Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Ok. I am not a swimmer at all. In fact, I was really worried about this portion of the race. I have only done 3 sprints last year and 1 Oly at the last minute about a month ago to help me mentall get ready for this race. That almost backfired as that race was a disaster. The swim portion especially....never got comfortabkle in the water, had major breathing issues, etc. Almost bailed on the race halfway throught the swim. Decided to get a coach and knew we only had 3.5 weeks til this wonderful idea of attempting a HIM but knew I needed help. Dan at Endurance Concepts is the one. We hit the ground running and he had me in the water alot. I was starting to get water logged but realized I was completing longer and longer workouts in the pool. I am a consistant 2:20/100 swimmer in the pool. Even with completing longer workouts and several non-stop 2000 meter swims I still was very nervous about this portion of the race. I was hoping I would not have another episode like I had just a month earlier at my Oly. Race plan called for me to count to 10 when race started and then start, so as not to get caught up in the crowd. Horn sounded and off we went. I casually walked and then started swimming. Crowd was really great. Wife along side the sea wall the whole time and I could see her as I breathe to the right. Stayed VERY relaxed and concentrated on long strokes and pulling. Sang a couple songs in my head. I had to fix my goggles several times from water getting in, but no biggie. Was surprisingly comfortable. I did run into a couple people but apologized and re-routed myself. I reached the halfway red buoy at 27 mins. YIKES. Holy slow swim batman. In my grand effort for glory and comfort, I forgot one small detail. Not not the doll from weird science (movie reference). THIS WAS A RACE!! HELLO!! MCFLY!!!! ANYONE HOME? This was discouraging a little. I was happy that I was in control but peeved that I was swimming slight faster than the swim buoys, that were anchored, by the way. Decided at this point to pick it up and work a little harder. Stroke felt good and breathing was great. Finished second half of swim in 20 minutes. Still think I could have gone faster. Thanks Dan!!

Not sure. I have never swam this distance and with only 4 triathlons under my belt I just had to go out conservatively in the race. My goal was to finish. I had a real bad race in my Oly which turned out to be about 1300m instead of the 1500. More swimming will help. I am just not efficient as a swimmer but I do acknowledge this and will work to improve it. I'm rating this swim as good even though the time was not the best but becasue I felt terrific coming out of the water. The wetsuit stripper was also a BT'er!! Very cool.

My race race plan was based on staying in control. HR, breathing, etc. When I got to T1 I had a mental list of things to do. Some of which I could have done in TA setup but I am learning this process as I go. I could not figure out when to put on the chammy butter so that had to happen in T1. I was worried about chafing bigtime. I chafe watching tv so this was a major concern. I also needed to mix my drinks for the bike portion, another thing I could have done at setup. I was just not in a hurry. Put socks on. Take gel. Wipe hands. Wanted to be under 5:00 at this T1 but lost track of time and just did not want to forget anything. lots to remember.

Plan better...I think this will improve with experience.

Made up a couple spots on the bike. Biking is not my strong suit. Just have not been doing it long enough. Saddle hurts, neck hurts in aero, you name it. That being said, my coach and I had a plan and since he has forgotten more about triathlons than I know, I was going to stick with it. Plan was to stay at the top of Z1 in my HR for first 24 miles, then go up just a little. I knew HR was not going to be an issue. In all my rides, my legs go WAY before my HR ever gets elevated. I don't thnk my HR ever got above 150, and that was only on a few hills at the bridges. I stayed with the plan, got passed by everyone, including some dude just walk to the store for some smokes. Hmmm. About mile 35 I decided the sooner I got off the bike the sooner my butt would quit hurting. I saw several accidents and just wanted to be careful. Picked up the pace a little. I drank two bottles of Infinit and had about 4-5 gels along with 2 bottles of water. Felt good as far as the nutrition went. Towards end of ride I realized I had forgot to put sunscreen on. Uh oh. That would hurt later. Finished ride strong towards end.

I just need to ride more. My longest ride to date was about 40 miles and that was a year ago. I have done a few 24 milers and a 31 miler but in the last 6 months nothing close to 50. No wonder my legs were hurting. At the Oly a month ago I pushed the bike way to hard and had really bad quad cramps in both legs during the whole run. I did not push the bike but my fitness level is what it is....cramps would visit again unfortunately at the start of the run.

All I had to do was put on my running shoes and grab my visor. What the heck is taking so long?? I put my shoes on and sucked down a gel and started to run but my legs said no so fast my friend. I also realized I had to pee and just have not mastered doing this on the fly. Stopped at the porta potty in the TA on way out.

Just HTFU. It's a race dummy.

I can run, thank goodness for this. Unfortunately I have not ridden close to 50 miles and I have also not ran after any ride over 24 miles. Basic mathematical theory says that not riding over 31 miles + not running after any longer ride = pain on your first HIM. Luckily I knew this was coming. At my last Oly (career triathlon #4) I had awful cramps just a mile into my 10k. My first mile I was starting to get the very same quad cramps. This was a bit worrisome as I knew a half marathon was longer than a 10K, or at least I thought. I was runinng a bit and walking a bit, but it really did not seem to help. Plus is was HOT. I was dialed into my nutrition but I was still heated, The aid stations was great, to me at least...especially on the run. They were every 1.5 miles and I needed every one. I took as much gatorade and I could and poured about 4 cups of water over my head at each one. I also grabbed two cups of ice and put it down my jersey. It definitely helped. My first two miles were rough. I just could not keep my legs from cramping. When I was able to run I was able to comfortably maintain a sub 9 Minute pace with HR well under control. Breathing was never a problem. Quads, quads, quads. Gatorade seemed to help and I was sucking down gels every 25 minutes or so. After each AS, I was able to get into a nice groove for at least a mile. As I got closer to the AS I was super hot and my quad pain was back and I was forced to walk. I think each AS really saved me. I saw lots of people on the side of the road and even more people walking. I just tried to keep moving. With about 2 miles to go I was done....walk half a mile, run half a mile. This seem to work but I just could not put anything together. With about a mile left there were a significant amount of people cheering us on as we headed towards Bourbon Street for the finish. We made the turn to go down Bourbon Street and I knew from looking at the course earlier it was a little less than half a mile but it looked like 10 miles. No way you could walk here though - just too many people screaming encouragement. Ran the whole last mile and came up on a girl about my age with about 200 meters to go...we ran side by side and I was not interested in seeing who could finish ahead at the finish line...she was enjoying the moment and I was not about to race ahead.....just not necessary. She smiled and I told her great job and we hi-fived as we crossed. The finish was really incredible......I thought the venue and the TONS of people there made it simply awesome. I stopped right after the finish line an my quads and hamstrings immediately locked up and I almost fell. I had to get my bearings and try to stretch my legs a bit.

Just improve fitness. Don't think I could have run much faster given the conditions and my fitness level. Left all I could on the run course. Looking at the results for my AG - Clydesdale under 39, there were only two guys that ran under 2 hours....very surprising. I am bigger fella - 6' 220lbs so I though for sure there would be some super fast times, but again it was a very hot run. Happy to see my run was 11th out of 60 in my group.

Cramps were bad so I headed over to medical tent to to sit for a minute. Lots of hurt people in there. One girl was covered with the blanket but her teeth were still chattering...she was in rough shape. Guy beside me had a bad wreck - his whole right side was scraped bad but he managed to finish. Nurse asked me if I wanted an IV but I just thought I needed some gatorade with lots of salt. I was not nearly as bad off as some of the folks in there. Kudos to them from finishing.

Thanks again to all the volunteers...they were amazing.


Fitness plain and simple. I have a tendency to bite off mroe than I can chew and figured this race was a bit much for me but decided to go ahead anyway. I am happy I did as it was an awesome experience. My coach had a great race plan for me and I am fairly certain I would not have completd this race without his help...Thanks to Dan at Endurance Concepts.


The venue was incredible. Coming into Bourbon Street with that many people still gives me chill bumps. Even with the physical difficulty I am really glad I did this race. Hard as heck but made it that much better at the end. Free beer at the post race awards party helped too.