Mike Roberts' Miami 70.3 Race Report
Short Summary: Swim: 39:29 (not a typo) Bike: 2:31:19 (22.21mph/195~NP) Run: 1:43:21 (7:53/mi) Total: 4:57:35 AG: 10/339 OA: 151/3135
Of the more than 100 triathlons I've done in the last 20 years, this was one of the craziest: chop, current, seaweed, wind, heat, a bridge and 3,200 spandexed sardines crammed into tight little race can.
Prep: I was in good shape and 95% healthy for this one. My focus race is still 15 weeks off, but I definitely keyed on this race to make a run at my 4:47 PR. This course has been fast in the past, so I expected it to be today as well.
Pre race: I arrived at TA this morning to the news that 3,200 people were starting this race. Oh crap. I've raced here before, and neither the narrow bike course nor narrower run course can handle more than 1,500, maybe 2,000. As it turned out, these goofs totally jumped the shark by allowing 3,200 people on this very tight course. 77 countries and 44 states were representing. English was the 3rd or 4th most commonly spoken language (which was fine, as I lived in Costa Rica and knew what most were screaming during the swim). The last piece of news: wetsuits were out.
Swim: 39:29 AG: 19/339 OA: 320/3135
I was in Wave 16 at 8:23am. The pros went at 7:25 right before sunrise. I sat on the shore and watched their entire swim. Water was glassy smooth in the protected, saltwater bay, and they looked effortless. The next 3 or 4 waves went off with no issues, most moving fast and smooth. Then the sun rose above the clouds, and a good 10mph breeze instantly hit us in the face. The water quickly turned to chop, and the swim turned into a big mess. At the buoy 100m into it, two people stopped and held on. Both were eventually drug back to shore, their races over in less than 3 minutes. For the next 20 minutes, I saw one water rescue vehicle after another bringing swimmers ashore. I actually was happy because I can swim in rough water, so my advantage over the competition just grew. Careful what you ask for. 
Jumped in with the rest of 16, immediately noticed the chop and the current. It took effort to fight the current and stay at the start line. At the horn, I quickly separated and had clean water. Stroke felt good. But within 100m, I ran right into 8 to 10 guys from the wave 4 minutes in front of us, just bobbing. For the next 10 minutes, I had to swim over or around hundreds. They were just treading water. At the first turn around at 400m, there had to be 100 people just sitting there, many holding on to the buoy. It looked like multicolored bobblehead soup. Absolutely no way to go around this huge crowd. So, I politely advised them to swim! For the love of God! It took minutes to go 20 feet around that damn buoy. This continued all the way out past the halfway point, coming to a complete stop at least 10 or 15 times. Anger and frustration took over. My beautiful swim was being slaughtered in front of my eyes. At the third turn closest to the ocean, I swam into a giant bed of seaweed. At this point, I started chuckling. The chop was white-capping at this point. A couple more seaweed beds, and several more swim waves to weave through, and I found myself at the exit. I swam strong when I could and felt like I made up time the second half. I never saw anyone pass me, as I would have jumped on his or her toes. I figured I went :33, maybe :35 (I went :28:30 in my RR two weeks ago). Thankfully, I didn't wear my Garmin, and I didn't see a clock at the exit. If I had, I could have lost a lot of mental mojo. Craziest, most challenging swim ever. Wave 16 sucks.
T1: 1:58. The run out from the swim is at least a couple hundred yards long, and I found myself in a good, controlled sprint. Off with the speed suit, helmet and shoes on, run. Don't know how I compared to others, but I was quick.
Bike: 2:31:19, 22.21mph, 195~NP (estimated, as data is corrupted), 83%~IF. Now in 14th in my AG, 193rd OA
First 5 or 6 miles are admin through some bad areas of downtown Miami. The roads were dangerously bad. Orange spray paint everywhere, around potholes, terrible repair jobs, elevated manhole covers. Several areas were half a lane wide, so mandatory no-pass zones (3 or 4 of them). Spent most of the time in the drops just for safety. Once out on the road toward the Everglades, it was clear that we would indeed have a head/cross wind out to Mile 20. My goal was to hit between 190 and 200NP for each 5-mile lap. From the start, I started passing riders. Constantly. I wish I would have counted, because it had to be several hundred. I do know that only 3 passed me the entire ride, which is a good sign with 3,200 participants. The wind was tough, and it did blow my 808/disc around a little. At Mile 20, we turned due N, right into the 15mph wind. I fueled up before this section, knowing that I was going to bury my head for 8 miles. And I did. Chin on my forearms. I continued to pass what seemed like 10 people every minute. The wind was destroying them, many of them up in their drops. EN patience and discipline paying off. 95% of my passes were very quick, giving them no chance to draft, and I never saw anyone even try. My first 28 took 1:21, for an average of 20.5mph, and each of the laps had been between 192 and 196NP (about 83%IF). I was a little disappointed, because there was no way my weak little chicken legs could take me back to TA in 1:09 to pull off a 2:30 and give me a good shot at my PR. At the turn-around, my back, neck, and hip flexors were a little tight from the 8 miles of turtling, but the return trip fixed that quickly. I was able to sit up just a bit, get more comfortable, and blast the 8 miles at a pace that had to be 26+mph. Continued the constant passing of people, most at a 5mph differential. At around 40, about 6 cops were surrounding a pickup that had been heading towards us on the wrong side of the highway. They had the situation under control, but I had to do a little off-roading in some gravel and grass (at a very slow pace, don't worry). Only in Miami. There were some good bridge climbs around Mile 50, which was great. Out of my seat, pushed up to 220 watts. Felt great stretching the legs and hips, and it allowed me to comfortably push 201NP (85%) for the last 6 miles through the admin to TA. Ate perfectly, went through nearly 4 bottles of Perform, good salt, small pee after the turn around, no cramping, etc. Felt pretty good about the effort and confident going into the run. Oh, and those chicken legs somehow delivered the 1:09 return trip.
T2: 1:28. Again, don't know how this compares, but I pretty much nailed it: run to rack, rack it, helmet off, socks, shoes, go-bag, run.
Run: 1:43:21 (7:53/mi)
Legs had the typical heaviness leaving TA, but my turnover was good. Keep the HR down to 150. I did notice that it was surprisingly hot. Low to mid 80s, humid. The wind had hidden the heat on the bike. This run course sucks. First 1.5 miles are winding through smelly, narrow, back roads, on some uneven grass/weed sections, around the back loading area of AA Arena, then to the bridge. The bridge. It has to be a half mile up, half mile down. And pretty steep. The jog was slightly faster than a walk, but not by much. Down the backside, do some more back-road admin, turn around, go back to TA. As I climbed up the backside of the bridge, I tried to keep HR below 160, but it actually hit 160 at one point, so I pulled back. Sailed down the front side, starting to feel like I could start racing. Then, right before the 5 Mile marker, my left hamstring just locked up. No warning. Not a mild cramp, but complete lock that dropped me like a rock. I went from sub-7:30, to hobbling, to on the ground in a gutter in a couple of seconds. Serious pain. It took a good minute to stretch it out, but I couldn't run. Walked for a hundred yards or so, then started to jog. I confidently thought, this will go away, and I can make up those minutes. But it never went away. Anything below 8:00 minute pace, and the near-cramp would turn into a full cramp. This continued to the turn-around in TA and throughout the entire second loop. 8:00 minute pace was it. The course was ridiculously crowded the second loop, and the aid stations were zoos. A couple of aid stations were on one side only, serving runners coming both ways. Not kidding. In a WTC event. With 3,200 people. And it was 4 tables long with about 10 teenagers manning it. I wasn't handed anything the second loop; had to get it myself. Mostly warm water, but they did have a few ice stations on the second lap. My top and shorts were filled with ice whenever I could find it. So, for the last 6.5, I just meandered around the walking masses at 8:00 pace, stopped to serve myself at the aid stations, and pushed the effort to the finish. I was OK with the 1:43 run split, but I was hoping for well under 1:40. I didn't see the clock. Didn't care. Figured I had done a 4:50 or so. Knew there was no PR, but you can't win them all, and it should be illegal to whine about a sub-5:00. Hot bottle of water at the finish line, saw a line of 50+ for the massage, so I just packed up my stuff, grabbed a Coke, and drove home.
Parting Thoughts: I have no issues with my effort. I felt like puking the last several miles, felt like crap after the race, still feel like crap. I think I cooked the bike a tad hard. Probably under-hydrated a bit on the windy bike. And shouldn't have screamed down the bridge descent with longish strides. Oh well. Probably stole 5 minutes on the bike, gave away 5 on the run. And you can only take what the day gives you. Speaking to my wife on the phone on the way home, she was really concerned whether I was OK. Why? Well . . . your times suggest you had some . . . issues. No, just some cramping on the run, gave away a few minutes there. Well, what happened on the swim? Oh, it was just really crowded. I gave up a few minutes there too, it's not like I swam a :40. Actually, you did. WTH?!? What was my overall time? 4:57. Wow, I thought I went 4:50 or so. That 4:57 probably dropped me to 60th or 70th in my AG. Actually, you were 10th and will probably get a roll-down to Worlds. Do you want to turn around and go to the Awards Ceremony? Nope, I'm good. I don't think I'm ever going back to Miami.
Comments
Props to you for a great effort on a tough day! You executed a great race. Congratulations! I agree with you I don't think I'll do that race again even though my buddy lives in Miami and is always asking when I'm coming back down so we can do the race again.
Mike - Wow, this years Miami 70.3 sounds like a total cluster! But, there's nothing wrong with a top 10 finish especially with 330 people in your age group. It sounds like there is a lot of good you can take from this race. Great bike and you crushed your transitions. I think it's a good bet your hamstring problem was from being under hydrated on the bike, combined with the challenging terrain (climbs/descents) on the first part of the run. Regardless, great job to power through it and get it done with still a very respectable run time. The swim - What can you say? Sounds like a bizarre scene to have people panicking and not even moving in the water. Nothing you could have done there given your swim wave and the weather change. Congrats on the top 10 finish!
Well, that was interesting, no? At least you can count on New Zealand being more civilized, right?
As you say, any time under 5:00 is a pretty good day, especially if the swim is in lock down, and your leg won't work on the run
WOW. That swim sounds horrible. I would have been 50minutes in that mess. Sounds like you did the best you could with the situation. Great bike and again, while not your fastest run, you still managed to place 10th with cramps the last 2/3 of the run. Well done sir.
Austin is pretty dang crowded/popular too, but I don't think it's near what you had to deal with today. Have fun and tear it up in NZ.
The more i hear about this race the more it starts to remind of the NOLA 70.3 race a few years back where I think they ran out of water on the run course
I'm for sure scratching Miami 70.3 from the gotta do it list!