Gabe's Oceanside 70.3 Race Report
Race Report: Oceanside 70.3
Summary
This was a warmup race for Ironman Santa Rosa. I haven’t done a road triathlon since 2016, so I wanted to kick the rust off. Somehow I never did this race when I lived in Southern California. I’ll say this is now one of my favorite 70.3 races, right up there with St George. The harbor swim was clear and calm. Riding through Camp Pendleton, something you can’t do any other time, is priceless. The whole thing is topped it off with a run along the beach.
Highlights
Phase | Key Take Aways |
Swim |
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Bike |
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Run | I set a run 70.3 PR of 1:46. I thought I could break 1:45, but the sun was starting to take its toll at the end coming from the artic north. I’ll need to spend some long days outside to build up my sun tolerance before Santa Rosa. |
Transitions | Transitions were smooth. The transition area is very long at Oceanside, so I knew there would be no PRs. You have to run about a quarter of a mile from the swim. Most of the other athletes were walking in T1 while I ran. The go-bag is still money for T2.
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Lowlights
Phase | Key Take Aways |
Swim | If I had to pick a nit, my sighting needs some practice. |
Bike | The last 13 miles of the bike were a mental training day and a reminder that I'm rusty at road bike wrenching. At mile 43 coming done a descent at 30+ MPH, the bike started fishtailing. I got it under control and pulled over. Yup, I flatted. The rear wheel on a Cervelo P2 is a bitch to get off. I stayed calm and just worked through the steps, even though I hadn't changd a tire in two years. I felt the inside of the tire to see if there was a shard of metal or debris in the tire but couldn’t find anything. I changed out the tube out and it inflated. I reassembled the bike and took off. About 2 miles later the tail got super squishy. I went through the routine again. I couldn't get the tire fully inflated with my last CO2 cartridge, but it looked good enough to ride. I figured I could limp to help at least. I rode like a granny because it would bottom out on the rim on bumps. A mile out from transition, it was flat. I rode into transition on the rim. |
Run | I need to build up sun tolerance before Santa Rosa because it took a toll on me by the end. Not surprising since most of my training has been indoors and the sun just isn't that intense in northern Utah this time of the year. I tried to drop the hammer the last 3 miles but I had the torched feeling from too much sun. I had to push harder to maintain my pace.
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Lessons and Course Corrections
My fitness is where I wanted it to be leading up to IM Santa Rosa. My swim is surprisingly better than ever, I can push 70.3 power on the bike at 140.6 HR, and my run remains my strength.
I need to improve my bike wrenching to change tires. I dread taking the back wheel off my Cervelo. I will practice until I can do it in less than 60 seconds, and the same for putting it back on. I need to practice changing the tube until I can do it in less than 5 minutes.
MTBing on tubeless tires for the last year spoiled me on not getting flats. There has got to be a better setup for road bikes. I've been using Conti GP4000s II tires with butyl tubes forever and never flatted in a race. I've read latex tubes with sealant works similar to a MTB setup. Any recommendations?
Next up is the EN Epic Moab Camp April 18-22 and then IM Santa Rosa on May 12! Thanks for reading!
Comments
Ive been using tubeless road tyres for the last 12 months (Schwable Pro One's), IMO they're no good for winter/training (they seem to cut up easily) but as a race tyre I reckon they'd be great.
I recently had an incident that ment I was forced into a pot hole that blew out the side wall of both tyres, but up untill then I have loved these tyres & had no issues, when I took the tyres off to replace them, the front had 3 sealed punctures & the back had 6... so thats 9 punctures I didnt even know about.
Now Im using/trying out the Hutchinson 4 season tubeless for winter/spring riding & so far these seam to be much more cut resistant & roll really well, but, they dont quite have that lovley smooth fast feeling of the Schwable's.
I think im convinced enough to convert my HED JET's over to tubeless & go with the Schwable's for racing this year.
The added bonus of running tubless is that im now only putting in about 80-85psi which has made my bikes a hell of lot more comfortable for long days in the saddle on UK roads (which suck).
Hope this helps
I love the low HR on the bike. Mine is always higher outside.
Have a great IM in Santa Rosa!
Do you subscribe to Tower 26 training or just listen to the podcast? I've been pondering using their system since I have become very lazy swimming and have no swim buddies at the pool to train with. I *used* to have a decent swim, but like everything else in my 50's there has been a big decline. Would love to hear your feedback!
@Derrek Sanks it was definitely good mental training!
@KARL BONNER interesting info on tubeless tires for the road. I'll have to find out if Flo wheels can be converted.
@Robert Sabo I read about it on this article on Slowtwitch, but haven't heard of it anywhere else. I've avoided latex tubes figuring they weren't worth the hassle. Sounds like adding sealant to latex tubes hasn't become a widespread practice.
@Tim Sullivan it definitely helped me kick the rust off my mechanical skills. I was pretty stoked about the lower HR outside. Hope the trend holds.
@Trish Marshall I subscribe to Tower 26. There are usually five workouts each week: two A workouts, two B, and a C. I usually just do the As. Gerry has a 5-10 minute audio file for each workout that I listen to on the drive to the pool. It definitely helps me focus on the goal of the workout. When I decide to finally learn to swim one of these days, I'd probably do all five workouts for several months. But right now swimming is low ROI for me.
@tim cronk yeah, I'm banking that I've used a whole season of bad luck in one race.
@Jeff Horn " ha, I was tempted, especially after the second flat!
I had time to take my tire apart this weekend and found the root cause. A fine metal fiber punctured the tire. It went in almost parallel to the tire surface so I couldn't feel it. I had to turn the tire inside out to see it. I'm guessing even with tubeless I would have had a flat or at least a slow leak.