Ford Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

2008 – 40:33, 2007 – 37:19, 2006 – 37:20

In the past few years my swim needed work, now after slowing down even more I certainly need to work on it. I really shouldn’t be surprised as I have spent very little time in the water this year.

The conditions were actually very good. The water temp was about 60 which is cold but feels great after you have done this race when it was 55. Although slow the swim went well for me. I was able to get space and stay pretty much on course. I have tended to try to escape to Hawaii in past races only to have some guy on a surfer come over and yell at me to make a 45 degree turn and get back on course. It’s nice not to have some surfer dude yelling at you at 7 AM. The way out felt very relaxed and the way in felt good until I realized the end wasn’t coming up soon.


Work on stroke so as not to cross arms over. I am still relying on the black line of the pool for my arm positioning and with the black line gone and in my wetsuit my arms were all over.

A little slow but nothing to panic about. I did drop a custom made ear plug running in transition and spent a little time looking for it. It's lost....

2008 – 2:54:05, 2007 – 2:47:19, 2006 – 2:56:31
Bike Nutrition:
• 1 bottle single strength Infinit. Plan to drink by first aid station at mile 15. Throw bottle and rack a water bottle.
• 1 bottle double strength Infinit. Drink ½ bottle from aid station 1 to aid station 2 at mile 30. Chase with water. Aid station 2 throw water bottle rack new water bottle. Finish Infinit by aid station 3 at mile 49.
• Aid station 3 rack Gatorade and water bottle. Determine fuel needs and act accordingly. Have one GU taped to bike if needed.

I really love riding a bike! Cruising along a route I haven’t ridden hundreds of times is so much fun. This is a great course with good ocean front riding, some hills, and interesting woodsy, marine areas. How many “Tank Crossing” signs do you see on your training ride? Time was down some from last year partially due to fitness and partially due to the headwinds picking up much earlier on the back side of the course.

Bike started out well. A slight tailwind going along the ocean made for an easy ride out. I was feeling real good until the first aid station at mile 15. I took the last gulp of my first Infinit bottle and tossed it. Grabbed the first water bottle and noticed they were giving out smallish disposable sport top bottles, oh well no more cool Gatorade bike bottles. I rode through the aid station and the very last station they were giving out the good Gatorade bike bottles full of water so I grabbed one. I had the Gatorade bottle I one hand holding on to the aero bar and the other casually went to toss the disposable bottle when my front wheel did a 90 degree turn to the ocean. I dropped both the disposable bottle and the Gatorade bottle and used some mad skills to stay upright. Damn! That spooked the heck out of me for a bit. Now I had a small problem. I had 15 miles to the next aid station, a double strength solution of Infinit and no water. What was this going to do to my gut and hydration levels? I figured I was going to find out.

I got to the first hill and rode it fairly conservatively. At the bottom is where the headwind started. Oh man why now? Usually the last 10 or so miles is into the wind but it was coming through the valley pretty good at mile 30. I pretty quickly realized the need to back off and save myself. Apparently I’m getting wiser with age because in years past I would have had to show that wind who was boss. The good news at this point was I got a water bottle (disposable :() and didn’t feel too bad about drinking half a bottle of concentrated feed.

After the last aid station with 7 miles left I actually was starting to feel shelled. Normally I’m still pumped with adrenaline and going good at this point. I was slightly worried what this would mean for the rest of the day. This is also when I realized my heart rate monitor was no longer waterproof. I looked to see what my time was going to be coming off the bike and all I saw was a watch face with steam on the inside. Bummer. I’ve changed the battery before with no problems but my luck ran out.

Not be greedy and get the cool bottles. As my kids say you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Again a little slow. After getting my run stuff on I backed tracked to a row of toilets but they were all full so I just hit the course.

2008 – 2:04:32, 2007 – 2:19:20, 2006 – 2:19:48

Run Nutrition:
• Fuel belt with 4 8 oz bottles of half Gatorade and Red Bull – abondened, left at transition
• Plan B – alternate water and Gatorade taking GU at mile 4 and 8. Some Cola on 2nd lap if desired.

The past year I haven’t really had time goals for HIM rather my goal was to just be able to run the run and not resort to the run/walk/want-to-die scenario. For long distance tris I haven’t been successful at that – until this race!!

Hit the run and was feeling ok, not great but not bad. I immediately noticed I was running way too fast for me. I plan on doing 10 minute miles and I was under 9 for the first mile but was having a hard time slowing down. At the mile 1 aid station someone came out of the port-a-potty so I ran right in. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! When I opened the door I look up and hear “Hi Paul!” Huh? It’s Tim, now I knew he was going to be passing me on the run course but I never expected it to be at mile 1. Using my new found running prowess I ran off his right shoulder, step for step. How exciting to be keeping up with a Boston Qualifier! Seriously that was the most impressive 10 seconds of my life until he was half way up the board walk and out of sight.

The miles kept going; mile 2 – 9:14, mile 3 – 9:15…. Still too fast. Oh well I guess I’m going to blow sky high pretty soon. I looked for my heart rate to see how near death I was but it still showed a foggy little screen with no numbers. I got to mile 7, the point where the wheels fell of last year, still running, hurts but still running. I was wishing for the cheap beer drinking, crank “Eye of the Tiger” all day group on the board walk but there little run down shack was gone and something with a much higher price tag was in its place.

When I got to the last turn around I knew I was somehow running this thing in. I feeling good that I didn’t know my heart rate as I knew I was about to die. It was awesome actually passing people during the last few miles of a race instead of watching the parade go by. When I got to the little uphill by the condos with about half a mile to go I so much wanted to just walk that hill but I didn’t let myself plus there was a big old marine standing there and I couldn’t disrespect him, so I ran to the finish.


Obviously I'd like to be faster but that was the best result I could have honestly hoped for. I am still so happy. Weird I'm kicking myself for spending 1.5 minutes in the bathroom. I could have averaged 9:20 miles! Kidding - very happy

Saw Tim in the finisher tent eating pizza and talke to him for a bit. Oddly he had already driven home, showered, changed, and came back for a snack. Packed my stuff up listening to some Jimmy Buffet palying in transition. On the beach in So Cal - life is good!


Will improve with training.


Summer 2008 here I come!

This actually turned out to be my best HIM.
2008 - 5:46:33, 2007 - 5:50:41, 2006 - 6:02:33

My run actually pulled the race out for me.