Ironman 70.3 Syracuse - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I positioned myself in the third row on the inside after sizing up the people around me. This was perfect for me as I didn’t get swum over by anyone and I didn’t really swim over anyone in my wave. There was a considerable amount of contact for the first 200 yards, but then I settled into some open water. I found myself drifting left from time to time, so sighted a little more than I normally would. I stayed calm the whole time and had a good swim. Made the two turns and started swimming towards the swim exit. For the last 400 yards or so, you really hit a lot of seaweed, and just have to deal with it. The first strokes that I encountered it, I tried to get it off of my head, arms, etc., but I just mentally put it out of my head and kept swimming towards the exit and I was out of the water in no time. I removed my cap and goggles and started the run to the transition area. I skipped the wetsuit strippers.

Was looking for my wife and the kids on the swim to TA, saw them and smiled and waved, then ran the quarter mile or more to transition. I thought I had a good swim, but looking at my time, I was disappointed. That could mean 1 of three things: either a.) I didn’t swim very straight and I was drifting more to the left and correcting than I actually thought, b.) the run to T1 is included in your swim time, or c.) the course was a bit long. I doubt c., but you never know.

Nothing really. Could have probably pushed more, but it was going to be a long day.

Entered into T1, as I was taking my wetsuit off, I put on my glasses, put my helmet on, and turned on my GPS. Then grabbed the bike and headed out for the ride. Not too much to talk about on this one. It was pretty typical for me.

The first 2 miles were as expected. I was moving fast and getting into my grove and trying to get my HR in a good place to tackle the hills. Sure enough right around mile 2, the hills start. I figured I would watch the HR, try to spin as much as possible and not try to beat anyone up the hill. Life was good, there were some times on the hills where my HR would spike, but you just can’t avoid it due to the grade. I think I did the best I could on the hills and was mentally prepared for them. So I was pretty excited when I got to mile 12 and started downhill. I took the time to get my HR into the 145-150 range and enjoy the course.

Here is where the problems start and my typical race strategy failed me: I can usually do a water bottle every 45 minutes. Well, I noticed after mile 11, I was out of water in my Aerodrink. On the downtube, I kept an over concentrated bottle of Inifinit. I figured I would not run out of water prior to mile 14. Silly me as the heat was causing me to drink a lot more than normal. So at the first water station, I grabbed one bottle, poured it into the aerodrink, then grabbed another bottle and chugged as much as I could before dropping it at the end of the water station. I ran out of water about 4 miles before the second aid station and did the same thing there.
Mile 20 hill was crazy down (up wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be). I noticed on my way down, I had a little issue. As I was approaching ludicrous speed, I would get a little wiggle in the front wheel that made me feel uncomfortable, so I would apply the brakes slightly to slow down. Well, my brake pads must not have been aligned right at the center because applying them on the front cause a little front wheel shaking to turn into out of control shaking. I thought I was going to bite it, but I held control of the bullhorns and wrangled the bike in before going back up hill. That same shaking happened again around mile 48 or so which got me a bit too nervous and kept me from taking full advantage of the downhills.

I was passing a lot of people and keeping my HR in an acceptable range. Then around mile 30 or so, I am going along and see people riding two across and the one guy is way out on the left. I speak up with an “on your left”, then a louder “on your left”, then a yelling “on your left”. Well that must have startled him as I was starting to pass him because he actually moved left instead of right. Well, this caused me to jerk to the left and cross the yellow line. Guess who was right behind me at the time? That’s right, an official. I got a yellow card penalty which had me upset at both myself and the guy in the blue 2XU bib that can’t hear. I never anticipated getting a penalty, so I didn’t know what a yellow card really meant. I figured it was going to be a 2 minute penalty, so then my penalty induced adrenaline rush had me cranking out the next 10 miles at an unacceptable heart rate to try and make up the two minutes. (BTW, yellow card is not a 2 minute penalty, it is just a penalty tent check-in).

Anyway, I kept running out of water at least 20 minutes before each rest area. I also was anticipating a 2 minute penalty tent cool down. So as I was coming into the end of the bike, I pulled up to the penalty tent, unclipped, gave him my name, and expected to regroup for 2 minutes, instead the penalty guy said, you can go. Well, I was 200 feet from the bike finished and I never clipped back in fully. So I ended up stopping at the dismount line, took my shoes off (normally I have my feet out of the shoes coming up on the dismount), and ran with shoes in hand since I can’t run in my bike shoes.

I need to get a hydration setup for room with 2 bottles plus the aerodrink.

Also need to start using salt tabs again so I can vary the electrolyte intake based on heat.

T2 was uneventful. Helmet off. Socks/shoes on. Grab race belt, nutrition (Infinit Napalm), visor, and Garmin. But any time saved/lost during the bike or transition was all for nothing because of the two dreaded H’s… Heat and Hills.

For the last 15 minutes of the bike, I was thinking I wasn’t doing too bad. I could put in a 2 hour half marathon, and we would be all set. I mentally and physically prepared myself for hills and figured I could handle them alright. The problem is when you are on the bike and you get all that wind, you don’t realize how hot it is and how dehydrated you are. So I started off my run at sub 8 pace for the first half mile and decided to slow down a bit to get my HR to drop. But it didn’t. So I slowed down some more, and it still didn’t drop, I figured since I was on the uphill, so I went down the hill and it came down a bit, but not enough. After mile 2.5, I slowed down tremendously, but was still running up the hills with a shorter stride. But then on the big monster hill right before the turnaround, with my heart rate at its peak for the race, I did what I swear I would never do… I walked. I figure walking up the hill would lower the HR, but not sacrifice too much time. All was good at the turnaround of the first loop. Give a high 5 to the guy in the hula skirt and head back down the hills. I wasn’t out of the clear yet. As there are still hills to contend with on the way back into the park which I also walked. At the turn around, I saw my wife and kids. I actually stopped for second to say hi. My wife asked me why I was stopping for a minute, I told her it was going to be a really long next 6.5 miles and that my race goals were out the window and I just wanted to finish. I said this was going to be the most difficult 6 miles ever.

Sure enough it was. I ran a bit, walked a bit. I was dehydrated and overheating. I usually have salt tabs with me, but didn’t bring them this time. I was prepared for the hills, but not the excessive heat. It was a death march up there. At multiple points on the hills, I would look up from the bottom and I didn’t see anyone running up, everyone was walking. So I would walk the ups and run the downs. But on running the downs, I started getting cramps. In the calves, one in my arm, and some stomach cramps. I failed on two fronts; nutrition and staying within my HR zones. This caused me to get dehydrated and caused my heart rate to shoot up so high that none of my nutrition could be absorbed.

Anyway, I walked/jogged with cramping to the last uphill and did my best to muster a run for the finish line. Ran through the shoot, got my medal , a cold hat, and two bottles of water. I sat on a chair at the finish for 5 minutes until I felt I could get up. Then walked over to the family where my wife was a bit concerned with how I felt. I then got some more water and sat in the shade for a few minutes.


More water on the bike and salt tabs would have stopped the dehydration issue. I also think I went outside of my established heart rate zones for too long causing an inability to absorb any nutrients.

I couldn’t do much of anything. My cool down consisted of walking with my daughter to get my bike and walking back to the car. Once I got back to the car to load my bike, the skies opened up and it was pouring rain. I needed a shower and needed to cool down, so I just stood outside the car in the rain. Then we packed up the car and waited an hour for the parking lot to open up. Traffic getting out was a disaster.


The heat and hills were the main issue that I could not control. Things within my control were the amount of water on the bike and better overall pacing within appropriate heart rate zones.


I love the WTC Ironman 70.3 experience. Having everyone competing in the same race is great (no Olympic or full IM, everyone is doing 70.3). I actually liked the bike route. You get the effort out of the way in the first 1/3rd and can have fun the rest of the way. The volunteers were the best ever and I love how the whole town kind of rallies around this race. However, the run wasn't even a run as far as I was concerned. Hills are one thing, but that run course was too difficult (at least for me) to enjoy.

I could even deal with the hills and some of the course difficulties, but the parking situation was a DISASTER. This location soured the experience. Spectators are pretty much locked into the park from 9:00AM until 3:30PM and trying to get out of the parking lot was a mess. For those logistical reasons, I will not do this race again, but will look for another WTC Ironman 70.3 somewhere in the near future.