Not sure how interested you guys are but thought I’d share my experience of my 2 weeks in the US for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and 70.3 Atlantic City, and a bit of tourist stuff in between.
I flew out from Heathrow to Atlanta, the flight itself was a pleasant experience, but getting through immigration, getting my bags and to my hire car took almost 3 hours, and was a very frustrating and tedious experience, however once on my way it was about 2 hour drive to Chattanooga, so I was completely exhausted and almost falling asleep when I arrived at my Airbnb.
The next few days after arriving were the normal faff, registration, prep, bike racking, expo etc. however a nice distraction was the women’s race on the Saturday, which I found a good spot to watch. I have a bit of a crush on Daniella Ryf so was nice to see her! Afterwards it was an early dinner and then an early night ahead of my race on the Sunday morning.
My wave was one of the first to go, so I got to see the male pros getting ready and their start and very quickly we were ready to start. It was almost a year to the day since I qualified at Ironman 70.3 Ruegen in Germany, so I’d had plenty of time to get used to the idea of racing at this level, but it struck me just as I was about get in the water, that this was the World Champs, and I was competing. Pretty cool! I didn’t get time to dwell as I dived off the jetty and off in the swim.
The swim itself was quite tough especially because we were swimming against the river current and directly into the rising sun, I was guessing where I was going as there was zero visibility, to my relief I passed the occasional buoy. Once around the final turn buoys it was quite fast back to transition.
T2 went relatively smoothly and then out on to the bike course. I felt great and I was hitting my target watts up to the climb. The hill was a slog and several times I thought that’s the top, only for there to be another bit to come, a pretty decent section of undulating road, and then finally the descent - which was ‘gnarly’ and so much fun, 50mph+ in places.
Not long after the bottom I caught the back of a large group of guys and I thought I’d just pass them as I’d caught them so easily. I got to the front and put down some watts, I looked back after 3-4 minutes and I realised that I was acting as their domestique, dragging the group along.
For about 10-15km I was trying to be at the front and break away, but was never able to get clear, eventually I sat up and let them drop me, not wanting to cheat or ruin my run legs, it seemed my only choice. Apart from 1 guy I don’t think anyone was a cheat, I think it was a group of guys with very similar abilities, caught up in this situation, I think everyone was frustrated and would rather been on clear road.
Approaching T2 I saw a 3-4 of the guys from the group serving drafting penalties, which put a smile on my face, but I suppose we all deserved to be in there, so felt a little bit sorry for them.
A decent dismount into T2, then faff trying to find my run bag, a quick change and a toilet stop then out on to the run. Straight out of T2 a nice hill, then down the other side, which basically sums up the run course, that x 10 or so over the 2 laps. I was running well on such a hilly course, well under 7 minute miles on average, but I wasn’t making up any places, welcome to the big time.
Overall I was bit disappointed with my performance I was hoping to be a bit higher in my AG, but mostly frustrated that I wasn’t able to race like I wanted. 34:18 swim, 2:34:26 bike, 1:29:44 run = 04:45:40 overall, which was 50th in my AG and 474th overall,
After the race I hung around had a couple of beers, collected my stuff, had a shower and I hit some bars with a couple I had met at my Airbnb, a random and fun night!
In the morning I woke up early so decided to get up and start the 10 hours drive to Washington DC, I got there early evening and did a recovery run around the tourist sites, the following day I did the touristy stuff at a more leisurely pace.
On the Wednesday my girlfriend arrived into Philadelphia from London, so I picked her up on the way from D.C. to Atlantic City. The next couple of days I spent relaxing and doing the normal pre-race faff and trying to not consume too many burgers or beers.
Another early dinner and early night, a great night’s sleep before the early start on the Sunday. I got to the race venue in plenty of time, managed to get set up and was ready, however he toilet queues scuppered any plans of a nice relaxing start. By time i’d used the toilet the race was about to start, I got to rolling start much further back than planned, 7 minutes after the start I was at the front and race was go!
My coach said to race hard so I pushed the swim, I didn’t manage to find any decent drafts, so was forced to swim it alone. Out of the water, through T1 which went well and I was out on the bike.
I felt strong and every time I looked at bike computer it said 25-26mph, but more importantly I was passing lots of people with about 10-12 miles to go an over enthusiastic spectator screamed “dude, you’re in 10th, go get it!” That’ll do I thought.
Just as I was approaching T2 I was overtaken, which I was a bit annoyed with, but while he was faffing unclipping his shoes, I did the best dismount of my life and swept past him. Skillz! My girlfriend shouted that I was in 10th and 1st in my AG.
Out on to the run I could see 3 guys ahead, they didn’t look that comfortable, so I thought I’ll them soon pass them and sure enough within a km I was in 8th overall, then within 2km up into 7th.
My plan was to run 6:30 m/miles and I realised it’d done the first in 2 miles well under 13 minutes, so I needed to calm down and back off a bit. I didn’t know where I was in relation to the guys ahead, but no one has passed me, so my AG win was safe for now.
It was very lonely out on the course and I didn’t see anyone for the next 2-3 miles, on a long out and back section I saw the other guys coming the other way, and they all looked strong, so was thinking a top-10 will do nicely. I just kept ticking along focussing on my pace, keeping cool and hydrated over the next 2-3 miles I had made my way into 5th.
I thought 4th was out of reach as I didn’t seem to be catching him, then after about 8 miles I realised that he was only 250 yards ahead, through the next aid station I slowed down a bit took my gel and a cup of water. Back to my pace and ½ a mile or so later I was on his shoulder.
Then it dawned on me, I was in 4th place and leading my AG in Ironman 70.3 event, which is exactly when some negative thoughts started to come into my head about all the ways I could mess this up.
The next mile or 2 were agony because I didn’t know what was going on behind me and was worried that I was being run down, however as I made the last turn I realised I’d a decent gap, so finally started to believe I was going to do it. When I crossed the finish line they said you’re 4th and then immediately asked if I needed medical attention, just hot I said so they soaked me in ice water. Nice.
Definitely the race of my life and my first silverware at IM event! Swim 33:16, Bike 2:16:43 and Run 1:26:56, Overall 04:20:15, which was 4th overall and 1st in 40-44 Age Group.
We went out to celebrate with lots of beer! The morning after the race we headed to Philadelphia for more beer and cheesesteaks. We both had a really great time and are talking about returning for another trip to the US.
I flew out from Heathrow to Atlanta, the flight itself was a pleasant experience, but getting through immigration, getting my bags and to my hire car took almost 3 hours, and was a very frustrating and tedious experience, however once on my way it was about 2 hour drive to Chattanooga, so I was completely exhausted and almost falling asleep when I arrived at my Airbnb.
The next few days after arriving were the normal faff, registration, prep, bike racking, expo etc. however a nice distraction was the women’s race on the Saturday, which I found a good spot to watch. I have a bit of a crush on Daniella Ryf so was nice to see her! Afterwards it was an early dinner and then an early night ahead of my race on the Sunday morning.
My wave was one of the first to go, so I got to see the male pros getting ready and their start and very quickly we were ready to start. It was almost a year to the day since I qualified at Ironman 70.3 Ruegen in Germany, so I’d had plenty of time to get used to the idea of racing at this level, but it struck me just as I was about get in the water, that this was the World Champs, and I was competing. Pretty cool! I didn’t get time to dwell as I dived off the jetty and off in the swim.
The swim itself was quite tough especially because we were swimming against the river current and directly into the rising sun, I was guessing where I was going as there was zero visibility, to my relief I passed the occasional buoy. Once around the final turn buoys it was quite fast back to transition.
T2 went relatively smoothly and then out on to the bike course. I felt great and I was hitting my target watts up to the climb. The hill was a slog and several times I thought that’s the top, only for there to be another bit to come, a pretty decent section of undulating road, and then finally the descent - which was ‘gnarly’ and so much fun, 50mph+ in places.
Not long after the bottom I caught the back of a large group of guys and I thought I’d just pass them as I’d caught them so easily. I got to the front and put down some watts, I looked back after 3-4 minutes and I realised that I was acting as their domestique, dragging the group along.
For about 10-15km I was trying to be at the front and break away, but was never able to get clear, eventually I sat up and let them drop me, not wanting to cheat or ruin my run legs, it seemed my only choice. Apart from 1 guy I don’t think anyone was a cheat, I think it was a group of guys with very similar abilities, caught up in this situation, I think everyone was frustrated and would rather been on clear road.
Approaching T2 I saw a 3-4 of the guys from the group serving drafting penalties, which put a smile on my face, but I suppose we all deserved to be in there, so felt a little bit sorry for them.
A decent dismount into T2, then faff trying to find my run bag, a quick change and a toilet stop then out on to the run. Straight out of T2 a nice hill, then down the other side, which basically sums up the run course, that x 10 or so over the 2 laps. I was running well on such a hilly course, well under 7 minute miles on average, but I wasn’t making up any places, welcome to the big time.
Overall I was bit disappointed with my performance I was hoping to be a bit higher in my AG, but mostly frustrated that I wasn’t able to race like I wanted. 34:18 swim, 2:34:26 bike, 1:29:44 run = 04:45:40 overall, which was 50th in my AG and 474th overall,
After the race I hung around had a couple of beers, collected my stuff, had a shower and I hit some bars with a couple I had met at my Airbnb, a random and fun night!
In the morning I woke up early so decided to get up and start the 10 hours drive to Washington DC, I got there early evening and did a recovery run around the tourist sites, the following day I did the touristy stuff at a more leisurely pace.
On the Wednesday my girlfriend arrived into Philadelphia from London, so I picked her up on the way from D.C. to Atlantic City. The next couple of days I spent relaxing and doing the normal pre-race faff and trying to not consume too many burgers or beers.
Another early dinner and early night, a great night’s sleep before the early start on the Sunday. I got to the race venue in plenty of time, managed to get set up and was ready, however he toilet queues scuppered any plans of a nice relaxing start. By time i’d used the toilet the race was about to start, I got to rolling start much further back than planned, 7 minutes after the start I was at the front and race was go!
My coach said to race hard so I pushed the swim, I didn’t manage to find any decent drafts, so was forced to swim it alone. Out of the water, through T1 which went well and I was out on the bike.
I felt strong and every time I looked at bike computer it said 25-26mph, but more importantly I was passing lots of people with about 10-12 miles to go an over enthusiastic spectator screamed “dude, you’re in 10th, go get it!” That’ll do I thought.
Just as I was approaching T2 I was overtaken, which I was a bit annoyed with, but while he was faffing unclipping his shoes, I did the best dismount of my life and swept past him. Skillz! My girlfriend shouted that I was in 10th and 1st in my AG.
Out on to the run I could see 3 guys ahead, they didn’t look that comfortable, so I thought I’ll them soon pass them and sure enough within a km I was in 8th overall, then within 2km up into 7th.
My plan was to run 6:30 m/miles and I realised it’d done the first in 2 miles well under 13 minutes, so I needed to calm down and back off a bit. I didn’t know where I was in relation to the guys ahead, but no one has passed me, so my AG win was safe for now.
It was very lonely out on the course and I didn’t see anyone for the next 2-3 miles, on a long out and back section I saw the other guys coming the other way, and they all looked strong, so was thinking a top-10 will do nicely. I just kept ticking along focussing on my pace, keeping cool and hydrated over the next 2-3 miles I had made my way into 5th.
I thought 4th was out of reach as I didn’t seem to be catching him, then after about 8 miles I realised that he was only 250 yards ahead, through the next aid station I slowed down a bit took my gel and a cup of water. Back to my pace and ½ a mile or so later I was on his shoulder.
Then it dawned on me, I was in 4th place and leading my AG in Ironman 70.3 event, which is exactly when some negative thoughts started to come into my head about all the ways I could mess this up.
The next mile or 2 were agony because I didn’t know what was going on behind me and was worried that I was being run down, however as I made the last turn I realised I’d a decent gap, so finally started to believe I was going to do it. When I crossed the finish line they said you’re 4th and then immediately asked if I needed medical attention, just hot I said so they soaked me in ice water. Nice.
Definitely the race of my life and my first silverware at IM event! Swim 33:16, Bike 2:16:43 and Run 1:26:56, Overall 04:20:15, which was 4th overall and 1st in 40-44 Age Group.
We went out to celebrate with lots of beer! The morning after the race we headed to Philadelphia for more beer and cheesesteaks. We both had a really great time and are talking about returning for another trip to the US.