Ford Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Was seeded way too far back. I was blocked in the whole way out and it seemed like everyone was being very aggressive. Nobody was working together and everyone wanted to hold their ground.

Long run from swim to bike and then bike to mount line. Nothing major to correct.

This was my first race racing with a Powermeter and I was a little hesitant to race at such a low effort but I was going to do my best to stick to the plan; ride 82% of FTP and get off the bike ready to run. As soon as I got on the bike I was taking it real easy, about 78-79%, and saw everyone going out hard and just hoped they were being foolish and they would come back to me eventually. First couple of small hills everyone mashed up the hill and I went backwards but I was riding my watts so I was still sticking to the plan. It was really hard to get out of the packs when you are trying to ride consistently, especially at an easy effort.

Just after the first aid station we were riding along a bike path and at one of the bigger turns I nailed a pothole dead on. My chin almost bounced off my stem, my front tire flatted and the plastic cup that holds the aerobar pad on my left arm snapped off. I took my bike off to the side and looked at the piece of plastic that was sharred off at the bracket and realized I was going to have to rest my arm on that for 35 or so miles if I was going to finish. I got down to fixing my flat trying to contain my inner Stadler and not throw my bike. The difference of my bike computer to split time is 4 minutes 50 seconds so I guess that is how long it took to fix my flat. My mental state took a lot longer to correct (during post race cocktails perhaps?). I definitely wanted to just say screw it and get a ride back to transition but didn't want to DNF. It was painful riding on the bracket and I could not get any leverage plus I had to hold my body up using my core muscles (I have none) since I couldn't just put my weight on my arms. The last 10 miles or so I rode sitting up, resting on the bracket, and tried just resting my arm on the base bar. Everything was starting to hurt.

In a couple fits of rage I tried hammering to get back to my age group and wound up coming in at an IF of 87% so I went way harder than planned. 218 TSS instead of my planned 176.

No matter what happens stick to the plan. This was my first mechanical problem and I am glad I can learn from it at a race that isn't that important to me.

Again, a long run from one end of transition to the other. Stopped to use the port-a-potty as I could tell it was empty as I went by. Glad I did.

I was fairly nervous about the run as my training plan (IM) is just now starting to ramp up past 1:30 and I didn't do too many of those. Plus I'm just not a good runner. I felt ok for most of the run. I hated the sand but it was much better than in years past as we were able to run across dry (loose) sand to the water line run a bit down the beach and then across loose sand back to the strand. In the past it was all loose sand. Every time I looked at my watch it said 9:14 - 9:30/mile so I though I was doing ok. I couldn't really push as my time goals were already shot so I didn't have any motivation to draw from. I did walk about 50 yards up the last bit of loose sand but I don't know why my tiem wasn't closer to 2:03 - 2:05. I really wanted to break 2 hours on this run.

Between getting my stuff, trying to meet the family, entertaining the kids, and getting back to the hotel I didn't eat for way too long afterwards. My legs feel like I got worked over by baseballl bats and I think the lack of food my have worsened that. Need to make sure to eat sooner.


I love this race. It is fairly close to home but far enough to seem like a long weekend vacation. I was able to remain relatively stress free and enjoy the whole weekend. The weather was basically as good as you can ask for. It is an early season race so it is hard to peak for but it is a great way to start the season off.