General Discussion Triathlon Talk » I DID IT! First IM 70.3!! Rss Feed  
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2014-04-14 9:20 PM

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Subject: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Have to share this with the world!!
Just finished my second tri, and first IM 70.3! 6 months of very dedicated training - started pretty much from zero - could not swim more than 70m, had never trained on a bike, and was in fairly poor condition (had just done a half marathon in 2h 23mins and that was my max pace).
BUT taught myself to swim off some TI vids on youtube, bought a bike and found a training program online

Around Christmas I announced my goal was to finish with comfortable time to spare before cut-off. So was hoping for 7h45m was thinking 7h30m could be within reach if I stepped on it, and had a dream of getting close to 7h - but being new to biking I knew especially the bike pace would be a challenge.

I finished in 6h 58min 49secs!! Soooo happy!

Swim: 46min
Cycle: 3:24:42
Run: 2:38:31
Btw had the almost the slowest T1 hahaha, was putting on a tight top and compression sleeves for my calves

Thanks to advice here I restrained myself from getting too excited on the bike leg and was feeling fresh even though I went faster than I had ever done in training.
But the run turned out to be extremely tough due to the temperature, had to manage pretty much a constant cramp in my left calf and shin, joined by the right calf on the second loop of two. Temperatures were around 38-40 degrees Celsius. On the first round my vision was also turning "black" and I lost some hearing on my left ear!!! I figured that could not be good, so had to walk a bit and abandoned my initial nutrition plan and started chugging down isotonics and coke as well. Onto the second round luckily a thin layer of clouds blocked a bit of the sun, so I did not have issues with the vision anymore, but think I must have gotten quite close to fainting. The cramps were still very much there though, but I knew that if I could keep a steady pace on the second round I had a shot at making it under 7 hours so I just willed on.
The feeling of crossing the finish line was enormous and I even teared up a bit right after
I also told myself never again, but one day later I think I should do it again hahaha, I know I could have run a lot faster without the cramps and my biking can only get better.
Nutrition in this heat is a challenge though, I did 4-5 endorulytes per hour, last hour I took 6. Very many had cramps. A friend of mine had to be lifted off the bike because she couldn't get off at T2 herself due to cramps, but she also went on to finish.

Best of all, my wife who started training at the same time as me and from an even worse starting point, also finished at 8.15!!

Thanks to all in this community who take time to read and reply to newbie questions like mine. Even if we ask insanely stupid stuff It helped me a lot during my preparations, and it's great to know there are veterans who can advice whenever you need it!!




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2014-04-14 9:31 PM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Well done...congratulations! Damn, those were some hot temps. Good job!
2014-04-14 9:54 PM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I've got my first HIM planned for next summer.
2014-04-14 10:27 PM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Congratulations Knut. And, to your wife and friend as well. Great finish.
2014-04-14 10:36 PM
in reply to: wenceslasz

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Congratulations!
2014-04-14 10:41 PM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Congrats!


2014-04-14 11:21 PM
in reply to: #4981729


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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Well done mate
2014-04-14 11:22 PM
in reply to: Jimmycolorado


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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Much respect! Congrats ...quite awesome!
2014-04-15 3:40 AM
in reply to: LarchmontTri

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Originally posted by LarchmontTri

Well done...congratulations! Damn, those were some hot temps. Good job!


Thanks!!

It was scorching! This was the Putrajaya 70.3 in Malaysia. I live only 35 minutes away from the race venue, so have trained on the bike course every weekend for the past 3 months, and can safely say that Sunday was one of the absolute warmest days we have seen for a while.

There were a large number of participants that had to drop out due to the heat, and some were suffering from heatstroke and were sent to hospital. Not heard of any critical cases though.

I have lived in Malaysia for 7 years so I am well acclimatized but I don't think you can ever reach a point where such temperatures feel anything but painful to perform in.

Not sure what is the normal DNF ratio in such races, but I think there were about 250-300 DNF's out of 1200-something starters, which sounds like a lot to me.
2014-04-15 5:54 AM
in reply to: #4981767

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Great job... and I enjoyed your race report!

I did my 1st 70.3 last year, and you beat my time by one minute :-)
I'm doing the same course again in about 7 weeks... so I'm hoping to improve on my times.
2014-04-15 7:51 AM
in reply to: jeetkevdo

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Nice Work! Got my first 70.3 in 3 weeks!!


2014-04-15 8:06 AM
in reply to: SR2518

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Well Done Congrates
2014-04-15 8:10 AM
in reply to: RRH_88

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Congratulations! Great result in some challenging conditions.

140.6 next? ;-)
2014-04-15 12:15 PM
in reply to: Patrick E

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
nice work
2014-04-15 12:42 PM
in reply to: jeetkevdo

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
congrats!
2014-04-15 1:26 PM
in reply to: TriToy

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Great job! Congrats


2014-04-15 1:40 PM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!

Congrats!

I'm doing my first HIM in July.

2014-04-16 12:27 PM
in reply to: jeetkevdo

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Many congrats! I will be doing my first in August (Timberman in New Hampshire).

How about some first timer advice, please? ......like 1-3 simple pieces of advice for 1st timers. It will be appreciated.
2014-04-16 12:39 PM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Congrats bud. I also just completed my first half - NOLA 70.3 this past Sunday.
2014-04-18 1:32 AM
in reply to: Dunn Right

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Thanks all! And congrats Dunn! And good luck to all of you who have your first 70.3 this year! You can absolutely do it!!
I am still on a high from finishing

Mahk: Good question. Here the best newbie advice I can give (some might be obvious) and most have been gathered from this forum so credits to the community.

Preparations:
1. Get a training plan and follow it, and track your training. There are many plans online so it's easy to get (unless you are already in club or have a coach). And you can make minor adjustments along the way. But do commit to one or you very easily end up doing too little/too much or very unbalanced training. The plans have already factored in volume build up to the race, recovery and tapering so you don't have to think about it.
2. Don't try anything new in the race, which means you need to try out everything you will be eating/drinking/wearing/doing in the race, well ahead of the race, with enough time to make changes if it turns out your original plan is not working. This means: Get the gear you want to use at least 4-5 weeks before the race so you can train with it at least 2-3 long sessions, and still have time to change if something is not working out. And same with nutrition, plan and test it during long trainings well ahead of the race so you are sure your body is OK with it. Try how you will bring it with you during the race and plan and test the amount and frequency you will be taking it at. I tried to take a mouthful of water every 10 minutes. But it's easy to forget to take the nutrition and hydrate early on the bike when you feel fresh and are going strong. Same with what you are planning to eat the day before the race and in the morning. I had my race day breakfast many times before the race on training days to be sure. So when you enter the last week before the race and panick sets in, you have as few uncertainties left too worry about as possible.
3. Brick, brick, brick and brick! Train brick a lot!!! My plan had me do a 1h40m bike followed by 20 min run every Sat for 3 months. Every Sunday (except recovery weeks) there would be 2-3 hour rides. I added run to a couple of them and found there is a big difference between running after 2h and 3h of biking.

Final week before the race:
1. Read the guidelines, rules, athlete guide well in advance (even earlier than the final week if they are available) so you know what will happen, what you need to do/wear/Park/race course aid stations/nutrition etc. Don't leave it to last day or minute in case there is something you need to prepare for. And it will tell you where the aid stations will be.
2. If possible, try to get to bed early this whole week and try to wake up close to what you will do on race day. The night before the race you are likely nervous and restless, so it will be even harder to fall asleep if you on top of that is also going to bed several hours earlier than normal.
3. Plan and lay out your race gear and transition gear and nutrition at least a day early to check you have everything in order. Bring a towel or two for the transition to wipe your feet at least after the swim if you are going to wear socks later. It's also good to stand/sit on while in transition, and plan how you will have your equipment at the transition. Practice the T1 and T2 a couple of times, to find the optimal placement of your stuff (unless they have changing tents and transition bags, then you don't have to worry about the lay out). Here a quick vid, showing you how the transition area looked like during my race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3MTYUTV4Z0
4. Check the bike. And try to plan how you will spend your time also on the day before the race when you go to check in and rack your bike. Beware that this will probably take longer than you think. Also remember to schedule in proper meals, easily forgotten in the excitement. If the race is in warm conditions I heard that the heat may cause trouble for the tires, so deflate them a bit when you rack your bike and bring your big pump to get proper pressure during race day morning (make sure to check that you can access the transition area on race day morning).

Race day!
1. Get to the transition area minimum half hour before it closes. It will probably be busy and chaotic.
2. Don't push too hard on the bike even if the adrenaline and excitement screams to you to go all out. Remember you need to save some to have a good run. Enjoy the ride and remind yourself you are actually doing a 70.3!!
Remember your nutrition/hydration plan!
3. Start comfortably on the run as well. Make sure you have enough to run well in the last 6km. I had to walk quite a bit due to cramps and heat throughout the run, but even at a quite slow jog during the last 3km I passed heaps of guys who were completely empty towards the end.
Remember your nutrition plan! But adjust if needed.
2014-04-18 8:10 AM
in reply to: knuta99

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Thanks for all the info. Like many others I'll be doing my first 70.3 in a few weeks - Kansas June 8th. I am in week 13 or 14 (cant remember) of a 20 week plan. Your times that you posted are exactly what I want my goal times to be except your T1!!! hahahaha I am hoping to be under 7 hours also. I rode for 3:45 hours last week and only drank two bottles of stuff (one Gatorade and Prolong form Herbalife) and thought my calves were going to cramp every step for the first 1/2 mile after the ride. My Garmin said I burned over 4,000 cal. and I probably only replenished about 500 or so.

I have another long ride Saturday 4:15, so I know now that I need to drink A LOT more and eat more too.


2014-04-18 10:13 PM
in reply to: Dub_Z

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Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Originally posted by Dub_Z

Thanks for all the info.


You are welcome! Good luck with your race and hope you get well under my time
Yeah, I think you need to average about a bottle of hydration per hour on the bike 600-800ml. For calorie replenishment, I got advised that you should aim to replenish max 1/3 of your calorie loss, and up to a maximum of about 280 calories per hour. Anything more your body can't digest and you risk stomach issues. I found the nutrition part the most complex, and I am not sure if we overthink it sometimes. Anyways, another advice I got was that it is better to be slightly on the low side, as you can always take more if you feel you need it (as long as you bring extra or can get from the aid stations), but if you have "over-replenished" and stomach issues there is nothing you can do.

Get electrolyte pills! It's supposedly the best thing to prevent cramps. Check how much electrolytes there already are in your drinks and add with the pills.

Let me share some links I received from Hammer Nutrition support when I emailed them and asked for help to plan my nutrition. Some of these mention Hammer products, but mostly they are generic so can be applied with any brand of products you are using.:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/tips-for-a-successful-half...
http://www.hammernutrition.com/guide
http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/proper-fueling-pre-workout...
http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/caloric-intake-proper-amou...
http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/less-is-best-the-right-way...
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=1274
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=299

GOOD LUCK!!! And remember to enjoy it!!


2014-04-20 1:02 AM
in reply to: knuta99

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Canyon, Texas
Subject: RE: I DID IT! First IM 70.3!!
Well done!
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