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Ironman Barcelona - Triathlon


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Barcelona, Cataluna
ES
Ironman
70F / 21C
Total Time = 10h 08m 52s
Overall Rank = 470/2488
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 86/351
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 4.50 am and had my race day morning breakfast (120 grams of cereal with milk and Nesquick). I had everything ready to go, so I grabbed my bags and drove to the venue (my parents house is located 50 miles away, so we had an almost 1 hour drive).

From this point up until 20 min before the race started, I ate 2 small bananas and sipped sports drink continuously.

Once I got there, I accessed my bike, pump the tires, and placed all nutrition on the bike (bars, gels, and sports drink). As I was getting done, an electric storm started and also poured rain. Great... Checked my transition bags and went back to the car.
Event warmup:

No warm up. Actually, we attended an impromptu meeting as the race looked liked it was going to be cancelled... They postponed all events 30 minutes and told us we will have a full race.
Swim
  • 1h 11m 59s
  • 4224 yards
  • 01m 42s / 100 yards
Comments:

Decent swim, given the conditions at the start. I PR my last IM swim by 8 minutes, so I can't complain!

Also, I am impressed with my sighting... I struggle a little bit at the end (from the last buoy until the swim out), but other than that, I went almost straight the entire time.
What would you do differently?:

I should've taken advantage of drafting a lot more, specially given that we were going against current for most of the swim. It should've been easier to find some good feet in my wave, but I wasn't able to follow people and I did most of the swim by myself.
Transition 1
  • 04m 32s
Comments:

I went a little slow, but doing what I had to do. I grabbed the wrong bag and I had to put it back...
What would you do differently?:

Move faster. It should be easier to just put my wetsuit in the bag, buckle my helmet and go.
Bike
  • 5h 04m 40s
  • 112 miles
  • 22.06 mile/hr
Comments:

Happy with my result as it was 10 min faster than IMTX and I didn't draft, which should be the norm, but it wasn't in this race.

Also, a little bit disappointed as I crashed with the bike... Entering a roundabout with the organization motorcycle on the left, another athlete tried to pass in between the motorcycle and myself. There was obviously no space and he went down and took me with him.

I fell hard on the road. My entire ride side got scratched up, but nothing happened to my bike, other than I was only able to use 4 gears. Also, my bottle caged broke, so I couldn't hold more than one bottle of sport drink at a time. This wasn't ideal as the aid stations were quite far away from each other

Luckily, I was able to continue, but my body hurt the rest of the race. This was at mile 18 on the bike!
What would you do differently?:

Not much, my pace decreased as the bike leg progressed, but it was a combination of headwind and fatigued. I wish I had my second bottle cage to be able to drink more as I was thirsty for part of the ride.
Transition 2
  • 01m 3s
Comments:

I went surprisingly fast here. I executed well taking everything off while running from my bike rack to the changing tent. I grabbed my bag, take my running stuff out of it and put my bike things in it. Put and lace shoes, and off to the run! I put my sunglasses and visor on while running.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, I was happy with my T2
Run
  • 3h 46m 38s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 08m 39s  min/mile
Comments:

I didn't run much leading up to the race due to a let foot injury, so I am happy with my result. It is a 12 min PR from IMTX, but I know I still have a lot of room for improvement here!

The biggest difference between TX and Barcelona was that in Barcelona I knew what to expect during the run. I knew it will hurt, I knew your body wants to give up and I was prepared mentally to not given up. I only walked while taking my gels and drinking a little bit. I run most of the marathon.
What would you do differently?:

Higher cadence. When I started to fatigue, I lost form. Also, I started too fast for my running fitness, that haunted me in loop 3 and the first half of loop 4 (the second half of loop 4 I was going to finish no matter what!)
Post race
Warm down:

Medical tent first to clean up my wounds from the bike crash. I ate after I was done with the medical tent (great post-race food!) and then I got a massage.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Bike crash and not enough running volume. I need to be able to run a sub 3:30 marathon.

Event comments:

Everything was great, except for two issues:

1. Drafting on the bike: Either they fix the bike course (longer vs. 2.5 loops) or enforce drafting penalties. This issue bothered me enough to not want to race this race again.

2. Post-race access to family members: All post-race activities were great, but I couldn't access my family until I was done with medical, food, massage, getting my clothes, etc. I would've like to be able to chat or even see them to let them know that I was ok and then proceed to do all the stuff I had to do.




Last updated: 2014-06-18 12:00 AM
Swimming
01:11:59 | 4224 yards | 01m 42s / 100yards
Age Group: 148/351
Overall: 981/2488
Performance: Good
Time Dist. Pace 5:46.7 0.23 1:27 6:32.3 0.23 1:38 6:05.6 0.23 1:31 6:40.2 0.23 1:40 7:01 0.23 1:45 7:21.2 0.23 1:50 8:02.7 0.23 2:01 10:39 0.23 2:40 --> Garmin fluke (I think it lost signal) 7:22.9 0.23 1:51 5:46.3 0.10 3:25
Suit: Roka Maverik Elite
Course: Ocean Swim with run start. 900 yards with the current, 26 yards against the current...
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:32
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
05:04:40 | 112 miles | 22.06 mile/hr
Age Group: 149/351
Overall: 552/2488
Performance: Good
Time Dist. Avg. Speed Avg. HR Max HR Avg. Cad. Max Cad. 14:05 5.00 21.3 110 144 77 109 12:15 5.00 24.5 135 146 78 102 12:28 5.00 24.0 130 137 76 92 16:13 5.00 18.5 130 143 77 98 --> BIKE CRASH 12:36 5.00 23.8 134 150 78 95 13:03 5.00 23.0 132 139 77 84 13:06 5.00 22.9 130 143 78 91 13:02 5.00 23.0 130 146 78 97 13:52 5.00 21.6 135 155 78 103 13:20 5.00 22.5 135 151 74 106 13:05 5.00 22.9 137 156 75 109 13:03 5.00 23.0 139 147 75 88 12:44 5.00 23.6 136 157 78 95 13:18 5.00 22.5 135 160 75 93 14:00 5.00 21.4 137 147 74 80 13:54 5.00 21.6 131 144 75 85 13:59 5.00 21.5 128 143 73 117 14:09 5.00 21.2 135 154 76 106 13:52 5.00 21.6 134 153 75 106 14:34 5.00 20.6 127 144 72 102 13:56 5.00 21.5 125 146 75 92 14:38 5.00 20.5 127 149 68 106 5:20.6 1.37 14.7 128 145 54 88
Wind: Some
Course: 2.5 loops - This, combined with seeding waves from slowest to fastest contributed to A LOT of drafting. It was sad to see that much people drafting, pelotons of cyclist working together. I guess they may be proud of their fast bike split, but they were cheating. Also, the mashalls didn't do anything to stop the drafting. There were refs with motorcycles following the pelotons and they were not showing any cards. They should've disqualified half the field if that was necessary to have a fair race. Very disappointed with the organization. Either the race is draft legal, or not, but do not make it legal for just the cheaters.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence: 75
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:03
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
03:46:38 | 26.2 miles | 08m 39s  min/mile
Age Group: 81/351
Overall: 428/2488
Performance: Good
Course: 4 loop flat course - It was fast, although there were a few sections with mud due to the morning storm
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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