Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I started and swam the first 200 well. I established a rhythm, however probably slower than I should've. I was comfortable in the water with the sleeveless. Somewhere I got clobbered by some one I don't know what hit my arm but I have a nice bruise and scrape from it. Looked at my watch at the turnaround and it said 29 min. and that kind of disappointed me because I thought I could swim this in about 40 min.

Swim more. Not swallow so much salt water. I really did not train as much on the swim at the Y as I should have. My pool at home was too cold to train in all winter.

Most of my time on the transition was getting that wetsuit over the timing chip! I took in some nutrition in transition but it wasn't bad. I knew that it would be a long day and I wasn't in the hunt for anything.

My legs on the first few miles were very fresh. About mile 3.5 there is that little upslope and I dropped my chain off the big ring. Dismounted and put it back on and took about 2revolutions and it was off again. This time it was jammed and I shifted the FD and gave it a hard crank to get the chain back on but I twisted the chain about 100deg. I was pissed, and it was a brand new chain. I taped a replacement pin to a tire lever and tried to fix. The pin has a guide on it to get thru the link and broke the guide off the pin. Frick! Took off 2 more links and reattached the chain. Lost 8links at least for repair. I made the mistake of hauling ass to the checkpoint at Christianitos, because I knew I lost a lot of time on the repair. I think I was in last place! The backside I had a flat and fixed that too. The hill was bad but not that bad as I climbed the whole thing. Lots of people walking. But I paid the price for it as I started cramping after that all the way to the finish.

Cycling if anything is my strength. Maybe get in more longer rides at a higher intensity. Nutrition I thought was ok but I did stop 3 times to pee and felt so much better afterwards each time. I drank a ton out there!

I took my time. Hell some people were done by now. My quads were cramping hard! For a second I thought margaritas with the wife on the beach was appropriate. I asked a rack mate jokingly " I guess the run starts THAT WAY?" I walked out of the transition, I was getting crowded with FINISHERS!

Cramped instantly outta transx. Walked the incline out of harbor area and began the jog. Took on liquids at every aid station. I wasn't gonna go out because of bonking at this point. I was going to finish no matter what. The cramps were getting bad by the first turnaround so I opted for shuffle/walk. I met a lot of great competitors on the run and glad that everyone was out there for something. Lots of great volunteers and very encouraging and jovial.

I wished to keep at least a 10 m/mi pace. Muscle fatigue and cramping was a hindrance.

Jogged throughout the chute, finished! Yeah! I went to the racks (they were breaking them down by now) and gathered my stuff. Called the wife to pick me up a the Crab shack. Heard some of the awards beginning. So happy for those that had stellar races, Mr. Potts and Rinny, too!


Mechanicals, Muscle fatigue and cramping. Long distance volume.


I will do this race again. Awesome venue. I will have a time goal next time and do the appropriate volumes to get up to speed. I love this venue and North San Diego!