My training went pretty well during the weeks leading up to Miami 70.3. I did miss a number of planned training sessions and decided to sleep in when I felt too tired to get up and train. I seldom trained more than 10 hours per week during the weeks leading up to Miami 70.3 but I when did put in training sessions they were focused and had specific objectives.
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| That's me with the TYR wetsuit and arms held up in the air minutes before the start. |
As mentioned in my blog post about the swim course in Haines City the Ironman brand has decided to set off the M30-34 age group as the last age group in many of the US 70.3 races. This is slightly frustrating as by the time my wave starts there are at least 2000 athletes ahead of me on the swim course and it is already an hour later than what the pro's started.
My dream is still to qualify for the 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas in the near future. Before Miami 70.3 I set some race time goals for myself. Looking at the previous years results I planned to race in order to achieve a top 20 position in my age group by setting the following goal times:
1.2 mile swim: 29min
Transition 1: 3min
56 mile bike: 2:29min
Transition 2: 2min
13.1 run: 1h 40min
Total goal finishing time: 4:43:00
I love analyzing race results so I copied the M30-34 results into excel and by way of filters and pivot tables I noted the following stats:
* There were a total of 306 triathletes that started the race in my age group of which 286 triathletes finished on the day. That equates to a "Did not finish rate" of 6.5% on race day.
* The 286 triathletes in my age group were representing 36 different countries which made for a truly international and very competitive field.
* The total average times for each discipline for the 286 triathletes in the Men 30-34 age group were as follows:
Average swim time: 40min 45sec
Average bike time: 2h 50min
Average run time: 2h 04min
RACE REPORT FOR THE SWIM LEG
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| The Miami 70.3 swim course |
I officially started my 5th half iron distance triathlon being Miami 70.3 at 8:55am on the 28th of Oct. The pro men set off at 7:25am which meant that I started 1hour & 30min later than them. This makes a big difference when comparing for example the half marathon times as we all know the pro's are superfast but they are also running when it is cooler than when most of the age group field is running.
For awesome aerial photos of the Miami 70.3 swim course please click on the following link:
Miami 70.3 Helicopter aerial photos of the swim course
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| Picture of my M30-34 wave start in the Miami harbour |
Aftter doing a 1km swim time trial test about 3 weeks before Miami 70.3 I calculated pretty accurately that I should be able to do a swim split of 28min if all goes well. I swam a 22min 1.2 mile swim at Augusta 70.3 back in Sept 2010 but I don't count this as my swim pb as that was a downstream wetsuit legal swim.
On race morning I felt that the taper period for the two weeks before the race had gone well. I was thus feeling rested out on race morning and had kinetic energy to be released. The gun went off at 8:55am and I soon got into my usual long distance swimming rhythm. There was this triathlete that was swimming pretty aggressively next to me till way after first buoy on the map above. After attending the awards ceremony in the afternoon I realized I was swimming approx half of the swim course with the triathlete that eventually placed 3rd overall in the M30-34 age group. His arms were swinging pretty wide while I was swimming next to him. The one thing I am realizing the more that I improve and move up in the overall age group ranking is that the top guys in my age group are definitely more aggressive or maybe it could be interpreted differently in that they know exactly what they want to achieve and they wont let anyone get in their way to stop them on race day. Unfortunately it sometimes mean seeing packs of age groupers passing me on the bike while they are illegally drafting off each other. This infuriates me as I am strong swimmer who aims to use my swim to my advantage but then see these blatant cheaters passing me on the bike in order to try and achieve a higher age group position while at the same time not trying to get caught by race marshall's.
My swim was pretty uneventful and I tried to maintain an even stroke and pace after starting out too fast in the Haines City 70.3 race I did earlier this year in Florida as well. It definitely helped that the swim was wetsuit legal. I bought a new Cat 5 TYR wetsuit for the race which I was pretty impressed with. I enjoy swimming with a short sleeve wetsuit as I don't like the feeling of my shoulders and arms being restricted while swimming which might happen when swimming with a long sleeve wetsuit.
The swim course was pretty scenic as it was held close to the Miami harbour just off Bayfront Park. The rays of sunlight were reflecting off the skyscrapers situated in Brickell Avenue in the financial district of Miami which made for quite a beautiful setting on the morning of the swim. The water was unfortunately not as clear as the blue waters of the Cayman Islands.
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| Sunrise over Miami harbour |
All in all I was happy with my swim performance. I completed the 1.2mile swim course in the following time and placed as follows in my age group:
1.2 mile swim split: 28min 24 sec (Slightly faster than my goal projected time of 29min)
Age group position: I placed 9th overall in my age group out of 286 triathletes. I could have swum 26-27min for the 1.2mile swim course but it would had the likely cause of going anaerobic too early on in the race.
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| I am the swimmer with the red cap. Rather elated to finish the swim in 28min. |
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