Ironman Oceanside 70.3 Race Report

Finally! After three years of chasing the 70.3 PR I finally got it. Let's see how it all went down.

Race week was anything but restfull. Asside from lowering my volume It was crazy busy and hectic. We had to load the semi trailers for our national mud run series which had a TON of heavy lifting. A few times I thought I tweaked my back. Stress levels were also pretty high with the launch of the series. I was not to optimisitc because I was dealing with some plantar facitis that had plagued me for 3.5 weeks. Yealding only 4 runs since safari park half marathon and 0 speed work.

However I approached the start line with optimism and was very excited to be racing. Afterall I do this because I love it right??

Race morning was busness as usual and I was feeling confidant as we headed to the water. It was great to go off with farmiloar faces of James Walsh, Rj, James from Zoot, and my dad. The water was a bit chilly so I donned the neopreame swim lid to keep my noggin toasty.

As the swim started I jumped on some feet and got into my groove. Unfortunatly I got on the wrong feet as he swung wide right and I could see the pack slipping away. So I ended up swimming 3/4 of the swim in open water by myself. But i still had a decent swim coming out of the water in 33:43 and feeling fresh.

On to the bike!!!! Man I love the bike and I was ready to chase down RJ. My plan was to ride between a 3.5 and 4 on my HRM, and really push the pace the last 20 miles because I wasn't sure how my foot would do during the run. Well the wind decided to show up and man did it BLOW!!!! I was finding myself being forced to ride in the little ring on the flats and it was anything but confidence building. However, I was still moving up through the field and not being passed by riders behind. So, I figured I was riding well. With about 10 miles to go I finally saw RJ up the road. I knew I needed to put some time into him before the run as he is a much stronger runner than I am. As I rode past I said "WOO LETS GO DOGGIE!" and cheered him on, however, I tried to really hammer those last few miles. I was catching more and more people and with about 5 miles to go I eased off the gas and got in some more nutrition so I could be ready for the run.

I really had no idea how I would do on the run. I had only run 4 times in the last month and was concerned my foot would flair up and force me to a walk. I went through the first mile at a sub-7 pace but got myself to settle into a 7:30ish pace. RJ caught me around mile 2 and I decided to just run my own race and focus on keeping good form and maintaining my pace. I felt really good on the run was able to keep a pretty consistent pace over the 13 miles.

At the end of the day I managed the PR and a top 5 in my AG. A great confidence builder starting the season because I felt that my training could have been better. 80 Days To Ironman Coeur d Alene.....Bring it!!!

Swim: 33:43

T1: 4:14

Bike: 2:26:44

T2: 1:29

Run: 1:40:42 (Only 1 min slower than my stand alone 13.1 PR!)

Total: 5:06:32

Big ups to everyone who participated this past weekend! It seems like everyone killed it out there. Some others who deserve credit: K-SWISS keeping me lookin fly and running fast, Injinji= happy feet, TP Therapy (A Must Have For All!), Hammer Nutrition..the best fuels, and Darkfin gloves.

A special thank you to ART master Brian Kildow! Seriously wouldn't have been able to race with out his magic hands!

Happy Training/Racing!!!