Well this was my first trip to Clearwater for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. I got a spot way back in May at Hawaii (Honu).
It's been a long year; I totaled up my events for the year:
Road Bike Races: 2
TT's: 3
Running races and Marathons: 4
Duathlons: 3
Short Triathlons: 1
1/2 Ironman's: 2
Full Ironman: 1
My training for the year: (up until 11-15-09)
Swimming: 252,000 yards
Bike: 5700 Miles
Run: 851 Miles
Time: A little over 600 hours
So as I went into this event I was not feeling really up for it. I felt like I peaked 4 weeks ago at the San Jose half marathon, I was lighter and ran a 1:32 which was 9 minutes faster than my previous best.
We arrived in Clearwater to horrible weather. The wind was about 30 mph from the north. It was very cold, and the ocean was huge. Unswimmable for me. Swimming is my weakest discipline. The current was so fierce that when I went out for a quick playfull swim, I was pulled down shore about 50 yards and it was very, very hard to get back unless you swam with the current. I went and bought gloves and arm warmers. It felt like Cour D Alene all over.
WTC ended up switching the swim to the harbor side of the island the day before. Thank god. Now we had a little longer t1 run, but I could live with it. It was to be an interesting start, TT version. The initial thought was it would break up the drafting packs a little more on the bike. NOPE!
Race morning came and guess what? Hot and Sunny. Little wind. I was supposed to be starting at 7:45 with the second wave on my age group. In transition I went to put my bottles on and check my tire pressure. I purposely got there a little late since my wave started later. My rear tubular had a huge gash in it. A few people said they had the same thing. I tried PITstop and co2, no luck. So now I'm panicking. Transition closes at 6:30 and its 6:20 and I have yet to use the restroom. I pulled my wheel off and ran to the bike shop tent. They said they could do it. I left it with them and ran to the porta potty lines. I waited until I was the next person; they then announced transition was closing. So I skipped restroom duty and ran to get my tire. They had it done. I ran back to my bike and did the quickest mount I have ever done. Thank god for rear dropouts.
In my bottles I had 1 500 calorie bottle of Perpetuem and 1 bottle of Coke. I also had 1 Powerbar wrapped on my frame in case I felt like eating and not drinking alone. In my bike and run bags I had some extra gels and my salt tabs for the run.
I walked with my awesome family and supporters (I had 11 people go out with us) to the swim start. I was able to find a porta potty. At the swim start they ended up having us jump off a dock 2 at a time. The contact in the water was very minimal. But navigation was very tough for me. It's usually easy for me. I missed a right turn along with a lot of other people. Swimming into the sun it was very tough to see the buoys. Basically we were supposed to go straight out, right for a few then left, then left again.
I ended up with a 36:23. I was fine with it; my goal was 35:00.
T1 was fine, a little long as I could not find my bag: 3:52
Oh the bike. Well to say it's flat and fast is an understatement. The one big hill you hit twice is a bump here. Never left the tri position on it until the top. Did I draft? Yes. I would estimate most people do there. It's difficult to describe, but the course if very tight and on only city roads. No urban stuff. So imagine 1 lane closed on an expressway or busy road like Almaden expressway. Then fit 2000 riders down it, all released in a bad order. So you may have slower age groups ahead of the 40 year old men (who can still peddle!). Well we come up on the slower people going 10mph faster than them. Space is at a premium. Plus you can also draft off the cars going down the roads. Draft fest yes. I was warned once along with a big group. So I backed off quite a bit, for a while there I thought I might break 2 hours. It's weird even at 5 meters you can still feel a large pack pull you. Plus we had a tailwind for the longest, straightest section. The tight race created some of the worst crashes I had even seen in person. Twice women were taken down by men hitting them. I was nearly caught in two of these. Only missed by inches. Thank god for Wednesday group Tri bike rides.
Time was: 2:11, goal was 2:15. Average speed: 25.63 mph. Interesting my watts were at 190 average (145 lbs). That's lower by 10-15 from previous 1/2's but not as low as I thought it would be.
T2 was slow. Tent was a mess, no help. Potty break. 4:06.
The run felt good for me. This was my main goal of this race, to prove to myself that I can run. The run was very pretty. But it was starting to get hot. We had to go over a bridge 4 times. That was the main hill. It was easy to break this run in sections. I took in Gatorade at each aid station. Water on my head to stay cool. 4 salt pills throughout the run. It was very cool running through twice and seeing the family there cheering me on. I kept picking people off, and trying to keep
my cadence up. I knew part way I could go for a sub 1:40. So I did not stop other then slow down in the aid stations. Run time: 1:39:59. 7:37 /mile.
Total time was 4:35:27. A PR by 35 minutes. Of course this is a faster course, so I'm not sure how or if it should compare. Goal for Hawaii next year is 4:45-4:50.
Overall it was a fun time. It was cool renting a house and hanging out with the family. Maybe my wife can go next year!
