Hey Slowtwitch. It’s been 2 years since I posted on here, when I shared a detailed race recap after winning the 70.3 Oceanside amateur race, and I thought it’d be fun to come back on and share a brief recap after this weekend’s 8th place result in the pro field, my best race and result to date I’d say given the depth of the field.
I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have, so post away. Data, race dynamics, mindset, whatever is interesting. I’m traveling for work all week this week (no not triathlon, actual work…) and on a plane right now. You can follow me on instagram @justinriele if interested as well as YouTube where I’ll share a longer form race recap. Thank you!
Recap below -
I’ve had a solid off season of consistent training, and couldn’t wait to see how I stack up against the best in the world at Oceanside. After racing with a hip stress fracture last year and ending most of my season after this race a year ago, I was hungry for redemption. With Lionel Sanders, Sam Long, Jackson Laundry, Patrick Lange, Joe Skipper, and many more Ironman champions featured on the start list, I was definitely a bit nervous and had some imposter syndrome, but I knew this could be an opportunity to make a statement that I belonged here.
Swim
It was full gas from the gun, and I came out of the water in the main front pack just 30 seconds behind the leaders after a very strong swim. I settled into a strong bike group with Braden Currie, Patrick Lange, and Florian Angert for the first 10 miles as we started chasing down the three guys that had swam just 30 seconds up ahead.
Bike
I knew the legs were firing well, and I was in a comfortable position settling into race power after dropping Patrick and Florian with relative ease. At about mile 20, the bike race really started heating up when Sam Long, Lionel Sanders, and Jackson Laundry bridged up to the front. I knew this was go-time - I could take a risk and try to ride with the big boys going full gas and risk blowing up my run, or I could play it a bit safer and settle in with Marc, Braden, and Jelle for the rest of the ride. I decided to go for it, and spent 6 minutes averaging 392 watts solo to bridge back up to Sam Lionel Jackson and Max, and nobody else was able to match the effort. I settled into the last position of the front group of 5, and thanks to Sam’s heroic effort on the front of the train, we proceeded to put 4-5 minutes into most of our chasers over the last 20 miles. I came off the bike in 5th place in a solid position to hang on for life on the run, with a 2:06 bike split averaging over 320w with 41 minutes above 350w - by far my hardest and best ride to date.
Run
I ran a 1:19 half marathon - not my best and not my worst, despite some headache / migraine issues in the first 5k and very smashed bike legs. I hung on for 8th place after Jelle Geen, Braden Currie, and Marc Dubrick ran me down in the closing miles. It’s certainly my proudest and best result in the sport so far amongst the competitive field, taking down some of my idols for the first time like Joe Skipper, Chris Leiferman, Patrick Lange, Florian Angert, and Matt Hanson in an honest race. I crossed in 8th place but you would have thought I won by the photo.
Result
I punched my ticket to the 70.3 World Championships in New Zealand, and should now move into a Top 100 PTO World Ranking and Top 10 American ranking shortly.
