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2015-01-13 2:09 PM

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1502
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Katy, Texas
Subject: First 70.3 Done
I finished my first 70.3 this past weekend in Naples. Overall I was happy with the result. I felt good during the whole race and managed my goal of finishing under 5 hours. Which came as a bit of a surprise to me as I thought I was over five hours until I turned the last corner and saw the clock at 4:58 and managed to sprint in to finish at 4:59.16 screaming like a maniac.

One thing that continues to astound me is the level of competition and athleticism in this sport. There were 215 finishers (based on the RD there were around 250 starters in the half, so quite a few DNFs) and finishing at just under five hours was still really MOP as I ended up 42 out of the 215. I never saw that level in running. A race of that size would not be difficult to get into the top ten OA, and even in the top 3-5 normally. I suppose on the whole, that the people that tackle this sport are just more hard core than those that enter running races, which makes sense considering the level of effort, time and money it takes to get going.

As with my other races, the bike is still lagging the other two sports, but it is catching up. I finished 23rd on the swim, 72nd on the bike and 28th on the run. Hopefully over time I'll be able to gain a little ground on the bike but still, this sport is fierce. For example, I finished the half marathon in 1:40, which put me at 13% of the runners. My time at last years Miami half marathon was only slightly faster at 1:34, but that put me in the top 2% of finishers at a event, literally 20 times the field size at 2,000 finishers. And that was a run time without the bike and swim! You folks are a hard group to compete against, that is for sure. However, it's only been 8 months since I started multisport, so hopefully there are gains yet to be made. In the mean time, I will very much be content with oh so barely squeaking under my goal!


2015-01-13 2:20 PM
in reply to: 3mar

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Champion
7036
5000200025
Sarasota, FL
Subject: RE: First 70.3 Done

Congratulations!  Well done.

Mark

2015-01-13 4:01 PM
in reply to: 3mar

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Member
622
500100
Franklin, TN
Subject: RE: First 70.3 Done

Congrats! 

There must of been some smokin' fast swimmers if you came in 23rd....you're pretty fast.  Just looked up the results...you were only 45 secs out of 10th place on the swim...very nice. 

You're right, the bike is where you'll be able to make the biggest dent in your times.  IMO, 2:44 is pretty darn good but when the top finishers are closer to 2 hours, it shows you where you're giving up the biggest chunks of time. 

Sounds like you paced it pretty well.  How did you determine your pacing strategy for the bike?

2015-01-13 4:39 PM
in reply to: JoelO

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1502
1000500
Katy, Texas
Subject: RE: First 70.3 Done
Originally posted by JoelO

Congrats! 

There must of been some smokin' fast swimmers if you came in 23rd....you're pretty fast.  Just looked up the results...you were only 45 secs out of 10th place on the swim...very nice. 

You're right, the bike is where you'll be able to make the biggest dent in your times.  IMO, 2:44 is pretty darn good but when the top finishers are closer to 2 hours, it shows you where you're giving up the biggest chunks of time. 

Sounds like you paced it pretty well.  How did you determine your pacing strategy for the bike?




It's funny that you should ask about pacing. My first two Olys were disastrous because I fell into the temptation to swim hard to be with the FOPers because I could, then I'd get to the bike where I was drastically outmatched but the effect of having all those people pass me would cause me to ride way too hard, then I was absolutely lost on the run and barely finished. So my whole strategy was to take advantage of the swim by going super super easy, then ride very moderately on the bike until at least the turn around point. If I made the same mistake on a 70.3 I'm sure I would have DNFed. So I made sure not to start the swim with the first line of people and just relaxed and floated through it. I sang "Easy Like Sunday Morning" to myself the entire swim an made sure my pace wasn't any faster than the song. I came out of the swim feeling pretty much 100% and took that right into the bike. I was doing great pacing the bike until I saw a group that was obviously together and drafting off one another like it was a plan and that irritated the heck out of me (and I made my feelings well known as they passed) that got me riding faster than I should have, but I backed it back down again. By the time I got to the run, I finally let go and held a hard pace until the last couple of miles. Being a good swimmer, a slow biker and a strong runner, I tend to get passed a lot on the bike, but not at all on the run, because few people are lopsided like that. When I started to fade, I was dropping to above an 8:00MM pace and I heard footsteps come up behind me. There was a woman who was coming up fast, so when she made it up to me, I started to pace off of her. She was in the same boat in the strong swim, weak bike and strong run, and totally helped me along with a lot of encouragement. At the last mile she pushed me to take the lead to set the pace and finish hard, which I did, and she hung right with me. It was awesome. I finished my last mile on a 6:58 pace with her help, and was certain to thank her at the end. That's the second time that has happened to me at the end of a race. Really really cool. Without her I wouldn't have broke 5 hours so I'm totally in debt on that one.
2015-01-13 5:52 PM
in reply to: 3mar

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622
500100
Franklin, TN
Subject: RE: First 70.3 Done

Cool story about the run finish. 

The bike pacing has my attention since my first HIM is in May.  I'll try to see what I can hold effort-wise in some lead up brick sessions.  My last HM was 1:53 so I'd like to be able to run around a 2:00 or better...doable if I don't over bike it.

I don't think there's any song that would get me to a 30 minute HIM swim.

2015-01-14 7:48 AM
in reply to: 3mar


467
1001001001002525
, Wisconsin
Subject: RE: First 70.3 Done
Congratulations on an excellent race! Sounds like you have a lot of ability and are thinking/planning just enough (not over thinking it). I agree with the others that you can probably gain a lot on the bike going forward.


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