Ironman California Weekend

After taking the week off to rest for the Ironman race, I did a pre-race workout on Friday. It consisted of the last 15 minutes of the Nova workout at Soka (about 700m) in my wetsuit. followed by a 10 mile bike and mile run.

On Friday evening we headed to Oceanside to pick up registration materials and do some carbo-loading at Macaroni Grill. I was a little nervous that my kness were a little painful from just walking around. It seems that my body hadn't fully recovered from the half marathon a couple of weeks ago.

At 4am on Saturday, I woke and by 5:30 I was setup up my transition area at Oceanside Harbor. The Ford Ironman California 70.3 transition area was the biggest I've ever seen. I believe around 2,200 athletes competed. The pros went out at 6:40 and my wave started at 7:07.

The swim started sluggish, but I caught my rhythm after 800 yards or so. I passed the bulk of the previous 3 waves to finish in the top few of my wave. I made a good dash for the transition area, but got tangled in my tri-top, got my bike caught in the rack, and had a difficult time getting clicked in. I lost a couple of minutes of my lead, which was disappointing.

The actual peddling was fine for the first 15 miles. I avoided getting passed too often, but when we hit the killer hills of Camp Pendleton backcountry, I dispiritedly watched numerous people pass me. My 3 hour goal was missed by 20 plus minutes. My heart rate was fine, my legs just weren't interested in going any faster.

On the run, I modified my gait and pace significantly in hopes of minimizing the punishment on my kness, but by mile 2, they were hurting. I looked pretty pathetic on my 9+ minute mile pace. I fought through some side stiches and the painful knees to finish the run in a little over 2 hours. I ignored the pain to sprint the last 200 yards.

Final Unofficial Time: 5 hours 57 minutes. I'll be looking for the official results in the coming hours/days.


I want to give a special thanks to my wife, Ellie, for supporting my long practice sessions that often meant being gone for the better part of Saturdays, for coming to all my races, looking after 3 sometimes challenging kids for hours during the races, and letting me blow huge portions of the family recreation budget on bikes, helmets, memberships, wetsuits, shoes, bags, workout clothes...

Thanks! I love you honey!