IRONMAN 70.3 Texas
- Date: April 3rd, 2022
- Distance: IRONMAN 70.3
- Location: Galveston, TX
Results
- Swim: 00:32:26
- T1: Swim-to-Bike: 00:03:10
- Bike: 2:32:42
- T2: Bike-to-Run: 00:02:10
- Run: 1:44:32
- Overall: 4:55:00
Division Rank: 20 | Gender Rank: 188 | Overall Rank: 210
Race Recap
My performance at IRONMAN 70.3 Texas was good, but not great.
Swim
I was impressed with my swim. 32 minutes is a huge improvement. I felt extremely confident in the water and my sighting was excellent. Over two years of dedicated training has significantly improved my form and speed.
Bike
The bike course was not a PR chasers dream course given the heavy headwind after the turnaround. Regardless, my legs just weren’t there on Sunday and I struggled to keep pace. I averaged 180W (188W normalized), which is pretty terrible given the amount of biking I did over the winter and what I could have pushed. I also did not sit in a giant peloton like a pack rat. (There was a group of 30 riders that passed me drafting hard).
Run
The run went pretty bad as well. In first 3 miles my hamstrings were super painful and I was worried I’d get full-on cramps. The cramps never came and the pain eventually subsided. Nevertheless, I had terrible GI issues on the run and had to stop to use the bathroom.
Retrospective
Reflecting on my performance, I’ve come a long way if an OK day of racing results in a sub-5 hour finish and a PR. However, I am still pretty unsatisfied with how I executed on race day.
Some key takeaways from Sunday:
- I need to do a true taper. I was doing race pace efforts in the days leading up to the race, which was stupid.
- My nutrition still needs refinement. I am still getting GI issues on the run. Going forward, I need to take less caffeine, which increases peristalsis leading to having to use the bathroom. Likewise, I need to be able to take on carbohydrates without it having the same affect. To address this, I need to start training more frequently with my race day nutrition.
- Continuing on the theme of nutrition, I have come to the conclusion that simplicity is key. My pre-race meal the night before should just be white rice and chicken breast. My pre-race meal the morning of should just be a slice of bread with almond butter (no coffee).
Overall, I can’t be upset with a PR. Life is about continuous improvement, not instant perfection and with each race I slowly refine my training, nutrition, preparation, and performance. In actuality, these failures motivate me to be better, more critical, and more introspective, which leads to continued growth in the sport.