race rehearsal #1CdA
hello:
so, my brother (carlos-EN fan) and I are doing are rr#1 on the CdA course on the weekend of May14-15.
we have a room at the la quinta hotel. same as we will have on race day. so, it's a practice all the way around for us. by the way, we don't mind splitting the room (divide cost per person).
we arrive friday and depart monday.
we've never been there, so we were going to build our bikes friday. pre-drive the course saturday, then look over the swim course area (maybe swim if not too cold? or if allowed?) and execute the rr on sunday (ride and 1hr run).
if you locals wanted to do the test on saturday, my bro and i could drive out, during our course re-con, and wait at a pre-determined spot and serve as special needs or something. or if the course is really straight forward, then we could all ride on the same day.
if enough people come out, maybe the coaches can spring for free dinner
and would be nice to have some time for those of you who have raced there before to share details, like the swim start is here, the turn buoys get put there, the run starts here and this is the hard part of the run, etc.
post to this thread if this weekend works for you. this way we can try to coordinate.
over and out,
gh
Comments
Please make some great mental notes and if you use any kind of GPS-enabled device, I would love to see the elevation profile of the ride!
We'll all look forward to what you guys have to say!
scott: sounds good. yes, your welcome to share our room any of those days.
stephen: no worries, i don't have gps, but i do have a power meter and so does my brother, so i can post that along with watt/kg info, so you can compare properly. a few people did this last year for the IMAZ rr and it was very helpful.
gh
Im in tentatively. Let me get back to you on the details bit.
Regarding was Scott said, its pretty cold in the lake. I think it was like 62 or 61 when I did it back in 09. I would skip it and hit it race week. Looking forward to it. I'll bring some beer!
I would recommend that you not start worrying about race day water temps - it will only make you crazy and at this point in the year it is impossible to predict. A week of warm weather in late June can and often does change everything.
The bike course is pretty straight forward if you print off and follow the map on the IM CDA website. No need to waste gas by driving the course unless you just cannot resist. It is also marked - just carefully look for the tape at each intersection and follow the direction that the tape is pointed. After you see a couple of the tape markers you will get the hang of things. There will also be a good number of other riders out on the course most weekends leading up to IM.
I would like to try to do the ride with you guys but suspect that I will get dropped in riding with EN trained IM athletes. The park at the swim site is a good place to meet up and is also the location of IM CDA T1/T2.
great information, guys.
if my bro and i can test ride our bikes after building them up on friday afternoon, then a saturday ride/run sounds feasible considering Al's post. sunday we can ride the run course and study the swim-T1/T2 areas. i don't mind swimming in cold designated areas, just to get a feel for the entry into the lake and to get a feel for sighting in this setting.
Al: the rehearsal is about testing your individual pace on the course, so i am sure all of us will get separated throughout the day. come ride if you can make time!
GH
Assuming the tape arrows are all still there, it does make the course pretty easy to follow. I would still suggest having the turn-by-turn directions in your pocket and maybe even consider figuring out away to tape them to your stem... there are a fair number of turns (another reason driving the coruse doesn't help you much, too many to remember as you drive by)...
I'm sure eveyone knows (or will know) many of these anyway, but just to put an exclamation point by a few things (and the 2 Als have alot more experience than I do, so please correct anything I say below!):
- Read the ironman gearing post in the Wiki. Several of the hills have some pretty steep sections... unless you are super-strong on the bike (on a W/KG basis), you will have a hard time following EN bike guidance (spinning, not standing, up hills) without at least a 27 on your rear cassette. I didn't stand last year, but really had to grind up a few of them. I was at ~2.7W/KG last year and had a 12-27. Given where I am now, I'll likely (hopefully) show-up at 3.2-3.4 W/KG this year and plan on running a 11-28 with standard cranks. Maybe a tad on the conservative side (27 probably just fine at that w/kg level), but I am laser-focused on getting off the bike fresh this year. If you are running compact cranks, probably no need to go above a 27. The downside of running a 11-28 is there is a bigger cadence gap between gears (bigger jump in number of teeth from gear to gear), but if you train on whatever you decide to use, you can acclimate (so don't wait until the last minute to figure out what you are going to use!)
- Read/listen to the coaches course notes... the first 20 miles or so of the loop are pretty flat (but by no means pancake flat), soooo easy to get ahead of yourself in the beginning, only to get smacked in the teeth when the hills show-up. Discipline in following the race plan is paramount. Watch those watts (or HR/RPE) numbers like a hawk!
- water temp in mid-May will be cold... probably low 50s or mid-50s at the very best... neoprene hat and probably booties a must for most at that temp. If you have never swam in water that cold, it's no joke (in my opinion). I actually looked up the historical lake temps (can't remember where at the moment) and I'll second what Al said... don't get too concerned about water temps on race day... they often improve quite a bit in the 2 weeks or so leading up to the race. I brought a neoprene cap and booties just in case last year, but quickly ditched them after my first practice swim. Temp was high 50s when I got there and something close to 60 5 days later on race day.
- Swimming in a decent-sized lake is quite different than in a pool... perhaps an obvious statement, but even though i knew that intellectually going into IMCDA last year, experiencing it was an eye-opener. There will likely be swells of some kind... you can't jsut cruise along and do the same gliding and breathing like you can in a pool. Another reason to not get too crazy about the swim golf stuff (in addition to the caveats about swim golf that Rich writes)... if you get used to doing exagerated glides in the pool, that can be sub-optimal when in a bit of chop surrounded by 2400 of your closest friends. If at all possible, find some open water that has a little chop to it when practicing your open water swims. I had it available to me, but did my OWS in glorified ponds last year so was a bit unprepared for even the light chop last year.
All for now, part of me wishes the race was this Sunday... let's get this party started!
Art: excellent! thank you for taking the time to share this information.
All - I'd love to join you in May for a RR but I just don't think it will work. My son is racing that weekend in the Midwest High School Rowing Championship. His boat is the defending high school national champion in boys 8s so this is the qualifying regatta for Nationals. His boat is expected to qualify, but heck, it is a race and we all know unexpected things can and do happen in a race to ruin somebody's day.
Since I won't be able to ride the CDA course prior to race weekend, I'm eager to read as much as I can. So thanks very much to all, especially Art. I'll be racing with 11/28 cassette and a compact crank, as this Illinois flatlander needs all the help he can get on the Idaho hills.
Hi guys,
I am planning on being there. Just wondering, is anyone shooting around the 6:30-45ish mark. If not, I will be riding alone. But at least dinner will be nice.
Scott: if you decide to ride Sunday, I'm pretty sure I ride the course both days, so no pressure to drive in Friday if it gets too complicated for you.
Gh
Wish I could make it cross country to join you folks but haven't hit the lottery yet so I'm pretty sure the wife is not gonna let me let me come out for a cool ride.
Uh uh! Oh no he didnt! (Imagine me waving my finger back and forth!)
@ Greg, it's a little hard to predict my time this far out, but I'm thinking I'll be around the 6:30 mark. Maybe we'll end up riding together.
I got my compact crank put on a few weeks ago and I'm ready to spin up those hills!
cool. hope you can make it!
gh
G,
Recommend you build your bike up on Friday and drive the course in the evening. You don't "need" to drive the whole thing, the first 25mi or so are kind vanilla, not much to see, move along.
Then do your RR on Saturday so you can run the course on Sunday. Now that they've taken out the first 1-2mi of the run course along the lake and are making you run longer up the hill at the end of the run course, you'll want to definitely run that hill, to wrap your head around it. You'll also be able to pack up your bike on Saturday so one less thing to do on Sunday.
Thanks, Rich. I will follow your recommendations.
G.
Someone asked for an elevation profile for the CDA bike course. Here is the link on MapMyTri to the course. The elevation profile however is a little misleading. There are actually more hills than shown - they've smoothed out some of the little short rises between miles 20 and 42.
Michael:
it wouldn't hurt to get the details regarding the swimming pool, if it's not too much trouble.
currently, i am not planning on swimming, just re-con of the transition grounds and the swim entry area, but always nice to have options.
thanks!
GH
What time are we going to get started on Saturday. I would suggest we start the ride at about the time we actually plan on racing. So, maybe 8:30 start? Thanks and I look forward to seeing everyone.
Also, are we dining Saturday night or Friday night? Thanks a bunch everyone and I look forward to seeing ya'll in person finally.
BTW- I plan to do the #2 RR on the course as well, in case anyone wants to join me in early June.
When is the RR in June?