Paul's Ironman South Africa race report - aka I was not eaten by a Great White!
Ironman South Africa. 12:43:35, 7th M60-64. My goal had been 11:40 which I thought would have put me in a DQ position. Didn’t happen! This is a tough race, but I had a great time and highly recommend this venue. Where else can you feed peanuts to a bull elephant?
Swim. Goal: 1:15:00; Actual: 1:16:06 I had read that the IMSA swim was tough and it delivered. It was easily the most challenging I have done out of 11 Ironman races at 9 different venues. There was zero warm-up allowed and even dipping your goggles in the water was a DQ offense; although there really wasn’t anyway to get to the water before the race start. After setting up transition, I put on my wetsuit and headed towards the beach, dropping off the morning clothes bag along the way in a tent just past the finish (smart organizing here). You self-seeded in one of several groups and after the pros started, the age groupers went in 7 athletes every 7 seconds running from the beach into the water which was about 66 degrees. After clearing a few breakers the water did not seem too bad, just choppy. But after making the first turn 300m out, the course heading at an angle that took you further and further from the beach and the water got a lot rougher with chop on top of rolling swells with an occasional wave coming across you. Sighting was difficult and you had to look from the top of a swell. I took several mouthfuls of seawater but always managed to spit it out before swallowing. Not too many years ago these conditions would have given me a panic attack, but I just kept up the pace and felt like I was swimming well. However, about a half mile from the end, I had several cramps in my left calf; and my left hamstring felt like it was ready to go too. I had switched to a two-beat kick several months ago so I don’t quite get this. On the last turn buoy about 200m from the beach, I had my goggles knocked off. I turned onto my back to fix them and my left quad cramped, so I turned back face down and the left calf and left hamstring went, and cramped repeatedly coming into the finish. I paid dearly for that cramping later on.
T1: Goal: 5mins; Actual: 5 mins 36 secs. This included a quick stop in the port-a-loo.
Bike: Goal: 6 hrs. Actual: 5:59:50. The bike course was a double out and back on closed roads. There are some spectacular coastal views as well as a highway through the bush where a monkey crossed the road in front of me. And it was hilly, hot, and windy. The temperatures in Port Elizabeth were basically driven by the extent of cloud cover you got. The day my son and I arrived saw a high of 97 degrees, and the very next day only hit 72. Race day was also very clear and a cooker by lunch time. On the plus side with the time trial swim start, the hills, and strict marshalling, this is a very fair bike course and I saw little drafting. We had the wind at our backs at the start and really felt it coming back as the heat was rising. As I started loop two, I noticed that the wind had shifted and I was now fighting it on the way out and I was concerned about the heat on my legs. I started pushing fluids and salt pills and felt good when I started on my final return leg with the wind at my back. But I started having adductor cramps at about mile 95 and had to slow significantly, including a full stop at one aid station, and then walking my bike for a few hundred yards because I could not get on without cramping. I probably lost 10 minutes. I had taken Pickle Juice Sport the night before the race, before the swim, again in T1; and every S-Cap I had on me, but was now in such pain that I wondered if I could even finish. Finally, the cramping let up and I was able to get back to a reasonable level of output and finished the bike leg.
T2: Goal: 5 mins; Actual: 5 mins 3 secs including my 2nd and last port-a-loo stop for the race. I had been taking 2 bottles at each aid station on the 2nd loop of the bike but it just wasn’t enough for my high sweat rate in the heat.
Run: Goal: 4 hrs 15 mins; Actual: 5 hrs 17 mins.
As we say in EN, there is no such thing as a good bike, followed by a bad run, so we can call this a crappy day at the office. I went out stupid slow but could immediately feel an ache in my left calf where it had cramped in the swim. It had been tight on the first half of the bike, but I had forgotten about it when the other leg cramps came on, but it just hurt to run. I went out stupid slow, and started slowing from there. I could only run a short distance before I had to walk or else I would cramp. By 5 miles even walking was causing cramps and I found myself flat on my back for several minutes while I waited for a Hot Shot to take effect. And thus began a long day of walking and jogging until I had to walk again. It didn’t hurt that the IMSA run course has the best crowd support of any in the world per athlete polls; and it definitely topped any I’ve done so I won’t question that rating. Fortunately, as the sun was going down, so did the temperature, while the wind really began to pick up. By the last lap, my left calf finally loosened up and I was able to run faster and longer than I had for the entire day. So my last 6 miles of this race were not only the fastest but by far the easiest of the entire marathon leg.
When I came into the finisher's chute there was no one near me on either side and my wife said I was on their TV broadcast for almost 3 minutes. I was fortunate to have Paul Kaye, the best Ironman announcer in the world, announce my name, my city and state, my club (Endurance Nation), my age, and then thank me personally for coming all the way from the U.S. before he called me an Ironman. I ended up 7th in the M60-64, only 70 seconds out of 5th place. But had I run my total race goal of 11:40, I would still have been only a distance 4th place so in the end, my bad run didn't really matter, except to my pride.
Overall, Ironman South Africa was a great venue. The only downside is that it is a long, long, long, long, ways away. We flew 2.5 hours from Tampa to JFK, JFK to Johannesburg (14.5 hours) and then another 2+ hour flight to Port Elizabeth. The length and cost of those flights were painful. However, due to the weak exchange rate of the South African Rand, the race entry, hotel, car rental, and food were by far the cheapest I've ever paid. For example, my entry plus processing fee came to $416 so don't automatically dismiss this venue without doing the math on the total cost of the trip. Below is the view from my hotel window.
Ben Hoffman, USA, successfully defended his title (7:58) which made up for the fact that no American age grouper made the top 3 in their respective age/gender. My son and I enjoyed taking in some of the tourist spots in Port Elizabeth, as well as seeing all the wildlife in Addo Elephant National Park, and then riding and feeding three bull elephants at a private lodge (please note: these privately owned elephants were saved from a state mandated cull in Kruger National Park, were superbly well treated, and worked for peanuts ... by the bucket full.) What a great experience!
If anyone is thinking about IM70.3 Worlds in Port Elizabeth for Sep 2018, feel free to ask me questions on the logistics for this race.
Comments
what's going to be lucky #12?
Nice work, Paul!
@Tim - I have no idea what caused the cramps late in the swim, but they had the biggest overall impact on the run. I was definitely biking well within my should pace but I think I underestimated the heat due to the wind...probably should have pushed more to drink earlier in the ride. I'm leaning towards the Texas-Wales double next year, but neither is a perfect fit. Texas gives me the perfect training weather, but it is far from the perfect race for me ... swim is bad, too warm (even in Apr), and too much drafting. Wales is the perfect race, but at the wrong time of the year-- I have to suffer through the summer and cannot achieve the same level of fitness as I can in the winter. Re travel/admin - just not an issue (I change time zones like they barely exist); and Kona doesn't call to me at all. I'll do it once whether I KQ or LQ just to see what the hoopla is all about, but without the WC title, it is not a venue I would ever choose otherwise. The problem with Texas is that it isn't remotely a bucket list event for me, and I'll be holding my nose if I decide to sign up. I'll be watching this year's event closely and will see what folks say about it.
@Robert- I started the run with a Hot Shot and had 1 gel and 1 Hot Shot in my run special needs ... which I took. I think it helped but I don't think it is as good or as effective as a Pickle Juice shot. If I could do the race again, I would have a pickle juice shot taped to my top tube. Still, the left calf cramps on the swim did the most damage to my run. I imagine for the 70.3 WC they will just use a shorter, single loop for the swim, do 1 loop of the bike route and 2 loops of the run route.