Oceanside Ironman 70.3 Race Report

At 3:30 am on race day, the alarm clock woke me after about 5 hours of sleep—not as much as I had hoped.  The day before was a very long day, which included an unplanned two hour hospital visit to take care of an infection (the doctors strongly recommended not to race), church, getting kids to practices, a visit to B&L Bikes in Solana Beach, and dinner preparation.  I finally started to prepare my gear for the race at 7:30 pm and finished at around 9:30—I had hoped to already be sleeping by then.

 

Race morning I ate two packages of oatmeal, one English muffin, and drank some coffee.  I found a great parking spot near the transition area, got my run gear set up in T2, walked the bike to run transition route a few times, then hopped on my bike to T1 and the race start about a mile away.

 

After setting up my bike in T1, I had about two hours to burn until my wave start.  I found a nice quiet place near the beach and closed my eyes to image the race from start to finish.  I mentally rehearsed the entire race envisioning the swim, transition 1, bike route, transition 2, and the run route.  I try to only keep positive thinking here—I keep negative thoughts aside and only imagine how I’ll feel when I’m feeling strong and moving fast.  I don’t image cold water, cramps, flats, or other distractions.

 

My wave started an hour and five minutes after the pros, so I had plenty of time to get my gear prepared.  I was in wave 22, the second to last wave, which meant that there’d be a lot of folks on the course ahead of me.  We got into the chute and proceeded toward the swim start like cattle.  I noticed that the guy in front of me had a timing chip on his ankle.  I FORGOT TO PUT MY CHIP ON!  Can I make it back to my pack and back to the start on time?  Wave 18 just went into the water.  Go for it!  I ran back to the boxes where we put our numbered gear bags and quickly located my chip.  I got it on and ran back down toward the swim start alongside the transition area.  The bottoms of my feet were so sore from the rough road.  I made it back to my cow herd in the pink caps with plenty of time to spare.  Forgot to put my timing chip on…how stupid of me.

 

The swim went okay.  I remember thinking, “wow, we’re at the halfway turn; that went quick!”  At about halfway through the swim, I found a pink cap and followed him the rest of the way, getting a decent draft.  We were passing more and more folks from the previous waves as we got closer to the swim finish.  With about 200m left to swim, there was a mass of swimmers in caps of different colors—it was a bit crazy dodging all of the swimmers and impossible to continue drafting off racers in my same wave.  All of the different swim caps in the water resembled a bunch of jelly beans in a washing machine.  Out of the water, I ran through the long transition area, got my gear on and pulled my bike off the rack.  I turned on my Garmin in the transition area because I forgot to before I left for the swim—another mistake in preparation.

For the first few miles of the bike, I noted sore glutes, but that soreness passed.  The first 20 miles went well—I was moving pretty fast heading north, probably due to a light tailwind.  I had a smooth ride along Highway 5, down Christianitos Rd to Camp Pendleton’s northernmost gate, then on to the first of three hills on the Marine Corps base.  I’ve been training on hills each week, so I was actually looking forward to them.  I geared down and took it easy getting up the hills, trying to keep in mind that I had more miles on the bike and a 13 mile run ahead of me.  On the hills, I kept saying to myself, “Not too hard, not too hard” because my tendency is to push hard on the hills like when I’m in training.

 

I forced myself to eat gels and half a solid energy bar along the ride.  I didn’t need the food then, but my body would need it later during the run and needed time to digest it.  My run preparation started at about mile thirty on the bike with Enduralites and scheduled nutrition and hydration.

 

Oceanside 70.3 Bike Course Elevation Profile

After the last substantial hill at about mile 40, the ride was mostly flat or downhill until the finish.  There was a decent headwind riding south on the base, so I tried to stay as aerodynamic as possible. 

 

Once back in the town of Oceanside, I felt pretty good about the ride and was excited to get running.  I had a good transition into T2 and got on the run fairly quickly.  I put socks on because I wanted to prevent blisters that would hinder training for some upcoming races.  I’m glad I burned the 10 seconds to put those socks on.

 

The run course was incredibly narrow in some parts—I was shocked that the race organizers made it so narrow.  There was only enough room for two people in the lane, so passing was problematic.  Since I was in wave 22, there were lots of people squeezed into the 4 foot wide lane near the Oceanside pier, so it was crowded and a hassle to pass.

 

I broke the 13.1 mile run into four quarters and planned nutrition accordingly.  At the southern part of the course, I finished the first quarter of the run and the start of lap two I finished the second quarter.   I felt strong during the run and had no cramps or pains.  At the start of my second lap I had some good energy and picked up my pace.  After completing ¾ of the run, I still felt good and pushed harder until I had the Oceanside pier (location of the finish) in sight about 1.5 miles away.  I picked up my pace a little more and crossed the finish, noting 5:41 on the timer, which translated to 4:36 for my wave.  I beat my goal of 4:40!  I also felt real good after the race; I wasn’t sore and didn’t feel wiped out, so I was pretty happy with my level of fitness and my training preparation. 

Splits:

Swim: 0:29

Bike: 2:31
Run: 1:31

Age Group Placing: 5/388   Overall: 102/2470

 

 

 

The gear I used:

Bike: Kuota Kalibur, SRAM Force gruppo, Hed Jet 90 rear wheel, Hed Jet 60 front wheel, Profile Design CX3 carbon aero bars, ISM Adamo saddle, Lazer aero helmet, Sidi T-2 shoes

Run: Saucony Fastwitch

Nutrition: Hammer gels, Hammer Enduralites, Hammer bar, Hammer Heed