Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Not a bad start, a few dolphin dives and a hard first 100 and I was out near the front of my wave right on the bouy line, exactly where I wanted to be. The contact doesn't bother me, so if people want to get physical for position, so be it, its part of swimming that line. Swam on some feet for about 3/4 of the swim, but I don't think he was going fast enough looking at my time. I did cut a few minutes off last years swim, but I think I could've gone faster.

Nothing really, I felt relaxed the entire swim, had a few people run into me and I ran into a few people so things were pretty much status quo. Wish I would catch onto some fast feet in one of these races.

Still not sure why, but I decided to put on my shoes and run in them. I have never done that before, as they are always on my pedals. Worked pretty good tho, and in a long race like this, I'm not sure if it matters that much which way you do it. I'll still rubber band them in for sprints but I may run in them for HIM's from now on, it worked well.

Nothing. It gets very narrow as you get closer to the bike mount line, so the clusterf*&k is unavoidable with that many people trying to get out at the same time.

Really happy with the changes they made to the bike course. It was fast and mostly smooth pavement, a lot of which was new. I tried to hold back as much as I could on the bike, I didn't want my legs to cramp like they did last year as soon as the run started. Any downhills or anywhere that I was 26+, I coasted. I was at 1:12 at the halfway point, and came home in 1:15. Looking back on it, I probably could've pushed it a bit harder, but what would that have gotten me, 2 minutes maybe? Overall I took off about 7 minutes from last years time, due to both better fitness and my Retul fit by Dave Schindler at The Ironman Store in Tampa. For any of you looking to get fit, he is awesome and really knows his stuff. He drastically changed the fit that I was working with and wow am I glad he did. Everything is more comfortable, I just can't say enough about how awesome my fit is.

Push it harder. I could've gone a bit faster, but who knows at what cost on the run, that is the ultimate question. I was working with a few guys from the 35-39 waves that were traveling about the same speed as I was, so it was easy for all of us to keep pushing each other. If you have never legally worked with people in a race, you need to, as it forces you to push your pace a little and you all feed off each other. Any time you start to see any of them pull away, you pick it up a little to make sure you don't lose your pace.

Man, people are slow dismounting and running their bike into transition. I was zigzagging around people everywhere.

Nothing

Terrible run. I wanted to hold 8:00 pace, and after my first mile was 7:49, things were looking great. Mile 2 at 8:12, and things were still looking good. Once I got to the heart of the grassy section, I just couldn't stay cool, and the heat really got to me. My legs felt great, my HR was a little high for my effort, but my pace kept getting slower and slower. If I didn't have my Garmin, I would've thought I was running 8:00 pace. Unfortunately, my Garmin was telling me 9:30. There was nothing I could do, it was the weirdest thing. I kept doing math in my head and sub 5:00 was quickly slipping away. Next thing I know, sub 2:00 for the run was slipping away as well. I couldn't do anything about it, so I started walking the aid stations to make sure I at least kept my nutrition up to make it through the race.

Well, I guess I need to work on a few things.
1. Not be a clydesdale anymore and drop as much weight as I safely can.
2. Get myself the Kiwami Konami suit so I've got some white on me instead of an entire black suit.
3. Run, run, run. Keep improving my run, plain and simple. The faster I run, the quicker I'm off the course.

Posted up against a trashcan for a while, had some coke and pizza and made my way back to the Wilderness Lodge. Took a wonderful shower and went to McDonalds. My training partner was fortunate enough to get a roll down slot to Clearwater, so that was pretty cool. Next year I want that qualifying slot.


Heat and not being able to deal with it appropriately.


As others have said, they need to seriously evaluate this run course. I'll do the race again because I don't want it to get the best of me, and with the number of qualifying slots here versus other 70.3 races, this is definitely the best place to qualify, so I'll be getting dirty and hot next year as well.