Ralph’s Ironman 70.3 – Oceanside, CA

Ralph’s Ironman 70.3 – Oceanside, CA
March 18, 2006

Pre-Race
The weather was not looking good. Rain and gusty winds

Swim
The water was cold on entry…but by the time the gun sounded I had adjusted. I was one of the few moments where I wished I had sleeves on my wetsuit. I got beat-up in the first 300M more than before…nothing serious though. Just a lot of guys converging on that first buoy at the same time. When I got out of the water my watch read 36:30…not bad at all considering I’ve swam a total of maybe 10 times this year. We had to run all the way to the end of transition area to enter it. The pavement stung like a mother on the cold, numb feet.

T1
I wasn’t sure how wet or cold it would be on the bike, so I decided to be safe. Thankfully I had wrapped all my gear in plastic bags because they were covered with water when I got there. I put on my arm warmers, knee warmers and my Pearl Izumi jacket. Off to the bike…

Bike
I decided to take it easy for the first few miles. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the wheel magnet on the Zipps so I had no idea how fast or far I was going on the entire bike. Lovely. Well, after a few miles I decided to kick it in…but there was no go. Not sure why, but I just had no power. Looking back I may not have had enough to eat in the morning. Had a Clif bar and some rice. Probably should have had more. Anyway, after some quick math, I realized I was on my way to a 4hr bike ride. Not good…not good at all. Around mile 45 there was a right turn that was straight into a headwind. That sucked. I did get to see a lot of killer bikes and strong athletes. I knew there was nothing I could do then to make a difference. So, I logged those thoughts and images in my mind for future training days.

T2
I took my time in T2. Stripped down, put on suntan lotion and even called Jessica since I knew I wasn’t setting any records.

Run
The run wasn’t too bad. I knocked out the first loop in just under an hour. But the second loop was definitely harder. I found myself starving and inhaled a full Clif bar at mile 7. Had to stop to pee twice and also stopped to Vaseline my feet since there were some blisters forming.

Overall
I think my early AM nutrition could have been better. I don’t think I ate enough. I also think I could have trained more…a lot more. Getting sick definitely didn’t help. But, this was a wake up call. I realized the following. I need to train with other people. I think I got comfortable in base training and never got into a full power/strength mode. I also need to spend more time training and avoid getting sick at all costs. The sickness zapped my training…but more important than that, I was really starting to get into the training at that point. I also didn’t really do too much after the sickness…and I know I could have done more.