rustyb04 wrote:
Hey all, I am doing Superfrog 70.3 in about a month. It is my third 70.3 I think it should be a fun race. My order of strength in the events is swim, run, bike (I know that is the opposite in order of importance and am working on that). Any insights about the course or tips? I expect the water to be a little cold and choppy. I am strong swimmer so I don't anticipate that will bother me too much. I think the bike is relatively flat and easy, though wind could be a variable on the day. I know some of the run is on the sand on the beach. From what I can glean from race reviews, maybe as much as half of the run is on non-compact sand. Anybody have more info on the run?
Thanks in advance for any tips.
The run has a ton of sand and a lot more of it is softer than I expected. Last year was high tide so the sections along the water were pretty soft too. Heavy traffic means dodging people that all want the same line you do. Each lap you cross from the water to the road through the very soft sand 4 times (4 laps total?). It is 12.8mi but way more brutal than a regular 13.1. The bike was also long last year for what it's worth.
I recommend to start adding soft sand into your runs asap. Run on soft grass, loose bark, whatever. You want your legs used to soft ground with poor energy return. Up your cadence a bit and lean slightly forward. I practiced this in my training and had great results because of it.
Another thing I did was survive the soft sections, don't hammer them, and whenever I had hard surfaces really push, then back off slightly again on the soft sand. I was like 6:30 pace on asphalt and 9min+ on the softest stuff. Have fun, wish I could make it this year.