Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3

After Oceanside 70.3 I felt very confident that I could put together a strong a performance at Texas 70.3.  Competing in back to back 70.3 races is not easy but I felt my performance at Oceanside was not indicative of my fitness level and my legs felt surprisingly good throughout the week.  I was looking forward to having a great race in Texas. 

The week of workouts was relatively mellow.  I joined Tower 26 for a few swim workouts and was feeling great in the water.  I only had two concerns going into the race, my ear was still bothering from getting kicked on Saturday and my feet were full of blisters.  I saw a doctor about my ear, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve to treat the blisters (crazy glue), so I was ready to race. 

On Thursday, I headed out to Dallas to meet up with a friend and then drive to Galveston on Friday.

Swim: 23:35

I wanted to avoid the hits to the head that I received last weekend and lined up in the first row of athletes.  I lined up to the right side of the starting line and soon realized I may have lined up on the wrong side.  The gun sounded and a pack of 15-20 athletes formed about 30 meters to the left of me.  At this point I had to make a decision, stick with the four swimmers I was with, or cut to the left and try to join the first group.  If I cut left, I feared I would not make the group.  I decided to stick with the group on the right in the hopes that we would merge at one of the buoys.  From that point on, the swim was rather uneventful.  I did swim the 1.2 mile course with one of the greatest triathletes in the world, Chris Lietto (the eventual winner of the race).  I exited the water in 24th place about 1:00 behind the main group. 

  

Bike: 2:13:59 

The swim had not gone as planned.  I had hoped to come out with the first group and then work with the first group on the bike.  The bike course was flat, however, there was a 15-25 mph headwind/crosswind for the first 28 miles and a tailwind/crosswind on the last 28 miles. 

After a quick transition, I jumped onto the bike and began looking for athletes to ride with.  I came out of the water with Chris Lietto, maybe the best cyclist in the world of triathlon, Kevin Everett and Michael Lavato.  Lietto is too strong, so I never thought of riding with him, but Lavato would be a good guy to try to stay with.  Unfortunately that would not be the case today.  The crosswind prevented any benefits of riding with another rider and I rode the 54 of the 56 miles solo, either passing athletes that were struggling in the wind or being passed by stronger riders.  The ride was going well for the first 20 miles or so when I then started to have some stomach problems.  I am not sure of the cause of my upset stomach, but over the next 35 miles, I the fluids I took in over the bike all came back up.  The only nice thing about the strong winds were that when I got sick, it blew away in the wind.  This affected my caloric intake.  I am not sure how many of the 800 calories I wanted to consume actually stayed consumed but I struggled into T2 and wanted to give the run a go.  

Run 1:30:11

I started the run with a positive attitude and I thought I could put together a sub 1:20 run and come in under 4:00 for the race.  The run course was a four loop course and within each loop there were many turns and round abouts. 

The run started off well and I put together a sub 6:00 minute first mile.  However,  after the first turn around I started to cramp in my right hamstring and began to lose my focus.  My form was falling apart and my mile times were increasing.  Miles 2 was a 6:40 mile.  Mile 3 a 6:33 mile.  Then it went down hill, the next 10 miles were very tough.  I was now running 6:40-7:30 minute miles and losing ground to the guys ahead of me.  The guys behind me were also running up to me.      

After the first lap I really planned on stopping and calling it a day some where on the run course.  Today was not my day and I was running poorly.  I thought, I'll run 3 laps, about 9.5 miles, and that will be a good workout.  However, with about a mile to go in the third lap, a fellow pro and friend. Lewis Elliot caught me.  I've known Lewis for about 10 years, since we first met at the Malibu Triathlon in 2001.  Both Lewis and I were having a tough race, so after a short hello, I told him I was planning to quit at the turn around.  Lewis quickly replied don't quit, walk this in if you have to.  He was right, it's not my day, but I needed to keep going show some perseverance and finish this race.  The final lap was similar to the first 3 laps I never felt good and slogged my way through to the finish.  I was not so proud of the time or my place in the race, however, I am proud I kept going on a very difficult day for me, it will only make me stronger for future races.  

Final Thoughts

I definitely did not perform up to my abilities today but as to why I am still searching for a few answers.  It's unlikely there was a single reason for my sub-par race but rather a combination of causes that affected my performance.  First, my fitness level on the bike and run need to improve.  Second, I need to work on nutrition and avoid getting sick on the bike.  Third, I need to minimize my mistakes on the swim.  Fourth, and finally I need to take into consiferation my health.  I've been experiencing a bit of a flare up the past few weeks and it likely affected my performance towards the end of the race.   

Next up is some lots more training.  I need to refocus on my bike and run and hope to have some better legs for the next race.  The next race will be Florida 70.3 on May 15.