IMWI race week plans

Robert Sabo · August 17, 2015 10:53AM

Not familiar with the area and how the race runs. 1. Is there any time to get in a swim practice? 2.what parts of the bike course should we see and where do most people ride Thursday/Friday? 3 Should I drive the whole bike course before the race? is anyone else doing this? I know Rich might answer these questions in his talk but I haven't rented a car yet and thinking I probably should to do the bike recon stuff.

Coach Rich · August 17, 2015 10:55AM

Posted By Robert Sabo on 17 Aug 2015 10:53 AM

Not familiar with the area and how the race runs. 1. Is there any time to get in a swim practice? 2.what parts of the bike course should we see and where do most people ride Thursday/Friday? 3 Should I drive the whole bike course before the race? is anyone else doing this? I know Rich might answer these questions in his talk but I haven't rented a car yet and thinking I probably should to do the bike recon stuff.

Yes, you can do practice swims every day, though the buoys aren't set up.

Yes, good idea to drive the course. I will ID suggested recon during the webinar.

[Deleted User] · August 17, 2015 12:24PM

Glad you brought this up as some how I'd missed the fact that there's a webinar. On the calendar now.

I will add - I'm renting a car (still need to sort it) and was hoping to join up with a few ENers for recon if the schedules sync up. Let me know if interested and we can go from there. Hoping to get it done per the plan Thursday (afternoon) and before team dinner.

Scott Giljum · August 17, 2015 1:14PM

Last year I met up with a few folks on Thursday and did the recon ride. Unless Rich has something else up his sleeve, the route I have done the last couple of years has been basically Bourbon to the high school in Verona. I would definitely recommend driving the course as well just to get familiar with what is ahead. The three sisters get all the pub, but there are plenty of other climbs and opportunities to capture momentum. I am sure Rich will cover in the webinar.

Also, the team typically will do a swim on Friday morning, so you can likely pencil that in the schedule if it fits for you.

ejshimon · August 17, 2015 2:23PM

When is the webinar? Is it linked in another forum?

ejshimon · August 17, 2015 2:49PM

Never mind. I found it.

MattAaronson · August 17, 2015 4:13PM

I'm sure Rich has some pretty strong opinions about what portion of the course to ride if you've never ridden it before. I was contemplating doing a whole loop on Thursday but that ~41 miles will take about 2 hours which is probably a bit much for the Thursday pre-race. So I'll probably ride from Verona to Mt Horeb and back because Highway G and 92 are my least-favorite parts of the course and I think there is some psychological advantage to giving them the finger before race day. That said, it is the least technical part of the course and for someone who hasn't ridden the course before I'd suggest riding some of the parts that would benefit from practice. A few ideas on that:

- The Garfoot downhill. If you practice it you can be a lot more confident on race day. This might be one place where you do it after your workout and go with someone else who can drive you to the top a couple of times and give you a few practice runs. I'm happy to help you with that if you want and depending on the schedule.

- Cross Plains to Verona. This gives you the experience of the teeth-chattering road called Stagecoach, the climbs on Old Sauk and the beginning of Timber Lane, the downhill and left-turn at the end of Timber Lane, then the evil little climb on Midtown followed by a screaming fast run down Shady Oak. All of these parts of the course are places where practice will yield benefits in my view.

MattAaronson · August 17, 2015 4:24PM

Schedule-wise, when is the team dinner? And where?

I'm planning to arrive solo on Thursday at some point. I'm not sure why so early, but it's my first IM so I figured I should. My family isn't coming until Friday or Saturday. I have a room at the Hilton at the race site that starts on Friday where I will be staying on Friday and Saturday and which my family will use as a base of operations on race day. From Thursday I have a suite at the HotelRED near camp Randall which has a nice living room and balcony for pre-race chillaxing (and is next door to Mickies Dairy Bar which is Bruce Thompson's favorite pre-race fueling venue).

Happy to meet up with folks whenever...it appears I'll have time and very few plans...

Cheers,
Matt

Coach Rich · August 17, 2015 4:41PM

First, I fundamentally see very, very little value in talking about what parts of the course to recon on race week when we are 4wks out. I'm very much about not putting things inside my/your head until they are meaningful and actionable. And so, in that light, I'm not going to talk about what you may want to check out now, I'll do that in the webinar, because it just doesn't matter on Monday, August 18th

Dinner will be Thursday at about 6p I think at that Irish pub on the square, near the finish. Make sure you've joined the IMWI Group here to be sure you get all of the IMWI-specific emails we are have been sending out, which will contain the actual dinner details.

rlh2000 · August 17, 2015 6:40PM

Matt, I'm with you- I'll take the hills over that stretch from Verona to Mt Horeb. I'm happy to see the climb into Mt Horeb because that stretch is done! I'm glad I've accepted that it sucks there, because every time I rode it I got angry! Now I've just accepted it and deal with it much better mentally- it's a "yes it sucks now but you know that and it will be ok" mentality for me now.

But yes, let's focus on the here and now til closer to race day. On that note, off to the pool!

IMWI race week plans

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