Ironman South America Championship Race Report

I arrived in Florianapolis the Wednesday before the race. It took me almost a full 24 hours to get there from New York because I missed a connection in Sao Paulo and was rebooked on a later flight. The weather in Florianapolis was perfect when I arrived but the weather reports were pointing toward a rainy race day. I got to check out the swim course and parts of the run and bike courses after getting to Florianapolis. The day before the race, it had rained most of the day. When I checked the weather report on race morning, the rain percentage was low to start the day but was forecast to increase as the day went on. I was hoping for the best and that I would still be able to actually race instead of having to be cautious, especially on the bike.

Swim
The swim was an Age Group start and my age group was the second to last wave to go off. The course is an M-shape in the Atlantic Ocean, although we were in a cove and swam to the north. This was my first triathlon swim in the ocean so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I did a practice swim a few days before and it seemed like I was swimming a little slower with the waves and currents.

 

I got off to a pretty good start considering there were 335 athletes in my age group. I jumped through a few waves before I got out to calmer water. I started catching up to slower swimmers from the previous wave before I got to the first  marker buoy and faster swimmers from the wave after mine started catching up to me by the second marker buoy. The first turn buoy is almost 1 Km from the beach and it seemed like it took forever to get there. Once I finally got there, it was very congested with swimmers. As I went around the next turn buoy and started heading back to the beach, I was able to get to the outside and swim without running into other swimmers. Once I reached the beach, it was a short run along the beach and then headed back out to start the second part of the swim course. I was actually feeling pretty good as I went out and started to pick up my pace. Again, it got crowded around the turn buoys and into the final stretch. The kayaks started pushing the swimmers back to the middle as we got closer to the Swim Exit. That bunched things up again and I was at a standstill in the water with 20 other swimmers at one point. I was able to work my way around it and finally reached the Swim Exit. I glanced at my watch and saw it was 1:04-ish and was pleasantly surprised at how fast the swim went for me. My official time when I hit the mat was 1:05:14. That was a nice improvement from my Lake Placid swim time of 1:11:15. Things were off to a good start.

 

T1

I knew that I had an opportunity to improve my transition times here against my Lake Placid T1 time of 10:15. It seemed like a shorter run to the transition tent (and no pouring rain like Lake Placid) and I found my stuff quickly and got to the changing tent. I got my clothes on quickly but as I put my tri top on, I dropped a sandwich out of the shirt pocket that I wanted to eat on the bike. I did not realize this until I was just about out of transition and did not want to go back for it. I got out of the tent and grabbed my bike quickly and started out on the bike course. I kept my transition under six minutes with a time of 5:56.

 

Bike

I knew the rain was going to start later in the morning so I wanted to get done the bike course as quickly as possible. We were fortunate that the winds were very light as we traversed the course which runs mostly north-south on the west side of the island. The roads were still wet from all of the rain on Saturday and Sunday morning so I had to be cautious and pay attention while I was riding.

 

I also got off to a good start on the bike. I was hoping to average 20 mph on the bike and the course sets up well for it as it is mostly flat with three hills that need to be climbed twice on each lap so a total of 12 climbs. Riding through the downtown area of Florianapolis along the shoreline was really a nice sight. The rain did start before I finished my first lap, but I was already soaked from the spray off other riders tires. Fortunately, it was a little humid to make it comfortable with temps in the high 60's rather than cold so I didn’t mind riding wet.

 

I was hoping to find the Special Needs area to retrieve food that I had packed in my bag since I lost my sandwich in T1. The Special Needs area was around Km 45 on the first loop and Km 135 on the second lap. The course wasn’t marked with distance signs and I missed the Special Needs area on my first lap. I was feasting on Gu gels on the first lap but was starting to get hungry on the second lap so I paid close attention to the location of Special Needs and was able to stop and retrieve my food and a much needed bathroom break.

 

My goal for the bike was not to have any incidents like a crash or flat and I was able to ride without any issues. The conditions, although not ideal, were fine enough where I could push myself on the bike. I was able to complete the bike course in 5:29:37 which averaged 20.4 mph. I was pleased with my bike time and started running various run times in my head to try to project my final time. My total race time off the bike was approximately 6:45:00, so I figured I had a good shot to be under 11 hours and possibly closer to 10:30 depending on how the run went. Things were going well and I was ahead of where I expected.

 

T2

I had a pretty smooth transition in T2 and was out on the run quickly. I improved on my Lake Placid T2 time of 8:15 down to 4:56 in Florianapolis. The momentum was on my side and I was excited to get going on the marathon to get the Ironman finished.

Run
The run course starts out with an out and back along the coastline and then finishes with three loops. There are two hills on the out and back portion and the one hill was a pretty steep grade. After that the course is pretty flat and actually kind of boring.



I made sure to start out the run at an easy pace that I was hoping to hold for the entire marathon. I certainly didn’t think I came out too hard or fast. I was hoping to average 7 mph for the first two hours and then slightly less for the remainder of the race. Although I wasn’t quite sure what my pace was, I don’t think I was quite at 7 mph for the first hour because I was a little slower than expected with the hills on the out and back. I thought that I could make it up in the second hour. I wasn’t not quite sure where I was, but as the second hour completed, I think I was just over halfway through the marathon so I was behind the pace that I wanted. As I was going along, I finally started to see the distance markers, in kilometers, were painted on the streets.

 

Then things started to go south quickly after the second hour. I noticed the outside of me left knee was starting to hurt and the top of my left foot. I knew at some point, I would need to do a run/walk strategy and I was going to try to run for 8-10 minutes and then walk for a minute. Even when I was running, it was an incredibly slow pace. The monotony of the three loops was really setting in along with the rain that had started again while the course fell into darkness after sunset. As I started out on my third loop, I knew a sub-11 was slipping out of reach. My knee was throbbing and my energy was low. I tried to minimize my run/walks as much as possible to keep going but there was not much left in the tank. As reached the final stretch, I didn’t know how long the final straight away was. I pushed what I had left and thought the finish line was closer than it really was. I watched the seconds tick towards 11 hours and knew that it wasn’t going to be possible with over 100 meters left. In Lake Placid, I really tried to soak up the moment as I went down the shoot to the finish line. This time was much different and I really just wanted to finish so I didn’t notice the crowds as I was coming down the shoot.

 



My run time was a big disappointment of 4:15:53 and was only a few seconds slower than my Lake Placid run time. I feel like I wasted a great swim and bike only to be let down by my run, which is usually my best sport, but turned out to be the worst of the three in Florianapolis. My final time was still pretty solid and close to what I expected, but the run really left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

 

My final time was 11:01:36 so I just missed my goal by just over a minute. The course is fast, which was one of the reasons that I chose this Ironman. I could say the weather conditions may have affected my time, but the guy who won the race set an Ironman world record that day. I could also point to my injuries after the Florida Ironman 70.3 where I strained my calf and couldn’t run for almost three weeks and I also threw out my back at one point as well. Either way, I got my Ironman fix for the time being and have no plans to do another full Ironman in the near future. My next Ironman event will most likely be Ironman Ecuador 70.3 in Manta during the summer of 2018 and I’m hoping to find some shorter triathlons in Ecuador to stay active. A big thank you again goes out to my friend Chris Vitalos, who accompanied me on the trip and was a great Sherpa. We did have a lot of fun in Brazil and celebrated with some beers on the beach the following day and a Brazilian churrasco dinner feast before we headed home.

 

 

 

 

Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report

 

I wanted to use the Ironman Florida 70.3 in Haines City as a tune up race for my next full Ironman in Florianapolis, Brazil on May 28, 2017. It fit perfectly in my training schedule at the 18th week. Plus I haven't raced a triathlon in over a year and a half so I certainly needed the practice. When I first arrived in FL, the weather was hot and muggy, in the low 90's the first few days. Fortunately, the Thursday before the race, a strong cold front came through the state and lowered the temperatures to the low 70's with no humidity and plenty of sunshine, which was ideal for the race. 

Pre Race

I didn't sleep very well, if at all, the night before the race. I wasn't nervous, I just wasn't comfortable in my hotel room. I ended up leaving the hotel at 4 AM  and arrived at Haines City as transition was opening at 4:30. It was quick and easy to get setup so I just sat near my bike until about 6 AM. It was a cool morning and I wore my wetsuit just to stay warm. I worked my way over to the pool for a warm-up, but quickly saw people pretty cold after swimming. An old man told me the warm-up was worthless since he was now wet and cold. I figured it would be best to skip it than to be wet and cold before the race. I made my way over to the beach, where my sister spotted me and hung out with my family on the beach until my swim wave assembled. 

Swim
The swim start was very clean. I think everyone sort of knew where they needed to be within the wave as we waited in the water for the wave to start. Within 100 meters, the wave had thinned out and everyone was on their own. I had plenty of room to get into a good rhythm, except my right goggle kept taking on water. I rolled over onto my back three times before I finally got it cleared out and stuck to my face so I would not take in any more water. 

The swim course in Lake Eva is an "M" shape which was a little confusing in the center portion. It seemed like people weren't sure to swim with the buoys on the right or left. I wasn't sure either but tried to follow the instructions that were given at the Athlete's briefing. After getting out of that area, I made the final turn to finish the swim. This was probably the most congested area for me as I caught up to a lot of slower swimmers from earlier waves.

As I reached shallow water, I went to get up and tried walking out of the water. As I took a step, I must have stepped in a hole or something and my right hamstring knotted up. It was a bit of a struggle to work that out while exiting the lake and heading to T1. Fortunately, it finally let up and I was able to slowly jog through T1 without it acting up again. I was able to complete the swim in 36:11, which was a little slower than the 35 minutes that I had expected.

 

 

T1 
Transitions should be pretty automatic. Unfortunately for me, I got to my bike and couldn't get the wetsuit off my one leg. I had to sit on a curb and yank it as hard as I could to get it off. The cramp plus the wetsuit issue cost me a little more T1 time than I hoped for. 

Bike

The bike course starts out pretty flat in the first half and then some long rolling hills in the second half. I wanted to hit the flat part hard to get my mph up since I knew the back half would certainly be slower. I felt that I succeeded there and felt good when I did hit the hills. The hills weren't too bad (certainly not the Andes Mountains where I train) but there was also a headwind to fight as well, that made them a little more challenging.

I finished my bike ride in 2:39:19 which was five minutes faster than my goal. My new bike, a Quintana Roo PR5, exceeded my expectations and I felt good coming off the bike. 

T2
Again, I hate writing about transition mistakes but I screwed this one up too. The transition area was an oval parking lot. When I came out of the swim, I ran along the lower portion and then turned around and ran the upper potion to get to my bike rack. I thought we were going to have to run the oval again, which wasn't the case. So I ran right past my bike rack and to the end of the parking lot before I realized this. I had to run my bike back to my rack to drop it off and get ready for my run costing myself additional transition time. I guess I should have paid more attention to the Transition map.

Run

The run course was three 4+ mile loops around Lake Eva. Each loop starts off with three decently challenging hills. After the hills, the course levels off and is a slight downhill and a light uphill or two. I felt this made the course fast after the initial hills.

My first lap went pretty fast and my splits on each successive lap were slightly slower. My hamstrings were a little achy so I was careful not to go too hard since I had already cramped in the swim. I passed a lot of people on the course which is always fun. The course does have a slight downhill finish to the finisher's chute so I hit the last half mile hard and practically ran over another guy at the Finish line. I felt strong throughout and ran the entire course without walking or stopping. I was never winded during the run, probably from the high altitude training where I live.  I finished the run in 1:39:37 which was over 5 minutes faster than I expected. 

Final Thoughts

I think this was a near perfect race for me, despite the hamstring knot and transition mistakes. The weather was perfect for a 70.3 race and even with full sun during the run, it felt comfortable. I hoped to go under 5 hours and maybe I could have without the small mistakes, but I'm not disappointed with a final time of 5:02:59. I knew when I started the run that it would take a really great run to go under 5 hours, but I still had a better run than I expected. 

This race was a tune-up for my full Ironman and to get back into race mode again. The swim went well and the bike and run were better than expected. My new bike worked great and the Retul bike fitting kept me comfortable in aero during the bike portion and ready for the run. That was a great takeaway for me, especially running a half marathon faster than expected.

Thanks to my family who came out and cheered me on during the race and my friend Robin who also trekked over to Haines City. Now, on to Florianapolis, Brazil for the Ironman South America Championship on May 28, 2017......