Ironman 70.3 Syracuse - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The start of the swim went well and I was in the middle of the pack with a reasonable draft going on, though the water was pretty murky and it was hard to see feet. It felt warmer than the 62 F we had been told and for once there was no chop. Sighting was limited because of the thick mist rising from the warm water into the cold air. We were headed North, but when we went East round the first turn we were straight into the rising sun and visibility into the glare and mist was zero. Stopped and had a good stare and found the buoy line just to the right of the sun so headed 5 degrees right of the sun and this ploy seemed to work just fine. I was still finding some feet and cruising along comfortably. Then I started to get a bit of cramp in my stomach and I’m feeling the need to expel some gas, which I duly do, but the cramping gets worse and I’m thinking “OMG I’m pretty sure that was only gas. Oh please God,I really hope that was only gas.” Round the second turn buoy and heading for home and my stomach is churning badly and relief is a very long 15 min swim away.

Finally, I’m out of the water and running a wide line around the wet suit strippers, no way I’m going anywhere near them in my questionable condition, on to the line of Portapotties and only then begin to strip off my wet suit. Oh thank you Lord! Everything is as it ought to be and I dash through a green door. I’m really not very well and its 5 whole minutes before I finally shakily emerge and pick up my suit and run for T1 and my bike. I decide that I’ll risk just the long sleeve bike shirt and no gloves and hope that it warms up real quick. My feet are numb as I try to get on the bike and I get one foot in one shoe but the other has no feeling and isn’t cooperating and I realize I have made a really stupid rookie mistake - my bike is in its highest gear and I’m trying to ride uphill with one leg and the other shoe going bump, bump, bump on the ground. Not the most graceful start but somehow I get sorted out and I’m off.

Never, ever wear a one piece tri suit for endurance races again – I would have saved minutes with a pair of shorts and a tri shirt.

Up, up, up for the first 12 miles, a few walkers on the first steep grade out of the village (glad I fitted that 29-11 cassette). The hard work helped push back the worst of the cold. There were the first hints of warmth where the trees thinned out and the sun hit you, but it was still pretty chilly and all extremities were numb. Then a real rush on a long, fast swooping descent – huge fun! The route is stunning and I was starting to feel better despite the fact that I was being passed by an enormous number of bikers going by me like I was standing still. I stayed on my hydration plan and was already feeling the need to pee. You know, I’m not too keen on this peeing on your bike thing and I had only done this twice before this race. The first time was on a training ride to see if it would cause any issues with comfort and chafing – never try anything new on a race mantra. I found a deserted road and finally overcame the inhibition, but it was not easy and I had to do it while coasting. The other time was at the Musselman, but I was so dehydrated it resulted in not much more than an embarrassing wet spot on the front of my shorts. Oh my! Not so at the Syracuse HIM! We are talking cascading waterfalls. I am now a past master at this – if it were an Olympic event I would be at London 2012. I can pee up hill, downhill, standing, sitting, pedaling hard, whatever. I peed on my bike 7 times. Do you know how difficult it is to find 7 spots on that course where you have sufficient distance behind you, you are not in view of traffic or worse still, genteel supporters cheering you on from their lawn chairs? All I can say is that I’m really sorry for any embarrassment, disgust and wrecked childhoods I may have caused! I’m not completely stupid – I worked out that my hydration plan was way in excess of my actual needs pretty early on but I couldn’t do a thing about it. All my calories were in those bottles – if I stopped drinking I would bonk. I was condemned to 3 hours of this and I knew it from 30 minutes in. Funny now, but mortifying at the time.
Anyway, despite all this I rode pretty hard and was worried I was going to struggle again on the run but very happy to be so close to 3 hour bike time as I hobbled back into transition.


I need a hydration/nutrition plan for cold temperatures!

T2 – Oh you have to be kidding me. I just peed 7 times; I can’t possibly need to go again… can I? Another minute lost in the portypotty...

Never again am I going to wear a tri suit – it takes forever to get the number belt off, get the suit off your shoulders etc... etc…

Run – The legs are in good order and I’m holding back and still going through mile 1 in under 9:00. OK it was the heat at Mussleman, not over doing the bike. That was good to know. But of course mile 1 is downhill and the next 3 are up. I’m running awkwardly because my feet are still completely numb – is it possible to get frostbite even though the temperature is above freezing? I can feel all my toes at last around mile 3. I had recc’ied the route three weeks ago and knew what to expect, but damn, some of those grades are steep. But I’m running (shuffling) even up the steepest and I’m feeling confident I can finish this. Then the stomach cramps hit again. I cannot believe it - I’ve already turned myself inside out. My 6 hour goal was in the balance but the portapotty at the foot of the steep hill after mile 3 was no longer optional – another 3 minutes ticks by then I’m up and running again and passing a lot of walkers. I liked it so much that I did that loop, the hill, and the portapotty, a second time. And now I’m 10 miles in with 33 minutes 'til my 6 hour goal and I know I’m going to beat it. I’m tired and I’m sore but I’m happy.

Did I mention that I'm not going to wear a tri suit ever again?

Packed up transition and had a little issue getting my bike past the sentries. I had cut out the number stickers and afixed them indiviually either side of the bike frame. They had both come unstuck and were lost - can't imagine why!



This was a great race for me. The swim was good, my first race without breathing issues, I worked as hard as I dared on the bike and still ran the splits I wanted to. Every part went as well as I could have hoped for and if not for the gastro problems I would have had a perfect race and my time would have been a little under 5:45. Of course everybody has some issue or other to overcome in an event of this duration and I’m not whining but this is now my new target to strive for at my next HIM. However, it was sobering at the finish to think about starting back out and doing the whole thing again to complete a full IM. That just seems impossible. I have a whole lot of training to do before IM Mt. Tremblant next year.


I know a lot of people have their own opinions about WTC brand events - this was my first WTC and the entry fee sure was high but I thought it was well organized, the course was challenging but beautiful, spectators and volunteers and aid stations were all fantastic and I would do it again. Likes: more than I thought – the morning bag to dump just by the swim start was great, why don’t all tris do this? My family loved the live results – my wife had sent me a voicemail ‘congrats’ even before I got back to the car to retrieve it, she said it was great to know I was out of the water, back from the bike etc. The organization was slick and the finisher pix photos were better than most – I might even buy one for the first time ever.
Dislikes: 1.) aid station fluid choices - Ironman Perform is just foul. 2.) What’s the point of putting your bike in transition the night before? I have to go in on race morning anyway with shoes, helmet, run gear etc. so what does having my bike there already save me???? For me it meant another three hours driving there and back the day before just to check in and rack my bike (and go to the mandatory briefing of course! Ha!). What a total waste of time and $! There were only 800 competitors, plenty of local tris manage that number with a race morning packet pick up.