Ironman 70.3 World Championships Race Report

Swim
Pre-race expectation: 31:00-34:00  /  Actual: 34:11

I walked out of the hotel at 4:45a and couldn't believe my eyes...RAIN, in Vegas??!! Apparently it rains 27 days out of the year. Oh well, everyone has to deal with it...HTFU!! The rain stayed steady until about 10:00a (with 10 miles remaining on the bike). Andrea drove me to the swim start/T1 but there was a major traffic jam going into Lake Las Vegas. At 5:45, with 15 minutes until T1 closed, I made the decision to jump out of the car and walk the remaining mile to T1 in my flip flops on a slippery sidewalk. Luckily I didn't fall flat on my ass, although I came close several times. I got to T1 with 5 minutes before when I thought they'd close transition but luckily they were pretty lenient about it. After a quick and rushed transition set-up I got in the queue for the swim start and bided my time trying not to think about how uncomfortable my ribs already felt. I knew it was going to take some mental fortitude to get through the first 1.2 miles of this race. Sure enough, I got in the water, took a stroke toward the starting buoys and felt major screaming from that area. I started on the outside edge about 2-3 rows back with the intention of taking a straight line toward the 6th or 7th buoy (the course was sort of banana-shaped).

View of the swim start from the other side of Lake Las Vegas

I didn't experience too much scrum in the first few hundred meters and really didn't have much more contact than normal the whole way around. My plan was to find some feet, swim a comfortable tempo effort and try to block out the pain. The pain was really bad in the first 500 meters, then it got a little better (maybe I just got used to it), then it escalated significantly in the final 500 meters. At that point I was putting 100%+ power into my catch and pull on the left side and about 50% power on the right side. I got through the swim in 34:11 (slowest 70.3 swim in MANY years, although it seemed like most AGers had slower swims by a couple minutes...my Garmin had the course at 1.3 miles), about 4 minutes slower than what I would expect if I was in optimal swim form and a minute or 2 slower than my pre-race expectation. It was quite a long run from swim exit, around the southern edge of the lake and into T1. The rain made T1 a freaking mess.

Dammit...still raining!

Bike
Pre-race expectation: 2:35-2:45 / Actual: 2:42:22

My plan was to ride a hair under 240 watts for the first 20-30 minutes (until I completed the first major climb), then get in some nutrition, then lock in on 250 watts. But since it wasn't as sunny and hot as expected I let some higher power efforts come. The power was coming pretty easily as I was seeing numbers well above 250 watts, especially on the many small climbs coming out of Lake Las Vegas (1st 5-10 miles). The rib pain was bad, especially when I would get out of the saddle, but not too bad when I was aero, so I had no excuse to get out of aero and mash the pedals on the climbs. The rain made the bike miserable. I was really looking forward to taking in the scenery in Lake Mead National Park but it took a lot of focus to ride cautiously on the slick roads.

The course lived up to the hype with lots of rollers in the National Park.

By about mile 30-35 my focus and interest in pushing my power goal started waning. I just wanted to get out of this steady rain. It was probably an indication that my nutrition wasn't working all that well (mostly Perform, Bonk Breakers and Chomps), but I was getting it down gullet like I planned. I should note that the improved front-end hydration system that the boys from Speedfil helped me install on Saturday worked flawlessly! In the last 15 miles the rain finally relented, plus we were now on flat roads - me likey! Now the power started coming back. I could see sunny skies toward Henderson so I knew the run was going to be hot so I didn't go too crazy with the power although I felt like I could have pushed some much harder efforts. With 10 miles to go I had to pee pretty bad (at least I knew I was hydrated) and I could feel the urge to drop a deuce, too (dammit...too much food consumed the day prior and at breakfast which is a mistake I commonly make before races). I decided to wait to do both until I got to T2. I ended up with an NP of 241 watts, about 10 below my hot/sunny day goal which I attribute to the last 10-15 miles with the National Park when I was losing focus. I didn't experience too much problem with the draft packs, although there were some offenders especially with the pointy end of the AGs that started behind mine. I saw quite a few draft marshals but they seemed to be cutting people a lot of slack which sort of pissed me off. I always pride myself on racing clean so at least I kept my streak going.


Run
Pre-race expectation/goal: sub-1:45:00 / Actual: 1:37:56

I spent about 45 seconds to a minute in the porto in T2 but it was definitely a good decision. I headed out of T2 feeling pretty good physically and mentally ready to put in a solid run effort. The sun was out and it was warming up by this time...exactly what I had hoped for. I formulated a plan for my run during the last hour of the bike...my stretch goal for 2014 is to run a 3:20 Ironman marathon so I decided that given these hot/humid conditions and the difficult run course this would be a good test to see if I could run that pace or faster in this race (sub-1:40 or 7:37/mi). Given the 3 loop run course my plan was to get faster with each loop. Coming out of T2 you descend for the first mile when you're feeling good and have great spectator support which makes it tough to run a chill pace, but I stayed disciplined with a 7:15ish split. Then it was 2 miles of a steady climb before descending 1 mile to complete the first loop. Then repeat 2 more times.

On the downhill

I averaged 7:30/mi for the 1st loop, 7:23/mi for the 2nd and 7:24/mi for the 3rd loop for a run split of 1:37:56. It definitely got tough on the 3rd loop as I slowed a bit more than I would have liked on the final 2 mile climb but I finished with a solid kick in the final mile (downhill). I also had several small victories of putting time on some people I was marking throughout the run. I also outkicked some guys in the final 1/4 mile whom I was going back and forth with over the last half of the run. My hydration was spot on throughout the run...Perform and water at every aid for the first 9 miles, then Coke and water at every aid for the final 4 miles. I also took in 4 Chomps and 2 gels in the first 9 miles. Energy was good throughout the run with some expected dips in the final 2 miles.

Home stretch

I finished feeling pretty pleased with my effort, especially the fact that I stuck to my run pace plan and beat my goal. I was a little disappointed I didn't go under 5 hours (this was my slowest 70.3 time since my first one 10 years ago and it was also my slowest swim, bike AND run splits for a 70.3 in recent memory). I was really disappointed by my bike split and somewhat with my effort there, especially letting the power fade from miles 30-40. All in all it was a great experience being able to toe the line at another world championship event - such a humbling experience racing with some uber-talented athletes on a very challenging course. It's definitely not a course I want to go back to, though.

Done!

As far as the ribs...as soon as I crossed the finish line the muscles in that area went into full spasm. I couldn't take a deep breath and couldn't lift my right arm. I immediately went to the massage tent to get things loosened up. It helped a little but it's definitely worse than it's been since this issue first surfaced 2 months ago. As I write this it's now 2 days later and I still can't get in a deep breath, cough, sneeze, blow my nose or clear my throat/lungs without significant pain. An MRI is scheduled this week to find out once and for all what is up. Hello off-season!!

Many THANK YOUs are owed for all the support.  Of course, #1 being Andrea for making the trip with me and enjoying a nice vacation sans kids for the first time in a VERY long time.  Happy 14 year anniversary baby!  All the pre-race mojo and support from friends and family was SO cool!  Marty and Kristin at Amphibian Multisport - can't wait for the world to see your new shop opening up in Libertyville soon!  And the folks at Speedfil, Powertap and Gu for everything they provide to get an athlete ready to race and for their support on the course.