Ironman Florida 2008

Here they are! Subject to revision if more folks want to play, we introduce:

The Dolphins: Gunning for a sweet sixteen or maybe even better
Ellie Hamilton
Melissa Merson
Adam Tice
Nancy Toby







The Sharks: Challenging themselves to faster and farther than before
Julie Oplinger
Shelley McKee
Tom Collins
Guest member: WJ

The annual xtri.com tally of iron-distance race numbers has been posted. Ironman Florida was the second-largest Ironman, with 1935 finishers. Ironman Canada had the greatest number of finishers, 2062.

"In the calendar year 2005, the 21 official Ironman events around the world garnered 26,742 official finishers, an increase of 3,309 or 14.1%. . . . non-M-Dot ironman distance events fell from 4,365 in 2004 to 4,225 in 2005."

That adds up to 30,967 finishers of iron-distance events from all the 6.5 billion people on Earth in 2005. It will be exciting to be one of those select few in 2006, won't it? If my math is right, that's one out of two million people that becomes an Ironman each year.

26.2 miles = 42.1 kilometers (= a marathon), divided into two loops.
Course is more or less flat, except for an overpass.
Aid stations are approximately every mile, and organizers promise Gatorade Endurance Formula, water, cola, assorted flavors of GU, pretzels, chicken soup broth, oranges, bananas, PowerBars, and Fig Newtons.
Sunset is 4:53PM, twilight ends at 5:18PM.
Triathletes must begin the run course no later than 5:15PM.
Cutoff is 17 hours after the swim start, or midnight.

Here's the Google satellite view of the run course area - fairly desolate in the turnaround area.

Here is a gmaps approximate map of the run course. One or two of the streets around Mile 4.5 might not be exact, but it's pretty darned close. You can switch to satellite views too. The gmaps course looks longer than it really only because the starting point isn't exactly right - the hotel is actually closer to here.

Important note: There is apparently a non-preannounced, but very real cutoff of 9PM to reach the halfway point of the run course. Your chip will be taken if you're not there on time. Forewarned is forearmed.

Water temperature should be 68-72*F; wetsuits are allowed.
Body marking begins at 0500.
Sunrise is at 0600; start is at 0700.
It will be a mass start from the beach (on dry land).
Cutoff time is 2:20 (140 minutes) from the start, or out of the water and into T1 no later than 9:20AM.

Today I don't feel up to much.... bagged my 18-mile run after 5 miles and walked 3 miles home. I guess you'll have that.

On with the show.... who else is here? I'm sure there's more than us 4 girls. C'mon, folks... what are you up to???

Of course I had to post something...what am I doing?? Well, i'm pretty envious of all these people who get to go where it's warm to race...sigh..I think it's like -10 here today...yikes!! Anyways..I booked my hotel a while back for IMFLA'06. It turns out the tri-geek kahuna, commodore and i'm pretty sure boulder is staying there too... It's called the Inn at St. Thomas Square. I stayed there last time I did IMFLA and it was good!!!

http://interoz.com/stthomascondo/

Today was my last long run before the Disney half. 9 miles in 1:43.12. My current half marathon PR is 2:58. It's going to be a fun race day in uncharted waters. How hard can I go? How close to 2:35 can I get?

And I'm working in the lab but that's school stuff.

Ellie is checking up on us!

I'm preparing to try to earn one of these Goofy medals in three weeks at Disney World. That would be for completing a half marathon on January 7th under the 3:30 cutoff, and then a marathon on January 8th under the 7:00 cutoff.

I think I can do it! My plan is to take it slow, recover fast, and HAVE FUN!

Of course, being a dumbass, I also signed up for the 5K on Saturday.

In between my minimalist run workouts, such as they are (one half marathon and one 9.5-miler is the longest I've done this month) I've been doing a few minutes per week on core exercises and the bike trainer, and I've been getting back into the pool once or twice per week. After Goofy it's back to "serious" triathlon training - or at least as serious as I ever get about it!

Here's what I'm up to:

RNR Arizona Marathon on Jan. 15

Lost Dutchman Marathon on Feb. 19

Biking some to cross-train

No swimming (nearest pool is 30 miles away)

I hope to stay in marathon condition after the 2 marathons, holding that as sort of a status quo, maybe doing a 20-miler or marathon once a month or so, and then I'll only have to build up my swimming and biking. I don't know if this is feasible... but it's what I'm hoping to do.

My marathon training is behind; my last long run was 16 miles and the race is 4 weeks away. I'm going to try for 18 tomorrow (that will only be a week after the 16) and then 20 on New Year's, which will be 2 weeks before race day. Or maybe I'll just get to 18.... I don't know. We'll see.

What about everyone else?

Hmm, I just had an idea.

I just saw a half ironman training blog post in which they have set up training groups.

How about setting up some groups of 3-4 athletes each on this IMFL blog and on our Yahoo discussion list so that we can keep up with each other and share our training progress? Plus keep each other accountable?

I have set up a database on our Yahoo discussion list so that you can enter some projected finish times for each leg at IMFL'06, and then I can set up some subgroups of athletes (and will post the list here) to get started working together at the beginning of the new year. Go over to the database HERE to enter your projected times. (If you haven't joined the discussion group yet, you'll have to do that too).