Ironman Texas will continue in The Woodlands for 5 more years. Yeah. But, the wimps have won out and the race is being moved to April so its not as hot. Boo.
Ironman Texas will continue in The Woodlands for 5 more years. Yeah. But, the wimps have won out and the race is being moved to April so its not as hot. Boo.
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/...331059.html?mode=jqm
Hey, I like the April date…now it will only be as oppressive as Galveston!
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I hadn’t thought about Galveston yet. I wonder what’s gonna happen there. It’s usually about 5-6 weeks out from IMTX and LOTS of people do both. I wonder if it will be shuffled around a bit as well.
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Hey, I like the April date…now it will only be as oppressive as Galveston!
This is a smart move all around. April is significantly better weather than May. It is likely that it will be no more than 70’s or 80’s instead of triple digits. There will be a lot fewer athletes ending up in the hospitals.
It was smart for The Woodlands to extend this too. It makes a HUGE economic impact on the area. They originally signed a 5 year contract that carried through 2015.
Great move and it needed to happen. I have been saying since year 1 that they should swap the date with Galveston to make it more hospitable.
Not sure what they will do about Galveston. You can’t really have it in March. You can’t really have it six weeks after IMTX because you’ll lose most of the IMTX folks as they won’t want to do a long race so close to finishing an IM. My guess is they move Galveston to the fall but Austin 70.3 is around the same time so who knows.
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Very smart move. Now I will actually consider it one day. If I wanted to melt I would do Louisville (and I have) because it is a way easier drive for me.
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when in April? I like it a bit earlier, not just for the heat but because then it really is an early season IM. You can take some time and really recover and then have a full season of racing starting in late May (all races, not just WTC)
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Great move and it needed to happen. I have been saying since year 1 that they should swap the date with Galveston to make it more hospitable.
Not sure what they will do about Galveston. You can’t really have it in March. You can’t really have it six weeks after IMTX because you’ll lose most of the IMTX folks as they won’t want to do a long race so close to finishing an IM. My guess is they move Galveston to the fall but Austin 70.3 is around the same time so who knows.
What about Galveston ~ 20th March and Woodlands 3-4 weeks later. Is that still too close for most people? 4 weeks would be almost perfect…Train, taper for a week, half IM test race to nutrition etc, recover for 4 days, train hard and shorter for 10 days, then taper for 2 more weeks. I personally like the 2 week gap because then you just do your IM training block, taper for 1 week for the half IM, race it, recover for 4 more days (see all that forced rest), then do intensity for 5 days or so and then taper again for 5 more days week. I find this forces around 16 days of light stuff out of 21, with a harder session in there. It also forces people to take lots of down time from running. If not, you see people cramming in the long runs (too little too late). Also depends on how hard you take the second half of the run in the half IM.
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when in April? I like it a bit earlier, not just for the heat but because then it really is an early season IM. You can take some time and really recover and then have a full season of racing starting in late May (all races, not just WTC)
My guess would be the date of the Galveston 70.3 (which is April 6th this year) or the week after. Mid-April keeps it clear of the potential for real hot weather. Sure, it will still be 80+ but it won’t be 95+.
The only problem with the April date is the wind. The wind is nasty this time of year, much worse than mid-May.
Great move and it needed to happen. I have been saying since year 1 that they should swap the date with Galveston to make it more hospitable.
Not sure what they will do about Galveston. You can’t really have it in March. You can’t really have it six weeks after IMTX because you’ll lose most of the IMTX folks as they won’t want to do a long race so close to finishing an IM. My guess is they move Galveston to the fall but Austin 70.3 is around the same time so who knows.
What about Galveston ~ 20th March and Woodlands 3-4 weeks later. Is that still too close for most people? 4 weeks would be almost perfect…Train, taper for a week, half IM test race to nutrition etc, recover for 4 days, train hard and shorter for 10 days, then taper for 2 more weeks. I personally like the 2 week gap because then you just do your IM training block, taper for 1 week for the half IM, race it, recover for 4 more days (see all that forced rest), then do intensity for 5 days or so and then taper again for 5 more days week. I find this forces around 16 days of light stuff out of 21, with a harder session in there. It also forces people to take lots of down time from running. If not, you see people cramming in the long runs (too little too late). Also depends on how hard you take the second half of the run in the half IM.
I’m fine with that as well but you and I aren’t considered normal. 
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Great move and it needed to happen. I have been saying since year 1 that they should swap the date with Galveston to make it more hospitable.
Not sure what they will do about Galveston. You can’t really have it in March. You can’t really have it six weeks after IMTX because you’ll lose most of the IMTX folks as they won’t want to do a long race so close to finishing an IM. My guess is they move Galveston to the fall but Austin 70.3 is around the same time so who knows.
What about Galveston ~ 20th March and Woodlands 3-4 weeks later. Is that still too close for most people? 4 weeks would be almost perfect…Train, taper for a week, half IM test race to nutrition etc, recover for 4 days, train hard and shorter for 10 days, then taper for 2 more weeks. I personally like the 2 week gap because then you just do your IM training block, taper for 1 week for the half IM, race it, recover for 4 more days (see all that forced rest), then do intensity for 5 days or so and then taper again for 5 more days week. I find this forces around 16 days of light stuff out of 21, with a harder session in there. It also forces people to take lots of down time from running. If not, you see people cramming in the long runs (too little too late). Also depends on how hard you take the second half of the run in the half IM.
I’m fine with that as well but you and I aren’t considered normal.
Agreed, we are not the target market to fill races. Perhaps 4 weeks though is “just enough” separation…then you need a mid March +mid April scenario. Also they probably don’t want to go too early in April and compete with Los Cabos at the end of March.
Dev
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Very smart move. Now I will actually consider it one day. If I wanted to melt I would do Louisville (and I have) because it is a way easier drive for me.
x2.
ETA: Just read the article in the link…“One last opportunity to qualify for Kona”?? Yeah right…nice way to dodge the real reason for the date change.
I still think they move Galveston to the fall. Probably the date of the 5150 race (end of Sept.).
What about Galveston ~ 20th March and Woodlands 3-4 weeks later.
Probably not a significant issue or impediment, but the water temps are just now warming. The water was in the upper 50’s a couple of weeks ago. I just checked, the water temp in the bay, about 3 miles from the IM swim, is 62 degrees today. The air temp is 56 but it will get into the 70’s later in the day.
The Woodlands in April will have good water temps. The last couple of years, the water temp in mid May has been in the high 70’s and on the border of ‘no wetsuits’. We get 100+ temps in May. We never get them in April.
How early could the move Galveston? I think they’ll shoot for 5-6 weeks before IMTX. But they might have looked at how many people from TX (or the US) go to Panama 70.3, Pucon 70.3 and Monterey 70.3 and think they could do a late February race.
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What year does it begin in April?
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Super! The move to April is smart…too many ppl would not consider TX b/c of the heat…I could see it selling out much faster now.
For those of you racing it this year, see you in May!
Galveston 70.3 is usually brutally hot as well. They could stand to move it a few weeks earlier and be fine.
How early could the move Galveston? I think they’ll shoot for 5-6 weeks before IMTX. But they might have looked at how many people from TX (or the US) go to Panama 70.3, Pucon 70.3 and Monterey 70.3 and think they could do a late February race.
Too cold for a late-Feb/early-March race here. The water temp just went over 60 this past week or so. Nobody would be signing up for a 50-something degree swim.
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What year does it begin in April?
Would be nice if WTC put a press release with details on the ironman.com website with details at the same time as the local news.