Ironman 70.3 Steelhead - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was THRILLED to see the water look so calm in the morning. I was really worried it would be a repeat of the prior year where I understand it was 3 foot chop and COLD. The warmup helped acclimate me, so I was able to start swimming right away. It was a straight shot, so sighting was easy. I stuck close to the buoys, drafted when possible (protecting my left hand, where I had strained tendons the day before on my pinky and ring finger). I just swam steady. I did get a crazy bad cramp in my right calf - so bad, I nearly had to stop swimming - but was afraid if I did, I would not be able to tread water. I used visualization to send blood and oxygen down the leg - don't know if this really works, but eventually, my body relaxed and the spasm subsided enough to swim. Standing up at the end of the swim, triggered the spasm again, and I limped a few steps before stopping to take a second to calm down and let the spasm pass. I opted to walk most of the way up the beach (could the 1.2 mile walk in the deep sand have something to do with this?).

Definitely know the number of buoys and swim harder for at least part of the swim.

This could have been a little faster, but I choose to take it easy in the sand - worried I would strain a calf muscle. Once in transition, everything went very smooth and I ran out with my bike. I was exactly half way between the entrance and exit - so very happy with location.

jog up the beach (carefully, so as not to injure a muscle) - running in deep sand is not something I do often and I know this can really mess up your muscles - better to be safe than sorry.

Prepared two 24 oz bottles of malto and one 24 oz bottle of water (all insulated bottles, I froze the water and one of the malto's two days before the race, and stored them in a cooler in the hotel overnight). Took a gel at the top of each hour and a salt tablet at the 2 hour mark. My chain fell off twice in the first 10 miles, so I kept the chain in the big ring and on the hills just eased back on the watts to stay within 120 watts (although a couple times it went up to 140-150). Volunteers along the course are awesome!!! The aid stations were located at mile 10, 25, 36 (I don't remember another one after that, there may have been one more). I really focused on keep my HR in check (between 138 and 140) and realized it was hard in the beginning, but knew I would need the energy at the end. My back never bothered me and my fingers (from the strained tendons) were fine (turns out, I didn't really need them as much as I thought I would on the bike). The temps were great - I thought it was funny the first 10-15 miles, my feet were actually cold. It warmed up into the upper 70's during the ride, but it was perfect cycling weather. Mile 45-48 came and went in a flash - - by mile 50, I knew it was literally all down hill, so I was stoked. I stretched my right calf muscles about every 10 miles or so (wanted to make sure it would be okay for the run) and I stretched my back/torso every 15-20 miles.

Consumed 28 oz of malto + 3 gels for a total of 866 cals or 2 cal/lb/hr.

Actual HR 137 bpm,
Normalized Power 106 Watts (per garmin - check power tap for accurate read)

I wish I were stronger for the longer distance and could push the bike harder, but I know that means sacrificing my run - although given the time delta between the two, my overall time may be better if I push harder on the bike. I prefer to play it conservative and have a strong finish. Given the hills, this was actually a great ride for me!

Transitions are my best event! I think I may have one of the top 5 in my age group for this transition. Practice makes perfect (and this was the first race where I didn't actually go through the motions of the transition at least twice before the race - that was because I hurt my fingers and didn't want to strain them trying to get a wetsuit on accidentally bumping them).

NADA - I've got this down :)

Played it conservative and kept HR at 140-145 for the first 3 miles (walking :45-1:00 after each mile). I had one hunger pain and decided I needed to get my calories in. The next 3 miles I let my HR drift to 145-150 (walking :30-:45 after each mile). Mile 5 ate a gel, and at 1 hour mark ate another salt tablet. Miles 7,8,9 I walked about :30 after each (or really just refilled water / ice at aid stations) and after that just ran the rest of the race. I walked part of the big hills (to keep HR down). Also filled my sports bra with ice and poured cold water on my head and my face to stay cool. Interesting to note that most of the runners were not pouring water on their heads, or using the sponges. I saw a baby pool filled with sponges (no water or ice in the pool yet) - but I did not see a single runner wearing a sponge. Around mile 5 I could feel something on my back (but could not reach it to swat it away - thought it was a mosquito) - fortunately another racer flicked it off -it was a big deer fly - ouch!! I love the last 4 miles of the race, where I am basically "mowing folks down". It's quite the motivator. Its odd though, that my last .1 mile shows me slowing a bit - I certainly did not feel like I was slowing down, if anything, I was speeding up to finish. No worries, this was still an awesome run for me. My fastest HIM run was 2:09 - on a completely flat course - so I'm very happy with my time, given the hills on this course.

Prepared three 8 oz bottles of malto for a total of 360 calories. Consumed 10 oz plus 1.5 gels for a total of 300 calories or 1.25 cal/lb/hr.

Actual HR 150 bpm


maybe start a little harder, or shorten the walk breaks - maybe eliminate the walk breaks and only stop at aid stations. Just seemed like to many aid stations and would make my times longer.

walk to chocolate milk station - yum!! two of them tasted great. My calf finally gave out and I limped over to the massage table (need cash - great, don't have it - that's in my car over a mile away). Decided to get my bike and gear out of transition and walk back to the car. I changed into dry clothes in the car and then drove back to the transition area, snagging a parking space right up front. Got a 10 minute massage and then some free food (woo hoo!!) nice buffet - I had a hamburger and some baked fettuccine pasta while waiting around to watch the World Championship roll down (in Austria next Labor Day weekend).

I was not starving in fact, it was a good hour or more before I ate the hamburger, so nutrition and hydration were on target.


my calf muscle spasming, left me playing it a little more conservative - but otherwise, this was a great race - SOLID!


Great Race! Lots of volunteers, well organized, great courses - weather was terrific on race day.

While not a PR, I did move up in AG percentile.

Swim 46:15 AG 19/44, Gender 288/553, OA 1166/1756
Bike 3:21:38 AG 31/44, Gender 395/553, OA 1486/1756
Run 2:12:24 AG 23/44, Gender 277/553, OA 1154/1756

Points 2234