Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I have always been an anti-swimming person but it took this race for me to realize that I need to improve upon my swim if I am ever going to become "better than average". Overall, I finished 59 out of 284 in the M40-44 age group yet I could manage no better than 198 out of 284 on the swim portion. I have been swimming 2 days per week - one day drills and endurance and the other day speed. I will now suck it up and get a coach and concentrate on form. This swim started out with a very short panic attack and good sighting. After the first turn buoy all h3ll broke loose and I zigged and zagged the rest of the way. I also concentrated so heavily on an "even" effort that I probably did not go as fast as I could have. I am just a poor swimmer and I need to get some coaching.

Learn to swim!

This transition went pretty well. It was a long run from the water to the transition area but it was lined with people cheering you on ... pretty darn cool. I decided to put socks on but the socks I use go on very easily.

Not much

My bike was as good as my swim was bad! I never in a million years dreamed that I could average over 22 miles per hour over a 56 mile course. I am sure that the hills that I train on in the North Atlanta suburbs made the relatively flat course feel super fast. In the beginning I was holding a 23-24 MPH pace and it was effortless. I started to wonder if my Garmin 305 was busted! I passed a few packs of riders and made the obligatory smart-a$$ comment "boy, you guys sure will have fresh legs for the run"! The mile markers were off by a mile or 2 and that started to get me concerned but my watch was right on 56 miles when I pulled into transition. Just a great, great bike for me ... I just wondered if the damage was done as I had taken the equivalent of 2 gels and only 60 ounces of GU2O (I had intended on taking 3-4 gels and 84 ounces of GU2O).

Drink and gu more.

Good T2 time. Looks like it was about the 56th fastest time for my AG. Nothing really held me up. I suppose I could learn how to dismount on one side of the bike and get out of my shoes during the last stretch but I do not trust my bike handling after a 56 mile ride.

Running is always my strongest event. I qualified for Boston at the Sarasota Marathon in March with a 3:20 marathon and ran a 1:35 half marathon in preparation for my marathon. I thought that it was feasible to run a 1:40 and a 1:45 in a "worst case" scenario. I think that I failed in that attempt for two reasons: 1) I hammered the bike and probably had very little left to mount an assault on 1:40, and 2) the lack of fluids and gels on the bike put me in a caloric deficit. I limped in with a 1:48.

Calories, calories, calories!

Walked around attempting to lose the nausea feeling ... took about 10 minutes and I was fine.


Overall, this was a very well run event. I was happy with my time as I improved from a 5:57 at Timberman 70.3 to a 5:12 at Florida 70.3 this year. I believe that the big difference is the new bike and the Zipp 808s. If I concentrate on my swim during the summer and can put together a good run at the end than I think I am capable of some big improvements. I will probably do another half iron distance this year and we will see.