Ironman World Championship 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim start was pretty smooth as was most of the swim.

I really wanted to come out of the water fresh. No bumping, good sighting, little effort, probably one of the most pleasant swims I have ever done. Very little effort.

I had my 310xt in my cap, had it buzzing every 5 min and was counting strokes to break the monotony. I spent a little time drafting because the guy was just there but prefer to swim my own race and avoid bumping etc.

The 18-25 male wave started 5 mins after us and sure enough a bunch of them in blue caps arrived from behind and were more aggressive, but nothing bad. There was a sharp left turn at a last bouay before exiting the water. Things got a little rougher there as we were trying to squeeze around the bouay but I just didn’t give an inch.

Not much. I did what I wanted, swim easy and keep some juice for the other 2 legs

Got out of the water, and it’s a long run to the t1 tent where they hand you your bag.

Helmet was in bag which is better than leaving it on bike since you can strap it on while running to your bike.

Out of T1 and off we rolled.

Not much, took it easy anticipating a long bike climb out of T1

I wanted to target my watts at 210.

First few miles are a nice climb so took it easy, was in small ring up front and spinned up.

Once I got on Mead road, started to pick up. We rode into the park and then it’s continuous up and down on a winey road. You could see the course up in the distance. Beautiful scenery.

I looked down at the temperature a few times and it was stuck at about 30deg celcius. We finished the bike at about 36deg C

I had a hard time managing my power targets. Normalized power would have been really nice on this course. There was too much up and down so I used the PM to mostly cap my climbs. I was trying to target my HR around 139.

I ended up with 210w (normalized) and 140avg HR. Good pacing. Happy with that.

Nutrition was a cliff blocks every 15min, 4oz of water every 7.5minutes (32oz per hour)

Total bike calories = 352 calories (not per hour, for the whole ride)


Not much. I think my pace was just right

Came off the bike feeling ok. When I dismounted the legs felt pretty screwey. Went in T2 tent, put on shoes, cap and belt.

Not much.

Started running the first mile which was a downhill. Did a 7:41 first mile. No effort. Legs were back aftert hat mile. Then you get to a first flat and a turn around at which you cross a timing mat.

I decided to check my blood sugar at that point. 8.2. A bit high. This is never good news because it means I can't take on nutrition for the run. Not good

Then the 'fun started'. Being the 2nd to last wave we started much later (1.5hrs after the pros), so we get the bulk of the heat. The course was roughly a mile down, 2 up, 2 down, 2 up, 2 down, 2 up, 1 down. After that first mile downhill started the brutal 2 mile climb. Brutal. It just seemed to go on and on. Finally reached the top of it and start a 2 mile downhill.

HR was going up to 160 going up and would get it down to 150 on the way down. I used the downhill to recover a bit. The on the second climb it was very painful. At one point I decided to walk a bit which was a mistake. I had trouble going again.

On the second climb decided to use the johnny on the spot. Finally made it to the top and down we went, trying to recover. Got to the bottom of the second descent and felt something wrong.

Fatique is one thing but this was more than fatigue. I decided to check my blood glucose and it was dangerously low. I guess this is normal since I took on no nutrition during the run. By my glucose level I knew I was bonking. I suspect I could have finished but did not want to risk it.

I had just passed the aid station and making it to the next was hell. Finally made it there and grabbed some Gatorade. It’s the first time I ever drink Gatorade on a run course.

I walked 2 minutes and started trotting again. Next aid station I took what I suspect was bad water. It tasted like crap and sure enough 15 mins later I was puking. I was a little concerned about dehydration and nutrition at this point

I check my glucose level and it was a bit better.


As I was doing that last climb I just wanted to see the top, if I made it there I knew I would be ok. Just as I hit the top, my left quad completely seized up. I had done the whole run only on water and I did not take any salt. Maybe that was the reason. Major seizure. I was just walking with a bad limp and it would start going away only to come back a minute later.

Hell, I figured I could just roll down the hill if needed. I just wanted to finish. It slowly went away and stayed away as I came down the last mile to the finish line.

I tried to look good for the finish line pic, picked up my medal, finisher cap and drank a bottle of water. Found my wife and some friends and wanted a beer in the worst way

Total nutrition on the run : 2oz of Gatorade
Total nutrition for the event : 357 bike + 16 run = 373 calories total


I should have checked my glucose more often. I am sure I could have taken on some calories earlier on, Live and learn.

Too much time spent checking glucose, peeing, puking and walking.

Volunteers on the run course were great. They ran out of ice for the later waves, who are disadvantaged by the heat. The pros started 1.5 hours before and were 1.5 hours faster so they spent 3 hours less in the heat. I found the heat kicked in around 11AM close to when we were finishing the bike.



Nutrition was an issue. Heat was an issue. I check the temperature at the end of the run and it was in the 40s (in the sun)




Organization was good, but there multi-site ascpect kind of sucks. The Lowes is the guest hotel and is where they have the dinner, banquets and awards. The Ravella, where I stayed is where the swim start and T1 are. There is still about a mile between the two. So after body marking and setup I could go back to my room, which was nice. But T2 and the finish line are about 15miles away. As well, registration was at T2. So you had to get there to register and get back after the race. There were shuttles (too few) to get back and nothing to get there. This was the only negative part of the organization