Ironman 70.3 New Orleans - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim was a time trial start and my AG was one of the last ones. I had waited for about 1 hour 30 minutes to actually start. I got the the end of the pier and jumped in. Much to my surprised my goggles didn't go flying up and leak water. In fact they didn't leak the whole swim. I felt great for the entire swim. The only real swimming background I have is as an ocean lifeguard a few years back, and years of surfing, no formal training though. I passed a lot of people on the swim. I even remember passing one lady from 2 or 3 wave starts ahead of me before I reached the first turn, I felt bad for her. Sighting wasn't much of an issue, I was just doubting myself that I was on course. They had yellow buoys for the turns and red buoys as a guide. I made sure to stay by the red buoys until I could sight a yellow one and shoot for it. However, the course was a little confusing and there were numerous times I was wondering if I was going the right way. I just continued to follow the crowd and sight the next yellow buoy. The water was slightly choppy but it wasn't too bad and the water temp was mid 60's. I planned on 35 minutes. I didn't know my actual swim time until after the race and was exited I finished in 31 minutes. Overall it was a great swim for me and I'm really glad we got to swim since it has been canceled the last few years.

I would have liked to have been able to do some sort of swim warm up to get the blood flowing and get acclimated to the water but that wasn't allowed. Overall I can't complain about the swim portion.

T1 always take longer than I plan on. It was my first time in transition with a wetsuit.

I ran out of the water and saw some volunteers between the swim exit and T1. I heard one ask if I want them to help unzip my wetsuit so I ran over and let them unzip it for me. My friend later told me they stripped his wetsuit for him. I thought it was strange that they would only unzip it for me and didn't stip it but didn't quetion it at the time and once they unzipped me I ran into T1. Looking back I would have let them strip the wetsuit. It wouldn't have really mattered much with my overall time though.

I thought the course was decent. There were some rough roads and bridges but nothing I wasn't used to. The headwind on the way out wasn't ideal but it also wasn't as bad as I have heard other people describe it. The course was mainly flat other than a few bridges. I passed a lot of people throughout the whole course.

Now for my bike learning experience. At the first aid station (mile 17 or so) I decided to get a bottle of perform. Actually, when I saw it I didn't "need" any water or perform but I figured I might as well get some cause I'm going by an aid station. As I'm riding up I spot the volunteer and perform in his hand. I reach out to grab it and me trying to grab the bottle knocks me off balance. I try to correct but end up over correcting. Before I know it I'm on the ground. Someone runs over and ask if I'm ok. I can tell I have the normal road rash on my knee, hip, and shoulder but that wasn't going to stop me. My biggest concern was my bike. I spot my sunglass on the ground, one of the arms were broken so they were ua loss. My right handlebars were bent inward on my bike. I tell the volunteer I'm ok and start to ride off and hear my bike making all kinds of strange popping noises and notice I can't shift. Great....I ride about 100 yds and pull over to the side. I look down and mess with the gears with one hand, while pedaling with my other hand (I had no idea what I was actually doing) and start riding again. Much to my relief my bike isn't popping anymore and shifts.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. After the crash my adrenaline was flowing so I think it actually helped me pedal harder into the headwind or at least take my mind off of it. My calves started to get tight around mile 25 but it never got out of control. The tailwind on the way back was amazing. I probably averaged 16ish mph on the ride out and 22ish on the way back. The ride actually went by pretty quick compared to my training rides. I planned on averaging 19mph for the bike course and that's exactly what happened so I can't complain (other than the crash).
When I came to the 2nd aid station I pulled over and came to a complete stop so the volunteer could hand me Perform.

For nutrition I had 2 shot bloks. I had 2 squares 20 minutes into the ride. and 3 or 4 every 45 minutes after. I also had 20oz of water and around 32oz of Perorm. I'm unsure of the Perform cause I didn't finish all my bottles before ditching them at the 2 aid stations.

The biggest thing is not crash on the bike. I was a little worried about it right after it happened but by mile 45 I was laughing to myself about it. I'll practice grabbing bottles out of peoples hands before my full IM. I'm really glad my bike was able to continue on after the crash. That would have been a bummer if I had to DNF. Also, I would drink more water.

Nothing special here. I ran to my area (after a little confusion) and got ready for the run. I ate 2 more shot blok squares before I headed out. There was a sunscreen station set up right outside T2 and I thankfully grabbed sunscreen and piled it on.

The only thing I would do different is know exactly where my bike was. I wondered around for a few extra seconds trying to find the row by stuff was on.

I have no complaints about the course. There was a big bridge right outside T2 which wasn't ideal but what can you do. I could feel my calves and hamstrings start to want to cramp periodically but I was able to keep them at bay the whole run. I would say running is my weakness. I'm just not as fast as I would like to be. I stopped at all the aid stations to get some water and a sponge when available. I felt strong the first 7 miles. Somewhere around mile 7ish I had a GU. I got side cramps during miles 8-11 and started walking every half mile. I'm not sure if the cramps were from the gel or from something totally different. I didn't train with gels during my runs cause I never ran more than 1.5 hours in training and didn't need them. I did a marathon In November and didn't have a problem with GU's though. At mile 11 the cramps stopped but at that point I was just too tired to run the whole way. I continued to walk every half mile until the finish. I planned on a 9:15 min/mile pace and ended up with a 9:46 pace. It wasn't too far off but not what I wanted.

It surprises me how the last few miles of the 13.1 seem like they are so far away when in reality they are only 2-3 miles. That's easy! For some reason though it seems like it's never going to end. The same thing happened in my marathon, it's such a strange feeling looking back on it.

I drank water at every aid station. 1 GU around mile 7 and had a few cups of Perform along the way.

Probably not take the GU. I'll work more on run nutrition next time. My longest training brick was 50 miles bike and 6 miles run and I didn't have a problem but I also didn't take a GU.

I finished and sat in the shade with my girlfriend. I didn't want to move. I sat there a good 30 minutes before getting pizza, grapes, and a few cookies. We waited another hour for my friend to finish so I just sat...then sat some more (which was fine with me).


Let's see: Bike crash, getting slightly confused on where my stuff was in transition, and a side cramp on the run.


It was my first 70.3. I planned on fishing under 6 hours so 5:40 feels good. I definitely made some mistakes but I'll work on those before I do another 70.3 or 140.6. At the end of the day I was happy and excited for my sprint tri next month.