Ironman 70.3 World Championships

It has been just over a week since I have returned from the Ironman 70.3 WC held in Clearwater Florida. First of all let me clear up one misconception I had and probably many others still hav. There was bo oil on Clearwater beach and I saw no evidence that there ever was. The beaches are clean. Back to the race. Devon and i arrived 6 dats prior to the race and had a chance to check out the bike course and ride it, It is very flat and we new it would be a fast course. The weather leading up yo race day wa not as warm as I thought it would be in Florida but still very nice, about 72 degrees. The forecast for race day was for the tamperature to be about 80. As predicted, it was a beautiful mornibg when we arose at 4:30 am November 13th, race day. The water was much calmer than it had been during our 2 training swims earlier in the week. Rhe swim went ok, sighting proved to be a bit of a problem for Devo but he was not the only one as we found out late. We got through trabsition and started the bike. As we had thought ther were a lot of competitors ahead of us and we were constantly passing others. One of the problrms with such a flat, mon selective course is drafting. We passed packs of riders numbering as manyb as 40. As w hought the bike course was fast. we had hoped to go under 2 hours but we failed and did a 2:08 for the 90 km. The run was faitly flat also excep for the bridge we had to cross twice. TYou don't really think os a bridge as being much of a hill until you have to run over it after a 1.9 km swim and a 90 km bike. The run was slow. Over the past 13 months I have done 2 full Itonman races and the Ironman 70.3 WC on experience and not near enough training. I took these events for granted, relying on my past knowledgeand knowing I could do the distance. Having done these distances several timea before I was more mentally prepared than phsically. I think it is disrespectful to the Ironman to take these races for granted. It won't happen again.

The Night Before

It is the night before the Ironman 70.3 World Championships here in Clearwater ,Florida. Everything is done. We checked in the bike today, dropped off our gear bags and are set. Everything did not go so smoothly. While droppung off the bike and letting some air out of the tires because it is not a good idea to leave a bike to sit in the sun with fully inflated tires. As he let som air out of the front tire Devon noticed a crack in one of the carbon blades. This could have been disasterous if the wheel had failed tomorrow during the race at speeds over 65 km/hr. Luckily they have a wheel rental service and we rented a Zipp 808 carbon front wheel, so all is well. Nothing left to do but eat dinner amd get some sleep. I hear it is supposed to be a beautiful day in Clearwater tomorrow. I hope the water is calm and the sun is out.

Ironman 70.3 World Championships, Clearwater, Fla.

Devon and I arrived in Clearwater last night.
This place is deserted. we went looking for a restaurant near our hotel located right across from the beach and there was nobody on the streets and this was at 7:00. Today we went for a short ride and swim. The water was a little cold, 63 degrees and the air temperature was about 72. These tempe are below seasonal average. The weather is supposed to improve over the next 4 - 5 days, up to about 80. I sure hope so.

IMC Run

In transition I was not sure I was going to be able to run. During the latter stages on the bike my knees were really hurting. I was also cramping but this is not unusual for me , it happens more often than not to me during Ironman races. We shuffled out of transition and to my amazement my legs started to feel pretty good. What a relief ! Our plan was to run from aid station to aid station, approxiamatly 1 mile apart.We agreed that whoever was feeling the worst would set the pace. Run when we could ,walk when we had to. This strategy worked out great and we were in great spirits the whole marathon. Nuch credit to Meyrickfor gutting it out after spending the night in the hospital 4 days earlier.
It was an awesome experience. There were some tough times for both of us during the run but our support for each other, teamwork, made it happen and it was FUN ! Admitadly neither of us was properly prepared for an Ironman for various reasons ( Meyrick's new business and maybe I took it for granted. How foolish). Never again. Next year we are both going to be 100% ready.

Ironman Bike ( finallt )

I am finally going to finish our Ironman Canada saga because I don't feel I can continue to add new posts without finishing with IMC. The bike was very interesting. It had a little bit of everything. Sunshine, wind, rain and even some hail. The first sectiom down to Osoyoos was summy and very fast. Even throught the Richter Pass the weather was pretty good, windy maybe. Heading up Yellow lake the weather got worse. It was raining, windy and quite cold. As I mentioned earlier we even had sone hail. On some of the downhill sections we hit speeds over 90 km/hr. A little bit scary considering the roads were wet . I waso happy to see Main Street in Penticton. My knees were hurting and I was cramping for the last 30 km.Finally, transition ! (some photos to follow )