Ironman 70.3 Raleigh - Triathlon

Ranks are all for men only.

Not a good swim. Started strong but navigated poorly for some reason. It felt really long but the water temp was perfect for no wetsuit. I had to swim around a lot of people in the earlier waves because I quickly caught some of them. It got pretty congested at times. Didn't push much at all on the swim and was content to just let the end come when it did.

Swim harder? Bring the wetsuit? Scott swam 4 mins faster than me here and he was less than a min faster than me at BEaverdam, and he said he swam a similar race, so I figure the wetsuit cost me about 3 mins or so. In the grand scheme of things it is meaningless. But in the minutia those 3 or so mins cost me 10-15 places in my AG! Crazy!

Annoying transition. I saw Daryn come out of the water and said hey, t hen tried to catch him in T1 but some guy pulled out in front of me and walked out...it was too narrow to get by him so eventually I went over to another lane and made my way out. It took ages.

Take a bazooka and blow the guy in front of me up.

Really liked the bike. Took it relatively easy, saving myself for the run. There were some significant climbs and rollers on this but thank goodness I was prepared for them having ridden most of the course. I tried to acknowledge all the spectators and the police holding up traffic and wished everyone I passed well. I'm sorta amazed how few people actually say anything back. Are you REALLY racing that hard that you dont acknowledge someone saying "have a good race"? I just thought that was weird.

Took a total of 3 GUs and race with the small aerodrink. Skipped the first aid station, got some Perform at the second and then kept topping it up. Prob got 400 -600 calories from drink and 300 from GU and I think that was OK.

Not much- think I paced about right on this. With more riding I would be able to go harder but I didnt trust my bike fitness and knew the run was going to be hard. I enjoyed being able to run at BEaverdam so wanted that experience again. 13 miles is a long way to walk in agony!

PRetty methodical. Stopped for sunblock because I didnt wanna roast and really, the 10s wasnt gonna make or break my day.

Not much- pretty methodical.

First time my run rank has been better than my bike and/or swim (edit, based on Scott analysis, my run was 59th, swim was 55th, so about equal)! I guess my taking it easy strategy paid off? I started the run very easy and slow, saving energy and trying to just be in the moment and plod along. Ran on the sidewalk when possible to grab some shade. Walked every aid station to keep hydrated but had no trouble starting back up until after mile 7, when it got a little trickier to get moving again. Did it though. Really had some GI distress around mile 8 and contemplated finding some trees but then had some, uhm, rather turbulent gas...again and again and things settled down after that. Lucky. Held things together until sometime around mile 10 or 11, then walked a little in between one or two aid stations. I was sick of perform at that point so switched to just water. Maybe I shoulda had a coke :-) Then just before Hillsborough I took a little walk and a guy came up and said "cummon, lets run this in together". So I started running and we chatted. He told me what the rest of the route was like and then said "now take those long legs and go". It was really nice of him...good guy. Then I turned onto Hillsborough and saw the finish off in the distance. By the time I got to the chute Bill caught me and said hi and told me to go finish ahead of him. I'd have liked to cross together but didn't have the energy to argue with his sportsmanlike gesture. High-fived Daryn on the way in, as well as some kids and then crossed and saw Becky and the boys. Walked over to see them and hugged the boys and just stayed there for a minute...pretty much spent.

Other than just be faster, not much. Pretty happy with this- it was not fast, but I think I am the most happy about this run of any in a triathlon so far. It was tough and hilly and I mostly ran. So yay for that.

Luke had gotten carsick so we found some shade and then I got him a little diet coke. That helped. Couldnt stomach the food they had but got some pizza for the boys and sat with Daryn for a while. Tried to find Bill but he was missing in the crown, and I snuck into the Marriott to go to the bathroom.


Fitness, general ability haha
No wetsuit cost a few minutes but whatever.


Really liked this. The ice and sponges on the run were amazing, the volunteers were fantastic, crowd support was fun on the bike, etc. Bit of a logistical pain with the two transitions and things being centered on Raleigh, but the satellite lots were great for me. I am actually thinking I will do this again next year! I swore I wouldn't. But I think I will. Great event. Better than White Lake, and about on par with B2B in my opinion. It was nice to do some training with Bill and Scott and got to know them a little better. And spending a lot of the weekend talking through the race with Daryn was fun. He had an amazing race so hopefully will come back and do it again.