Ironman 70.3 Raleigh - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

First leg felt awful, out of breath. I started back of group and inside. After rounding first bouy I hit stride and felt good for the rest of the swim.

Start middle of pack. I was caught behind a lot of slower swimmers and passing was difficult. I should be more confident in swim ability

Shoes were not allowed to be pre-clipped on bike

I need to work on transitions in general

I felt I was right on target for the bike segment. I took in 2 24 oz of half Gatorade 1/2 water and 24 ozs of water..

According to some I did not take in enough fluid or food, and I did need to drink a lot on the run. Next race at this distance I will try and take in 128 ozs of sports drink such as ironman perform or Gatorade endurance. Maybe also eat one more Cliff bar or a couple of more gels.

I had to pee in port-o-john in transition. I couldn't run well in bike shoes.

I should get speed laces again to speed up T2. Remember to take feet out of shoes before bike dismount.

My ranks were same as overall, so it does not seem like Ironman separated out run split. I needed to drink and walk through every aid station, so I probably did not drink enough on bike. I was not prepared for the hilly course. I felt very strong off of the bike and think I could have done much better on a flatter course. I did pick up the pace on the last few miles pretty well, though.

Definitely train on hills more

I was waiting at finish line for my brother and a friend and drinking water, nothing special. Felt surprisingly good considering what I had just done.


Not training on hills, not confident enough in swim ability to start middle of the pack.


This was the inaugural year for Ironman 70.3 Raleigh. Very nice venue. Great race except for the hilly run course which a lot of athletes were complaining about/not prepared for. I guess we all underestimated the elevation profile. Interestingly, the bike elevation profile looked just as bad in retrospect, but didn't feel nearly as bad.

I think once everyone gets the post race reports, they will be prepared and times should improve next year.

I highly recommend "The Pit" barbeque restaurant for a very delicious post race dinner/reward. It is highly rated on Yelp and in walking distance of the main hotels (.3 miles) near the finish line(Sheraton and Marriot). We stayed at the Sheraton which was fine, but under some renovation construction. The Marriot seemed slightly nicer and was a few more dollars a night, but did not have three rooms left when we booked.