Notes
Race start- Air, 62 degrees, Water 73 degrees. Just about perfect.
1st 70.3 distance for me. Went into this race on antibiotics due to a nasty sinus infection which has really left me fatigued and coughing. Run was going to be a mystery as I only ran 5 times over the past 7 weeks for a grand total of 25 miles due to an ankle issue I just couldn't shake. I knew that I would not be at my best today but I needed the long distance race experience.
Swim- Lake was glass with great visibility. About 500y out into the swim I realized that I had gone WAY off to the right. After I corrected this I latched onto a guy swimming a similar pace. I quickly realized that this guy was sighting perfect so I just sat on his toes for the next 1500 to the finish. I was expecting a lot more drama here but the swim was the lowest intensity/stress part of the day. 39:06 (1:47/100y)
T1- An uneventful 1:17.
Bike- Based of the success I've had on the bike over the past year I was excited for this. I knew the course and thought that a 2:45 split was within reason. Took the first 4 miles real easy to let my HR settle and prep my body to get after it. At mile 16 my Garmin would not pick up a GPS signal so the next 40 miles would be based off HR and cadence. At this point there was a group of 4 of use who where just plowing through the field. I had no idea how fast we were going or what we were on pace to ride I just knew it was fast. I didn't find out my bike split until after the race due to Garmin issues. 900 calories. 2:39:21 (21.1mph)
T2- Just about same as T1, 1:14
Run- Figured I needed to run somewhere around a sub 1:35 to break 5 hours. The run course was very hilly. Long story short I was just fine until mile 8 or so. Here the concerns I had entering the race showed up as my pace dropped considerably. I was hitting gatorade and cold sponges at every station but just couldn't get my legs to do what I needed them to do for the last 5 miles as my pace dropped below 8min/mile. Calories- around 300. 1:40:46 (7:36/mi)
Total Time: 5:01:44. 2nd in age group. 19/227 overall.
All things considering I was very happy with my 70.3 debut. As I learning experience I took a lot away from this race which really was my 'A' goal.