Ironman 70.3 California Race Report
My day started off with a 2am wake up call for my prerace meal. I went back to sleep then got back up at 4am. Got ready and drove to the pier in Oceanside to pick up my bike from Tribike Transport. I checked my bike into transition, got myself ready, then noticed that i still had an hour before I started. So apparently I got there earlier then needed, but I guess that's not as bad as being late. When I heard the gun go off for the Pro Men, I decided to head to the start to get ready for my start.
The swim was pretty uneventful for me. I really focused hard on keeping my form and sighting off the bouys frequently to stay on course. The water was very calm for the first third and last third of the swim, since it's protected by the harbor at that point, but the middle third got a little rough. On my way back, I took Coach R's advice and sighted off the rocks instead of the bouys to "cut the course" since the swim course curves to right and you stay to the right of the bouys. A couple of guys on paddle boards tryed redirecting me closer to the bouys, but I just ignored them 
. Overall my swim time was 46:36 (2:12/100 yds). I was a little dissapointed because I was able to swim a 15:10 in my 1000 yd test earlier this week. I guess I just need more practice with open water swiming. I have trouble "feeling the water" with a wetsuit on.
Then onto the bike. I started off trying to pace myself at between 170 and 175 watts, but apparently I had accidently switched my powermeter to display cadence instead of power and I didn't know how to switch it back 
. After a couple of minutes I finally figured it out and was back on track. The first 30 miles or so was pretty fast. It was mostly flast with a few hills and a tail wind for parts of it. After that the bike course turned into Camp Pendelton, which is where the real hills start. The first climb was tough. Even in my easiest gear I was struggling to keep my watts down. I ended up averaging 260 watts for nearly half a mile, which is way above my FTP 
. Currently I have a compact crank and 12-25 cassette. The lesson I learned is that I need to look into getting a differenet cassette before IMCDA. I think a 12-27 will make a big difference. Luckily the hill wasn't long enough to completely toast my legs, and after a little recovery time at lower watts I was able to continue on my way. Around mile 40ish I made it to the sniper range which marks the start of a series of gentle rolling hills with a net down hill. Per Coach R's advice, I pushed it on this section and flew down the hills (by far the most fun portion of the course). The last 10 miles or so I had a nasty headwind heading back to the coast and into transition. I could tell that I was going downhill, but my speed wasn't reflecting that. I finished the bike at 3:15:19. My normalized power was173 watts, which is an intensity factor of 0.80 which is right where I wanted to be. My variability index was higher then I would have liked at 1.1, but considering all of the hills and heavy wind I guess it's okay.
Next was the run. My biggest mistake of the day was definitely pushing it too hard at the beginning of the run. I kept looking down at my watch and seeing that I was going to fast, but had trouble slowing myself down. I think my legs were just too use to going 90 rpm on the bike and I struggled to slow them down 
. By the time I got about a mile in I was finally able to get back on my goal pace. The rest of the first loop (two loop course) went well. By the time I started my second loop, my back was started to hurt and I was feeling the affects of my bad pacing at the beginning of the run. Unfortunately I ended up walking a fair amount on the second loop, which killed my average pace. I ended finishin the run in 2:07:06, and final race time of 6:16:13.
Overall I'm happy with that time. I went 20 minutes faster then my previous PR for a HIM, and 1 hour 53 minutes faster off my time from the same race last year, although last year I had just come off an injury and was under trained. The race was a lot of fun, and was good to get in some race practice before IMCDA in 12 weeks.
Comments
Looks like you had a great race to me. A 20 minute PR is big. You alos learned some important lessons re: the cassette choice for CdA and how to better pace the run. Holding yourself back in those first few miles takes a lot of discipline. You've got time to practice before June. Congratulations!
Good job and some lessons learned. Take some time to recover and enjoy then get back at it.
Steve
Congratulations on the PR. It was good to see the EN kit out there on the course.
Rest up and good luck at CdA
Tim
Big PR for you! On to CDA!
Steph
I'll see you at CdA. Hopefully at that point I'll be making faster forward progress than when you last saw me.
Shannon
Congrats on the massive PR and it was great meeting you! Thanks for coming out to the Breakwater!
Shannon,
I thought you looked good out there. Sorry things didn't go as well as you had hoped. I will see you at CDA....
Steph
Scott...sorry I didn't get to meet you in person. I saw several ENers on the run but I was so dazed I don't know who was who! Congrats on the PR!