The first of many 70.3

This was the start of a new chapter in my racing and Triathlon career. Last weekend I competed in my first half Ironman or 70.3. It was a lot of fun but gave me a lot more respect for the longer distance tri guys and galls.

I went into the race with enough 70.3 training to understand what I was up against and felt rested from the E Games race that I did the week before and the crash. But I got a nasty cold the week going into the race. I was able to get rid of it about a day before the race and went in feeling good.

The swim was not much different from my olympic swims. I was able to get into the chase group and hang on until the last 400m. I came out of the water about 10th. Now the bike was a lot different also being 93km. I had a good start to the bike settling into a grove pushing from 280-300watts. But at 20km I hit a pot hole and lost my bottle I quickly turned around to get it. Could not afford the penalty. Through the ride I caught 3 people putting me in 7th place. I felt very good until about 75km when the real pain started. I was able to hold onto my speed and finish up the bike with out complete falling apart. But my power did drop giving me an average of 261watts and 40.8kph. When I jumped off my bike my legs felt like jelly and I did not know how I was going to finish the run. 3km in I started to feel like I could run again and I started get back into the grove. I felt good and was able to put in a big bush from 13km to 18km. But after that the meltdown happened and I am surprised I made it to the finish line. I have never felt that kind of leg pain after or during a race. I did not catch any one on the run and held my 7th place.

  The finish

After the race I started to walk around in my dalliers state. I eventually found Stomp the Monster (a group fundraising money for cancer research)  who were so kind and adopted me as on of there athlete nursing me back to strength and warming me up. So I could make the 800m to transition. It has taken 3 day for me to start to feel normal and be able to walk up stares.

I am very excited and happy about this finish. It was not a top 5 but a good start. I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go.
 

Huge thanks to the Brian Manners and his family how welcomed me into there home and put me up for the race. Without people like them the road to victory is a lot longer and harder.

Thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for all the bike equipment, Saucony for the run shoes, Nineteen Wetsuit for the FastSkin/Wetsuit, Kinetico, Royal Containers and C3 for the flight support.