Ironman 70.3 Oceanside 2017 Race Report
Oceanside is one of my favorite races for a variety of reasons. First, I get to sleep in my own bed. You don’t know how awesome this is, to sleep where you’re comfortable before a race. Second, I have the hometown advantage. The bike course goes right along my training grounds, and I’m used to the weather during that time. Third, the vibe is awesome! So many talented pros and age groupers to compete with. Finally, it’s a great early season test of fitness, which is what my purpose was for this race.
Coming into Oceanside, I had rolled over my training program which I had used to build for Arizona, with great success. It was an attempt to see if Arizona was just a random lucky day, or the result of a great training program. The program was simple in its principle: Make easy really easy, and make hard really hard. I incorporated really hard bike efforts into long and mid distance rides in an effort to build bike power AND improve the strength on the run. In turn, I increased my goal paces on my hard runs to improve speed. All of this in the effort to “train like a pro.” This was my mantra.
So there it is, the secret’s out. I have a pie-in-the-sky goal to become a pro Ironman triathlete. Yes, I know how old I am. Yes, I know I started this late. Yes, I know I have a long way to go. But, as I look back on my brief career in triathlon, I have seen the development I have made with an obsessive amount of focus and drive. What I’ve discovered is that if you truly have a belief in your goal, your actions gravitate in that direction, and a self fulfilling prophecy is born. I also like the idea of setting your goals so high that even if you fail, you still hit some high standards!
Okay, back to the race at hand. My goal for this race was first a test of fitness. I wanted to see if I could go hard and maintain on the bike and still put together a good run split. I had a great run split at Arizona, but I also took it pretty easy on the bike. I wanted to see if I could bike hard and still feel good running. Secondary to that, I had hoped for a podium. This is a competitive race, so hitting a podium would be a great confidence builder toward my build to qualifying for Kona in late July.
This race was extra special because my wife, and Extra Life athlete, Marie was racing with me. I was more nervous for her than I was for me. I have been coaching her for a couple years now, and she has seen great success (cough cough **Olympic distance podium** cough cough), but this was her second 70.3 on a very challenging course. I knew that conquering some fears of biking on super hills was going to be a big deal for her, and I really wanted to see her succeed in that regard. She put in some amazing training to progress her training in this regard, and I think it paid off tremendously. To sum up her race in a nutshell, she conquered the hell out of those hills, finishing the bike in just over 3:30! While she was a little disappointed in her swim (mainly because she started a bit farther back than she wanted to, and wasn’t warmed up getting into the water), overall, she finished strong! I mean, look at that smile coming out of the water!
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Marie Photobombing a Beardy guy