Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Orlando, Florida
United States
Ironman North America Athlete Services
83F / 28C
Sunny
Total Time = 7h 00m 50s
Overall Rank = 1723/2048
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 119/134
Pre-race routine:

Woke up to Josh hitting my foot at 4:07 a.m. Had a banana and some coffee on the way to the race. We stopped at a 7-11 and I got a Snickers Marathon protein bar. I think it was the protein bar that gave me some pre-race indigestion and heartburn. Also, I was about as nervous as I've ever been.
Event warmup:

Went to my bike in the rack and got my stuff laid out. I remembered a towel this time and set my bike shoes on top of that with my socks inside the shoes. I didn't want to wait in a Port-o-John line so I ended up waiting for 20 minutes to use the single stall in the camping lodge after the pros took off. Everybody in line agreed there should be more toilets.
Swim
  • 42m 48s
  • 2112 yards
  • 02m 02s / 100 yards
Comments:

I still have a lot to improve on open water swimming, but it is encouraging to see that my ranking on this swim really beat my ranking on the whole event. I will choose to look at this as very good swimming rather than very poor biking and running.
What would you do differently?:

I need to calm down in the water and focus on just keeping a natural stride going.
Transition 1
  • 07m 38s
Comments:

I spent too much time in T1. It seemed like it was about half a mile from the swim finish.
What would you do differently?:

Things that slowed me down: being pretty tired from the swim, my HR monitor taking about a minute to start working (which scared the poop out of me), walking instead of running.
Bike
  • 3h 19m 6s
  • 56 miles
  • 16.88 mile/hr
Comments:

I just didn't want to eat on this ride. It was a forced effort because I realized early on that my body wasn't going to tell me when it needed food, maybe because it didn't know I was going to exercise it longer than it ever had. Either way, it took my literally 30 minutes to eat a Clif bar from mile 10 to 18. From then on I had gels and gatorade and water.
What would you do differently?:

I ate a banana at the last aid station (45 miles in) and I think that hurt my stomach a little bit for the run. I need to bring my own Powerbars next time because the ones they had there were cut in half. It was too hard to grab two of them in a ride-by. Plus, they were chocolate so I didn't want one. I also wouldn't bring Clif Shot Bloks because they taste like boogers. I ate two of them and couldn't stomach another one.

I refused to stop to go number one for the entire bike ride (I'm not sure who I was racing against), so for the last 10 miles, I coudn't ride in the aero position because of the pressure on my bladder.

The other thing I need to work on is gear shifting. I stayed on the big ring in the front the entire ride, which meant that for some of the hills my cadence dropped to about 10 and I would rock back and forth on the bike like I did climbing that little hill onto the bike path off Oak Hill Drive to the park.
Transition 2
  • 05m 44s
Comments:

I had to pee so bad at T2 that I went for almost an entire minute. Then I knocked the bike next to me over trying to rack mine. Besides that, this transition was smoother.
What would you do differently?:

Pee in an orange grove.
Run
  • 2h 45m 36s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 12m 38s  min/mile
Comments:

Ran into Josh at mile 4 and it saved me from lying down in the grass hoping I'd just pass out before I died. This was literally the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. The last mile took us 18 minutes to complete and I was going with all I had. God bless Josh for sticking by me when my legs began to seize. He really got some bad cramps (left hamstring mainly) at mile 6 and mine set in hardcore at about mile 10 till the end. For the last mile both quads, both hamstrings and worst off all both calves were just about to go at any moment. The muscles in my calves were just fasciculating waiting for a bad step. With half a mile to go my right calf cramped hard followed by my left hamstring and right quad. Josh jogged slower for me while I tried to walk them off. I was able to start jogging again, but I knew my legs were time bomb. When I saw the finish line, both my calves locked up hard and I jogged the last hundred yards hobbling and looking like a challenged athlete becase my forearms and hands started to contract uncontrollably. I paid to do this.
What would you do differently?:

Part of the problem is I don't know if I drank too much, not enough, the wrong stuff, or just the right amount. I ate two salt tablets during the run. I was about 30/70 on water and gatorade. I kept thinking the gatorade would give me more energy. I at three gels during the race at mile 4, mile 8, and mile 10. I need to do more research into what to eat and drink when.
Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not enough training. I would like to say that I blew it all on the swim or the bike, but I did them both about how I thought I would. I underestimated the amount of aerobic endurance required by this race. I ran 12:45 miles and gave it every ounce I had to give. We pushed to the absolute limit on this run thanks to Josh telling me we were going to do this for the last 9 miles.

Event comments:

This race was super well done. I have no complaints.




Last updated: 2007-05-21 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:42:48 | 2112 yards | 02m 02s / 100yards
Age Group: 85/134
Overall: 956/2048
Performance: Average
Didn't bring my HR monitor in the water. I wasn't sure if the Nike one would stay water proof since I'd changed that battery and didn't want to risk it. I got beat up a lot more in this swim than in the last two, which I understandable with that many people in the water. I passed some caps of different colors and got passed by other colors. I kept thinking that someone was going to knock my timing chip off and actually had to stop and tread water to make sure it was still on tight at one point. In general I did a better job of staying on course this time. I didn't have a lot of pep when I got out of the water and my calves threatened to cramp up a little bit (foreshadowing). I'm pretty sure I went anaerobic quite a few times throughout the swim. There were several times that I would breathe on every stoke (like left, right, left, right). That is the mark of bad swimming. I was able to calm down and hit a stride again when I would concentrate on it.
Suit: Tri-shorts and Nike dri-fit shirt. No wetsuit.
Course: Counter clockwise triangle in Bay Lake. For the record, this looked way, way farther than the swim course at Clermont for the Tri-America race.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 80F / 27C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Below average Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 07:38
Performance: Bad
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
03:19:06 | 56 miles | 16.88 mile/hr
Age Group: 124/134
Overall: 1818/2048
Performance: Average
I think my average HR for the bike was around 143. It was elevated by the hills that would shoot it up into the high 150s during ascents. When I was just chuggin along on level ground it was around 140 and I was going about 17 to 18 mph.
Wind: Headwind
Course: Single loop around what seemed to be all of Central Florida. The wind seemed to run ahead of me to blow in my face whichever direction I was going.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: >90
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Below average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 05:44
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Bad
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
02:45:36 | 13.1 miles | 12m 38s  min/mile
Age Group: 111/134
Overall: 1678/2048
Performance:
Average HR was around 168. Many months ago, I read something Gordo wrote about reaching a point when you can't get your HR to rise because your race duration is longer than your aerobic threshold endurance. I had no idea what he was talking about until this race. It means that I hit a point of exhaustion where my HR wouldn't elevate because I had used up all of my aerobic endurance. At about mile 6, I would be pushing with all I had and look down to see a HR of 158. (Granted, that is higher than my aerobic threshold should be anyway, but it was about 12 bpm slower than I started the run).
Course: Three loop course with some pavement and some grass. There were aid stations about every mile as promised. They had cold water, cold gatorade, ice and gels. They also had coke, cookies and fruit that I wasn't interested in. I put a lot of ice in my hat that run.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 5