Florida 70.3 Race Report

This is going to be crazy long as it has some gory details. It's basically so I can look back right before the Canada Ironman and go over what I did and what I need to tweak, etc.

Here's the crib sheet for the event(prelim results):
Total time 5:05:15
Swim: 42:30 (goal was sub 40)..spent most of the swim sighting and bumping into people
Bike: 2:41 (goal was 2:45)...it was long as my computer had 57.9 miles and it rained!
Run: 1:32-3ish not sure exactly (goal was sub 1:30 hopeful for 1:27)...hot/humid dodging folks

Pre Race
I woke up at 3:40am. I had prepared all my stuff that I was taking to transition from the previous night. I started to consume my pre-race nutrition of 2 Clif bars. I ate 1 clif bar as I got dressed and immediately felt nauseous. I decided to bring my 2nd clif bar rather than eat it in hopes my stomach would settle. I loaded up my 3 infinit and 2 water bottles into my transition pack and headed off to the race venue.

I arrived at my prime time rack spot. I got the end of my row because I was at transition at the start of bike check-in and they didn't have assigned spots. After scouting the swim finish and the length of the run to my bike spot, I knew my feet would be covered in sand and dirt. I set out a towel and water bottle just for washing off my feet before putting on my socks and shoes.

My support crew called and were in a massive line waiting to get on buses from the Grumpy and Dopey parking lots at Magic Kingdom. Here's a picture of the line courtesy of Orion:
The support crew was my buddy Orion, daughter Elena, her mother and her husband, Amber and Joe. They had brought horns and other noise makers to keep my pumped up during the run loops. They arrived on the bus and I showed them where to watch various parts of the race. They went to the swim start to get a spot to watch the pros while I went to stand in a massive bathroom line.

I got back to the start line to see the pros go off at 6:20am and I had only 49 more minutes til the start of my wave. I was just mulling around watching each wave head out to start the day. It became more light but the sky was overcast so using clear goggles was going to work out fine for the swim. A wave was about to start when the announcer took a poll, he asked the wave who was doing their first half ironman and a good number of hands went up. He asked if anyone was doing their first ever triathlon. I think he asked as a joke because when he saw one participant raise their hand he immediately blurted out that they were crazy. A bunch of other participant chuckled and I thought uh-oh...

3 ways to drown in a Disney Lake

• 1st ever triathlon
• 1st Half Ironman
• 1st open water swim

Swim
My wave was up so I waited for everyone to wade out into the water a little bit and I positioned myself on the right side(buoys left, swimming counter-clockwise) behind everyone. I would wade out during the start with everyone, let them go, and try to catch a little draft before they left me in the dust. The horn sounded and we were off. I started to swim well actually started to flail like a drown victim as I really couldn't catch my breath. I decided to breathe every stroke to get through this nervous hyperventilating. I got comfortable and went to my every 3rd stroke pattern. I was still in the mist of my wave which was weird. I was suppose to be the slowest. So I got some bumping and grinding going on..this wasn't too bad but I really didn't want to keep whacking people so I just tried to find clear water and swim around slower swimmers. This required a ton of sighting for the first 400 yards at least. I got comfortable and stopped running into people and just swam. Every so often I would get kicked by previous wave swimmer who was breast stroking or side stroking. I tried to stay right but kept ending up right in the middle of the corridor created by the buoys and kayakers and into a bunch of swimmers. I thought I would never see that frickin red turn buoy. I saw it and proceeded to make the turn which went great. On this part of the course, I was able to really swim smoothly and focus on my stroke without much bumping. I made the last turn to start heading back to the beach. During this section, faster swimmers from waves behind me would pass and I'd try to grab some free draft. I was actually able to stay with one swimmer for a good while which was nice. Luckily they have a pretty good kick as I was able to follow the feet bubbles. As we were going it was getting more crowded for some reason, I sighted and saw that the kayakers had squeezed us down to about 20 yards wide. WTF!! I mean really did they need to do this. This being upset was replaced by jubilation as I saw this brown boat house during my normal breathing. I had scoped out this house the previous day as a good landmark that I was about 200 yards or so left. I wasn't going to DROWN, I was going to make it. I started to make out the bottom and finally my hand hit sand. I was up and running out of the lake onto the beach. I saw my support crew.

Total swim time via my watch 42:30...42:22 prelim result. I thought not bad considering I was sighting and bumpin a lot.

T1
This took forever...it seemed to be easily 300 yards. There was a line of us as I tried to make my around slower people here and there but not much. I got to my bike and started going through my routine. I washed off my completely caked on dirt feet, put on my jersey, my helmet, and sunglasses although it was still overcast. I put my socks on and shoes. I really don't like cycling barefoot. I grabbed my 2(remember this number) full infinit bottles and put them in my jersey pockets with 3 total counting that my aero bottle was full. This was so I could do a running mount since my rear hydration causes the bottles to be higher than my seat. I left my rack and started jogging. We had to run through this maze after leaving the bike rack area. It was easily 200 yards past the transition exit before we could mount. I had 5:21 or so for T1 and prelim had 4:43.

Bike
I got going on the bike and took off my Keo cleat covers(this allows me to run without slipping). I was moving along through the first part of the course and looked down to see my speed, 23-24ish. I immediately toned it down and just started cruising. I started drinking water but waited til about 15 minutes before downing a few clif blocks before starting my Infinit. The Infinit was sweet as it was still cloudy and probably only 70 something. I wasn't as thirsty so I was having problems with drinking and keeping up on my nutrition. The course was wide open and so passing previous wave participants was easy. The wind wasn't bad but I think it was just because the bike, 808s and Giro Advantage 2 was so aero.

And then it happened, it started to sprinkle around the 25 mile mark or so. I immediately started cursing. Are you kidding me...I can't believe this. I scheduled this half because I knew it would be nice and hot and sunny. It's always "AFTERNOON" thunderstorms and I was going to be done around noon so I figured I'd be safe. WRONG!! It started coming down and roads became soaked. This was going to get dangerous...new bike (3 rides), race wheels, aero position, and tons of other cyclists on rear discs and other race wheels. And right on queue, my feet became soaked. Oh joy!! I immediately thought wow this really sucks but at least it's not cold. Luckily, I had packed a spare set of socks in my transition bag. Thank god but my T2 time would suffer because I would need to change socks. It stopped raining and the roads began to dry as there was some wind. I was still feeling great and my speed was decent with decent legs.

Just when you thought it couldn't get more dangerous, it did. Let me just say the course was perfect up until this point. It was wide open, smooth roads, just great. We arrived onto this 2 lane road with no shoulder and it was totally open to traffic. There was a long line of cars right next to us and a long line of bikes as well all going about 15-18mph. Then it got worse as we were directed onto a sidewalk for about 400 yards to evade construction on this same road. I think overall this was a 2 mile section. Wild stuff...I still can't believe this happened on such a great super fast course up til section and after this section. I guess it was just the best they could do.

I proceeded through the last aid station and grabbed a gatorade. I had been having slight stomach issues trying to keep on top of my nutrition. I figured maybe a little gatorade would help. I hadn't finished my 2nd bottle of infinit and went to reach for the 2nd rear bottle and it wasn't there. I was like what the hell. Where did it go? I couldn't believe it was gone. I only remember one slightly big bump but nothing really harsh. Wild...maybe I didn't put it in right but I felt for sure it made it into the cage at the start. Maybe stole it? The water bottle thief...bastard! So I started to drink the gatorade and thank god I had it. My socks had started to dry out and then it started to pour again about 6 miles away from the finish of the bike.

I made my through the Fort Wilderness campground towards the end of bike. I started to spin out my legs and just get them ready for my run. I looked at my computer and it read 57 something. Ugh oh great a long bike course. I felt great and was ready to really crush the run. It would be fun trying to reel in all those folks who went past me on the bike and especially the 2 draft packs. Overall, I only did see 2 blatant draft packs go by which isn't bad for a totally flat course.

I slid off my cycling shoes and hopped off. Watch time: 2:42:47..prelim time 2:42:51. Right about my goal time and I didn't feel tired.

T2
I racked my bike and dug through my transition bag for my fresh and dry socks. I took off my totally dirty wet socks and used my towel to dry my feet the fastest possible. I put the socks on and slipped on my shoes. They were damp but not soaked because it had rained here as well as out on the course. My bike rack was quite close to the run start so off I went...1:19...prelim time: 2:07

Run
Here's where I was going to shine because the sun was still behind the clouds. I started off and looked for my support crew in the crowd but didn't see them. I figured they were closer to the loop turn so I'd see them after the first loop. I started off at a good pace and started navigating my way through runners on the course. There were already people walking. It was a constant focus to make my way through as the course was crowded. The loop started off on pavement. Nice, I was feeling good. My foot wasn't really bothering me much and my knee which I banged during my taper ride crash was sore but not bad. I hit the first mile and clicked the watch, 6:10. Uh-oh..I need to settle down so I got into a rhythm plus I was hoping it was short. The next mile started on the trail and just then the sun broke out of the clouds. I hit the 2nd mile at 6:44. Ahh much better I felt this was a good pace and if on the 3rd loop I felt great, I'd really drop the hammer. I had to take a leak so I hit a port-a-potty at the 3rd aid station so my 3rd mile was 7:11.

The trail part of the course wasn't too bad as far as footing but dodging people on it was tough. It got real hot and my jersey was immediately soaked. I was grabbing gatorade at each aid station and drinking as much as I could while running. I really didn't feel good stomach wise with the gatorade. I grabbed a gel which happened to be vanilla and downed it with water. It still didn't help the stomach. I finished the 1st loop and saw my support crew. They were going crazy and I waved at them as I started my 2nd loop.

I still felt good and just kept clicking off the miles. I skipped my gel this loop as my stomach just didn't feel right. I figured with just gatorade I could get through the last loop. I saw my crew again as I started the last loop. Then my quads started to hurt...uh-oh..this isn't good. I immediately thought about IMC and started to worry. I started to focus on my running stride and form. I really wanted to be as efficient as possible. I made a plan to get through the trail section of the loop and start pushing once I hit the pavement which would be about a mile to go. There was a section on the trail that just took forever and I recorded my slowest mile, 7:37. Ugh, I suck. My dreams goals of sub 1:30 were gone. I had no idea of my total run but I just knew I had gone too slow with that mile time. I finished and clicked the watch one last time and it read 5:05:16. Damn so close to my goal but man I was really worried. I was hoping to feel good about the upcoming Ironman and now I feel worse.

The prelim run time was 1:33:15. It was good for 39th overall run time. I was hoping for that sub 1:30 which would yield a top 20 run time. Damn..I suck and really need to get some longer bricks in training. A hour run isn't long enough..I'm going to need a 2 hour run after a 5+ hour ride to really get the legs ready hopefully.

Post Race
My quads are totally trashed. I got a huge blister on my right foot from dodging runners throughout the run. The finisher shirt was okay but the finisher hat is awesome. Just exactly what I wanted and thought about buying at the expo. I went to Charley's and ate the 50 oz porterhouse steak with no problem but the massive chocolate cake beat me again just like the last time I was there. I hung my head in shame. My buddy Orion was so excited about the whole event that he wants to it next year. He doesn't own a bike so I'm going to get him all set up. So I'll be doing this event next year with him. It'll be great.