Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I'd swum at Avila Beach three times this month (50-52F!) so the temperature and conditions were extra good for me. The common opinion was that the harbor was smooth and fast compared to last year, so conditions helped my improved 6 1/2 minutes, and I'm stoked. My time in the pool and at Avila Beach helped a lot.

The swim just had moderate contact. I made a point of starting at the back of the wave and weaving through slower guys for a couple of hundred yards. This worked fine. I never found another blue cap worth drafting, but once later waves started mixing with us, I caught some drafts on the way back off a couple of women in green caps.

I wanted to chip 15 minutes off my come-back race last time year, and this was good for at least 5 of that.

Not too much. I normally sight well, but I wasn't as straight as normal. The buoys were a little confusing, and some of the people ahead of me went left to orange buoys, some went right, around the first big red buoy. It looked like the people who evidently cut the corner knew what they were doing, but there were too many people for me to do anything but round the red one, which was probably correct.

This was slow and for me. I ran a few racks past my bike, and just wasn't as efficient as usual. Shrug.

I wasn't as fast as I'd expected. I pushed hard the first half, but dialed back my effort so I'd be okay on the run. I felt even slower than I was, since there were 6 waves of younger guys behind me, and a lot of fast younger women. It felt like there was an endless stream of guys on P4's with disks blowing by.

I should be a lot faster, and the only way I hung in the middle of the field was because I've been a cyclist forever.

Based on what I learned last year, I came up with a new plan to take in fuel. I went with fig bars and Gatorade. Two 24oz Gatorades are just right for 50 or 60 miles if it's not hot. I didn't use the aid stations. I ate a fig bar every five miles, about the same calories as a Gu every 15 minutes. My hope was that I'd be fueled up for the run instead of sort of hitting the wall like last year, and it worked just right. Last year, I was out of energy the last three miles, and "ran" the whole way really slowly.



Train more than once a week? ;)

T2 has been fairly efficient for me at Oceanside. I tend to be fresh off the bike, and this one was fine.

After last year, my major emphasis was to run a steady 9:30 pace, and that's what I did! My new Garmin FR10 watch helped with pacing a lot. It was really nice to see that I was on target 3 and 6 miles out. It was also pretty essential since WTC didn't put out distance signs this year.

The run was fairly warm, and this was the first race I needed to pour cold water on myself. It worked! I just needed a little hydration on this run, and was glad about all the aid stations.

ALSO, as if by magic, my overall finish in the AG was the same as my AG place in the run. What's up with that? ;)

I'll train more when work doesn't get in the way.

Pizza, a cookie and Coke. I also stopped for a Costco hotdog on the way home, which is getting to be a tradition. Like last year, I was in pretty good shape at the finish, and felt even a little better this time.


Just training. I executed my strategy as well as I could have.


It was total fun and very satisfying to make progress over last year. I moved up in the field by 10% from about 54% down to 42%. I can't wait to do it again next year!

My goal was to take 15 minutes off last year's 6:14, and I beat my goal by 5 minutes! Watching my Garmin, the run got easier and easier the last 10k.

Results: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/ironman-70.3/california/res...