Race Report
I started to write a simple race report but I realized this race was more of a journey than a single day event so I wanted to include some of the story of how I got to the starting line let alone the finish line.
Before the Race
At the end of September 2021 I just completed the Malibu Olympic Triathlon for the second time where I was able to take 22 minutes off my time from 2019 due in large part to a lot more time riding in 2020 thanks to Covid. At the same time a friend of mine, Shawn, from San Diego had been training for a 70.3 when Covid forced several race cancellations and reschedules for him. He was finally able to complete the October version of the Oceanside race and convinced me that I should register for the race in April before it sold out.
When I clicked the button on the final registration confirmation page I don't think I had fully realized the gravity of that decision. It was at that time it started to sink in to me that I was nowhere near where I needed to be to complete the swim. I knew I could finish the bike and I know you can always walk or crawl on the run course, it is the dreaded Open Water swim that concerned me the most. Even though I had completed a similar swim distance twice before in the Pacific Ocean the experiences were less than pleasant and I stubbornly am determined to fix that, one day.
Training and Goals
All along I had set my goal just to finish the event. But I also knew I didn't want to be one of those crawling across the finish line. I knew that I could try to follow a training plan on my own but I also recognized that I could use the guidance and accountability that a coach could provide. There are several local coaches but I decided to work with Dax Timbol as I knew he had a swim background and was part of a large Triathlon team as well.
I started getting my assigned workouts and got used to the daily routine and actually almost missed it the few times I had to travel away from home. However, on one of those trips it happened to be to Florida where I was able to swim a lot at the resort pool and three trips into the Gulf. Those open water swims were a great confidence builder knowing that it would be very difficult to get many more swims in before the early April race.
Another casualty of Covid, the 2020 Rock n Roll Marathon had been postponed until February of 2021 almost exactly one month before Oceanside. I had been registered for the race so I decided to use the event as just another training day. On my previous prescribed long runs of 2 hours I had been able to do the 13.1 miles in 1:55 so I set a conservative goal for the race for a 1:50 time with a stretch goal of 1:45. Two days before the race I went to a Metallica concert and somehow managed to get a nasty blister on my left foot :scream:. Oh well, no rest for the weary and the race starts on Sunday and no one was more surprised than me when I was at mile 6 averaging well under 8 minutes per mile and feeling great since I had never done a 5K at that pace before. I finished with a time of 1:40:30! While that was great I did end up with a few new blisters and bruised toes that were unexpected and persistent.
The next month was a lot more training and a lot more swimming with several trips to the frigid lake to try and build on the February swims in Florida. However, I can't explain why but the panic came right back. Some trips were better than others but for some reason I just couldn't get comfortable and started getting concerned for the actual race. But there was only one way to find out!
Arrival in Oceanside
Jess and I got the car loaded up Thursday morning and had an easy drive to Oceanside with a quick stop at Chipotle in Hesperia. When we arrived in Oceanside we immediately saw Shawn and his family walking to the condo that we were going to all be staying at and at the next stop sign we saw a beautiful Labrador Retriever in the back of a SUV and realized that was Jess's coworkers Julie's dog Gracie. We pulled over to say hi real quickly before pulling into the condo and unloading what seems like a mountain of gear for two people for one weekend up three flights of stairs. Yep, lots of stairs were in our future for the rest of the weekend. The condo was in a fantastic location south of the pier which was very close to the finish line and also closer to the train station.
We walked to registration to pick up my packet and then we went to the Ironman Village to pickup my bag and browse all the merchandise I refused to buy until after I finished the race.
Shawn than drug me to the beach where we braved the afternoon swell and got past the breakers south of the pier for around 40 minutes. We both tried to tell ourselves that if we could be ok in the water that evening that it could only be better on the day of the race. We got back to the condo and took a quick shower before we had dinner at Blade 1936 served by the owner and his crutch.
The next morning Barret, another Las Vegas athlete, joined Shawn and myself for an ocean swim. Again, even though the water was calmer than the night before my fear came back and I almost didn't attempt to get out past the break. But I did, and when I did we had a nice easy swim taking a few breaks just treading water and relaxing.
We did a moderately quick change into bike gear before taking a little 10 mile bike check with a photo op followed by a very fast (for me) 5 minute run around the block before heading to transition for the bike's bedtime.
Shawn's wife Tiffany and Jess picked up takeout from Hello Betty that we all enjoyed at the condo before finally heading to bed for the big day.
Race Day
GOOD MORNING!!!
The morning started with a 3:40AM alarm followed by breakfast where I mimicked Shawn’s prescribed meal of apple sauce, bananas and Ensure but I substituted a half a plain bagel for two of his three cups of apple sauce.
It is amazing how fast the time goes in the morning as it was already time for the short walk to transition with the rest of our gear to setup transition where I tried not to forget something and voila the transition is closing in 15 minutes announcements start.
Shawn and I headed over to the start area and tried to acclimate to the water. After seeing the surf, the crowds, the buoys way out in the distance I immediately went back into fear mode where I had doubts I was even going to join the start corrals. I somehow convinced myself to just get my face in the water and get some water into the wetsuit. I started feeling better and purposely took a few waves just to know that everything would be fine. I headed back to dry land where we found the wives for a quick photo before finally finding our places in line.
Swim
I'm now in line towards the back in the 45-47 minute pace group. I think to myself that I should try to move up but I realize it probably won't make much of a difference. Everyone in line is nice and excited and a few minutes later I'm now waiting for the beep before heading out into the ocean. I got out past the break without too much of an issue but then halfway between land and the right hand turn I had a bit of a panic attack. I saw a lifeguard nearby and I waved for him to come over where he handed me his floatation device. We chatted for just a minute where I was able to regain my composure, thanked him for being there and headed towards that right hand turn. I never really could get in a good consistent freestyle rhythm and had to stop to breaststroke because of the amount of others in the water and I realized maybe I should have moved up after all. None of that really mattered because I was starting to feel much better and was now about to make the third right down to the homestretch and solid ground.
I made it to the T1 area feeling good and having no idea what my time was but I knew it was under what I had allotted for probably mainly due to the current on the way back to the harbor.
Everyone always says that my swim time is fine but I know I'm leaving a lot of time and nervous energy in the water. I know I can swim faster but the goal was to finish and I did ; I would just like to feel better while doing it.
Swim Data:
Avg Temp - 62 Degrees
Calories Burned: 454
Avg HR - 124 bpm (if this is correct this is a great thing but it was from the OHR on the watch)
Max HR - 161 bpm
Total time - 40:48
Moving time - 33:17
Avg Pace - 2:12 / 100 yd
Avg Moving Pace - 1:47 / 100 yd
T1
This took me way too long for several reasons. I was worried about that blister from the half marathon and tried to get all the sand off of my feet and dry them before I failed at applying a Band-Aid because my feet were still too wet. It seems I forgot to bring the baby powder I had read about and meant to pack. Oh well, let's get out of here and get on the bike. On the way out of T1 I learned another new trick that the space between a port a potty is set at the correct spacing to double as a bike rack. I thought that was interesting so I decided to try it for myself before finally getting out onto the bike course.
Bike
Since I started so far back in line and didn't give Flipper any swimming competition I now had plenty of people in front of me to pass on the bike. I felt good and was riding well when I followed the path to the left down a hill and my rear bottle ejected itself. I almost immediately noticed that everyone else had the same issue because the ground looked like a yard sale of bike bottles and pieces. I was worried about my nutrition so I safely stopped to retrieve the bottle and carried on but started being more cognizant of the road conditions and sighting other yard sale locations before hitting them and I was successful in returning back to T2 with all of my equipment.
I was feeling good and looked down at my computer and it only said 5 miles and I thought to myself, wow this is going to be awhile but the next time I looked down at the mileage I was at mile 24 and ready to hit the hills.
I was riding pretty conservatively knowing that I still had a half marathon to go when I started having some seat and neck discomfort. I thought to myself oh well, it's only another 10 miles, let's just push towards the finish and that's what I did but I was not nearly as aero as I could have been into the headwind.
Overall, I really enjoyed the ride with the water and green rolling hills but now it was time to get back to T2.
Bike Data:
Distance: 55.72 miles
Avg Temp: 63.8
Calories Burned: 2,330
Avg HR: 131
Max HR: 155
Total Time: 2:49:12
Avg Speed: 19.8 MPH
Avg Power: 204W
Max Power: 644W
Normalized Power: 227W
Avg Cadence: 79 RPM
Elevation Gain: 3,046 ft
T2
The bike route to get to the T2 dismount is a very narrow winding section but it's better than having to hike a bike for that distance. However, I dismounted before the red line when someone behind me thought they had more runway causing me to kind of jump out of the way and my poor bike took a light tumble but luckily the pedal took the impact :grimacing:. I again thought it would be a good idea to try and get that Band-Aid on my toe and removed my right sock to immediately realize that I'm just going to have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Another pit stop at the restroom before heading out on the run.
Run
I head out of T1 and cross the bridge and make the right towards the Strand when I see Coach Dax has made it and is yelling at me to make sure I stay up on my nutrition and he runs with me to see how I'm doing. I see mile marker 1 and think to myself, wow, this is going to be a long one and I look at my watch and see it's only be 7:50 where I have to remind myself that no, it's going to be over very soon. I'm feeling pretty good at this point running along the water and that's when I hit the first ramp of the Pier and now I realize what everyone was talking about, that sucker is steeper and longer than I remember when walking it the day before. But I'm still running it and passing people when I get on to the upper road and let my heart rate recover a bit. I'm now at mile 3 and think to myself we must be turning around soon since there are two loops. This is about the time when Shawn comes screaming by me on his second lap looking very strong but slightly uncomfortable :). I'm now going up a slight hill towards a Red Bull arch that has to be the turnaround but ends up only being the mile 4 marker followed by the most evil double left turn on the course where you run up another slight hill before actually turning around for the halfway point of Loop 1 😒. Oh man, have I ever told you that I hate loops? Well, I hate loops. I'm thinking I really don't want to have to do that again but at this point let's just keep it moving.
As I head back to the bridge I realized the one nice part of the loop format is getting to see people more than once. It was fun to see other athletes I knew as you don't really get that luxury on the swim or bike. It was also great to see Jess, Tiffany and the kids and some other special guests like Chris and his son as well who surprised me on the second loop being in a new location.
It's now the second lap and I'm still feeling pretty good and nearly at the same pace as the half marathon a month ago. Along the way I've stopped twice to refill my water and grab a Maurten gel (those things are disgusting BTW) and I am now approaching the pier/hills section again followed shortly after by mile 9 where I can see the Red Bull arch in the distance signaling that it's almost all downhill from here.
I make the left back down the hill towards the strand and I feel good and can tell that my time is going to be under 1:50 so I just focus on enjoying what's left of the run. As I approach the finish I see that I'm catching two people and realize they're going to ruin my picture so I actually tried to slow down but I probably should have stopped or really sprinted in front of them. Next time!
Distance: 13.04 miles
Avg Temp: 69.5
Calories Burned: 1,664
Avg HR: 145
Max HR: 155
Total Time: 1:44:46
Avg Speed: 8:02 / mi
Avg Power: 321W
Avg Cadence: 176 SPM
Elevation Gain: 411 ft
Finish!
Wow! I really can't believe that was over. I wasn't expecting it but there was definitely a wave of emotions that hit me as I walked towards the medal distribution. Now it was time to regroup and take some celebratory photos before heading back to the condo for a much needed shower.
My wife was sneaky and purchased me a finisher hoody because she was afraid the Ironman Village would be picked over by the time the race was over. She was correct, they were almost ready to pack up even though there were still people on the run course.
The aftermath
Awards ceremony
Shawn and I walked back down to the finish line area to watch the awards ceremony and wait for the World Championship slot allocations. It was cool to see the pros and age groupers get their awards and Shawn was lucky enough to get his pass to St. George in October and a case of non-alcoholic beer🤦♂️!
The morning after
After a nice quiet post race dinner of Pizza at the condo I crashed pretty hard and woke up early out of habit unfortunately. I decided to sneak out and take a walk around Oceanside and grab coffee. It wasn't until I tried to walk down the many stairs of the condo when I felt the real effects of the effort from the day before but the legs started feeling better the more I walked around.
While enjoying brunch at Bar Traza at the La Costa Resort my Garmin Fenix finally gave me a compliment, I was already recovering! Thanks Garmin!
Goodbye Oceanside
I had to get one last run in before leaving Oceanside so I decided to actually take a quick run on the sand and to the end of the pier where I saw a guy swimming without a wetsuit!
Lessons learned/What's next?
Everyone always asks what's next? I didn't really have an answer until I finished this race but for now I have only committed to a few local races and Malibu in September but I did take advantage of the pre-sale and registered for Oceanside 2023.
As far as lessons learned and things to think about in the future, here's my list:
- Injury/recovery
- Strength training - I have started adding some strength training along the way but I really need to make it more of a priority. There's always the fear that doing a leg workout one day is going to negatively effect short term running and biking performance at the expense of long term improvement.
- Stretching - I've never been good at warming up or cooling down correctly and will try to include more time for both.
- Recovery - Something I'm really not good at doing. Enjoy the rest days and try to avoid the group rides that are supposed to be Z2 and turn into Z4+.
- Nutrition
- When I started this journey I didn't really have any goals other than to maintain my ability to enjoy whatever food I wanted to eat. While I don't think I'm going to get super strict on my diet, I think doing a bit more planning of meals couldn't hurt.
- Learn to have more than one speed
- I'm really good at settling into one speed no matter the distance. I need to practice pushing the pace and especially slowing the pace for certain workouts.
- Get more comfortable in the red zone
- Similar to the one speed comment above my Garmin likes to remind me that I perpetually have an Anaerobic Shortage. To really make additional performance improvements I need to get used to pushing harder.
- Run more loops?
- We're all creatures of habit and I have always preferred out and back courses because I find it hard to start the next lap instead of just turning for home.
TL;DR
Total Time: 5:28:25
Distance: 70.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 3,501 ft
Calories Burned: 4,736