Wind, Waves, Confusion = Run, Bike, Run

This was my first 70.3.  It made for a long day.  I was exhausted.  I had no desire to drink Gatorade or ingest Gu for a long time.  I loved it.  I can't wait for my next 70.3 or 140.6.

Bike check-in on Friday was smooth enough.  The park that serves as the transition area and check-in was crowded.  Patience was needed to find a place to park.  I arrived late afternoon on a very hot day, found a place to park and got myself oriented.  I went through the check-in process and got my packet and shirt.  I also got my body marked as they recommend (I ended up buying my own Sharpie and touching up my numbers later in the evening).  The officials gave a rules talk and a course talk that was fairly informative.  I got my bike racked (the rack spacing was very tight).  On a recommendation of an Ironman veteran, I took the time to walk down to the water's edge at the swim exit, locate some landmarks and trace my path to my bike (it's a good distance up the beach, past the dunes and into the transition area, appox 300m).  After that I headed off to my hotel.

Of course I did not sleep too well; I never do the night before a race.  I was up 15 minutes before my 4:45 wake up call.  Headed out at 5, got to the parking lot and took the shuttle to the transition area.  I got my gear situated and started the waiting process.  I was in wave 15 of 18, so while the race start was scheduled for 7:00, I was not to go off until 8:20. 

Having plenty of time, I mulled around a bit and chatted with some family members who came to share the day with me.  Eventually we started the walk to the swim start.  It's a point to point swim, so you've got to walk the mile from the swim finish to the swim start.  As we were walking, you could not help but notice the rough waters and feel the whipping winds.  About 6:45 the race directors decided the waters were too rough (3-4 foot waves at the swim start, maybe 2-3 feet at the swim finish) and cancelled the swim portion.  We were directed to hike back to the transition area where we would receive instructions on a run in lieu of the swim.

Canceling the swim was the right decision.  I'm a strong swimmer and would not have had a problem in the waves.  The strong winds and current would have lead to a fast swim time; which bummed me a bit because the swim is really the only place I pass people.  But the lifeguards in kayaks could not have held station in the rough waters.  And the weaker swimmers would have have some problems.

Back at the transition area we put away our swim gear, changed into our run gear and headed out to an impromptu run start area.  The race start was delayed and hour so the officials could get the run set up.  By the time my race actually started, I figure I'd walked a good 4 miles and been up about 4.5 hours.

The actual race:  2 mile run, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run, so this year it's really the Steelhead 71.1.  Being my first 70.3, I planned on taking things relatively easy and enjoying the day, which I did.  My watch had me finishing in 6 hours, 11 minutes.  I have not even looked up my offical results. 

The 2 mile run was generally uphill the first half, downhill the second half.  They had us finish using part of the same path as the final race finish, which includes running in some soft sand.  Not having to strip out of a wetsuit made the transition pretty easy.

The bike course was rolling hills, with a lead out to a substantially square course, and then a lead in to the transition area.  The winds were out of the northwest.  The lead out was generally northeast, so the winds were from the front left.  We turned east and had the winds generally to our backs for a bit.  Then north, then west into the winds, then a long mostly downhill, south-southwest finish with the wind pushing.  That was nice.

The roadway was generally good.  There were several areas that were either under construction or recently worked on.  The course marshalls did a good job trying to sweep and clean the roadways.  I purposely left my tires a little soft (for comfort and give in the construction areas) and it paid off.  There were several areas where I saw 3-5 people pulled over in the same spot fixing flats.  These area were usually just past a bit of construction.

I was also suprised at the amount of bike debris left on the roadway.  I expected some lost water bottles, but not the numbers I saw.  I also passed someone's entire rear water bottle rack (two bottles still in the cages, spare tube, CO2 inflator).  And countless numbers of the yellow mesh inserts from Profile Aerodrink bottles (I replaced my with a sponge cut to fit into the top section of the bottle, it prevents splashing and I can squirt liquid into it and the liquid seaps through the sponge and down into the bottle).

Aid stations were roughly every 10-12 miles.  They were each set up as follows: gatorate, water, food (bananas and powerbars), water, gatorade.  Gatorade was in single serve bottles.  The aid station volunteers were very enthusiastic.  Although one of the Gatorade bottles I got did not have the inner seal removed, so it was useless to me.

Back to the transition area and out for the run.  Which for me was a run/walk.  Aid stations were every 1-1.5 miles, the same setup as before except cups instead of bottles.  Cold sponges and ice were also available. The finish through the soft sand was a little harder on the legs this go around, but adrenaline carried me through.

Like I said, I was exhausted.  I can't wait for my next 70.3 or 140.6

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