Ironman 70.3 Raleigh - Triathlon

This was my best triathlon swim overall. I had been working in masters to improve my swim and saw it come to fruition. I could have sighted better in the beginning I got better the further I went. There was a little bit of zig zagging but not a huge amount like my last OWS. At the start there was some jostling. I ended up taking a wider line for the first leg and avoided most contact. Once out on the second leg (parallel-ish to shore) the chop picked up and there were a few waves from boats it felt like. When I kept my head low in the water the waves/chop just broke around my head when I took a breath. The second leg of the swim there was some noticebly cooler water and this is where I started catching up to people from earlier waves and there was some more jostling. After making the turn for home I noticed a few of the faster swimmers from later waves starting to pass me. I tried to jump on some feet and follow them for a while but that didn't last long as they were much faster than me. Once or twice on the leg in while sighting and breathing at the same time I got a mouthful of water but I didn't panic and just kept moving. I got out of the water and saw that I was under 40 minutes so that is about where I wanted to be. I thought a really good swim could have been lower but I felt good about it.

Try not to let my self go out to fast and try to focus on keeping my head low the entire time to help with breathing and streamlining. Definitely had some form breaks later on in the swim.

The transition area was pretty large. My spot was at the very end of the row and on one of the outside racks so it was pretty easy to get to my bike. This is the largest tri i've done so it just took longer navigating the transition so that accounts for the longer time plus putting stuff back into my bike back as I finished up added a small amount of time. Being real close to the bike out it was a quick run out and on the bike. ran a little extra to get out of the way of people starting out right at the line.

Not much. Slower than my other transtions but this was much bigger race with a much bigger transition area not sure I could make a huge improvement.

My heart rate monitor did not work from the start so I didn't have any data but I probably would not have done anything unless my heart rate was way out of whack so I can't say it affected me. After finishing strong on the swim the uphill couple of miles out of transition were taxing and seemed to be slower than they should be. After turning on to 64 though I was able to maintain 30+ until getting across the most of the lake and starting back up hill to Beaver Creek Rd. From here I just settled into what felt like a good effort to me. After turning off of 64 there was some shade on the course until you got to around bypass 55. I tried to not work too hard up the hills but keep pedaling down the backsides to keep my average up. About 50 miles into the ride I was really starting to feel the heat coming on. It was about this point that I stood up once and felt twinges in my quads of cramps. I tried taking on more water and got into my salt tablets. I felt good but probably didn't take in enough fluid/sodium on the bike for the heat and it seemed to come on without warning. I finished up the last few miles took my feet out of my shoes too early and had to ride two small hills with my feet on top of my shoes. I came in at 2:57 and I had a good bike for me It was on the faster side of where I thought I could ride for the day but in the end I think it took too much out of me with the heat.

Drink more, get more fluids, have a better hydration/nutrition plan for the bike, and try not to put out too much effort on the bike. I probably should have taken a gel or two before getting to the run.

Getting off the bike my quads cramped up a little bit. I walked some but then slowly increased to a jog getting through transition. The transition was large so I had to run a long distance to my rack. I also changed socks so that took a little extra time. I grabbed a water bottle from my bike and carried it with me through transition which was good because I would have more water available through the first mile that way. I also didn't feel really hot so I skipped the sunscreen station. I probably should have stopped as I ended up with pretty good sun burn on my shoulders and some on my back.

Get sunscreen, maybe take my time and try and let my lets stretch out. Other than having fresher legs and running the whole time I wouldn't have changed much.

About a .25 mile into the run both my quads cramped up severely and I started walking. From this point on I was suffering. Slowly the quad cramps became less severe but the heat and the hills were taking their toll. I walked all the aid stations as well as any uphill sections. I cooled down with ice anytime they had it dumping it down my suit. I dumped water on my head and drank a lot of sports drink and some water. My stomach for the most part was just a tad bit queasy whenever I drank/ate anything. The route around the trail was absolutely brutal for me and I probably walked most of it. After hitting the 9 mile mark and turning back to downtown I was able to pick up the pace a little bit. My quads were feeling better but then my calves would cramp up and I would have to stop and walk again. The last couple miles were really difficult with cramps in my calves and feet. I made the final turn to the finish line and started running again about half way there I stopped to walk a bit and about .25 from the line I finally started running again and finished strong even with cramping calves/feet. Overall this was a disappointing run. Coming in I had run a hilly half at the beginning of May in 1:44:53 so I expected to be no slower than 2:15.

Pace better on the bike so that I can run better. Take some time to stretch the leg muscles out to hopefully run better later.

Heat, nutriton, lack of run training in last month before event due to foot injury.


Overall the race was great even though my performance was way sub par. Leading up to the race I had a foot injury for the last month so I ran very little. I was severely under prepared for the heat. Two weeks before the even I had a crash on the bike that threw me off my training plan. When trying to figure out my plan I figured that I could hit sub 6:00 even with my training set backs. Coming off the bike I knew I only needed a 2:15 half marathon to get close to 6:00 so I thought I could get there but I was completely wrong. I finished my first HIM and have a good swim and a good bike and learned a lot. This now gives me motivation to go attempt my next one and get the things right that I screwed up on this one. All in all I'm happy that i finished and didn't feel too bad after the race was over, but a bit disappointed in the final result on the run.