![]() We actually made a U-turn at one point so I could just enjoy the view of Sand Hollow that I wouldn’t have seen while riding my bike. You don’t need to pay for parking to get into the reservoir to swim with an athlete wristband.Īfter my 20 minute swim, we drove around the Sand Hollow portion of the bike course. Whether it worked or whether the itch was even possible to get, I don’t know, but I was happy to do it anyway and have one less worry. ![]() I ended up buying swimmers itch guard and used it for both my practice swim and race day. I did pack my wetsuit just in case, but it wasn’t ever needed.įor what it’s worth, there are other places for non-athletes to swim, but at the race venue, it was athletes only.Īnother pre race question folks had was about swimmers itch. So I swam in a swim skin on the practice swim, and was glad I did. The entire week the temperature was 78 degrees or more. For USAT sanctioned events, the threshold is 76.1 degrees F. One of the biggest questions about the swim was if it would be wetsuit legal. They were controlling the swimmers allowed in the water (athletes only), and even gave us timing chips before we went it and free towels after. The transition area was also set up, so we could see a little bit of that as well. It was nice that they had the buoys all set up already so we could see sight lines and sun conditions before race morning. They shortened it so that they didn’t have to monitor the entire 1900 meters, but rather had a 800 meter loop. The Sand Hollow reservoir swim was all set up for athletes (ONLY ATHLETES) to swim on course. The most important thing I got at check in was my World Championship qualifying coin. The store was loaded with World Championship merchandise too! I also got some noise makers for my family to cheer me on with. I was able to get some free swag from Quintana Roo since I have a QR bike now, so that was awesome. There was an “indoor” mask requirement for Ironman events, but it really wasn’t enforced (except on the shuttles). By this point it is pretty much every person for themselves. The COVID protocols at this race were pretty minimal. Perhaps the coolest picture is the Ironman “M-Dot” art piece in the middle of Main St. The Athlete Village was loaded with merchandise, vendors, free stuff, and lots of picture taking opportunities. George, and then bag/bike drop on Friday. We stuck to the basics of athlete check in on Wednesday evening after we arrived in St. However, I typically try to avoid them as much as possible, as I try to get race focused and minimize my time standing and walking around. George even left the toaster oven in the dining area 24/7, so I was able to use it race morning! Pre-Race FestivitiesĪs with all races, there are a lot of pre-race festivities. We also brought our own waffles for my breakfasts just incase. I enjoyed the breakfasts almost every day, with eggs, sausage/bacon, potatoes, cereals, toasts, and fruits (bananas/oranges/apples). George version was smaller but newer, and I was still able to fit my bike and all my other gear (not always an easy feat) in our room.īoth locations had complimentary breakfast, and we got free daily water bottles since we are at the Discoverist loyalty level. It was adequate for what we needed, and both locations were very convenient for what we were doing. George we chose to stay at a Hyatt Place. Of course we made a quick stop and In-N-Out for some fuel, and then we were on our way. After heading back to the hotel to pick up the bags and Janell, we were on our way to St. I caught the hotel shuttle back to the airport, then the rental car shuttle to the Rental Car Center and got our car at around 11:00 AM. I had a very late “taper” into the race and my body wasn’t ready to do anything strenuous, so 15 minutes of swimming circles in the pool was perfect. It was already 90 degrees at 9:00 AM, so we were already getting worried about the heat on race day. I decided to get in a quick “shake out” swim in the 30 foot hotel pool while Janell took a jog around UNLV’s campus. The car rental places closed at midnight, so we planned to wake up in the morning and grab the car before we drove to St. We chose to fly in Tuesday night and landed just before midnight in Las Vegas.Ī quick shuttle ride to our hotel (Hyatt Place), and we were able to sleep by 1:00 AM. You could also fly into Salt Lake City, but that is about a 4 hour drive or another flight. George Regional Airport, or fly into Las Vegas and drive (about 2 hrs). You can drive from any nearby state, fly into St. All in all, I felt more prepared than ever to tackle this momentous day. It was a day of crazy weather, crazy speed, and crazy hills (up and down). It felt so good to be racing again (my second race of the year), and in a World Championship event no less.
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