Ironman 70.3 Arizona race report

Okay, advice first, even if you think your placing is too low for a Worlds spot, go to the allocation anyway. I had figured that a 5:09 was too far out so I was sipping a cappuccino at awards time instead. Half an hour later, I see on Facebook that a friend I met at the race had gotten a worlds spot and he finished 5:16.

What the what!

That ruined my cappuccino. I texted him and he told me they went down the list all the way to him and he was there to say 'yes'. No one from the top 10 wanted to go. Life tip right here, that is, if you want to go to Worlds. I should also note that after some thought, he definitely deserved to go since I had already experienced it. So why not let others be a part of it too? Plus they drive on the left side in South Africa, danger.

Okay, with the race. Little did I know that even in late October, Arizona is still in the 90s mid day. But I can't say I felt the heat that much during the race. The run is always hard no matter what with a good amount of discomfort. The swim was pretty straight forward even though I could tell from my Strava that I didn't go that straight.

Also, for this race, max gray tint is best for goggles since you look right into the sun for half the swim. I knew that wasn't fast in the swim since I could tell I was in the water for quite a while. Oh well.

I knew that to max out time, if I hustle through the transition, I can save a minute or so. I was happy to limit both to 3:00 and 2:30.

The bike was a city circuit with lots of turns and 15 U-turns. A fair number of turns you can take pretty quick. Of course I came from a bike racing or cycling background. The lines that some of these triathletes would take were freaky. I almost criss-crossed a guy because he took the turn from the inside going out at the apex. Nuts!

But what's fun is if you rip the turns super fast, ASU college girls go crazy. Anything to please the ladies. The course is pretty quick with not much elevation. By the third lap, it does get crowded though. But having a lot of turns did give me a lot of breaks for my HR to come down.

I started T2 totally lagging. Not sure why since I have been doing long brick runs after long bike rides. After a mile or so, I settled into a good rhythm. And it felt like the deeper into the run, the better I was running. By the last 5 miles of my run, there were a lot of people walking. So I was happy to still be keeping it together. Eddie Murphy mantra. Into the last 2 miles, I was starting to feel cramping coming on on both calves. At least I was even.

As I powered into the last mile, I see this guy puking like half a tray of lasagna. How did he consume so much is my question. His poor kid was there to console him. I am sure it was traumatizing for both of them.

Last little tip for this race, just as you see the announcer and transition, you actually have to run on this off camber patch of grass away from the finish for like 400 meters and then back into the chute. So you ain't done just because you see the time clock overhead. But I was glad to finish strong.

I want to thank Becky Gibbs Lavelle for helping me with this race. I did like 6 or 7 half marathon length runs the last several months and that helped tremendously. As they say, bike for show, run for dough.

I got a nice hat, shirt and medal. Can't complain. This is a pretty good event. Good fan support. Also, I booked an Airbnb within walking distance to the transition. That's a win right there.