Race Report - 2016 Ironman 70.3 California

Yesterday, I participated in the 2016 Ironman 70.3 California in Oceanside, CA. This was my second time doing a 70.3 race. Since I haven't been able to shake this right hip injury for a long time, I didn't really want to do the race. But at the same time, didn't want to forfeit the costs of entry fee, pre-paid hotel, etc. So, I decided to do it, but to take things easy and not push it.

Because of the injury, a new job and some other family issues, my training volume this year has been extremely low. I took a quick glance at my Garmin and Strava data for 2016. I've done roughly the following to prepare for this race:

Swimming: 5 pool sessions and one short open water swim to make sure my wetsuit fit.

Cycling: 11 bike rides, including the last minute test of my tri bike before I drove down for the race.

Running: 19 runs, ranging from 3 miles to 13.1 miles, including the Surf City 1/2, and the Firecracker 10k. These were all at slow pace. I think I've gone under 8 minutes/mile for maybe 1 or 2 miles.

Needless to say, this is NOT much training. However, I figured it was enough to get by, so I could at least finish, and hopefully enjoy myself while I did it.

Pre-Race:

I drove down to Oceanside on Thursday, got squared away in our hotel, and headed over near the pier to take care of athlete check-in. You learn pretty quickly that Oceanside has two areas of concern to triathletes: the harbor area (swim start, T1/T2) and the pier area (athlete check-in, expo, race finish). The check-in process was pretty quick and painless. However, I felt like they didn't do a very good job explaining the logistics for the Friday bike drop off, how you should get to the transition/swim on race morning, etc. I figured most of it out by talking to other people who have done the race before. The Friday bike check in went fine, though I felt it was unnecessary. Most people decided to leave their bikes, but bring all their gear Saturday morning to avoid it getting blown around in the wind, or wet from sitting near the ocean all night.

Race Morning:

I woke up at 5am, ate 1/2 cup of oatmeal, grabbed my transition bag and made the ~20 minute walk from my hotel to the transition/swim start area. I loaded my bike up with my liquids, and laid out my gear. The air temperature felt pretty cold, so I wasn't sure what I wanted to wear on the ride, so I wore a tri top under my wetsuit, but had a cycling jersey standing by to change into in case I thought it would be too cold. Once I had everything laid out, I grabbed my swim gear and morning clothes bag and headed out of the swim entrance. I waited as long as I could to put on my wetsuit, since I was in the 21st wave out of a total of 23 waves. I'd be waiting a bit before I got into the water. I found a place to stand and watch the pro men and women go off. And I was still there when they exited the water. It was cool to see guys like Andy Potts, Lionel Sanders and Jesse Thomas go running by. Since the race finished at the pier, and I was an hour away from my start, that was likely the only time I'd see the pros all day!

Swim: (1.2 miles in 39 minutes)

After a long wait, my wave finally hopped into the water, and made the short swim to the start buoys. I was only there for about 30 seconds before we were sent off. I wasn't warmed up at all, but wasn't concerned. I settled into a nice smooth and easy stroke. The yellow buoys and the red turn buoys were easy to spot, so navigation on the way out was a piece of cake. Someone came along side me and splashed water directly into my mouth, which made me gag/dry heave for a few seconds, but aside from that, things started off well. I never quite got clear of other swimmers. There was a lot of physical contact the entire way, but nothing I couldn't handle. We made the 3rd turn and headed back toward the swim exit. The sun was just up on the horizon making things tough to see. I could no longer make out the color of buoys. I could just see their black silhouettes. My dark amber mirrored goggles are awesome, but it would take an astronaut's helmet to kill off the glare that was on the water. We finally made the slight right turn heading towards the exit, which made the glare a non-factor. Before I knew it, I was making the sharp right turn to the exit ramp. I expected my time to be 43 to 45 minutes, but was surprised to see 39 as I exited the water. I can say without exaggeration that this was extremely effortless for me. The run to my bike was more taxing than that swim. So, despite almost no swimming this year, I was happy with that performance.

T1: ( 8 minutes! Yes, I know, slow)

The run to my bike was pretty long, and when I got there, I could see someone had bumped into the section where my bike was racked. My gear was scattered, and my helmet and sunglasses actually rolled under the rack to the other side. I had to get on all fours and crawl under the rack to retrieve them. Once I got everything together, I decided it was warm enough to ride in my tri top, so I just got my helmet, glasses, and HR monitor on, and started the long jog to the bike exit. My mount went OK. I had to avoid a couple of riders swerving on the way out, but no big deal.

Bike: (56 miles in 2 hours 56 minutes)

The first 2 miles of the bike course are a little weird. I remember at one point being in what looked like an alley with dumpsters on the side, being warned by volunteers that we had bumps ahead. Once we were on normal roads, I settled into a nice rythm. I remember in my last 70.3 (St. George) I was surprised at how many cyclists were blowing past me. But since I was in nearly the last wave, I was actually passing a lot of people. However, at around mile 12, I saw Ben Vanmarcke fly by. I wanted to ride up to him and say hi, but after a few seconds of chasing, I realized the wattage cost was too much. He was moving! For the most part, it was easy to maintain the level of effort I wanted, which was fairly light. I seemed to be hanging around the 20 to 21 mph average speed. We hit a No Pass Zone and I got stuck behind some very slow riders (like 12 mph slow). But I didn't let it bother me. Things sped up nicely after that. Nearing the halfway point, I saw Lynda Newman and said hi. She seemed to be cruising along very well. And then a couple of miles later we finally hit the first climb. I will admit, this caught me off guard. It was fairly short, but way steeper than I had heard. I found myself in my 39x28 gear quickly, and was pushing big watts to keep myself moving. I had to really buckle down and focus to get over this one. The next two climbs were progressively easier. And we had to deal with the other 25MPH speed limited No Pass Zone. Now that I have seen the descent, I see no reason to have a speed limit there. But whatever. Once the climbing was done, there was a stretch where I got knocked around a bit by some crosswinds, and finally in the last 8 miles, we hit a long stretch of nearly direct headwinds. And like everyone said, tons of riders were smoked, up out of aero position and I easily picked them off. I had done well conserving energy all day, and was able to stay aero and keep a very even pace during this last part of the ride. Finally, we made our way back to the harbor and to T2. Once again, I was happy with the pace I was able to ride, given the training, and my perceived effort. This was a pretty easy effort for me. I definitely felt some accumulated fatigue, but was well within myself. I did a couple of 56+ milers in the 2:40 to 2:45 range in the past month, but over an easier course. I think if I had wanted to, I could have ridden this course in 2:45 to 2:48 or so, as a race effort. I thought 20 mph was a reasonable average speed goal, and I ended up at 19, which was fine. I'm happy with the sub-3 hour effort.

T2: (6 minutes 30 seconds)

Another very slow transition. The jog to my rack was actually very short. I was looking forward to a fast transition to make up for a terrible T1. However, once again, my gear was ransacked. One of my running shoes was gone from my mat (I found it under someone's wetsuit near where my helmet had bounced earlier in the day). I had placed socks in the shoes, and the one under the wetsuit was damp. So I dug through my bag for a spare pair of socks (which I had!) so I could at least start off the run with dry feet. I also took time to stretch my lower back and do a quick hip mobilization stretch I learned in physical therapy. I had a long run out of transition to the actual run start, but was finally on my way.

Run: (13.1 miles in 2 hours 33 minutes)

The run has been my achilles heel since I began this sport, and I knew today would be no different. I originally planned to run to each aid station, walk for 1 minute, rinse and repeat until I finished. Instead, I ran the first 2 miles, then sort of took random walk breaks. I had absolutely no time goal. I just wanted to finish, with minimal damage to my hip, which has been healing nicely. Anytime there was a hill, I'd walk, and anytime I let my heart rate creep up too much, I'd walk to get it down. I felt a little disconnected from the race at this point, since I was purposely not putting out much effort, but it was fun getting to talk to people, and to cheer on the PTC folks I saw running (Alvin, Ben, and Peter). I saw my wife, daughter, and my dog at the top of the steep pitch at the pier a bit after mile 8 (my daughter was actually asleep!). And from there, I just kept up the same effort. Once I reached mile 12, I wanted to pick up the pace and finish strong. I saw one last aid station and decided to swig a Red Bull and go for it, only to realize the finish line was only a few hundred yards away. I felt kind of lame, but went ahead and ran it in strong, doing the hi-fiving, etc. My family was at the finish line, and the volunteers let my daughter hang my medal around my neck. It was pretty cool. This was far from a race effort, but I still had a fun time. I will say, even when just doing it for fun, a 70.3 is no joke. It was a challenge and I'm glad I did it.

Total Time: 6 hours, 25 minutes

This was the exact same time I ran at St. George, which is a much more difficult course. However, I was trained for St. George. Here? Not so much. At any rate, I promised myself that after this race, I would discontinue racing until I was 100% healthy. So, this is it for awhile. I'll be swimming and biking a lot, but no running, and no registering for races until I am race ready. Finishing is fun, but I'm through with limping through these events, not being able to give it my full effort.

Details:

Mostly for my own information, here are some facts about my race:

Nutrition:

For this race, I fueled with nothing but fluids. Absolutely no solids whatsoever. On the bike I drank 48 ounces of Infinit Go Far, and probably 2/3 of one of those Gatorade bottles you get at the aid stations. On the run, I drank Red bull, and/or Gatorade at every aid station except for one. I usually paired it with a cup of water. I did have some stomach sloshing at around mile 5 of the run, so I skipped one station and it went away. No stomach issues, no cramps, no energy problems.

Gear:

Swim - I used my Roka Maverick Elite full sleeve wetsuit. No problems. Water temp was recorded at 62 degrees, which I had no issues with. My swim at Corona del Mar the previous weekend seemed much colder. I used my Roka X1 goggles in Dark Amber Mirrored color. No fogging, no leaking. However, there was a stretch of the swim where the glare was extreme. I don't think any goggle could have cut through it, however.

Bike - I rode my Centric Prolog, with 53/39 oval chainrings, and a 11-28 11-speed cassette (Ultegra Di2). The gearing was fine, except for that first steep climb. Compact or mid-compact chainrings would have come in handy. Having the bigger gears never really became an advantage like it did at St. George, for example. Wheels were carbon clinchers with butyl tubes (60mm front, 88mm rear). I had a Torhans 30 oz. aero bottle, and kept a 24 ounce bottle on my seat tube. The Torhans bottle worked well, though I made a mess when refilling it with gatorade in the aid stations.

Run - I ran in Hoka One One Bondi 4 shoes. They felt great the entire time. I used ultra thin no-show socks from RoadRunner Sports. No blisters, hot spots, etc.

Race Location:

The race was in Oceanside, CA. We stayed at La Quinta Inn on North Coast Hwy, since it was close to other PTC members hotels, and was pet friendly (my dog goes everywhere with us). The hotel itself was fine, however, it wasn't in the best part of town. Directly next door was a Gentleman's Club, which attracted some unsavory people, to say the least. Also, most of the time I would walk from hotel to car, there would be vagrants hanging around, and almost always smoking marijuana. I understand people's freedoms, etc. but for what the hotel cost, I'd hope for a slightly nicer atmosphere. In fact, the marijuana smoking seemed to be a huge trend in that town. Everywhere we went we encountered it. To my shock, the people in the back part of the Athlete Check-in (handing out the t-shirts) were smoking weed!

My overall impression was that the event was decent, but not great. I didn't care much for the city of Oceanside, overall. The course was pretty good, and it is hard to beat an Ironman event this close to home. However, if I am looking for a 70.3 this time of year in 2017, I think I'll go back to St. George instead.