Eagleman Ironman 70.3 Aqua Velo - Aquabike

After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally got sent into the water. However, for some reason, instead of the four or five minutes allotted to each of the previous wave to get down the ramp and to the starting line, we seemed to only get about 2 minutes. I wasn't even halfway down the boat ramp and they announced that we should be ready to start. I was in the middle of the pack & nowhere near the line! I had no chance to position myself along the starting line or let some water into my goggles to prevent fogging. For better or worse we were off.
I got really screwed up right off the bat. I was surrounded by people with no apparent route to clearer water. After about 100 yds I had a serious freak-out. I tried some breaststroke and even some backstroke. I felt like I was in a washing machine of dirty water and was very uncomfortable & agitated (no pun intended). For a split second I even had the thought of pulling of my cap & waiving for a support boat. I was really screwed up.
Then I came to my senses. I told myself to relax and swim into the clear and that the only way I was getting out of the water was by swimming to the finish. It was crowded at first. I had to clear about 10 different people and/or groups of people. I felt like I was swimming all over the place. I got some clear water before the 1st turn but by the 1st turn I was already upon the previous wave (thanks partly to the shortness of time between the start our waves). But these swimmers were easier to pick through. I fell into my pace, made the turn towards the finish and just kept going. Even on the backside of the course I still felt like I was swimming zigzag. Seemed to be even harder to go straight the last 100 yds through the red buoys and into the finish ramp. When I came out and saw my time I was really disappointed. I expected to be at least 10 minutes faster!

Don't freak out. Swim straighter. I was doing this for the experience of a larger swim wave (in prep for Miami 70.3 on 10/30). I guess I got my experience! Now that I've seen other times, I see that my performance really wasn't that bad relative to others.

I was a little tired after the swim and dejected when I saw my time, so I didn't run into T1 as fast as I might have. I walked at first but then trotted the whole length of Transition to where my bike sat. Rinsed my head, drank some water & even ate a gel (it had been along time since breakfast!). I put on my bike stuff very slowly to make sure I don't forget anything -- socks, shirt, shoes, gloves, glasses, helmet. Gels in the shorts leg and away. Went out of T1 and mounted. Seemed to be an awful lot of people standing with their bikes just past the mount/dismount line?

Nothing

Something felt wrong on the bike from the very start. Like my saddle was out of position. Painful from mile one! The bike had just come from the shop & I wondered if they moved my saddle (but can't imagine they would have). I took the first 10 miles easy to just get into the groove. Then tried to push the next 10 a little harder. By 20 miles my rump was in terrible pain AND the heat was taking a toll. I wasn't going to stop but I wasn't really going too fast either. Just got worse from then on. I would drink water every 5 miles and had a Gu at 20 and 40. At the 30-mile aid station I got a bottle of very warm gatorade. I pulled over & stopped while I drank half and put the other half into one of my water bottles. At 40-mile station, I stopped and rinsed my head & face with water. Eventually I made it back to Transition and was very very happy to get off that bike. Stumble across the mat and done for the day. Way too hot.

Respect the course. I thought a flat course would be easy. There really is no rest for your legs because there is no coasting down hills. Pedal, pedal, pedal.

After thinking about the pain in the rump, I am wondering if it might not have been my Tri Shorts. The bike has always been very comfortable, but this is my 1st race with it and I wear different shorts for training. I have to figure that out pretty quick. Two days later and I'm still sore.

I also need to ramp up my bike training. If it wouldn't have been for the pain, I probably could have pushed a little harder. But Sunday I would have been in no position to run a half mary after the ride. I'm way ahead of where I was last year, but I have a big goal to reach this year and need to ride alot more.

Walk around and drink alot of fluids. Try to find some shade. Then walk with T1 bag and bike 2.9 miles to middle-school parking lot (my bag is not a backpack and I had no family support at this race.


The race crew rushing up the swim start. My freaking out because of this. Being early in my training cycle -- I am now just starting a 20 week program for a 70.3 at the end of October. Bike work. HEAT & HUMIDITY!


This is an amazing place to have a race and Ironman & Columbia put on a good race. My only complaint has to do with the rushing of the start of the AV wave. They blew the horn before 1/2 the people were even entering the boat ramp. See my notes in the swim comments. Volunteers galore and lots of locals out cheering, too. Would definitely do this race again.