Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Triathlon

I felt okay on the swim and was pushing a typical HIM effort level, but just seemed to be going nowhere. I had seeded myself toward the back of the 31-33 minutes group as per my coach's advice, and felt like everyone passed me. Clearly too ambitious given what my body had in it today. Last year I was about 1/3 of the way through my AG, this year just back of MOP. Just tried to keep a steady effort and navigate well. Navigation was a challenge as the upriver portion was directly into the rising sun. Mentally I stayed focused and did not get distracted by Worlds hype (helicopters, announcers) like last year. Just kept swimming, but I don't think I ever found Nemo,.

Not get sick two days before! Time was hideous--five minutes off a typical HIM swim for me, and eight minutes off my best swim split. Not sure how much to attribute to upriver portion, and how much to being sick.

More efficient transition set-up than last year, maybe as men and women were separate races this year so there were fewer athletes on course at once. Nasty vertigo coming out of the water and up the steps; I had to walk most of the way to the bike bags. Felt better after I got my bike stuff and was able to jog through the rest.

Not get vertigo so I could keep moving a little faster. Usually I only get it in cold water (unless I wear earplugs) or rough current. Not sure if due to current today or having been sick--unusual for me for pretty warm conditions.

All I can say is that I did what I could with what I had on that day. I didn't really hold back on the bike. I knew that given that I've been unable to run normally for over a month (tendinitis in one foot that makes it painful to push off my toes when running fast) and that I was doing this race in a weakened, underfueled state, the run at best would be a survival shuffle, at worst a death march or DNF. I decided to bike fairly conservatively to the hill, see how I felt going up at normal effort, and base subsequent effort on that. From the way I was feeling before the race and at the swim exit, I thought there was at least a 50% chance that I would either need to abort mission at that point, or just proceed at a leisurely "tourist" pace, and not actually push race effort on the bike. I'm normally a strong climber (probably because I don't weight much but have pretty high watts/kilo for my age and gender), but have had mixed results in hilly races. I actually felt quite strong on the hill (better, at any rate, than CDA) and seemed to be doing more passing than being passed. (Admittedly, I was passing mainly slower riders from the AG ahead, but still.....) So I decided just to ride by feel at race effort.

I would be healthy! I would normally handle nutrition a bit differently than I did. I was having a hard time getting the gu down and it didn't seem to sit too well. I'd only brought half a dark chocolate bar (usually I do the whole bar as my main bike fuel for HIM, plus a back-up gu or two) on board, thinking my gut might not handle it well due to the fat, but actually that seemed to work better than the gu. I was so under-fueled that I ate most of the chocolate in the first 10 miles! I only got three gus down, and those in tiny increments of 1/3 pack per time every 20 minutes. What really worked was bananas. But it's hard to eat a banana and stay aero--I think I should stick with chocolate and gu when healthy!

If healthy, I could have pushed the bike harder. My NP was 156, and I felt like I could hold that for quite a bit longer, even in my weakened state, or push more into the 160's for HIM distance. I think my bike fitness has really progressed this year; I just haven't been able to have a strong bike and strong run in the same race for various reasons--illness, injury, inadequate recovery from training, travel, or other fatigue.

Maybe some pacing issues--I noticed that Nicole, who had a faster split than me by almost 20 minutes, had very similar NP to me (we weigh almost the same). But my average power was considerably lower than hers. I think pushing the uphills too hard and not hard enough on flats. Probably a case of feeding my own ego--overdoing the one thing I'm good at on a bike!

This was one of the only races I've done where they've had "bike catchers"--you didn't have to actually rack your bike, just hand it off to a volunteer. So nice! Transition was a fairly straightforward matter of having a volunteer hand you your run bag, putting in helmet, and sitting down (they had chairs) to change shoes, then running out with hat, race belt, etc.

Run faster?

Again, it was a matter of doing what I could. I knew going into this, even before I got sick, that the run would not be ideal. I haven't been able to run pain-free since CDA, and no treatment has really worked consistently. Pretty much all of my running in August (anything beyond 30 minutes; mainly some brick runs and easy runs) had been in the pool. I figured that on a good day (without the food poisoning) my run would probably be around 1:52 to 1:55. But I was very underfueled and had pushed the bike pretty hard. I knew as soon as I ran out of T2 that the only realistic goal would be to finish, which was what I did. Pretty much a survival shuffle. There just wasn't enough left in my system to fuel anything else. For some reason, I felt more and more tired until 11 miles or so, then I actually started to feel better. By the end, running at almost normal pace. I did have three Gus with caffeine en route. Maybe it was the sugar and caffeine hitting the system, or there realization that at least I was going to finish! I was very careful to stay hydrated and keep on top of electrolytes so I think that helped.

Not get injured; not get food poisoning (or maybe a virus) before an important race.
After how I felt the last few miles of the run, wonder if I could have pushed the run a bit harder earlier on. But not sure.

Not really, just walked around a bit and talked with some other athletes. Tried to eat but everything on offer seemed disgusting. Gagged down a chicken fajita and some Sprite. Got some ice for my foot and waited to welcome in a woman I know who was having a very hard time out there.


Being injured in the two months before the race. Getting food poisoning 48 hours before, which resulted in serious under-fueling. I would guess I got down less than 1000 calories total over the two days prior to the race. No "bonking" or death march, but I felt hungry and a bit weak most of the race. Sadly, my guts just weren't up to dealing with more food before or during the event (or even until about two days after). I tend to do pretty well even when healthy on minimal race nutrition (never ate anything or took in anything more than a few cups of Gatorade or de-fizzed Coke in any of my marathons), so I guess this helped me finish, if slowly.

Really baffled how the gut issues happened--I have spent most of my adult life in the developing world and in fact have rarely had any GI issues beyond the occasional rushed potty trip after questionable food. I think the last time I was this sick to my stomach was a decade ago in rural Laos during a record heat wave. This was NOT the usual nervous butterflies in the stomach--I woke up at 4 AM Thursday with intense cramps and vomiting.

My mom mentioned that she had been sick a few days before she met me in San Francisco the previous weekend, so maybe I caught it from her. Also could have picked up a bug on my travels before the race, or from one of the athletes at the expo. I'm very careful with what I eat before races and really hadn't had anything at all adventurous the day before--hotel breakfast buffet (eggs, cereal, yogurt) and a sandwich and soup at Panera for dinner.

After what transpired at Worlds last year, beginning to think I just don't have good karma with this event. I probably won't make qualifying for next year's event a goal. It's in South Africa, and even if Im healthy and racing well, I just don't feel it makes sense to go to Africa for a few days just to do an event--if I'm going to spend that kind of money to go somewhere that far away and exotic, I want to go when I have time to see and do more.


The race was very well-organized in general, especially considering the large number of athletes. Transition was set up much more efficiently than last year and the bike course was very well marked, UNLIKE last year. Lots of volunteers; aid stations plentifully stocked and volunteers were skilled at getting athletes what they needed. I am generally self-sufficient but was living off the course this time for bananas--the volunteers were really a godsend with those and the ice chips that keep me going on the run in hot weather. I would expect this level of organization from a world championship, and they delivered.

This course was almost ridiculously hard, with the possible exception of the run. (I would not consider the latter particularly hard if healthy, but it was rolling, with temps in the low 80's by the time my AG started, and many athletes would consider that challenging.) I kind of enjoyed it, though. I think the tough conditions would have played into my hands if I were healthy. Unfortunately, I wasn't. It was the slowest of all the HIM I have done, including my first one and the only time I've ever been over 6 hours.

Only one complaint--traffic control was lifted while I was still on the bike course. At several locations, beginning at around 60 km, cars were on the course, in my lane, in some cases impeding my forward progress and that of others. I and some others had to do a few risky maneuvers to continue forward. This was not just a matter of letting vehicles cross the course, or drive in one lane, but full restoration of traffic on some stretches. And it was not emergency vehicles, just local traffic. I realize I was MOP at that point in the final age group to start, but I think the organizers owe it to offer the same traffic control to all athletes who are within the time limit. It is simply unfair and unsafe otherwise. That was the only part of the whole event--pre, during, and post-race, that I felt was not up to the standards of a championship event.