Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My wave was the VERY last one after 2000+ people went off, but I didn’t really care. I was ready and looking forward to race. Went the gun went off I start running into the water at the front of the pack because it was a beach start. While running my left leg landed on a hole in the sand and my knee hyper extended backwards and I felt a pop right away, but I didn’t stop (I ended up getting a fracture on my femur but didn't know of course). I began swimming and got into a rhythm really fast. I stayed next to the buoys all the time and swim comfortable passing LOTS of people. That slowed me down a bit as I had swim around many athletes but all in all I was moving. I hit the 1st turn around at 11:30 min. Then the right knee start hurting but the pain was manageable. I kept on swimming and hit the 2nd turn around back to the beach. I swam steady but as I got closer I look at my watch and I was over my goal WTF? I got disappointed but kept on swimming. I clocked 31+ min but after chatting with some pros the general consensus was that the swim was long at least a couple of 100s.

nothing conisdering the pain in my knee.

I start passing people running into T1 but the knee was hurting a lot. My bike rack was at the beginning of T so it was a slow process exiting behind all the athletes that started ahead of me, hence the slow time

nothing

The ride started great. The 1st 15 miles it was fast and I was moving at 24mph 205 watts. During the 1st 15 min I worked on drinking and took 2 salt pills and 1 gel and repeated it every 45 min and drinking every 10 min. Then we got into Avalon st and the head winds slowed me down from 24+mph to like 19-20mph. At that point many guys began passing me but I followed my plan and stayed at 200-210 watts. It was hard letting them go as I felt I was maybe been too conservative, that plus the head wind it was rough for the next 25 Mi (avg 22 mph, 202 watts for that segment) I focused on nutrition and pushing even watts and tried to ignore the speed but I was getting frustrated and began having negative thoughts. Also that section was the most painful on my right knee as I think I had to work a bit harder to keep my power/cadence moving due to the wind. With 15 Mi to go I began catching many of those guys that passed me again and I was flying by them like they were standing still (24 mph, 200 watts). I realized they fried their legs pushing against the wind and I did the right choice of riding my own race. That portion I was chugging along and even though the knee was bothering me I was feeling ready and motivated for the run.

nada. I couldn't bike much before this race hence I am very happy with my speed and execution

I passed yet again many peeps on T1, put on my sneakers grabbed my salt pills and headed out.

nada

This was the toughest part of the race, not because I ran out of gas but because of the busted knee. As soon I started running it was obvious the pain was not going away but the opposite, it was getting worst. I tried to focus on my form and clocked a 6min mile for the 1st mile (right on target) then I got into the trail run section and my knee pain become very bad. When I got to mile 2 my pace felt to 6:20s and at that point I wasn’t even thinking about my pace but questioning whether I should continue or not. I kept running and I decided to DNF as soon as I would complete the 1st loop and get to see Jess and the rest. I even began thinking of ways to explaining them that I busted my knee and that I wasn't quitting because I was just giving up on the fight. I got to mile 3 and drank coke, water, G-ade and took 4 salt pills and kept moving and then it hit me; I was still passing people even though I was now running like 6:30s per mile. Fitness wise I was feeling awesome, sort of like I was jogging along on a training run, but I couldn’t speed up cuz of my knee. I got to the turn around and the BTers were cheering loud! It was very motivating and right there I decided to attempt another loop. At that point my friend Phil was getting into his 1st loop of the run and I told him my knee was busted and maybe I should quit. He told me, he had some Advil and I just nodded in acceptance and got like 3 or 4 pills which I just drank in the next water station along with 4 more salt tablets, coke and a gel. I kept on moving and the 2nd loop was a struggle cuz again I was feeling awesome but I couldn’t ruin fast cuz the knee was hurting badly. I think I passed Dan at some point in that loop cuz someone mentioned my name and encourage me but I was so out of it that I am not sure who was it. My pace by then felt to 6:50s on the 2nd loop. I reached the turned around for the 3rd loop and when I saw the BTers again I couldn’t control it and start crying because of the the pain and the cool feeling I got from their cheers. That propelled me into the 3rd and final loop. I saw my friend Phil once again and he just said: you can outrun many of these guys even with a busted knee so chop chop mother F-cker. That made mi laugh + the fact that the Advil might have kicked in by then I began running more comfortable. The next mile my pace improved to 6:15s, then the next to 6:05s and the next one was 5:55s when I reached the last water station. I just grinded my teeth and kept on moving and clocked a 5:40s for the last 1.2 mile!

Not cry in front of the BTers :)

my warm down consited in a pic with trixie and shannon which in reality it just warmed me up again! ;)


uuuummmmm just a sprained knee but that's it ;)


I am VERY happy with the race. 5 months ago I was uncertain about been able to train and 3 months ago I was uncertain about when I was going to be able to get back in good racing shape. Considering all that plus the fracture on my femur, I couldn’t be more pleased with my race execution and result. Still I have mixed feelings cuz after learning that I have a fracture on my femur it makes me questioned my desicion of finishing. Now I'll be out of actino for 4-8 weeks but i hope at least I can do some swimming to avoid loosing all my fitness

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to Jess, Jeff, Trixie and Shannon for the awesome cheering and support. Thanks to Philip for been my race drug dealer (and congrats on the killer PR)
Mac, Dan and Mimi it was very fun meeting you (and Dan, you definitely have issues!)