My final race of the year, Superfrog 70.3. The original half-iron distance race, in its
35th year. See the fabulous
history of this race here.
The race is about 30 minutes from my house at 5:00 AM
traffic, so no overnight travel needed.
I pull into the parking lot at 5:30, and relax in the van for a
bit. It will not take long to set up
transition, and my wave starts at 7:25.
I figured better to stay off my feet for a few minutes.
Getting restless, I head over to transition. I start unpacking my tri-bag. $*&^t!
That gets a look from a lady setting up her transition. I realized I left my bottles in the fridge at
home. Which included my 700 calorie
bottle of Carbo Pro. Okay, they do
hand-ups on the bike so I can get water and electrolytes. Checking my bag I see I have two Honey
Stinger Waffles, and two packets of Salty Caramel Gu. Almost enough calories. I should be okay. Still annoyed with myself, and I give myself
the dumb-ass of the day award.
The lady that heard me came over and gave me an extra gel
too, that got my calories even closer to what I needed. They would just come in a different form. Thank you, that gel came in handy.
Transition is set up, take care of business, and wait. About 6:30 I put my wetsuit on. I wander down to the ocean and look at the
waves. So much better than last
year. We had regular sets of six footers
last year. And while the forecast said
one to two, they were about two to four.
I go in to get wet and warm up a bit.
The water feels warm, has to be over 65, which is good for this time of
year.
As I get out the elites/pros/and relays start. 25 minutes to go. 15 minutes to go. 5 minutes to go. The sun is up, and it is already clear and
bright. The inbound portion of the swim
could be tough to site. I have smoke
goggles, but it is bright!
30 seconds. GO! I trot into the water. When it gets to my shins I start to
swim. Had a few swells to duck, but no
issues, and I am past the break. Now I
start catching other swimmers. Most
folks run in faster than me, but I typically swim a bit above the top half of
my age group. Felt like I got to the
turn buoy pretty quick. The first loop
was uneventful, I hit the shore; but wait there’s more. This is a two lap swim. A 200 yard run down the beach and back in
again. This time the waves seemed a bit
bigger. Got through, but the last one
stopped my progress for a second. Again
the swim was pretty tame by triathlon standards, a couple of spots of crowding,
a couple of bumps, but for the first time in a while I didn’t get mauled at
some point. It was bright, and
sighting was a challenge coming in, but not awful.
Out of the water, and up the beach in the soft, deep sand,
slightly uphill. Across the timing mat;
hit the lap timer on the Garmin. 39:38.
Into transition.
Wetsuit off, cycling shoes on, helmet on, get bike and
go. Out of transition in 2:37.
The bike course is flat.
If you know San Diego and you want a flat
ride, you go to Coronado
It was breezy, the flags were flapping. Going north you could feel the
resistance. Going south you could feel
some help. Each of the four laps this
feeling increased. Still without any
real climbs speed was pretty consistent.
I tried to control the effort to keeping the lactic acid clear, if I
started to feel it, I went one gear easier and upped the cadence. The crowds along the bike course were about
half of what they were last year. A
certain Texan with a few (now expunged) cycling titles raced last year.
I played tag with a few out there. I was trying hard to sustain a steady effort,
but with the winds, if you got behind a group you would start to go faster as
you were protected. Even tri-legal
drafting, staying four bike lengths behind, you get the benefit especially into
the wind. This is a good way to save a
bit of energy.
Final lap ends, into transition and off the bike
(2:48:12). Bike racked, shoes off,
helmet off, socks on, running shoes on, hat on, and out of transition.
(3:16).
The run. Oh the
run. 5.5 miles is on the beach. Roughly 3 out and 2.5 back. The middle 7.6 is on groomed trail and
pavement. The good news is the tide was
out, this meant we could run on the firmer section of the beach; and only had
soft sand to and from the water’s edge, and the far turn-around where the force
us onto the soft sand for a bit.
This was a strange run.
I felt pretty good going out. I
was planning on pushing a bit when I got to the pavement section. The weird part is I feel like I hit a wall
about mile 5. I really struggled
especially miles 7-9. 8-9 was my slowest
of the day. When I got back to the
beach, I was running better. As it
typical I was getting passed left and right.
When you swim and bike mid-pack and run back of the pack, you get
passed. A lot. I actually did pass a few on the final
stretch coming in. One last trudge up
the soft sand to the road, and about a 300 yard dash to the finish line. The announcer welcomes me back in. Not quite, okay, not nearly as cool as having
Mike Riley tell me I am an IRONMAN three months ago, but always nice to hear
your name blasted out. Just like that,
it was over. (2:40:02 on the run). Total
time 6:13:55. This was my fourth
70.3 I have improved in time with each
one. 6:52 in Austin Oceanside Oceanside
A really cool medal this year, a bit of ice cream, a cookie,
a freshly grilled hot dog and a Dr. Pepper.
Feeling better after that, off to transition to pack-up.
As I was getting my stuff together I heard the announcer
welcome Irina in. We just met a few
weeks ago on a swim, it was her first 70.3 so I went over to say
congratulations, met her husband, and went back to pack up. I needed to get to my phone!
What is so important about my phone? We have a small group that does swims on
Sunday morning. Most of us were racing
today in different events.
I see some results from others, and am pleased that
Sugarmagnolia did Tiki Swim, her first 2.4 mile open water. Others had not checked in yet, but everyone
did finish their events. Speedy Ted did
Tiki as well, and Andrea did the Tahoe Trifecta (3 days, 3 half
marathons)! My legs ache just thinking
about that.
Overall it was a good way to finish the 2013 race
season. I am happy with my results, and
proud of my friends for conquering their events.
Next on the schedule: California 70.3 Oceanside., well next
is a trip to Arizona
Gear Used:
Swim: Blue Seventy
Fusion Wetsuit, Tyr Rx smoke goggles, race issued swim cap
Bike: Specialized Transition Comp, 52-36 mid-compact
crankset, 11-28 cassette, Williams 58-85 carbon clinchers.
Run: Hoka One One Bondi B
Nutrition: Honey Stinger waffles, Gu (not the planned
nutrition, see above)
You can follow me on Twitter @stevecycles200
