St. Croix 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The start was a bit congested. In retrospect, I really should have started more in the front. As it was, I had to swim around alot of bodies.

Once I was underway though, I settled into what felt like a solid pace. I was comfortable, and passing people easily for the first leg of the swim. When we made our first right and I saw what I think was the first guy from the 40-44 group. I drafted off of him for a few minutes and then let him go when he really turned up the pace. I then found another guy from my AG to draft off of and followed him for the rest of the course. It was an uneventful swim as I suspected it would be.

Start further up in the group

Not a bad transition. I ended up not putting on my socks because of my dirty wet feet.

I didn't waste time, but I also made sure that I went through my mental check listd before leaving transition.

Nothing.

The first 20 miles of the ride were relatively uneventful. Up to then I held about a 20 mph average and that even included some minor hills. I made sure to keep my heart rate around 150 though knowing that things were going to get rough from the Beast on out. About the time I started wondering when we were going to get to it, I rounded a tight, almost 180 degree turn and there it was. I think the hill actually started at 14% from the get go and then about 1/2 way up it reached 21%. There were no real breaks but there was a short stretch where the hill relaxed to 12%. I actually recovered a bit and put my head down again to push the rest of the way up. At the top, I felt like I had really accomplished something, but reminded myself that the tough stuff was yet to come. Going down the back side of the Beast was good but the road was rough and had piles of gravel in the corners. The remmainder of the course was rolling hills, long exposed stretches that left me open to wind and sun.

The last 30 miles of the ride was a sufferfest. I kept my heart rate at 155, but my legs were fatigued and I sweat poured off my face constantly. Fifteen miles from the bike finish, my rear tire flatted and took 7 minutes to change it. At that point, I was almost glad for the break.

More climbing and more 70 mile plus rides during training.

Riding into T2, I had alot of trouble w/ the direction volunteers were giving us. When I got off the bike, I realized standing upright was a bit difficult. I racked my bike and started to pull on my socks, but immediately realized I'd have to sit down. My legs were shot and I was hotter than I'd ever been in my life.

Bring a 2nd pair of legs!

Exiting the transition area, I knew I was in trouble. My brain was working right, but my legs were stiff as 2x4s and worse yet; I was hotter than I'd ever been in my life. My sweat rate had to be through the roof.

I began to walk at the first water stop, got some ice water, sponges and a bit of a banana. I repeated this at every aid station until I reached the Buccanneer Hotel. The run follout the golf course cart path. It was hilly and again, exposed to the sun. About the time I began walking along the cart path I remembered I'd have to do this a 2nd time (aw shit). I think it was at this point that I decided to focus on trying to bring down my temperature. My legs had loosened up, but they certainly weren't normal. I was miserable until I remembered that I was doing this for fun. There were tons of other athletes with the same wasted expressions, so I'd pick a person to run/walk with and started having fun again. I met so many people on the run course. A guy in my AG who I eventually left, 2 guys in the 25-29 AG (Duane and Nate), Dean (a behemoth of a man who'd lost all his nutrition on the bike, hot girl in wearing a Zoot bikini (yeah, I followed her for a long time) and a guy I finished the last 1/2 mile with. While I ended up beating all of them excepth Duane and Nate, they all helped make the run less of a struggle.

Train in the heat more and add more running to my training.

Met Rachelle, had 3 bags of chips, a coke and 2 waters.


Heat. Heat. Heat.

We also exerted too much effort in the days. I think my taper could have been much more effective.


Fans often lined the course and the entire island was shut down so the race could happen. The whole course was very, very tough. Everone talks about the Beast, but it's the rolling hills and heat after the Beast that really take the toll. Add to that, very rough pavement throughout and the entire bike and run should be known as the Beast.