Monday, March 29, 2010
Congratulations to F4 Athlete Dave Kellermanns for completing Ironman California 70.3 on Saturday.
Ironman 70.3 in 38,111 miles
When you think of living and training in Boulder an Ironman 70.3 in March is not the first thing on your mind. Even less, when you travel a lot for work, like I do. Nevertheless I signed up for the Ironman 70.3 California in August of 2009. I also worked with Scott on training plan, which included travel adjusted plans from December till race day (March 27th 2010). And trust me – he had his work cut out, as I travelled 38,111 miles in those sixteen weeks.
I arrived in Oceanside on Wednesday before the race and went grocery shopping that night – nothing beats familiar foods you can control and you know how you react to.
Thursday I visited the expo, picked up my bike from Tribike Transport and completed the Athlete check-in. Good thing I stayed and watched the pre race briefing DVD, as we were told that they will only serve Gatorade Thirst Quencher – not Endurance. I had Salt Tablets in my bags, so I immediately adjusted my bike and run nutrition plans accordingly. Trying to take it easy, I sat down and wrote up my race plan – what to do and how I want the race to go. I think it is a great mental exercise (thanks Simon) and helped me do a mental race rehearsal, as I had done a physical rehearsal three weeks before. I also did a quick gear check and ride in the afternoon and discovered that my shifting is somehow off – an evening with the rear derailleur did not help (by the way – a table makes for a nice repair stand).
On Friday morning I returned to the expo and had the Ironman Bike Store look at it – Taz checked out the bike and found out that my cables were dry – little waterproof lube and I was back to shifting quickly and quietly. Lesson learned – lube your cables and do a quick ride two days before the race, so you have time to fix it. In the evening I picked up Esra (my wife) from the airport and we had a nice pasta dinner.
Saturday – race day – got up at 3:30 am and prepared my food (Bagel), drinks (Water and Gatorade / Carbo Pro mix) and nutrition (Powerbar) – cool, calm and collected. Thanks to the race plan it was F4’s motto – just press play. I did not account however for forgetting my run bottle in the freezer though 
. Got to the race site at 4:50am and was pleasantly surprised to get a spot right at the end of the bike racks by a carpet seam – which made the bike very easy to find. Setup transition and relaxed a bit. My race start was at 7:03am, so I warmed up a little after 6:00 with a short run – the Oceanside race is a wave water start and you cannot go in the water before – I think they want to keep the temperature a surprise (at 59 degrees). The swim was great – easy relaxed strokes and not congested the whole 1.2 miles. The only difference is the salt water – which is very different from the Boulder Reservoir – definitely something you need to get used to. Got out of the water – did the long run along Transition and back to my bike and was out on the bike course.
The 56 mile bike ride is stunning – a closed course mostly within the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. There are a few rollers on the first 30 miles, but nothing major, expect for a “No Passing Zone” on an uphill – I felt really bad – I am slow uphill and I was slowing down a lot of racers on that 0.5 of a mile. Think “Oversize Transport” on I-25 in rush hour traffic. I also saw a lot of people fixing flats – not sure if it was some of the road condition – but I was glad I had CMS put on new tires before they shipped the bike. The backside of the course has three fairly steep hills, probably around the “Old Stage” level and I did what I thought was best – got of the bike and pushed. No sense going 3 mph (vs. 2.2 mph), but killing yourself. The way back to San Diego was great – the extra weight was no match for the headwind and I cruised the final 10 miles to town. Got into Transition again and got ready for the run (which, as most of you know, is my least favorite discipline).
The run course is a 2 x 6.3 loop, which is generally flat - it does have some rollers as you approach the turnaround furthest away from the harbor. The first loop was good, but I started to slow down – I had a hard time running and walking became more and more attractive. So I alternated running and walking for the second loop. Also I started rationalizing, just a 10K left, just a 5K left and the last mile does not count, because now you are heading for the finish line. At no point though did I have cramps and GI issues – so the adjusted run plan with Salt Tablets and Gatorade Thirst Quencher worked out great.
Crossing a Finish line is more than that last step – it is an end of a journey. In this case a journey that started 16 weeks ago (or 38,111 miles) and in my case, it was everything I hoped for on the first day. All bumps, issues and post race aches and pain included was worth it and I would gladly do it again (not in the next few weeks though).
Thanks to F4 and a lot of people along the way, I felt prepared and like I had to just press play on race day.
Swim 0:47:18
T1 0:07:02
Bike 4:01:04
T2 0:04:45
Run 3:37:43
Total 8:37:51
(Just in case you are wondering – the IM 70.3 California race officially ends 8 hours and 30 minutes after the final wave start, which is probably different than other IM 70.3 races)