Oceanside 70.3 Race Report

Woke up at 4AM, drank coffee, and made round 1. Could not get myself to eat anything, but forced some Chobani+Granola and ate 2 gels to get in some calories. Showered and got ready and realized I forgot to pack my contact lenses. After some frantic moments, I decided to just go with the glasses. I had a pair of prescription swim goggles, so I was not worried about that part. Most of my bike rides are also with glasses, so that would work out as well. The problem was the run, and in general a level of discomfort throughout the race. Luckily, Raphael had a spare pair of lenses, and the power was very close to mine! Yay! Owe you one, Raphael! After a hectic hour or so of setting up transition, I finally had a chance to sit back and watch the pros fly through transition.

Goal: Sub-5
Result: 5:07:22

Swim (31:57)

M35-39 wave 2 started at 7:44, which was pretty late, so I was expecting it to get hot on the run. The swim was so crowded that it reminded me of my waterpolo days. Swimming over each other, pulling on to the ankles, elbow punching in the face, swearing, it was all fair game. My time of 31:57 was OK considering that I haven’t been swimming much lately (less than 4000 yd/wk.) If I work a bit on my swim, I think I can easily go sub-30.

T1 (4:27)

It was a long jog to the bike. Luckily as an All World Bronze Athlete, my spot was in the carpeted aisle, close to the bike out. Earlier there was some speculation about whether non-pros can leave their biking shoes clipped to the pedals. I had always assumed that’s OK, but with too many people asking that question, I decided its better to do it the regular way. It turned out to be a good decision since the mount line at the bike out was a party, and a flying mount would have been difficult.

Bike (2:46:21)

Goal was 2:45, so satisfied with the time, but power was much lower than expected. I was faster than last year by a minute inspite of more head wind with 173W NP, which was only 1W higher than last year! Not sure what to make out of it. During rehearsal, my NP has been well above 185W, so the only thing I can think affected my power would be 7 days of complete inactivity before the race. Nutrition plan was straightforward and it went well — 1 gel + salt tab every 20 mins, and drink to thirst. Another thing that was off was HR with an average of 160bmp; 5bmp higher than planned. For some reason, it was impossible to keep my HR low and it was in 165 bmp range during the last 8 miles. My legs however felt just perfectly fine, so I decided to F the HR and go by feel. I don’t think it affected my run in any way.

T2 (4:45)

Could have been faster on this. I am seeing a lot of people do T2 in under 3:30.

Run (1:39:52)

Pretty happy with the run considering the low volume of run training over the past few months (less than 24 mi/wk, and even lower recovery weeks). I was feeling pretty good until mile 8 and was on track to just break 5 hours. But then my legs started seizing up and I was just not able to produce any pace. HR was right where I wanted it to be, but legs were not cooperating. Nutrition was perfect, so I was not bonking, but it was a classic sign of lack of endurance. Even if I had held back on the bike, I don’t think I could have gone any faster on the run. My open half marathon PR is 1:24, so I think I am capable of running a 1:30 HIM run. Definitely huge room for improvement for next HIM. Also, Kevin likes us to PR by a small margin, so… baby steps :-)

Total time: 5:07:22
33rd in AG

Not fully satisfied with my time, but happy considering the the injury leading up to the race and my run fitness (or lack thereof.) In retrospect, breaking 5 hours was a bit ambitious. Thanks, Kevin, for all the guidance and helping me to remain calm when injured 1 week before the race. Huge room for improvement, and lot of work to do before Boulder!