Ironman 70.3 Miami - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I had no idea what to expect from this swim. I figured it would not be wetsuit legal like last year, and decided against buying a speedsuit since I basically don't do non-wetsuit legal races. So I'd be racing in my tri bibs and tri top. They're tight, but now skin tight, so I would be paying a penalty.

Like Oceanside, there is no warm up other than the 3 minutes between waves. I jumped in and got to the front, didn't even bother with swimming around at all. Simple triangle course marked by orange and yellow buoys, two sets marked 1 through 8.

Took off at the gun and other than some incidental contact it was pretty clean. Soon enough we were onto prior waves, and lots of folks were right on the buoy line. Rather than fighting it, I decided to just take an outside line and swim to the left. Added a little distance, but no biggie. Lots of sea grass on the far side of the course, but I am used to hitting much thicker kelp, so I just swam over it.

Held my typical HIM/Oly pace, just tried to maintain a consistent strong pace throughout. Never really got tired. Soon enough, I made the third turn and headed for home. Getting out of the water, I couldn't see the clock, and I was not wearing the garmin in the water, so I had no idea what my swim time was.

Nothing. For a Non ws swim I am happy with it.

Long run from the swim exit to T1. 3:00 or so seems to be average. Not having a wetsuit to deal with is quite nice.

nothing

Simple out and back course. first 5-8 miles through downtown Miami, some sketchy road surfaces and three railroad crossings, only two of which (?) were covered. Then a straight northwest leg and a straight north leg, return. Would be head/cross wind going out, tail/cross wind coming back.

Settled into the planned power. Basically easy for 10 minutes, then 220-230 or if feeling good 225-235. If windy, could up it 5 more watts. On the way out, had the garmin lapping every five miles and hitting consistent 13 minutes, sometimes 12s.

I had heard stories of Florida drafting, and it was sure there. I never had much problem with it though, as I was traveling at a decent 22 mph clip and passing tons of people, legally slingshotting around them. The drafters got in y head in Canada, not sure why, so decided that I wouldn't let the here. Did a pretty good job, except once. I really don't like people drafting off of me. Came up on 2 guys that were on very nice bikes, clearly working together. Came around them but not fast enough, sure enough 300 yds or so looked back and there they were. I sat up, pulled over, and as a stereotypical Californian said "don't fucking draft off me dude!" No comment, just a look. Problem was, now I was behind them, but still faster.

So, smart guy I am, I drop back to a legal distance, drop the cassette into the 53/12 and hammer for all I am worth around them, rightly figuring they were too lazy to speed up and latch on. After a couple minutes they were far in the rear view, but that cost me. Power files show a 500+ watt spike there. Whoops...... Took me a couple minutes to recover and get the heart rate down from 155 back to 148.

Hit the turnaround at the 1:13 mark, which surprised me, and had the tailwind for a good 5-8 miles, cruising at 26 mph +. Turned left towards town and it appeared that the winds had shifted a bit, more of a headwind than a tailwind. About 50 miles in passed my friend Chris that had started a half hour ahead of me, so I knew it was a good day.

Coming back into town I realized I would be under 2:30. Previous best HIM bike was 2:47 this spring at Oceanside, so it was a great ride. I don't feel like I ovderbiked. I knew, however, that hitting the planned run paces would be tough, since it was getting hot, and had already decided to be a little more conservative.

It was such a good bike for me I actually gained AG spots from the swim (my strength) to bike. That's only ever happened once before, and that was n Oly that I absolutely hammered the bike as I was injured and didn't care much about the run. Never in a long course or race I was doing semi seriously before.

Nutrition was about 450 cals of Infinit and one gel

actual 18th AG
AP 218, NP 222, VI 1.02

Not much

Came into T2 and saw not all that many bikes there.

Plan for the run was start out about 8:50 and negative split form there as the miles went by. I wasn't sure I could do that, it was hot, I was tired. But ran the first mile right on at 8:47. Then hit the first causeway climb, we would do 4X Pace dropped to 9:20. OK, so re-evaluate. I can hammer to try to hit my gal paces which I know I won't make, or I can find a pace that will allow me to run the entire thing without starting the walks, even on the hills. I figured I would probably get a better time that way

I was carrying a hand bottle to avoid dehydration like in Canada, and at every aid station had them put water and ice in there. It worked great. I was going to take gels from the aid stations, but it was so hot I couldn't stomach the idea. I just lived off water and coke on the course. Seemed to work ok, although I was starving about an hour after finishing.

Met the goal of not walking the run at all other than aid stations, even when that was all I wanted to do. Especially the last climb. I was soaking wet as I had been pouring water on my head and arms. I wore de soto arm coolers that seemed to help with the bit of a breeze,. Thought of taking the shoulders off the tri bib top, but never did

At the end of the first loop, about 10K in, I finally looked at the time, and saw I was 4:02 into the race. Giving me 58 minutes to go 7 miles. Nope. Not happening. So I stuck with the plan. I knew I just had to get over and back from the last bridge then it was all flat. Skipped the last two aid station and just ran as strong as I could for the last two miles.


actual 110th AG so not all that bad after all

I was 2:03, my fastest half mary run is 1:55. at Oceanside. So I am not disappointed with this run

Fun race, glad I did it. not sure I'd go back. Plenty of other races to do. But now I have the sub 5 fever! I didn't know my total time until about a half hour after finishing. 7 minutes... A speedsuit probably gets me a couple of those, maybe 1 or 2 on the bike, and 3-4 on the run? Maybe.... Definitely my 2014 goal