Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - DuathlonPowerman

Finally work my way up toward the my wave "group" after the pros go off. The start was mass chaos, but it worked out okay. The official distance was supposedly 2.1 miles, which I paced at around half-marathon pace (per Brett). I was thirsty and hungry almost from the start, I hadn't been drinking water as I should have throughout the morning mess. Tried to ignore the feeling and just run. I did a good job letting all the girls run right by me and keep my pace (I could hear Jonathan in my head: run YOUR race).

Grabbed water at the T1 stop and tried to run and drink - I'm so bad at this!

Nothing - I think this worked pretty well. I wasn't really trained for a 15 mile run, so this strategy worked well.

AG - 25/99

Funny, this is a big transition area and I was sure I was taking my time. I expected this over 2 minutes, so nice surprise.

Took off my visor, put on helmet; pulled off running shoes, put on bike shoes (ew, socks!!), grabbed bike off rack and jogged the long way out to the mount line.

I think I paced this well, I was nervous I would forget something with the last minute format change.

I was dying for some nutrition by the time I mounted the bike. I started my Infinit immediately (usually wait until 20 minutes in) and hoped I wouldn't run out (I didn't). Started downing water, knowing that I was behind there too.

The course was PACKED! Gulf Coast was crowded, but this was ridiculous! I don't think a single person can honestly say they never drafted in this mess, it was impossible for at least the first 30 miles. Generally, people were 4 wide, all passing at different speeds, just trying to find open space. There were a few people who refused to move to the right of the road when they had room, but mostly everyone was just trying to keep moving.

The roads were incredibly rough, similar to the bad stretch at Gulf Coast, but for a much longer period of time. I've never enjoyed freshly paved roads more than when we road back onto the new area toward the end of the ride! :) The course itself, however, was FANTASTIC!! This was my kind of terrain. Rolling hills, I think I got out of aero once or twice on a climb, otherwise very nice rollers. Down one side and momentum helped you up most of the other.

I actually worried I was going too fast around the middle, since I had only planned on 19mph avg, but was actually at 19.5. My effort level was good though, so I hoped it wasn't race day adrenaline keeping me going. Passed a TON of people on the course, which was fun. The aerohelmet felt perfect.

At about 35-40 I was ready to get off the bike. I wasn't prepared to be in aero as long as I was, so by neck started talking to me and my butt was hurting a little (not sure why that started so early). Whatever, I'm almost there. I finished my nutrition at about 2:25 into the ride, off the bike by 2:45, so no problems there.

I think I could have actually pushed a little harder on this course, but I wanted to make sure I could run.

AG - 25/99

I took my time here, as right foot had gone numb on the bike and I needed to get some feeling back (stupid socks!). I felt like I took my sweet time in transition again, so I'm happy to see this is still under 2 minutes.

Nothing - this was fine

Brett caught up to me as we left T2 - cool, he didn't pass me on the bike!

Started out the run feeling I could run super-fast, as usual. Made myself start out slow, knowing that I have a hard time pacing off the bike and I still had 13 miles to run. Started to feel a little drained about 4 miles in and concentrated on taking my nutrition. I was feeling kind of hot, so I dumped ice water over my head at every water station. I think I was still catching up with my hydration from the morning here, but I kept running. I decided my plan would be to walk the uphills and water stations, which worked really well.

The miles kept ticking off and I was happy to still be running (no Gulf Coast repeat!). After the 10ish mile aid station, I got my energy back - yep, I think I finally caught up on my hydration. I picked it up to finish the race and brought my average time back down a bit. I found a girl to run with at the end and we took turns pulling each other. She even made me run fast over that aweful sand patch before the finish line (that was just MEAN!). :)

Hydrate better pre-race, so I wasn't playing catch-up. I can really feel dehydration on the run (which is why I have a fuelbelt even on a 5K race), so I think that definately slowed me down. I shouldn't have had that amount of energy left at the end of such a long race. BUT - this was much faster than the run in my last two HIM races, so that's great! I'm marking this as a good run overall, based on that progress.

Sat down, drank more water, cheered for Kirk and Brian as they finished, ate food, drank Root Beer.


Hydration and inexperience at the duathlon format


I almost want to give this race a 2, because it was the poorest organized race I've done in my 4 years of tris - BUT the actual course was great. I hope they learn from their mistakes this year and it improves in the future. I did learn that 70.3 races are not guaranteed to be well run races. The only reason I see to do one is to qualify for Clearwater.

Would I do this race again? Maybe, but not for a while.