Ford Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Nice swim course until you round the outermost buoy for the return and wham! Facefull of sun, impossible to sight coming back, so I was depending on the navigation skills of the hundreds of people in front of and around me. All in all a decent swim. My pace was off quite a bit from training, but I still came out MOP.

Not quite sure - I was using dark tinted goggles and still couldn't see any buoys on the return.

Pretty good transition. Took my time deciding whether to throw on an Under Armor cold gear due to the ambient temps. Made sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Probably could have cut a minute or so here.

See above.

Pretty good bike segment. Probably should have saved a little in the tank for "the" hill at around mile 28, but still fairly good. They were policing drafting pretty heavily, which was nice to see. Some people need to learn that just because they are Dave Zabriskie in their own mind doesn't mean they are. I spent a lot of time braking, waiting for people hanging out in the left side to clear the way...especially on the hills on the back side. Pendleton really does make for a fabulous HIM bike course, with a nice mix of topography and some great vistas.

Go a little harder on the rollers, but then again, I wanted to conserve some fuel for my legs/the run, so probably a good decision to cut the throttle a little on the up side of some of the rollers.

Good transition

Not a bad run for me, considering the amount of run base I have coming in to this. The sand section was not a lot of fun and I ended up with copious quantities of grit in my shoes, which contributed to the extensive blistering of the arches of both of my feet. Got a side stitch on my first 2 miles that really put the brakes on pushing it. Slowly subsided when I back off a little and had a drink of water. Oceanside has GREAT aid stations and fan support - definitely a plus when you're out there pounding the pavement.

Body glide the insoles of my flats and possibly wear socks.

Pizza, cookies and cola. Lots of all of em!


Side stitch on the run and serious blistering of the feet. I didn't realize how much I'd chewed my feet up until it was over and I looked at the inner side of my shoes and could see bloodstains! Funny how pain takes a back seat at an Ironman race....:)


Ironman branded races are definitely a notch above your average triathlon. For the most part it was everything I expected. A little disappointed that they had next to no finisher merchandise at the finish line Ironman store. They really cheaped out on the goodie bags for this race as well - not even a gel in the bag. Issues with the start cannon and no posted results in the athlete post-race area. I'm hoping it was just because it was one of the first races of the year.

On a side note, I found out I missed a Clearwater slot by about two and a half minutes (via rolldown of course)!! My goal for this race was 5 hours and I went 5:10:01...just wish I had hurried a little more in T1, hammered a little harder on the swim and given a little extra on the run before my feet disintegrated! No worries though, I'm certainly not gonna beat myself up over a 5:10:01 on my first attempt at 70.3 racing (and only 8 months of doing triathlons of any kind). I really do enjoy this distance race.