If you’ve read any of this blog, you know I had been preparing for Ironman California 70.3, April 2, 2011, in Oceanside CA. Well, I raced it. I survived it. And if you care to, feel free to read on all about the experience.
On Friday, we had Costco pizza for dinner. I think I ate too much, and didn’t have the necessary bathroom break on race day. I woke up Saturday morning at 4:30am. We are staying in Dana Point, which is about 30 miles northwest of Oceanside. The plan was to leave by 5:10am. Transition opened at 4:45am and would close at 6:30am. Scott and my dad went with me in the morning, my wife, mom and kids were going to come down a little later. We arrived at the parking area around 5:45am, and I unloaded my bike, topped off the air in my tires (110psi), poured my Infinit drink mix into my Aerobottle and rode the 1.25 miles to the transition area. Getting to transition was fairly easy, but getting into transition was a zoo. There were people moving in every direction, bikes going every which way. It was a little unnerving trying to navigate my way to my transition spot. Inch by inch I moved until I found rack 46. Unlike some other races that designate a spot for each racer, these were first come first serve. I was late to the party, but I racked about 3rd bike in. Squeezed my way in. I set up my stuff and went to find body marking.
Body marking was quick. No line. And only marked one arm and back of leg. Cool. Put on some SPF 50 sunscreen, even though the forecast for the day was 65 degrees and overcast. My coach advised me to head to the swim staging area sooner rather than later, as there is no chance to do a swim warmup anyway, might as well avoid the congestion. As I walked over to my wave area, I heard the cannon go off. The pros were off!
Waiting for our swim wave to start, got me a little nervous. Couldn’t believe it was finally here. 7:00am on a 60 degree morning in CA, after a winter of training. I was pumped up. The male pro wave started at 6:40am, and 22:36 later, Andy Potts comes flying out of the water with nearly a two minute lead. Are you kidding me? If that doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will. I put on my neoprene cap and headed to the water. The water was about 59-60 degrees, and although the neoprene cap wasn’t necessary, it certainly didn’t hurt, and kept me nice and warm. We swam the 25 yards to the swim start (nice warmup right?) and got the 2 minute warning. My age group (M30-34) had 305 participants today, split into 2 swim waves. I was in the 2nd wave. I swam out, treaded water, and bam. Whistle blows, time to go. So go I went.
The 1.2 mile swim wasn’t cold. But it had been 6 months since the last time I was in open water, or in salt water, or in a wetsuit; and no swim warmup to boot. It took me about 10 minutes to really get a good flow going, but I never felt that good in the swim. About 5 days prior I had tweaked my neck either sleeping, or at Masters swim, and it was still a bit sore every time I went up for a breath. I was also not able to keep a good breathing rhythm. Felt like I was short on breath the whole time – without the benefit of having swam hard. I tried to draft where I could, but I spent a good portion swimming alone. I think did a good job of sighting and swimming straight though. The swim was basically an out and back with a little hook after you pass the breaker wall. As soon as you passed the breaker wall, there were some decent rolling waves. I got to what I thought was the turn around buoy and checked my watch, 16:30. Not bad I figured. Except it wasn’t the turnaround. It was a left. Still had to go another 200 yards to take another left before heading back. Swim back was fairly uneventful, just kept going. Next thing I know it’s time to get out of the water, so out I go. On my way up the boat ramp, a volunteer grabbed my wetsuit zipper. Bonus. It was a long run into transition so I pulled down my wetsuit on the run and ran into the transition area to get ready for the bike. Passed a few people running into transition. Sweet. I swam a 35:15. About what I expected to swim, but wanted to go faster!
Not much in T1. Took my time slightly to put on socks and my bike shoes. Rinsed my mouth a bit to get some salt water out. Helmet on. Race belt on (required on bike). And off I go. 3:20 T1. Not the fastest forsure, but I went as quick as I could getting done what I had to get done (eventual winner Andy Potts had a 2:02 T1).
56 mile bike. I started the bike with a race plan consisting of a target HR and target Power. My power goal was about 260w, with HR around 152-156. My coach advised me to not go out too hot – save energy. So I did that. The first 25 miles of the bike were fairly flat, and pretty fast. I kept my patience and stuck to the plan. I made it to the first timing mat at 24.45 miles in 1:03:18 (23.18mph). And then the course got hard. At the timing matt you turn and head north into the hills. Lots of hills and lots of headwind. I stuck to my race plan of 260w or so, and in my target HR.
Up hill, down hill (though down the HR and power dropped). There were a few big climbs along the way. Aside from one group of 20 riders blasting by like it was the TdF (pretty sure they got penalties eventually for drafting), the riding was pretty clean. Not much drafting, some bozos riding 3 wide here and there, but not bad all in all. One downhill section about a mile long was a no pass, 25mph speed limit (due to a death in a previous year), it was an opportunity to recover a bit. Once out of the hills, the rest of the bike was pretty uneventful albeit windy. My bike split was a 2:40:22. A lot slower than I had anticipated. For comparison, I rode a higher average power (252w) than at Patriot (245w), but ended with a time 10 minutes slower. Speaks to the difficulty of the course. After downloading the data, I saw that we did over 2200 ft of climbing. Again for comparison, Patriot was 1200 feet (though I recall it being flatter than that). It was the 39th fastest bike split in my age group! About 280th or so overall. Some fast people in my age group. Yikes. One highlight mentally was only 3 or 4 people passed me on the bike that I didn’t eventually get back, while I must have passed at least 100 – 150. Fun stuff.
I rolled into T2 and my legs felt good. Hopped off the bike and ran it in. Hung my bike, dropped my helmet and put on my run shoes (the ones I do all my training in – Brooks Defyance 3′s with Yankz!). I already had my race belt, already had socks, so off I went. 1:40. Not bad, only :15 slower than Potts!
13.1 mile run. The run plan was to push my HR in the mid to upper 150′s. I started out and settled right around 152bpm. I’ll take it. Off I went. Feeling really good, but in the back of my mind remembering that after mile 3 of Patriot it was a disaster. Mile 1 was a 7:19, not bad. Then a 7:38, 7:33, 7:38. I was feeling pretty good. Finished the first lap around 48:30. Not bad for 6.5 miles. At the 9 mile mark things started to get difficult. Up to this point I had been averaging around 7:45 pace. Slower than my goal, but it’s what I could do. I did walk through each aid station to grab some water, a sponge or some gatorade. So that was about 5 to 10 seconds per mile. So not bad all things considered. But as I said, after mile 9 things got tough. I was just tired. No cramping, HR was still in the right place, but effort all of a sudden just got really hard. And pace started dropping. 8:18, 8:33, 8:33, 8:43 for the last 4 miles. Not bad, but it cost me about 3 mins. Ended the run at 1:45:15. A respectable run, but about 8 mins slower than I had hoped for. Oh well. I did what I could, right? The course was fairly easy with about 1.3 miles of each segment along the coast, then up a small hill, then another 3 miles of slightly rolling hills to the turn around. Back the same way, and then a second lap. By mile 11, it was all a mental game, I never felt like I needed to start walking which was a huge bonus, but it was difficult to keep the pace. Tried my hardest for it not to slip, but alas it did. My overall finish was 5:05:52, good enough for 320th overall, and 40th in my age group (the winner in my AG was a 4:20:28)
So what does it all mean? Besides a total time of 5:05:52, it definitely made me appreciate how hard this sport is. I definitely wasn’t in as much pain as I was after Patriot. I cursed the thought of ever doing another 70.3 let alone a full Ironman. Though those thoughts faded by the hour, and today (Monday) I went back to masters swim. While it is a recovery week, Providence 70.3 is just 3 months away. What have I learned? I think I need denser calories. On the run my stomach was so full of liquid, that it wasn’t a great feeling. I learned I need to warm up for the swim, and get some longer swims under my belt. I think the bike was a success, albeit slower than I hoped, everything went right there. As for the run, I think I need to focus on my training a bit more. I missed a few key workouts the last few months leading up to the race, and I think those might have hurt me. It is what it is. To the next one.
Patrik, this is incredible, I did not now you were training for this. Congrats!!