IM Vietnam 70.3 - Triathlon

Quite a rugby scrum at start as it was shallow for a long way out and all manner of locomotion was going on--run, dolphin dive, swim, stand there and whimper.... Tried to get behind Yanti and draft her but we lost each other. and I ended up a few minutes ahead. Anyhow, when I got to to the long side of the course I got on a great pair of feet and just stayed with them for most of the race, drafting shamelessly. Thank you, big woman in tri-suit with purple stripe, whoever you were.

All women started in last wave so lost quite a lot of time going around big packs of BOP guys, all doing breaststroke (one doing butterfly on back) or kicking like they were trying to dispel sharks from behind. WHY do men kick so much? Never noticed women doing that. (Then again, I'm not normally passing BOP women for the entire swim, so maybe they do.)

Not sure. Considering I had to start conservatively owing to being sick, I did what I could. Maybe be braver about plowing through packs of BOP dudes. But then, I'm massively outweighed by them, so maybe smarter to be cautious and go around.

Very long run into T1, maybe 400-500m up the beach and through the hotel grounds. I felt awesome coming out of the water (as a consequence of being sick, very well-rested, and had had a good swim) and was pretty efficient. But had to stop and blow my nose and it just kept on coming.....gross!

Not be sick. Also, I should have taken a hit on my inhaler in T1. I felt like I needed it a couple of times on the bike but didn't want to stop and didn't feel safe doing it in motion.

Very happy with bike split. I felt good starting out and felt pretty strong the whole way, except for some asthma issues toward the beginning and end. (For some reason in the same spot, near the last bridge. Maybe related to effort on the climb, or pollution from a nearby factory.) I didn't use heart rate but could tell it was within the range of effort I'd done my training rides at. The course was a bit scary as it was very narrow and three loops with my wave starting last meant I was always being lapped by someone, including the pros, as well as passing and lapping others. Almost got nuked by James Cunama on one of the 180 degree turns. He took it really wide (I think as going very fast) and I'd taken it wide too (since I'm not that great at turning the tri bike) and I didn't hear him coming as people were cheering. Managed to avoid both riding into a flowerpot or being taken down by the the race leader!

Probably not much. Not get sick before racing. Practice 180 degree turns more. (Originally there was only one, but the course was changed five days before the race.) Stay out of James Cunama's way. And eat all the chocolate earlier in the bike leg. (The choco was awesome as nutrition, and no gagging and nausea, BUT at 70 km, it had melted into goo all over my bento box. So I made the awesome move of scooping my hand into the box and then licking my fingers while in aero.) Only to get my first-ever warning. I'd just passed a guy and thought I'd gained more on him than I had. Had slowed down to deal with the chocolate and the marshal thought I was blocking. But I picked up the pace (smearing chocolate all over bars in the the process), got out of the zone, and he didn't give me a penalty.

T2 was really odd, and not what they'd announced in the race briefing. All athletes had to turn right and run around the half of transition to the right, where the guys' bikes were. Women then had to cross the drive, run to the far end of our own transition, and enter. So women had twice as far to run as men. No fair!

Not sure. I think I should learn how to get my feet out of my shoes while riding. My new bike shoes are really hard to run in so when I realized how much extra we had to run, I actually stopped after the dismount line to remove them!

Easily the most awful tri run I've ever done. The 95 I wrote above was the temp (on my bike computer, which is pretty accurate) at the end of my bike leg at about 10:45 AM, so I'm sure it got even hotter over the next 2 hours plus. From the get-go I was wheezing and coughing (gagging at some points) and every time I picked it up beyond a shuffle I got dizzy and nauseous. My legs felt okay but the rest of my body was not having it. Just too hot and too far for being sick. I really felt it wasn't related to my bike pace as I have held that in training and had okay runs. Not dehydrated (peed on run) and no real soreness/cramping, just felt woozy and overheated. Wondered if maybe some of the cocktail of cold and asthma meds I was taking were making it harder for me to keep my core temp down, or I was running a low fever to begin with.

Not get sick for major races. Training-wise, not sure. I've done my long bricks so that the run fell in a very hot time of day, though not quite as late as in the race. But the place where I run in Saigon is shadier with more breeze. Plus the longest brick run I did was about 52 minutes/10 km. By the end of each one I was really suffering. Thought the aid stations would make it more tolerable, but even though they were every 1.5-2 km, I just got too hot between them. Maybe try doing some of my long (1:45-2:00) runs in the full heat of the day so I have a better idea what that's going to be like.

Most people including pros had very subpar runs, but I think if I'd been healthy I would have at least been able to manage 1:50-2:00, which would have put me on the AG podium, possibly on top. Grrrr....

Totally awesome. Right after the finish, there was cold water, cold beer, and plastic kiddie pools full of ice water. About 20 minutes lying in one until I felt human again. Then walked around until I found the post-race munchies. Got a massage later. No other "warm down" . Already warm enough LOL.


Heat plus being sick. Not sure exactly when it started as have been struggling with asthma/allergies on and off for a couple of weeks (typical for this time of year) but by Thursday it was clearly more than that. Chills, throat so swollen I could hardly swallow, sinus and chest congestion, headache, nausea. Had to work Thursday as they couldn't find a sub in time and getting through the day was almost as hard as the race. Started feeling really ill just after breakfast and couldn't eat rest of day. Violent coughing, asthma, dry heaves all night Thursday. It took a whole lot of drugs and a huge leap of faith just to get on the plane to Danang. Friday felt like absolute crap, Saturday still congested and headache but lungs a bit better so decided to go for it. Ugh.

Possibly the meds (which I have to take as sinus and chest congestion trigger my asthma and make it impossible for me to sleep) affected my ability to deal with the heat. Not sure but I train in the heat a lot and while it can be a struggle, normally I can hold 5 minutes/km or close to it even after biking 90-100 km at hard pace in pretty extreme conditions. Luckily, the heat/meds/illness combo didn't seem to affect swim too much (it was more a matter of time wasted due to "traffic" plus my slow start), and there was some cloud cover (plus, obviously, breeze) and temps lower on the bike as it was earlier, so that went okay. But it just killed my run. So frustrated! But I am glad I was able to participate in the inaugural IM event here and complete the race. And on the plus side it was a good swim, a very strong bike leg, and I was smart enough about nutrition, hydration and cooling to stay out of the med tent. That is the hardest I have had to work to finish a race in a long time! Never doubted I could do it, but that run just seemed to take forever and was non-stop misery.

Just want to know why it is I only get sick for big events. Not psychosomatic--this is nasty, heavy-duty respiratory stuff, and I've infected half of my class! I've only been sick enough to affect performance twice this year. Why at end of taper after a week off work?????????????????????????????????


The organizers did a great job with very challenging conditions (local government requirements, insane heat) to put on a safe and fun event. There were the inevitable glitches for a first-time event and for Vietnam (rerouting of bike course, no portapotties on run, some aid stations lacked cold water and ice), but overall a great job. Just wish I'd felt better so I could have enjoyed the run more and had a better time!