Ironman 70.3 Raleigh - Triathlon

The first third of the swim, out to the first buoy, was pretty good. I started out at a reasonable pace, and kept reminding myself that there was no rush. There was a good bit of contact, but nothing major. However, once I rounded the first buoy, the water got really choppy, which I wasn't expecting. It seemed pretty flat at the start, but the deeper we got, the choppier it was. About halfway through the swim, it felt like there were actual waves out there, and you just had to time your breathing with the crest. Rounding the last buoy, I still felt ok, kept on breathing, and headed in.

First off, bring my wetsuit! At the athlete's meeting the day before, the RD said, "Unless a semi-truck of ice falls into the lake overnight, it's not going to be a wetsuit-legal swim." Well, that must've happened, because it went from 79 on Saturday to 76 on Sunday. I'm not terribly disappointed in my time, it's only a couple minutes slower than I expected, but I wish I was on a more even playing field with those who wore one. Other than that, I just need to get a little more OWS training to get a little stronger in the water.

It was a long run from the swim to the run just because the transition area was so big, but I felt pretty efficient in there.

Not much, it went as I planned.

I'm really happy with my bike performance; I knew my plan and stuck to it. I hopped on the bike and took it easy for the first few miles, as there was some fairly serious elevation gain out of T1. After 10 minutes, I took my first Gu, and then had one about every 1/2 hour after that. Overall, I just tried to keep my HR down, and keep spinning. I didn't hammer up the hills, and I tried to get some speed going down, max was just under 38mph. I had real problems with managing water, however. The course gave out bottled water, not bike bottles, which I hadn't planned on. So, over the course of the ride, I ended up dropping both my water bottles, and a couple bottled waters, just because I was trying to manage it all. It didn't really affect my performance because I still managed to drink enough and regularly, but I need to plan on a potentially similar situation for Louisville.
Also, I passed so many riders! It seemed like during the ride, I must've passed hundreds of people. They started the older age groups ahead of us, and the whole ride there was just a line of people to pass. It wasn't a particular problem, but I was really surprised at how many people I was passing, without really trying to go hard.

Not a lot, really. My HR was where I wanted it, I hydrated and took in nutrition well, and gained some time I lost on the swim. I could've gone harder, but it would've impacted my run, so I'm pretty happy, really.

It was pretty much in-and-out. There wasn't much to fuss over.

Not much.

I got off the bike feeling great, plenty of energy and legs felt fine. I tried to keep my pace and HR down, but my first mile was still my fastest. I was doing pretty well through most of the course, but the last 3 miles hurt pretty badly. It wasn't anything in particular, but my body was pretty tired.
I took the first part of the course pretty easy, just pacing myself. Once the steeper hills started, my goal was just to not walk. I couldn't believe how many people were walking; I was blown away. I just kept saying, "I didn't train to walk this race." Seriously, I probably saw 500 people walking. On the way back, I tired to push a little, but didn't have much left in the tank. In retrospect, I know why: I didn't take in any calories at all on the run. I didn't really want any food, so I took in water, but didn't have a gel or anything on the run at all, which definitely caught up to me.

Stick to a plan! I was pretty fastidious about taking in nutrition on the bike, and then just abandoned it on the run. I need to figure out what I can take in on the run that won't make me nauseous.

haha. I just about passed out at the end. The lady came up to ask for my chip, and I just told her I needed to sit down. My head was spinning. I basically just sat down and poured water on my head.


Overall, I'm happy with my performance, I just need to dial in the run nutrition.


It was a wonderful race. There were tons of volunteers who were extremely helpful and supportive. The finish line was great, and the courses were very representative of the area. They really did a wonderful job for an inaugural race.