Ironman 70.3 Raleigh

Ironman 70.3 Raleigh

 Friday, May 29

Leigh Ann and I arrived in Raleigh on Friday, May 29, about 30 minutes before the Expo opened, but didn't make it to the expo until 12:30.  There was a line of probably 60 people ahead of us by the time we got there but, no worries, we both competed in enough Ironman-branded events last year and earned All World Athlete (AWA) status and got to use a special AWA priority check-in line.  We got our race bib, gear bags, bike/helmet stickers, race t-shirt, AWA swim cap (as well as our race-specific cap), and Ironman 70.3 backpack and hit the expo where we bought some more great Ironman gear (because we didn't already have enough!).

After getting checked in, we drove down 25 miles to Jordan Lake, where the swim takes place, to get in a little open water swimming.  The water was really warm -- in some spots, it had to be over 85 degrees, if not hotter -- and we discussed that it was not going to be a wetsuit legal swim.  No worries, we brought our speed suits, hoping that would help us have a faster swim than last year (and I was going to push it harder this year just to challenge myself).

On our ride back to Raleigh, as we discussed our plan to grab dinner at Beasleys Chicken & Honey, Leigh Ann found a local micro-brewery that we just had to check out given its cycling theme...Crank Arm Brewing.  To say we enjoyed this place would be an understatement...we had a tasting flight of all of Crank Arm's beers, but enjoyed the Holy Mole Smoke Porter (with strong hints of habanero peppers) to be our favorite.  I picked up a trucker's hat, growler, and cycling shirt to boot:

Saturday, May 30 -- The day before the race

We woke up Saturday morning and decided to grab a quick breakfast in the hotel and head right down to the swim start, get in a 30 minute bike ride to give our legs some exercise and make sure everything was working well on the bikes, and then do a 15 minute shake out of our legs.  Details aren't necessary, but I did not communicate well with Leigh Ann and we went different directions and both ended up having longer than 30 minute bike rides (and she ended up all alone on the highway that we had to race on the next day with trucks and cars zooming by...big mess up by me!!!).  We headed back over to Jordan Lake, where Leigh Ann found me some great new goggles at the bottom of the lake that I considered wearing on Sunday.

We tried to make plans to meet up with our friend Fireman Rob -- who does the run portion of his triathlons in full firefighter gear (you gotta read up on this amazing guy) -- but we were tired and so was he so we said we'd try to meet up before the race on Sunday.  After a nice 3-hour rest on the bed (I read a book and Leigh Ann took a nap) we met up with our friends on Team FeXY for dinner at Jimmy V's (a great restaurant named after a tremendous college basketball coach, Jim Valvano, who died much too young from cancer). 

After dinner, we went back to the hotel, did last minute prep on our gear (drinks, food, clothes, etc) and hit the hay early (9 pm) to get ready for my first race of the year...and a Big Race at that (after missing my earlier first race of the year by being sick). 

Sunday, May 31 -- Race Day

Despite setting the alarm for 4 am, I woke up naturally at 3:23...I guess 6 hours and 23 minutes is enough rest before a race.  Leigh Ann woke up closer to 4 am, we got our race gear on, made some breakfast and coffee, headed down to the Transition 2 (where we switch from bike to run) to set up our run gear, and the caught the shuttle down to the swim venue and bike start.  At the swim start, we met up with our Team FeXY pals and happened to find Fireman Rob sit down right next to us.

The 1.2 Mile Swim

As soon as we sat down and looked at the water, we saw what looked to be significant current flowing from the right to left...straight against the swimmers on the long stretch of the swim course between the 2 turn buoys.  This would turn out to be prophetic.

I swam about as straight a path as I could swim in a half-Ironman or Ironman race...except for a couple spots heading out to the first turn buoy and on the way to the swim finish from the second turn buoy where I was dodging some errant swimmers.

I entered into the swim with a plan to swim harder than I might otherwise, but that current between the two turn buoys would not allow me to have the fast swim I had hoped for.  43 minutes even...my slowest 1.2 mile swim ever...but apparently others swim times were similarly affected by that current.

The Bike

The race director had to change the bike course after a bad accident last year and, I suspect, significant complaints from Raleigh locals about major roads being blocked...and though it added several hundred feet of climbing, it was a marked improvement to the ride.  

It got very hot on the ride -- high of 89 by the end of the ride -- and the aero helmet got a little warm by the end of the ride, but I had a good ride (averaged 20.28 mph) and was pleased with my 2:45:43 time. 

The Hot and Hilly Run

The 13.1 mile run at Raleigh is a two-loop 3.5 miles stair-step run out to the turn around, back to the city, and then do it all over again.  There's virtually no shade on the run out to the turn-around, with a little shade on the run back to the city (particularly if you run on the sidewalks and under the trees along NC State University). 

The first loop went well, averaging an 8:49 pace, but the 89 degree temps were a lot hotter on the blacktop and I started overheating and my run legs just weren't as strong as I had hoped as the heat and humidity and high dew point made the blacktop temp over 95 degrees.  Thankfully, they get an amazing crew of volunteers on the run who had lots of water, gatorade, ice, cold sponges, nutrition gels, and bananas to keep us able to slog through the miles.

I managed to pick off 3 guys in my age group sprinting in the last 100 yards and finished the half marathon in 2:01:18 (9:15 average pace).

Overall finish time: 5:36:07...twenty minutes slower than last year but still a great race.

 

And it was a great time with our Team FeXY friends, some of whom had truly spectacular races...Nathan Rickman finished 1st in his age group (AG) and near the top of the non-pros, Henry Tragle was right behind him for 2nd in the same AG, Jason Davidson finished 3rd in my AG, Xavier Passy finished 5th in his AG, and Kellie-Rodarmel-Gentile finished 4th AG).  Also fun to see Aaron and Jaime Tragle do their first half Ironman, and do a race with other team mates including David Connor, Rob Toth, Chuck Wilkins, Denise and Kirk Kloepel, Jen Sykes, Tanya Good, Torsten Schillmoeller. Special thanks to Michelle McKenna Lake and Scott Lake for being great team leaders and keeping us all together an organized. GO TEAM FeXY! 

All in all, another great race at Ironman 70.3 Raleigh.  I've done it three times and I'll continue to do it again every year as long as Leigh Ann wants to do this race.