Ironman World Championship 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I've been dreading this swim for a while. I don't really spend much time in the water and I knew that I would be slow - especially considering this was a World Championship event. There was a lot of contact for the first 200m or so, but things loosened up quickly as I got dropped by pretty much everyone in my wave. I really started to struggle towards the end of the "out" leg. Bad thoughts started creeping in and I had to push myself to keep on swimming. I was pretty tired and cursing myself for not training in the water. I did see one cap from the wave ahead just before the turn, so that helped with the psyche, but then the leaders of the next wave came up from behind and blew by me. It always amazes me how fast these swimmers can move! The water was pretty choppy out at the turn buoys and I was hoping that we would get some current on the way back in. I just counted down the buoys (at least they were placed pretty close together, so sighting wasn't much of an issue) and thought about how this would be my last swim of the season. I was very glad when I touched sand. A few dolphin dives and I ran out of the water and up the beach.

Come to the race better prepared for the swim?

Ran through the showers, got my wetsuit stripped and entered transition. Found my bike bag pretty quickly and ran into the tent. It was pretty empty. Glasses on, helmet on and out, buckling the chin strap as I ran. Found my bike and, surprisingly, both bikes on either side were still there - but those were about the only ones. Ran out with the bike, mounted at the line, turned on the Garmin and started the ride. I'm happy with this. You have to run quite a ways and deal with a lot of stuff.

This seemed okay to me, considering the long run, gear bags, change tent, etc. These types of transition never seem to be fast for me. Not sure where I would really shave any time. Looking at the other times, I guess I could be faster, but I was in no hurry. I'm fine with it.

The bike felt good. For the first 10 miles or so, it seemed like a normal race, with athletes jockeying for position. I was behind on the swim, so I was doing more passing than getting passed, but there were a lot of fast cyclists that would pass me periodically. The first "pack" caught me by surprise. I was traveling ~26 mph and a group of about 10 cyclists passed me like I was standing still. I thought back to the race briefing when the bike director said you always have a choice of whether or not to go with the pack and I decided to ride clean. There were a few more of these packs in the first 35 miles and then when I was on the Bayside Bridge, a pack of at least 25 riders caught me. Fortunately, we had the whole southbound side of the bridge and things could spread out a bid. I felt like I was in the peleton! Turning off the bridge, the group pulled away and I pretty much rode by myself for the rest of the ride.

Push harder? My bike training as of late has consisted mostly of spin classes, so I knew I could maintain short bursts of speed, but I haven't been on any long rides with any intensity, so I really didn't know what to expect. I don't think I spent enough time (maybe one ride?) in aero heading into this race and I was pretty uncomfortable for most of the ride. I also think my cadence could have been higher - I should have been up around 100 most of the ride and I averaged 88. Too low. I was pushing too hard of a gear most of the time and it may have fried me for the run.

I also refuse to sit in with the group. To quote someone smarter than me, "I'd rather be a small fish in a clean pond than a big fish in a polluted lake." I know I rode clean and I'm very happy with my sub-2:30 bike split.

I got out of my shoes in plenty of time and executed the dismount well.

As soon as I got off the bike, my legs felt pretty rubbery. Probably the worst they've ever felt in a long time.

I didn't have to worry about running with my bike or racking it. There were volunteers at the Bike In, taking bikes. I just wish I would have stopped my Garmin to get some clean data, but I wasn't really thinking about that. I was very concerned with how bad my legs felt.

I also stopped at the porta-potty before running out.

I'd like to not have to stop for the bathroom, but if you gotta go, you go. Better in T2 than somewhere out on the run, I think.

Running out, my legs felt really bad. I hoped things would get better, but I pretty much knew that there was no way I was going to be able to maintain sub-7s. Originally, my goal was to start out easy, between 6:45 - 7, for the first loop and then see if there was anything left for the second loop. Well, 7-minute pace was not easy. I decided to just maintain whatever pace felt manageable and tried to focus on not walking! That turned out to be a struggle in itself. I didn't think it was hot enough to use the sponges, so I skipped those. I ran with a bottle with Carbo-Pro mix and took water at most every aid station. At times, I concentrated on my breathing and that seemed to help a bit. I ran the whole thing and was very glad when it was over.

Show up in better shape. My training fell off right around mid-October. The Long Beach half was supposed to be a tune-up run for Clearwater, but instead of training right through it, I tapered and raced pretty hard. That effort kept me away from run training for a while and I didn't really pay attention to nutrition. As a result, I showed up a bit heavy for this race.

Nothing. Walked around the chute. They gave out towels, finisher hats and another pair of sunglasses.


Conditioning. I raced a lot this year and I think I was just starting to fall apart. I had been feeling a bit burned out on triathlon and was spending more time socializing and having fun than training. I was even having second thoughts about making the trip, but I just felt that if you earn an invite to the World Championships, you go! I'm definitely glad I did! It was a great experience and an honor to race on the course with some of the best in the world. I know I would have been wondering "what if?" had I not gone.

Still, it was a PR for the distance by more than 5 minutes and I had a great time hanging out in Clearwater Beach! The weather was great and I met a lot of cool people.


With the recent hits to their image, I think WTC really set out to shine at this event and it showed. It was a first-class event from start to finish. The hosted dinners were great (albeit pretty far away from the Athletes' Village) and the overall organization was very professional.

The only negative I can think of was the bike course and obvious packs of drafting riders. I only saw one motorcycle official "officiate" and he just yelled at a pack that was passing me to "loosen it up."