Ford Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

A very average 70.3 swim for me. Slower than practice, per usual, but given my low swim volume coming into this race, I'll take it.

Get more swim volume in prior to race day.

Took my time in transition this year and it shows. I was expecting it to be a little cooler when I exited the water, so I swam with no tri top under my wetsuit and the time it took to get it on while wet in T1 shows. Other than that, it was an average transition.

Throw caution to the wind and go back to spending the first several miles of the bike cool, with a wet tri top.

I went a little softer on the bike this year because I wanted to push the run. I also hadn't put in as much bike volume as normal because I've been working a lot and was worried about bonking. In retrospect, I would have preferred to have just gone for it on the bike and matched or exceeded my 21.3 mph avg from last year - I definitely had it in me, and then some. There was a little wind for the last 15 miles of the bike, but other than that, conditions were ideal. I had forgotten how many rollers there were on the back side of the course.

Push a little harder on the bike.

A decent transition - once again, I took my time getting my run gear on and situated to be comfortable on the run.

Speed up a little.

A decent run for me. Couldn't quite get my pose position down due to my legs being a little rubbery from the bike, but still managed to keep decent, consistent pace. Started to get a couple of blisters around mile 9, but shifted my foot strike a little and it held off the carnage. The run was much better for me, which is a direct result of the amount of running I've been doing for the last 8 months. At no point did I feel close to bonking or needing to back off. I'm definitely in good shape for CdA if I can keep my bike/run where it is and build a little more base.

Push a little harder.

Eat. Drink. Hobble.


Good race. Should have gone through T1/T2 a little faster and I would have beaten last year's 5:10:01 (I missed it by exactly 90 seconds). This race was a progress check to see how badly my missed training due to heavy work commitments has affected me, and I was pleased to see that I still have the ability to skim the 5 hour mark in a HIM, despite about a 40% drop in training. All in all a great race - I shall be back again next year. I LOVE this race.