NJ TriDevils: Miami 70.3 Race Report

With 2 half iron distance races this year under my belt and a decent season of training, I approached this race with more of an aggressive mentality rather than the “let’s hope I finish this thing without dying” thought process. Bay swim, flat bike, mostly flat run. Even though I knew I would need a great race to hi it, my goal was to break 5 hours (which I definitely think is realistic).

Funny enough, the week before the race I ended up with a chest cold that thankfully was almost gone by race date. I flew down to Miami on Thursday where Isabel picked me up in Ft. Lauderdale. That evening while Isa was in class, I got in an easy 3 mile run…just as I had expected, hot and humid. Friday I got a mini tour of Miami, we went for ~30mi bike ride, and then had an awesome time joining the Critical Mass ride. If you’ve never been part of a Critical Mass ride which is held in multiple cities to raise cycling awareness, its super fun and I highly recommend it!

We started Saturday morning off with some oatmeal, coffee, and a light 2 mile run. That afternoon we did packet pick-up which was held at the site of transition, during which we each polished off a bottle of Pedialite. Pick up tent was pretty hidden within all of the vendor tents but eventually we found it. The race T’s were cool, but other than that nothing crazy. Everyone at the race (athletes and race directors) seemed to know Isa – probably since she is an amazing athlete and won San Juan 70.3 earlier this year among other events! We dropped our bikes at our designated racks and headed home. For dinner I had a small piece of salmon with a serving of rice and beans and Isa and I split another bottle of Pedialite. Then we packed and lights out by 9:30pm!

Watching the sun rise w/ Isa and Lora

Race morning I woke up around 4:45am and consumed a breakfast of plain oatmeal and a single cup of coffee. We were out the door by 5:15. On the way to the race, I had some water and an English muffin with Nutella. We arrived around 6 and I set up my station – taped 2 packs of Clif Shot blocks to my bike, shoes clipped in and fastened with rubber bands, and everything else I needed set out in an orderly fashion. For my bike bottles this race I chose to skip the Perpetuem since I was trying to rule out what was causing my GI distress during the later portion of the run. Instead I went with one of plain water and a second with a scoop of Gatorade mix, a GU electrolyte tab, and water (usually I use Roctane but I forgot to pack it). Last, we hit the portas and hung out watching the sun rise over the water.

The 1^st swim wave for Men’s pros went off at 7:25am. Thankfully, our age group was wave 4 which started at 7:35. Much better than at Timberman! I felt good going out at the start but it was pretty tight and within the 1^st 5 minutes us middle of the packers were all fighting to make a right turn around the 1^st buoy. By 7 minutes in I was already catching groups of the Wave 3 swimmers (mostly older women ~45ish group if I remember correctly). About halfway through the swim we hit a large patch (maybe 100m or so) of thick sea grass. Some of the women from the group in front of us almost were panicking and pulled up in the water. There were a few times that I had trouble picking my arms up during the recovery portion of the stroke or I couldn’t kick or turn to breathe because of how heavy these “grass mats” were. The only other portion of the swim that I struggled with was the final stretch toward the swim exit where I was being pushed laterally toward shore, but otherwise felt decent. I rounded the swim out at 37:19, not my fastest this year, but all things considered I wasn’t upset when I checked my watch on the way to transition.

Coming into T2

I had no problems with T1 – spotted my bike easily and everything was set up how I had left it this morning. Mounted my bike easily and I was on my way. During 1^st 5 miles of the bike we were making our way out of the city and had a few small inclines but nothing to write home about. The rest of the bike was a pretty boring single shot out and back in the left lane of Highway 27. As compared to Timberman, due to our start wave it was mostly a solo ride. On the way out with a headwind, I passed quite a few females from my wave and the one prior and by the halfway turnaround was being caught by males from the start wave that had followed mine. About 40 miles into the ride, a tight pack of about 15 (males and 1 female) athletes drafting caught and surrounded me. With them came a van with officials and it was nice to see that they were calling a lot of the athletes out in the pack and awarding penalties. Thankfully, the pack had moved past me within about 2 minutes. Once we returned back into the city our wonderful tailwind was gone and we had to grind out the last 5 miles. Some turns and intersections were not well marked off (Isa actually took a wrong turn and had to turn around at one point). I closed out the bike in 2:38:46 (21.16mph) and as I was pulling my feet out of my shoes while coming into T2, my left hamstring cramped up and that was enough to make me re-think how I had pushed my bike pace.

T2 went smoothly as well. Bike racked, hat, race belt, socks and shoes on, 3 GU’s in pocket and I hit the run. I opened the run up around 7:30 and was feeling pretty good, but 10 minutes in I was brought to a standstill as that dang left hamstring was cramping something fierce. After about 90 seconds of stretching and minimal walking I reached the point that I could kind of jog without a full on cramp. I took my 1^st GU and a 2^nd supplied by the race before the end of the 2^nd mile. By the 3^rd mile I had was back to the fastest run pace that I could tolerate and felt much better as I packed my top and shorts with the loose ice being handed out by the volunteers. Seriously the ice was my saving grace as the 84º heat and humidity beat down on us as we crossed a large open bridge (over and back). I completed the rest of the 1^st run loop with no major problems, took my 2^nd GU, and was definitely thinking “why in the world do I sign up for these things?” The 2^nd loop felt just as bad as the one before and I ate my last GU around mile 8. By now I was drinking both water and Gatorade and walking a few steps at each aid stop. The final 2.5 miles were the worst. I knew I had less than 20 minutes to go and my body was threatening with cramping with every few strides. My run finished up at a 1:44:47 (7:59 pace) with some light sunburn. One big thing to mention...NO GI DISTRESS! Yes! On the day I went 5:04:52 which is a big PR for me, good for 7th in AG. Looks like 5 hours will have to remain my goal for 2014!

So happy to be done!

Isa won our AG with a 4:47:23 and her friend Lora went second with a 4:51:13. I also had a chance to catch up with Monica Sanchez who claimed 2^nd in her AG with a 5:01:25. All 3 claimed their spots for Canada in Sept 2014! We spent the rest of the afternoon at the race finish hanging out, recovering, and taking in a few adult beverages.

We may or may not have beers in our back pockets...

On the whole I had a lot of fun in Miami. The race wasn’t anything crazy or picturesque, but if you are looking for flat and hot (when the northeast is posting low 50’s) then it’s a good choice as a weekend getaway!!