Ironman 70.3 Timberman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim is my strength and this went pretty well. The start was packed with people (my age group is a big one) and the first minute or so was a bit frantic with thrashing and people bumping into each other. I decided to manage that by getting ahead of the pack and trying to catch people from the previous swim wave. I got into a good rhythm and just kept plowing ahead. I could have pushed harder, but the scope of the task ahead was on my mind so I kept a good tempo, but didn't push it.

I probably could have taken a minute off my time if I had pushed harder.

I'm not super fast in transition. It's something I need to work on. I need to get some new tri-specific cycling shoes so I can clip them into the pedals before the race and use the elastic system to keep them level and jump on the bike in bare feet. My current road cycling shoes aren't easy to tighten on the bike.

Go faster!

Again, in retrospect I wish I had pushed a little harder. I was cognizant of the upcoming run (not my strength) so there were a few times on the bike when I backed off a bit. One thing I'm not willing to do is exceed 40 mph on the downhills. I'm up for riding hard, but I was shocked at the number of guys who were pedaling HARD down some of the steepest descents. These races aren't worth getting killed or maimed. At those speeds (above 50 mph) one jagged pebble and it's all over.

Push a little harder on the flat sections. I also might rethink my bike nutrition plan. I had two bottles of Gatorade on the bike and four gels. I grabbed a banana at one of the aid stations, but it might have been helpful to have an energy bar in my jersey.

I purposely took my time in this transition. I'm not a strong runner and I wanted to eat half of a Clif Bar and (importantly) hit the transition porta potty to pee! There were about four porta potties inside transition for this purpose. When I rushed over there were three in use. I threw open the door of the one marked "vacant" to find a guy in there "draining his lizard" (my 10-year-old son's phrase.) I waited for about 20 seconds and he promptly moved out of the way.

I wonder if that porta potty stop was really necessary.

This is where I fell apart. The first 4 miles were fine, but then my lack of run training became apparent. On the uphill sections I felt my confidence wane and my legs begin to get heavy. I had some minor abdominal cramping and I couldn't tell if I needed more hydration, less sugar, more salt, or whatever. I ended up walking most of the fifth mile, which I knew was killing my overall time. When I got to the turnaround I decided to really push it. I did much better on miles 7 and 8, but during mile 9 I had to walk again. I now had pain in my left hip (totally new) and some pain on the outside of my right knee. At this point, running actually hurt. I was angry for not training better and trying to get to mile 10 so I could run (or shuffle) through the last 3.1. As always, when I got to the last half mile -- near the finishing chute -- I picked up the pace and finished strong. But I knew I'd had a disastrous run. Lesson learned.

Like a lot of cyclists who get into triathlons, my running is weak. Cyclists tend to have over-developed quads and calf muscles, which leads to imbalances and weak running strides. I should have had someone help me with my run training to improve my stride and help me get to the point where a 10 or 12-mile run isn't too hard.

I iced both knees for about 30 minutes. I was beginning to get inflammation that I sometimes get on longer runs.


Bad run training. Had I kept my run under 2 hours (which I think is doable for me) I would have had a MUCH better race.


Overall I'm glad I did this race. I would like to do another 70.3, perhaps in a more interesting locale such as Quebec or Miami.