Ironman Florida 2006- weather

This really did need to be its own seperate post. Eveyone will mention this aspect of the race in their recap.

The two days leading up to the race had a big cold front moving through. I think its safe to assume when you think Florida beaches you do not think freezing temperatures. Thats essentially what we got. 24 hours before the swim start the wind chill was 37 degrees. The water was rough, with large swells. The high for the day was 55 degrees.

The worst of it was the wind. The bane of all triathletes.

The winds were sustained 10-20 miles per hour with gusts of up to 30 mph. Of course I took that from the weather channel down there in PCB but I guarantee you they did not have wind gauges where it blew the worst.

PCB for all intents and purposes of Ironman Florida is a long strip of beach with very tall hotels stacked next to each other. When the wind is moving fast it gets channelled between these buildings and picks up momentum. Whether this is the causeway between the elevator and the hotel rooms or between hotels and parking structures, the wind howls and it pushes hard. It created huge swells on race day and crushed projected bike times for the first 50 miles. More on that later.

The object lesson is to be over prepared for your race weather. Bring the tights, bring the arm warmers, bring the cycling jackets for your race. Bring cold weather clothing to wear while your there. Mistress had to buy a coat after she left the house for the airport because it was so cold.

I mentioned in my logistics post about buying on impulse at the expo. If I hadn't bought the arm warmers when I saw them and forced them on a friend to do likewise, it would have been a much worse race for me. I tried going to Wal-Mart for some 'under armor' type clothing. Sold out. The sweat pants and top I bought for $10 for my dry bag was a big bonus and helped before and after the race.

On race day the weather improved considerably as the day wore on but until the afternoon it played a significant part of everyones race.

I spoke with a few pro triathletes the day after the race and they mentioned they had not seen an iron swim with worse conditions in a dozen races. The turn was 1000 meters out in the ocean and without the land to shield some of the wind, the swells got to at least three feet, maybe much more. I felt like I was four wheeling; take a breath, get slapped down into the water. I distinctly recal having one arm and both feet out of the water while my body was still inside the swell. It made sighting buoys hard but not impossible. You really had to time your breath or get a mouth full of water.

The first 50 miles of the bike course had a 20 mph wind straight into your face. I was not the only frustrated triathlete out there, watching their speed sit two or three mph lower than their projection.

By mid afternoon the wind died down and the temperature increased and it really was perfect running weather. Had the whole day been as benign, I think everyone would have had a faster time by perhaps a half hour or more. I know I would have.