets in, hopefully same day otherwise I'll do the out and back on Friday. I have rented some kind of SUV, so hopefully should fit my bike. Plan to drive the course Thursday and maybe Saturday again with my husband. Also plan to swim on Saturday. Coach P's talk recommended riding the LeGrange loop but think I'd rather ride a bit less.
If rain is in forecast don't cover your bike before taking it in - you will have to remove the wrap until after check in photos. It rained pretty good in choo- so I covered handlebars, di2 stuff, seat.
I also double bagged my shoes - every thing was dry.
I am a mid-back racer :-)
I plan to go to swim on Sat and swim some of course! Want to get a feel for water temp and the current!
@i'm having difficulty knowing exactly what I want to do right before the race. I think I am just in a weird space lately. I will join the group for the recon on Friday. I 'm a little nervous about doing much riding that close to the race. Lunch sounds fun afterwards.
@Jay, If the offer still stands, I would be glad to join you with your vehicle since it holds three bikes. Thursday afternoon or Friday will be fine. My cell phone is 608-399-4319.
It will be nice to get to meet as many of you as I can in person.
I also hope to join the swim briefly on Saturday just to get that out of my system for 20 minutes.
I am such a freak and edgy person today at work. argh.
Things to do in relative close proximity to down town / the Galt House-
- Louisville Slugger Museum
- Mohammed Ali Center
- Fourth Street Live (with tons of chain restaurants)
- The Big Four Bridge
- the Belle of Louisville (paddle boat)
- Churchill Downs (offers a tour - and Kentucky Derby Museum
- Louisville Zoo (further out).
All of these things come up in a simple google.com search.
Food options -
- Lots of stuff on Fourth Street - some major chain restaurants like TGIF's and Hard Rock Cafe, Eddie Merlot Steakhouse, The Old Spaghetti Factory (will be full of triathletes on Saturday).
- If you are willing to drive 10-20 minutes, I recommend:
- Blue Dog Bakery and Café (mixed artisan / specialty food)
- Lilly's Bistro (location of the 2013 EN team dinner, really good)
- Seviche (Latin fusion).
-A 20 minutes will take you to my area (Middletown / East End) where there are:
- Olive Garden (Italian)
- Carrabba's (Italian)
- Taziki's (Mediterranean chain)
- Shiraz (Mediterranean fast food / mom-pop)
- Wild Eggs (best breakfast in town IMO - comfort + healthy food)
- First Watch (chain health focused breakfast).