70.3 World Championship

WOW!!  That about sums up my experience at the 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, NV on September 9th.  This was by far the most competitive race I have ever been a part of (and no...it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was participating).  Everywhere you looked, no matter the age, you found super fit people.  Normally, triathlon attracts a very fit crowd, but this made other races seem like the local county fair.  I sure hope I can look that good when I grow up.

I was lucky to have my mom join me for the trip and it was great having her there to support me.  Thanks Mom!! 

We got to check out the expo and see the pros talk before the race.  It was like hollywood for me...seeing so many "triathlon celebrities" in one spot was amazing!!  We also saw the Hoover Dam, which was pretty incredible.

Pro-panel



Hoover Dam

Race Day

I slept decently well the night before the race.  My body was still on east coast time so waking up at 3:30am was easy.  I ate my typcial breakie (as of late): PB&J sandwich and a banana.  I sipped on diluted gatorade before the start.  It was a beautiful morning and took up a spot across the lake to watch the pros start.  My wave didn't go off for another 30min so I just relaxed.

Swim start area with hotel-bridge over Lake Las Vegas

The swim went pretty well, I felt comfortable for the whole thing.  I never really found any feet to swim on, but stayed at good effort level the whole time.  The water was super warm, something like 83 degrees, so it was a nonwetsuit swim.  My time was 31:00, wasn't super happy about it, but based on the other times I looked up, it was pretty competitive with the field and age group. 

 

 

From swim exit to T1 was a big of hike, probably 600m or so, but I made my way onto the bike with no issue.  The bike was super challenging, constant rolling hills meant you had to focus on your effort levels at all times to make sure you were pushing too hard early.  Combined with the heat and it was definitely the toughest bike course I had raced on.  I felt pretty good early on and was taking my nutrition regularly without issue.  I kept dousing myself in water to keep cool as the sun started to rise and that seemed to work well.  I felt like I held a pretty good effort throughout the ride, but my time definitely said otherwise (2:43).  Slow!!!

The last 10 miles are net uphill as you climb into the city of Henderson and looking back I definitely lost a lot of time in that section.  Getting off the bike I still felt decent and like I had something left, but knew the bike had taken a lot out of me.

The run...was...a...death...march.  I thought I had trained for the hills and heat, but I was sorely mistaken.  I "ran" very slowly (1:47).  I started off feeling pretty good, but by second uphill section my calves started to cramp badly.  The run had no shade and the temps reached 105.  Needless to say, it was a tough day!!  The cramping came and went, but slowed me considerably.  I did not bring enough salt tablets for both the bike and the run.  This was something that I would definitely change for next time. 

One good thing about the run was the last mile was downhill and I was able to close with a sub 6:30 final mile...haha.  What a day! 

I went out there with no real expectations (I did want to go sub 5hrs but missed that by 7 minutes) and mainly just wanted to enjoy the experience and push myself as hard as I could.  I can honestly say that the lows on the run course were brutal, but the highs from finishing and experiencing this race were incredible.  This is a championship race - tough course, tough conditions and therefore, extremely tough!  I definitely think I was in better race shape than my times showed, but thats the beauty of racing...some times you have it, other times you don't.

This was a fantastic experience and makes me hungry to get back there and really compete.  Short break, marathon training for Richmond, then back to the drawing board for next season.