Since Vegas WC I have been working my swim. I was swimming 7500 meters/week pre Vegas and I bumped that to 11000-12000 and it made a big difference.

I swam 1 minute faster than Vegas which was already 1 minute faster than 2011. More importantly I came out of the water fresh.

The swim usually scares me the most pre-race, this time I felt more confident and planned to enjoy it which I did. Several times I thought to myself, "hey this is fun"

It was a really enjoyable swim except for a patch of sea-weed, but other than that, minimal contact and felt good. I focused on my catch

Oh, I almost forgot. Apparently there were dolphins, although I didn't see any



Keep on increasing the swim volume

I took my time here

Probably a little more hussle when I reached my bike.

I have a dilemma with bike courses. My weight would favor flat but I hate flat courses. Long periods at constant power kill me. I don’t like heat. So Miami and Florida 70.3 are not great courses for me.

I started off and the intent was to get my HR down by pedalling 30 or so watts under target. That went well and in about 10 min was ready to build up to target.

My HR was a little high for my power. I was ready to compromise on the bike to have a good run. 10 or even 20 watts is not worth it if you end up walking. So I decided I would be slightly less aggressive on my watts target

So I was merrily riding when I observed the formation of a pack. At first it was 3 or 4 guys but soon became 12. They were just slow enough that I ended up catching them but as they grew they became faster. I decided to pass, which I think they interpreted as “hey, a sucker to pull”. In order to pull away I was now putting out 50w over target which was not sustainable. As soon as I backed off to target wattage, they would overcome me. So I would drop back but there is no doubt that even at legal distance you get a benefit.

Soon, a water station broke things up and I had all my own hydration so never stopped. I used the opportunity to pull ahead, stay ahead for 5-10 minutes, but the train would catch me and I would fall back.

There were a bunch of guys my age and a bunch of 25 year olds from the wave ahead. This annoyed me since I was trying for a WC spot and I knew a bunch of my competitors were in that group. They were not pushing hard. It was not a peloton to get speed, it was a peloton to relax.

So my ride was all over the place. Some surges do pull away and some easy spots when they peloton would overtake me and I would have to drop back.

On the way back they pulled ahead considerably and I was able to do my own thing. There was a truck, obviously related to the event that drove by them, was screaming at them for being in a pack, wrote down some numbers but I doubt he could do anything.

I rode a very erratic bike which I guess is like climbing hills
A 1.04 VI on a flat course is crazy.

This part of the race was not fun.

I was drinking 6oz per 15min, 9g of carbs
9x = 81g carbs on the bike = 324 calories in 2.5 hours or 130 calories per hour

Train more at very constant wattage for long periods of time
Or stick to hilly courses

Not a bad T2.
There were few bikes on the racks so I thought I was doing well

I was so mad on the bike I swore I would run the SOBs down.

But I knew that if I did an even run I would have more success so I planned to pace by HR and manage my effort.

My target was 148BPM for the first 5km, then 152, 154 and 156. At first I had to back off my pace significantly to stay under 150.

I ended up being 152, 158, 159, 163 for the 3mile/5km segments with a pretty even pace. The first and last segments were dead even pace.

The hills were hard. I overdo the ups. I put a lot of concentration into capping the ups and I used the downs to bring my HR in check. It was better than usual but not perfect.

Passing people on the run is fun, A death march like I did at Vegas is not fun. Biking within our true capabilities is the key to having fun. Establishing our true capabilities is the tough part.

But a good run is the funnest part of a race like this

I was drinking 2oz of water per mile, 3g carbs
x12 = 36g carbs = 144 calories on the run

I used the aid stations to grab water and ice to pour on myself. I only used my own fluids for hydration

I never looked at my pace. I did have an autolap every 5km and glanced but I did not let if affect me.I did a very even split although I did work the last 3 miles.

I saw an old dude (like me) chasing me down the last 500m so I gunned it. He was getting close but I really dug and he couldn't follow. He was one age group lower than me so it was all good. We shook hands, chatted and I was off.


Slow down on the ups, and work the downs more.

Went to the med tent to get my blood sugar measured. 178, not bad.

324 bike calories + 144 run = 468 calories total, which is an all time high :-)


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