Race details:
Coronado, California
Swim: 1.2 mi - open water, ocean, 2 loops, 100m run on sand
Bike: 56 mi - road, 4 loops on hwy 75, fairly flat
Run: 13.1 mi - run, 3 loops, 2.5 miles on beach for each loop, 1 mile on loose gravel for each loop
Course Recorded Finish: 5:50:33
Garmin Splits:
AG Finish: 29/81 (top 35% at a big event!!! WOAH!!!)
OV Finish: 234/717 (top 32% at a big event!!! WOAH!!!)
AG Race Factor: 1.37
OV Race Factor: 1.32
Race Analysis:
Transitions:
My transition times were a little bit slower than normal for this race. But being a 70.3 distance, I wasn't really in a huge rush to get on the move. I called the 100m run a "transition" on Garmin. That was a pretty 1.5 min slow trudge thru soft sand with the wetsuit on. As for the legit transitions, I was focusing on taking my salt, getting the gear off/on and just getting mentally ready. I also slowed myself down by peeing in a portapotty in T2. Haha. But the only improvement here might be learning the Flying Dutchman, or whatever it's called when you already have your shoes on the bike and then just get on and clip in while riding. I'm not that intense to give that dangerous move a go...
NOTE: My Garmin transitions are off from my race official transitions. T1 is off because I forgot to hit the lap button until I was well into the bike. T2 is off because I hit lap after I peed LOL
Swim:
The swim was actually brutal for me this go around. As I mentioned above, there was a 100m run in between the two 0.6mi laps. But what made this swim difficult was the huge waves that were breaking whenever you were trying to go out and come in and you had to do that twice!!! One crappy thing that happened was on lap 1 on my swim in, a big wave caught me from behind and threw me down into the sandbar. I proceed to get a bunch of water in my left goggle socket and had to start walking earlier than I wanted to. So that kinda sucked...
The waves also made it real hard to also get your bearings toward the buoy as they only 2 setup and no intermediate ones. So I was doing A LOT of sighting to try and find the right direction. But ya, this swim was slightly more troublesome than Malibu (as evidenced by my 2:27 pace vs. Malibu's 2:06 pace). But this type of swim was great practice for Florida!
Bike:
The bike here was great and probably my best split of the day! It's not even close to fair to compare this bike to Wildflower Long Course, but I beat that time by an hour! Again, Wildflower has terrain and hills and Nasty Grade. This was about as flat as a pancake and many loops over. You can't even make out any elevation in the Garmin chart, but there was a slight incline and decline as well as a REALLY SHORT bridge.
But the bike was great. I stayed in aero for a lot of it and did a great job of energy, hydration and nutrition management. Not once did I have the urge to cramp. The only troublesome parts of the bike were 1) almost losing my aero bottle getting out of the base and 2) trying to eat and swerving on my last loop. But otherwise, this was a great bike split for me!
Judging by my IM recorded splits, I came slow out the gate, pushed it REALLY hard, sat back and then threw down towards the last loop. The funny thing is that's EXACTLY how I felt. I started really fast and realized this and felt it and kind of settled into a groove on laps 2 and 3. Then feeling fresh, I hit lap 4 a little bit harder before slowing down to spin the legs out for the run.
As for nutrition and hydration, I was able to survive on CarboPro, Gatorade, Water and SaltStick+Caffeine. This is huge and will be good for the ultra distance. In all, I had the following:
2 scoops CarboPro (200 cals)
1 tablet Nuun
1 scoop Gatorade Powder
1 scoop Xtend BCAA
3 bottles on course Gatorade
4 bottles on course Water
6 pills SaltStick+Caffeine
And basically all I did was sip the liquids very frequently through my aero bottle. I also timed it so that I took a SaltStick pill every 30 minutes. I pretty much did it like clockwork, but waited an extra couple minutes if I was near a turn or a sprint or something.
Run:
The run was where the struggle bus happened. So as mentioned, I totally had to pee and decided that I should listen to Ian and "just go to the bathroom if you have to go. Don't hold it." So I immediately left transition and hit the potty right outside it. As evidenced by my time differences, it took about a minute, possibly less.
But the Superfrog run starts with 2.5 miles of beach sand running. They claim it's "hard sand" but it definitely doesn't feel hard and running in sand is still running in sand. It sucked. But apparently this course has been around for quite some time to train the Navy recruits for Kona and part of that training was to make it tough and intense, but also practical. In combat, there's a high chance of water/beach fighting if you're in the Navy so naturally you should be able to run on the beach. Go figure...
Anyway, the beach run was REALLY a shock to the muscles right away. Most runs are tough initially because you just biked for such a long time, but this one was immensely brutal. I think I walked for really short stretches just because I was scared of cramping and could feel it. Getting to mile 1 and to the first aid station was clutch though. Getting some water and Gatorade to wash down my SaltStick pill was clutch!
And then after the beach run, you go along some paved road for about a mile before you hit the gravel run. This run used to be around something called "The Elephant Cage" which was a giant circular cage that held training stuff. Unfortunately the cage was taken down and there really wasn't much to see. But the part of the course you ran on was loose gravel and that made it very difficult to get any kind of speed. Plus, your legs feel even more like jello after the sand then this gravel. It was rough to say the least.
But you do all that and some more paved-isn running for 3 loops. And by the end, I was just glad to storm down that chute, see the clock at 5:53 and then ease up and enjoy the finish!
Run nutrition was kind of a blur. I know I took water and Gatorade at every aid station. I ate a Gu and 1/4 of a banana at the 2nd aid station. I also pounded SaltStick pills like they were candy for the run. I could really feel the cramping coming on so I would take LOTS of it and I was lucky to avoid the cramps!
All in all, I had a great race and while there were some struggles, I had a wonderful experience doing my first Ironman sponsored race. I hope to do some more in the future! But I honestly probably wouldn't do this one again just because of the beach run... Haha
Pre Race and Race site
Race Shots from Mom and Dad
Post Race
Post Race Meal
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