@ Robin - I would love to do Norseman, but the frau hasn't been too receptive to that proposal. The logistics requirements means I would be going with 2 of my sons so one can drive and one can run up the mountain with me. The frau says (with a look), "I would rather you do Ironman Sweden, yah, that's fer sure!" I'm feeling the pressure. Now there's Norseman (www.nxtri.com), Celtman (www.cxtri.com), Horseman (www.hxtri.com), and I just may have to stick with Ironman. The other problem with Norseman is competing against all ages (mostly younger) for the coveted Black T-shirt. If I ended up with a White T-shirt, I would probably want to throw myself into the Fjord! I've been thinking of Leadman @ Bend OR or IM Lanzarote as an acceptable substitute, but for 2012 and 2013 and I'm going to take a few more stabs at a Kona slot before I throw in the towel for this age group.
I'm most likely going to do Leadman next year. Pretty sure I can't do back-to-back branded IM race years, and this one in Bend is in my backyard. Big bonus is longer swim and bike, shorter run!
Yes will be sticking with ironman brand for a bit. Starting in arizona this year, will be looking at flatish courses which suite biggish me. Ironman kalmar sweden looks good.
Ironman brand::::::::;
Flattish courses europe. Kalmar. Frankfurt (relatively). Others?
Elsewhere. Arizona. Florida. Cozumel. New zealand. Others?
I guess so after I found this elevation gain on some of the courses. Reading reviews it didn't seems so bad. But then again, they were mostly written by Europeans who probably do consider it flat. After doing Regensburg, I learned that the dude who does the IM comparo's at RunTri is clueless.
1. France 11193 2. Lanzarote 10282 3. Lake Placid 7911 4. Austria 7829 5. Australia 7659 6. Louisville 7578 7. Switzerland 7505 8. Wisconsin 7353 9. Canada 6719 10. Coeur D’Alene 5851 11. Brazil 5419 12. Germany 5281 13. S. Africa 5182 14. Hawaii 4554 15. Arizona 3824 16. W. Australia 2538 17. Florida 2007
Another website (I will not bonk.com) lists the following corrected elevation profiles in response to the list above. Austria doesn't look so bad now! BTW, I read that the elevation gain on IM Los Cabos will be ~4180 ft.
update. Not sure how they arrived at these numbers above but please comment if you have some info you want to share! Thanks to Sam from iamtri for sharing his own data below.
The courses I did and measured with both Suunto and SRM device: IM Hawaii: 3600 ft IM Germany: 3280 ft IM Austria: 5580 ft IM Lanzarote: 7800 ft
I've done three courses multiple times measured with various devices: three different barometers. There seems to be consistency for a given barometer, but different barometers will give different results.
iBike barometer:
CDA: 5633, 5882
AZ: 2144
iBike Aero barometer:
CDA: 4889, 4799,
AZ: 1111,
Kona: 3752 (I thought I had another file from iBike in 06, but that is on another computer apparently)
Joule barometer:
CDA: 6450
AZ: 2482
I guess it may depend on several factors, one of which is the algorithm for the minimum rise which qualifies as a climb. Is it 1 meter? 3 meters? 20 centimeters? That may account for some of the differnces we see in the various reports of elevation gain. Also, there are at least three potential sources of data: barometer, GPS (which has a built in fudge factor to be dealt with), and topo map. And then there's the program doing the calculating. For example, today I did a 50 mile ride in my hilly neighborhood. WKO reported a gain of 1784, and Power Agent says 3449. All I can say is the ride I did today felt more like the CDA than AZ, which would be 3250 vs 1240 on the Joule. I could go back and compare the files I used above (they are from the iBike or PowerAgent software) as reported in WKO, but I won't.
Robin ... If they were into customer service they would not only have extraordinarily detailed course maps, they would publish the water, temperature, high air temperature, humidity and wind readings for each year of the race. Those stats should be published with pro race results to help folks interpret the results as well as help them prepare for likely conditions in future races.
The thing about the course elevation gain numbers is a "Walking the coastline problem"*
Take Rev 3 Quassy 70.3 for example, the official course elevation profile shows an elevation gain of just under 2500'. However, there are so many little bumps in the road 2 feet up here, 5 feet up there, that by the time you're in T2 and look at your Garmin (Edge 705 with barometric altimeter) you see you've climbed almost 7200' over 56 miles. Quite a difference. Those little bumps add up, so it's not just the big hills with 100' climbs, it's the little ones are just as important.
Comments
Robin ... tell me when you sign up for Norseman ... I've always wanted to go out on a flaming Viking longboat (or the IM equivilent).
Yes. Maybe one of these years get an EN crew to go to Norseman.
Just found it myself. Celtman. Just google it.
In the northwest Highlands. Pretty area near the Torridon mountains. Have been there a few times over the years.
Distance is full Ironman plus I believe about 10 miles on the bike.
The run goes over two Munro mountains (peaks over 3000 feet). So should be a fun scramble.
Off course the weather can be scetchy at times. And hopefully the race is too early for the midges (nasty mini-mosquitoes).
Looks like the racers this year limited to about 250.
Should be a wild event.
I'm most likely going to do Leadman next year. Pretty sure I can't do back-to-back branded IM race years, and this one in Bend is in my backyard. Big bonus is longer swim and bike, shorter run!
Yes will be sticking with ironman brand for a bit. Starting in arizona this year, will be looking at flatish courses which suite biggish me. Ironman kalmar sweden looks good.
Ironman brand::::::::;
Flattish courses europe. Kalmar. Frankfurt (relatively). Others?
Elsewhere. Arizona. Florida. Cozumel. New zealand. Others?
Isn't austria on of the worst for elvation change?
Hard to get good stats for some races for the bike course.
1. France 11193
2. Lanzarote 10282
3. Lake Placid 7911
4. Austria 7829
5. Australia 7659
6. Louisville 7578
7. Switzerland 7505
8. Wisconsin 7353
9. Canada 6719
10. Coeur D’Alene 5851
11. Brazil 5419
12. Germany 5281
13. S. Africa 5182
14. Hawaii 4554
15. Arizona 3824
16. W. Australia 2538
17. Florida 2007
Yes I see this list quoted a lot. But I believe it is pretty inaccurate.
update. Not sure how they arrived at these numbers above but please comment if you have some info you want to share! Thanks to Sam from iamtri for sharing his own data below.
The courses I did and measured with both Suunto and SRM device:
IM Hawaii: 3600 ft
IM Germany: 3280 ft
IM Austria: 5580 ft
IM Lanzarote: 7800 ft
I've done three courses multiple times measured with various devices: three different barometers. There seems to be consistency for a given barometer, but different barometers will give different results.
iBike barometer:
CDA: 5633, 5882
AZ: 2144
iBike Aero barometer:
CDA: 4889, 4799,
AZ: 1111,
Kona: 3752 (I thought I had another file from iBike in 06, but that is on another computer apparently)
Joule barometer:
CDA: 6450
AZ: 2482
I guess it may depend on several factors, one of which is the algorithm for the minimum rise which qualifies as a climb. Is it 1 meter? 3 meters? 20 centimeters? That may account for some of the differnces we see in the various reports of elevation gain. Also, there are at least three potential sources of data: barometer, GPS (which has a built in fudge factor to be dealt with), and topo map. And then there's the program doing the calculating. For example, today I did a 50 mile ride in my hilly neighborhood. WKO reported a gain of 1784, and Power Agent says 3449. All I can say is the ride I did today felt more like the CDA than AZ, which would be 3250 vs 1240 on the Joule. I could go back and compare the files I used above (they are from the iBike or PowerAgent software) as reported in WKO, but I won't.
Yeesh; TMI is what I say.
thanks for the info.
I wish Ironman would give us elevations gains, measured the same way, for all the courses.