California 70.3 Oceanside

California 70.3 Oceanside

On April 4^th, 2009 I participated in the California 70.3 Half Ironman. It was the second time that I have done this race so I went into it this year with some specific goals. Overall, they were mostly achieved. One of my concerns with my 2008 race was that I ran out of gas toward the end of the run.

So here is how my race went. I stayed near the race venue and arrived at the transition area at about 5:00 am. The temperature was a bit chilly in the 50's. I think that I made my first error of the morning by not eating enough before the race. From the time I woke up until the start I think I only had about 400 calories. That strategy might work for the Olympic distance races but not for a race twice that long.

The swim starts are in waves. I was in wave nine. It looked like there might have been around one hundred athletes in my wave. The start is also an in the water start. My swim went well and I came out of the water in 27 minutes. I was shocked as my time was 2 minutes faster than last year. The was mostly flat and the only bad part of it is having to swim into the sun on the return. I think that I could have went about a minute faster on the swim as I had to swim over and around lots of people. I came out of the water and in to transition well. At Oceanside they make you run the length of the transition area from end to end, that is, you exit the water at one end and enter T1 at the other end. So if you want a decent T1 time you have to run, that is what I did. My T1 was faster than last year. I credit this to my new wetsuit. The Zoot Zenith is really easy to get out of, it peels off quickly.

Next was the bike. The first half of the bike was very fast. I was at the half way point in 1:15. I made it up the big hill no problem. Again like last year there was a headwind for about the last 20 miles. The second part of the bike course has some hills and rollers, add the head wind and you have a slower second half. I was able to eat and drink lots on the bike. My bike time was 2:58, 12 minutes faster than last year. I credit the time drop to doing most of my training on a trainer. Riding on a trainer is just hard. For me a 2-3 hour trainer session in the garage simulates this race well. Going into T2 was smooth and uneventful. Shoes were on and into the run.

The run course for this race is a two out and back loops. It is mostly flat, fast, and on concrete except for a quarter mile section that is in the sand. You go through the sand a total of 4 times. It's not too bad. On my first loop I was at 1:06 so I was projecting coming in at about 2:15. Well, that did not happen. Susie, my wife saw me on the second loop and said that I was not running but doing some kind of shuffling movement. So after a loop of the shuffle, my half marathon was 2:28. I pleased to see that the time was faster than last year. However, not so pleased that it was over a half hour slower than my normal half marathon times. I think what happened was that I totally ran out of gas, I did the mega-bonk, which leads me to think about how the day started. Not having enough for breakfast.

Overall my finish was 6:00:44 and that turns out to be 21 minutes faster than 2008. I am not sure that I will do this race in 2010. They opened the registration for this race about two weeks after the finish of the 2009 race so who knows if I can get a spot? I don't like the idea of putting money down or planning races a year ahead of time as you just don't know what will happen. However, I am signed up for the Silverman half-iron distance in Henderson, Nevada.I am also considering entering the Frog Man in Coronado in 2010 in place of the California Half Ironman.

Oh, one more thing. I would like to thank the race directors of the 2009 race. I accidentally left my finishers shirt in the transition area and they were kind enough to send me a replacement. Thanks!