Ironman 70.3 Switzerland - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

First time experienced drafting and was amazed at how much it changes the feel and energy output. A few times I was drafting and thought " this is too slow." I'd pull out and try and pass and realise they were doing my race speed.

look for the split that occurred in our age group and try and stick with a faster group.

eat a gel

Nice bike course. Really pretty and snow capped peaks- unreal. I was smiling the whole way on the bike after the enjoyable swim. A few made people on the decents that I didnt really understand what they were trying to achieve as I watched them hit the road edges and nearly wipe other competitors out- all for 10 seconds max..? crazy.

Anyway, the climbing on the bike course is a silent killer I think. It can really feel not too tough but at the end you feel it. I took it easy-ish on the climbs. Put it into the granny gear asap and just pedalled and waved to the bands and spectators. Was heaps of fun.. Even just pedalling you hit some heart rates though. Unavoidable but after the climbs there is plenty of decending where you can refuel and HR quickly drops.

not much

After this race I bought the elastic shoe laces. I had to retie my shoes during the run and add the time it took to tie the laces it might have got me under my goal of 5 hrs.

as above

My running was non-existent for a month before and in the week before when I ran I noticed I was struggling with 11km/hr pace, so the only good thing to come from was that was my expectations went down considerably before the event and I just hoped to go under 2 hours. It was really sweltering day and I knew that it was going to play a role for everyone- especially weak runners and cyclists!

I tried to run at 5:30 pace and managed for 13km. I was on target but only had a few minutes of margin. It felt like a sauna and I started some negative thining about my running prep and started to get some cold chills. I decided to walk through the water station and take a little extra but of course this meant it wouldnt be the last walk through drink stop.

With 5 km to go I need to run 5:20/km to make 5 hours and I realised I wouldnt be able to do that. I stopped for a leak and felt more comfortable and continued running. I kept up water and coke/water mixed, plu sucked on the odd orange. I was still having fun and was determined to enjoy the rest of the race and not be distracted by the fact my goal time would not be achieved- this helped because I reasoned that the heat etc played a role.



eat gels

nothing


run preparation and re-fueling during the run


This was only my second triathlon and second time I did Rapperswil 70.3 I loive the organisation, atmosphere and volunteers at the race. I didnt enjoy the run route as much as last year. But I dont enjoy running much so that probably is more about me than the route although my mate who is a good runner didnt think it was a brilliant running course either.