St. George Recon Report
Made it back from a great trip to St. George. We had Coach Rich, Allan from Tenn., Tom B. & the brothers, Olivia, several other friends and family members. We cycled from Sand Hollow out to the loop, did the loop and came back to T1. (For course details see the map on the IMSG website). We totaled 86 miles (You were right Olivia 
). On the tail leading to the loop, it's hilly, big rollers starting about 4 miles from the swim. Then, we do some small rolling hills and flats before we get to the back part of the loop and head toward Gunlock Reservoir where you'll do a lot of steady climbing, In the middle of the loop there's a big hill before the turn around at Veyo. The hill is about a 11 to 14 % grade, nearly one mile long. It's the only big threat for those who don't pace themselves well. Coach Rich has named it the Kokopelli Kitchen but my wife thinks the Kokopelli Cooker would be a better name. As Coach Rich said, "It will cook you" if you don't pace yourself well. This race will require a safe steady pace, somewhat reserved as we'll be climbing for a good portion of the day.
From Veyo back to St. George it's largely rollers and generally downhill. We had a good headwind so it didn't always feel downhill. We could face similar winds on race day, especially on the 2nd loop of the bike.
I don't think this course needs to be feared, just respected. Coach Rich will have some wisdom to share about pace. It was great having him along, how often do you get to ride and chill with the coach. I'm a little frazzled from a long drive but I'm sure we'll post lots more in the next week about the run course, etc. Hope everyone else made it back home safely.
Comments
Coach Rich's initial impression of the bike course (video):
http://endurancenation.us.dnnmax.com/Community/Forums/tabid/101/aff/24/aft/1255/afv/topic/Default.aspx
My advice is to run hills on your training runs, big rollers would be good. There’s not a lot of flat terrain on this run course. Get your calves, arches and legs accustomed to hills as they work slightly different muscles groups than typical run courses. I’ve never raced a course this hilly under the fatigue of an IM race. People talk about down hill runs killing their legs and this could be the case here. For all the up hill there’s equal downhill on this course so you’ll get your share.
Our group ran 13.1 miles, the entire first loop and most of us ran faster than anticipated race pace. It was tough but doable. I’m not intimidated by the run course but I do have respect for it and plan to bike and run the course wisely, somewhat conservative as it will be a long day. I believe Coach Rich wholeheartedly in that EN Team members will be ready for this course. We train hard and then race wisely with a predetermined pace. If you execute the plan instead of getting caught up with everyone else’s race, you’ll do well at IMSG.
Thanks for all your thoughts; I really wish I could have been there. But I guess everything will just be a nice race day surprise.
Wei, Coach Rich will be posting a few videos at some point. He was like a professional cinetographer there on the course. We'd be riding and the next thing I knew he was shooting footage, time and time again. He'll share some great insight for sure. As hard as you've been training you should be ready to pull a very respectable race. I know you've had to deal with the weather by using the trainer and treadmill more than anyone in our group. Today, I finally got out on my bike in shorts but was geared up in booties and other heavy winter gear. My white legs got a little sun.
Yep, I took a ton of video, about all of the bike course loop, on my drive out of town.
The run is going to really work your calves off the bike. Like Steve said, 3+ miles of up right out of T2. Wilflower is also a very hilly run and I focus on landing with a flat foot, not forefoot, until my calves get warmed up. SG will be very similar. Start thinking about calf management for the first 3 miles.
CC