Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Wow. I don't know what it is about this swim course. It's my second time doing it and my swim has been about 5 minutes or more slower than predicted both times. Didn't feel like I swam poorly, but was very disappointed when I checked my watch at the swim exit. Got a little crowded as we caught up to earlier waves, but nothing out of the ordinary. I see a swim focused training block in my future plans for sure.

Go back in time about 6 months and actually focus on my technique rather than just logging yardage. I know better, but just got lazy and didn't practice what I preach.

I'm usually able to pick up some time getting in and out of transition quickly, but this one was kind of tough. Not much I could have done differently though. Just too crowded to run bike out very fast. Tried weaving through people at first, but eventually just had to stop and walk with everyone else as it got more congested near the exit. Was able to pass quite a few people on the long run into transition from the swim exit though.

Not much. Luck of the draw with the late wave this time.

This was the one area of the race where I actually came close to my "best case scenario" goal. Started out a little harder than I planned for the first few miles, but I was still a little annoyed by my swim time so once I convinced myself to be smart I settled into the ride nicely. Just kept a nice even effort throughout with periodic checks on my HR to be sure I wasn't overcooking it. Nutrition and hydration went mostly as planned, except I lost my salt somewhere along the way before I even had a chance to take one.

Nothing really. I knew it was going to be a hot run so I didn't want to waste myself on the bike. Certainly could have picked up the pace, but wouldn't have been the smart thing to do.

This was better than T1 since I was able to run through transition and the added bonus was not having to do it in my bike shoes. (They had a rule about not leaving the shoes in the pedals for T1). Wore socks for this run so that added a little time. My biggest mistake was that I dropped all of my salt pills (again). I had another handful of them stashed in transition that I planned to put in my back jersey pocket for the run and I guess I missed my pocket or something because they weren't there when I reached for them a couple miles into the run. That sucked.

Do a better job of handling my salt pills.

Well, I knew this was the make it or break it portion of the race (as it usually is) and it came close to breaking me. Felt really good for about 2 miles until I got into the grassy section far enough for the heat to start taking full effect. I managed to maintain a descent pace on the first loop, but by the time I hit the grass on the second loop I could tell it wasn't going to last. I wasn't all that fatigued really, and legs felt pretty good other than a few close calls with cramping in my quads, but it was just impossible to stay cool enough to keep it up. I don't think my actual running pace was that far off what I planned, but the problem was the amount of time I had to spend at each aid station trying to stay cool enough to make it to the next one. I knew (or thought) if I didn't cool down at each one, I would have melted down by the time the next one came along so I had no choice but to get in line for ice, sponges, water, and whatever else I could get my hands on. Will never know for sure how much time I spent not moving, but I guess it doesn't really matter. The clock is running regardless. First loop was around 8:20 pace. I think my second loop was close to a 9:30 pace, and the 3rd one was around 9:10 or so.

Not sure. I could have tried to tough it out and skip some of the aid stations (or at least not come to a complete stop at almost every one), but I just don't know if I could have made it being that hot.

Ice over head at finish line. Walked a little and stretched some.


Heat! And swim form.


It's a very well organized race, and volunteers were (as usual) outstanding. They worked their tails off to keep us going in that heat. Would be great if the race organizers could do anything to alter the run course to allow some relief from the heat and the rutted out grass trails, but I'm sure there's a good reason they use that course or they would have changed it already since NOBODY likes it. Other than that, I had a great time. Congrats to everyone that finished this race. That was a tough run for sure. Saw some people on the run course in pretty bad shape and I hope they all recovered well.

Think my next long course race might be in cooler climate just to see what I can actually do on the run without battling overheating.