Ironman 70.3 World Champs
by asheley @ Asheley's Ironman Quest
Sorry....this is kind of long.
This past weekend I competed (use this term loosely) in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida. I had a great time with the family and friends that were there to support me...best cheerleaders in the world! I am glad I did this race because it definitely helped prepare me for the atmosphere and race logistics of a full Ironman. The way this race was run was very similar to Kona and other Ironman races...so I'm told. We had the wetsuit strippers (people who "strip" off your wetsuit after the swim), the different transition bags instead of actually laying out your transition area, the changing tents, and the coolest part was that you didn't have to re-rack your bike, you just sailed it off to someone who did that for you :)
This was only my 2nd half ironman, so I really just wanted to improve upon my time at Vineman this past summer, which is where I got sucked into this race in the first place. Everything here was bigger and louder and brighter than local races, which made it a little intimidating, but pretty exciting as well. I didn't feel like my training had been quite what it was going into Vineman, but traveling for three weeks in Japan just before the race kind of put a kink in things. In the end, Japan seemed to be a good break from mundane training and helped get me through a tri season that essentially started back in February with the Stanford Treeathlon. But I digress...back to race day.
I didn't have much to do race morning as my bike and transition bags had to be checked in the day before. So I got my wetsuit on as I watched the pro men begin their start at 7am. There was a huge jumbo-tron set up on the beach and a helicopter overhead, so you could follow the athletes as they swam. My wave was at 7:30 and it was the last wave. They put all, yes all, the women in one wave and the age group men went off in the 3 waves before us. I don't really know how many women were in my wave, but it was a lot. The start was pretty rough and since the waves were only 5 minutes apart we had to swim through and over many of the guys. We were swimming into the sun on the way back in to the beach and I had no idea what position I might be in. I figured that I was probably about 20th or so, but I later learned I was the 8th woman out, which wasn't too bad considering the conditions and that this was a pretty high caliber race (as I would continue to learn several times over throughout the day).
Once on my bike I tried to settle into a rhythm and just go. Not necessarily go as fast as I could, but definitely power at a comfortable pace. My bike computer of course decided it wasn't going to work, so I couldn't gauge how fast I was going or what my cadence was, but I just did what felt good. The only problem was that the bike course was like biking down Stevens Creek Blvd. or El Camino during rush hour. They closed one lane for the athletes and then would have 2-3 lanes of traffic going. In some areas traffic was whizzing by and in others, cars were completely stopped because of the intersections being blocked off for the race. There were police officers at every intersection, but there were times you were going through major intersections where you were turning one way and traffic the other way. It was crazy! On top of this, groups of 30, 40, even up to 60 riders would come flying by in a peleton. Seriously. There was soooooo much drafting going on in this race at one point I rode up next to a girl and asked her if this was a draft legal race. I didn't go to the pre-race meeting and I thought maybe there are some international rules I am unaware of. She told me it was not draft legal and the 4-bike length rule applies. Well, clearly 90% of the athletes were not following this rule. It was insane the amount of drafting going on. The groups were too big for the course referees to do anything about, so they would find 2 or 3 riders riding together and give someone in that tiny group a penalty instead of breaking up the group of 30 or 40 riders. At one point, we were on this causeway (a bridge) that was about 7 miles in each direction and it was an out and back portion of the course. Luckily this entire causeway was shut down to traffic so we were the only ones out there. This group of about 30 comes by me and I contemplate jumping on the back of this group. Why not? Everyone is drafting and having insane bike splits, why shouldn't I? But then my conscience sets in and I decide to just race my own race and I let them go. I am about 4-5 bike lengths behind this group, when all of a sudden about 8 riders go down. Sprawling every which way across the road, tires popping, bodies scraping and sliding, bikes tangling up. I quickly got out of my aero bars and on my brakes and swerved to avoid the mess. Now I am glad I didn't hang on to the group and I decide from here on out (about another 25 miles) I am going to play by the rules for sure. The rest of the bike was back through angry motorists who were stopped in traffic and luckily it was pretty uneventful.
Once on the run I tried to just relax into a good running pace. There was this long, gradual, but steep at the same time, hill that we had to do 4 times because it was a 2 loop run course. I didn't feel very good on the run and when I saw mile 3 I told myself that when I cam back around again I could walk when I saw this sign (which would be about mile 8). Well as the run went on, I got into a groove and started to feel a little better. I got great cheers from my friends and family at the turnaround to start the 2nd loop, which helped tremendously. I didn't walk when I saw the 3-mile marker again and I trudged on as best I could. The finish line was this cruel long straight away that went on for at least a quarter mile if not longer, then made a U-turn and went back the entire length again to the actual finish. Not very nice, but all the people cheering made it more tolerable.
I ended up taking 15 minutes off my Vineman time and felt pretty good about this. There are definitely things I want to work on, but overall it was a great race for me. I was not happy with how I placed in my age group...not used to having to scroll down so far to find my name among my age group, but considering this was a "world champ" race I guess it's ok...for now. At the end of the day I was tired, sunburned, sore and dehydrated, but that didn't stop me from going out for drinks and a good time with friends after a shower and good power nap.
I am attempting to take a break from all things triathlon (ok, except maybe running...and swimming...) for at least a week or so. I plan to do more yoga, pilates, rock climbing, circuit training, maybe play some water polo.... I said a break from "all things triathlon", not all things workout related :)
I look forward to training more with my Ironman crew in the next few weeks.
This past weekend I competed (use this term loosely) in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida. I had a great time with the family and friends that were there to support me...best cheerleaders in the world! I am glad I did this race because it definitely helped prepare me for the atmosphere and race logistics of a full Ironman. The way this race was run was very similar to Kona and other Ironman races...so I'm told. We had the wetsuit strippers (people who "strip" off your wetsuit after the swim), the different transition bags instead of actually laying out your transition area, the changing tents, and the coolest part was that you didn't have to re-rack your bike, you just sailed it off to someone who did that for you :)
This was only my 2nd half ironman, so I really just wanted to improve upon my time at Vineman this past summer, which is where I got sucked into this race in the first place. Everything here was bigger and louder and brighter than local races, which made it a little intimidating, but pretty exciting as well. I didn't feel like my training had been quite what it was going into Vineman, but traveling for three weeks in Japan just before the race kind of put a kink in things. In the end, Japan seemed to be a good break from mundane training and helped get me through a tri season that essentially started back in February with the Stanford Treeathlon. But I digress...back to race day.
I didn't have much to do race morning as my bike and transition bags had to be checked in the day before. So I got my wetsuit on as I watched the pro men begin their start at 7am. There was a huge jumbo-tron set up on the beach and a helicopter overhead, so you could follow the athletes as they swam. My wave was at 7:30 and it was the last wave. They put all, yes all, the women in one wave and the age group men went off in the 3 waves before us. I don't really know how many women were in my wave, but it was a lot. The start was pretty rough and since the waves were only 5 minutes apart we had to swim through and over many of the guys. We were swimming into the sun on the way back in to the beach and I had no idea what position I might be in. I figured that I was probably about 20th or so, but I later learned I was the 8th woman out, which wasn't too bad considering the conditions and that this was a pretty high caliber race (as I would continue to learn several times over throughout the day).
Once on my bike I tried to settle into a rhythm and just go. Not necessarily go as fast as I could, but definitely power at a comfortable pace. My bike computer of course decided it wasn't going to work, so I couldn't gauge how fast I was going or what my cadence was, but I just did what felt good. The only problem was that the bike course was like biking down Stevens Creek Blvd. or El Camino during rush hour. They closed one lane for the athletes and then would have 2-3 lanes of traffic going. In some areas traffic was whizzing by and in others, cars were completely stopped because of the intersections being blocked off for the race. There were police officers at every intersection, but there were times you were going through major intersections where you were turning one way and traffic the other way. It was crazy! On top of this, groups of 30, 40, even up to 60 riders would come flying by in a peleton. Seriously. There was soooooo much drafting going on in this race at one point I rode up next to a girl and asked her if this was a draft legal race. I didn't go to the pre-race meeting and I thought maybe there are some international rules I am unaware of. She told me it was not draft legal and the 4-bike length rule applies. Well, clearly 90% of the athletes were not following this rule. It was insane the amount of drafting going on. The groups were too big for the course referees to do anything about, so they would find 2 or 3 riders riding together and give someone in that tiny group a penalty instead of breaking up the group of 30 or 40 riders. At one point, we were on this causeway (a bridge) that was about 7 miles in each direction and it was an out and back portion of the course. Luckily this entire causeway was shut down to traffic so we were the only ones out there. This group of about 30 comes by me and I contemplate jumping on the back of this group. Why not? Everyone is drafting and having insane bike splits, why shouldn't I? But then my conscience sets in and I decide to just race my own race and I let them go. I am about 4-5 bike lengths behind this group, when all of a sudden about 8 riders go down. Sprawling every which way across the road, tires popping, bodies scraping and sliding, bikes tangling up. I quickly got out of my aero bars and on my brakes and swerved to avoid the mess. Now I am glad I didn't hang on to the group and I decide from here on out (about another 25 miles) I am going to play by the rules for sure. The rest of the bike was back through angry motorists who were stopped in traffic and luckily it was pretty uneventful.
Once on the run I tried to just relax into a good running pace. There was this long, gradual, but steep at the same time, hill that we had to do 4 times because it was a 2 loop run course. I didn't feel very good on the run and when I saw mile 3 I told myself that when I cam back around again I could walk when I saw this sign (which would be about mile 8). Well as the run went on, I got into a groove and started to feel a little better. I got great cheers from my friends and family at the turnaround to start the 2nd loop, which helped tremendously. I didn't walk when I saw the 3-mile marker again and I trudged on as best I could. The finish line was this cruel long straight away that went on for at least a quarter mile if not longer, then made a U-turn and went back the entire length again to the actual finish. Not very nice, but all the people cheering made it more tolerable.
I ended up taking 15 minutes off my Vineman time and felt pretty good about this. There are definitely things I want to work on, but overall it was a great race for me. I was not happy with how I placed in my age group...not used to having to scroll down so far to find my name among my age group, but considering this was a "world champ" race I guess it's ok...for now. At the end of the day I was tired, sunburned, sore and dehydrated, but that didn't stop me from going out for drinks and a good time with friends after a shower and good power nap.
I am attempting to take a break from all things triathlon (ok, except maybe running...and swimming...) for at least a week or so. I plan to do more yoga, pilates, rock climbing, circuit training, maybe play some water polo.... I said a break from "all things triathlon", not all things workout related :)
I look forward to training more with my Ironman crew in the next few weeks.