Los Cabos Race Report

 did Ironman Los Cabos this Sunday and to those interested, here is a short race report.


Pre-race objectives

This was my 2nd Ironman and 2nd year in triathlon. Did IMTX last year in 11:04 and I have trained consistently last 12 months so I thought a 10-10:30 finish would be possible. As you can see below, it did not go that way - I finished in 10h44min. I could blame wind, heat, hills but I guess the truth is, that I wasn´t strong enough on the day.


Race morning

We stayed down in Cabos and when I woke up 04:15 am it was quite windy so I knew it would be a tougher than expected day. At least it turned out that things was still calm at the swim site. Nutrition in the morning was 2 toasts with peanut butter, a gatorade and banana. 20 mins before the race start I also took a gel and sipped on another gatorade. Warmed up with a short easy jog on land, some short sprints and a 10 min swim. Could probably have used a slightly longer swim warm-up but did not have time for more.


Swim 1h15min

Swimming is not my strength so I started out 3-4 rows back and to the right hand side hoping this would be a good compromise between not getting beaten up and still not loose too much time. I think that starting position worked well although things were a bit tight the first 1km approx. I never really found some feet but tried to swim straight and focused on technique. Finished the swim in 1h15min which I am okay with - wasn´t fast at all but in the expected range and I came out of the water feeling good.


Bike 5h55min

Wow. This was a tough ride. Had hoped for a bike split around 5:20 but ended at 5:55. I never got into a rythm and felt I had to work unusually hard especially on the first part of the toll road section and on the section to the turn-around in Cabos. I remember IMTX feeling as a long training ride at easy to moderate pace (IMTX bike split 5:38). Los Cabos ride felt like a never ending, hard and brutal ride. Looking back I am not sure I could have executed differently or trained much more on the bike. I guess it just wasn´t the day where I would go 5:20 on the bike. I am not really disappointed though. I felt gave what I had and should give on the bike.
I had 3 powerbars, 6 GU gels and probably 6-7 liters of perform and gatorade and a few salt and electrolyte tabs. I did not pee at all on the bike. Made me nervous as I peed several times during the bike at IMTX so I was afraid something bad would happen during the run but made it through - so I think nutrition was correct.


Run 3h27min

I was so happy to get off that bike and knowing running was my strength I hoped I could compesate a bit for the slow ride although I knew that a sub 10:30 finish was not very feasible. On the other hand, I was unsure about if the lack of peeing was a symptom of something being really messed up inside, just waiting to materialize. However, I started the run feeling good and noticed I was running close to 7 min/mile pace for the first miles which made me optimistic. At that point I had a slight hope of being able to increase the pace at the halfway mark - but it did not go that way, midway through the run I started to fade and was now running 8-8:30 min mile pace. From this point on I just focused on keeping the feet moving, staying cold and hydrated and being positive. It was probably the hills from the bike paying back. Last 4-5 kms I managed to up the pace again, running somewhere between 7:30 and 8 min mile pace.
Had 6 GU gels and probably 1-2L of Gatorade during the run as well as lots of ice in and water on shirt and pants
Finished the run in 3h27min which I am pretty happy with given the conditions.


Transitions 7-8 mins

In general uneventful. Think I spent some 7-8 minutes in total. Could probably shave of some seconds but not my key focus area going forward.


Overall evaluation

While I did not reach my finish time objective, I think it was a worthwhile race. Very well organized and a week vacation in Los Cabos is not too bad :-) I learned about strengths and weaknesses and like the race experience. However, not sure I would do the race again. I get than an IM is supposed to be tough and that is fair, it was just a bit too much for me at this point to be truly enjoyable. Maybe in a few years when I have become a stronger biker, I would come back.


Focus for next months
I am signed up for IM Brasil end of May and hope to get very close to or break 10 hours. If I get the training and execution right, I am sure it can be done on a good day. I am going to continue swim and run training almost as is but increase bike volume.