Location: Syracuse NY
Race Type: TriathlonDistance: 1900 meter swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Participants: 2316
Overall Place: 702
Age Group Place: 116 of 265
Time: 5:42:47. Swim: 43:50, T1: 5:03, Bike: 2:53:38, T2: 1:45, Run: 1:58:31
This race has been on my calendar for almost a year. I grew up in the Syracuse area and much of my family still remains. I saw this as a great opportunity to compete in my first Ironman event and spend time with my relatives.
Myself, wife and three children flew out Friday morning from Phoenix and arrived in Syracuse around 7pm. Packet pickup was on Saturday and I wanted to make the 11:30 mandatory race briefing. This gave me a limited amount of time to try to switch to the east coast time zone (3 hours different) get my bike together, and take it on a tuning ride.
I managed to get to sleep around 10:30 (7:30 Phoenix time) and woke up around 6. Not too bad. I'd started putting the bike together shortly after we arrived and finished up in the morning. Then I headed out for a 10 mile spin to adjust the derailleurs. After a few tweaks it was good to go.
After getting back to the house I was surprised to see that I'd logged around 200 feet of elevation change during that short ride. That'd be tough to do from my neighborhood back home... This got me thinking that I should probably revise my riding goals from 21 mph to 20 mph average, but after further consideration I figured I'd do what I could and not beat myself up over any speed. The bike and run courses were so different from my training that I couldn't set good targets.
Packet Pickup
Packet pickup was held at the race site, Jamesville Reservoir. I remember coming here as a child for the local hot air balloon festival. It is a beautiful area with a nice little beach.
There was also plenty of parking for Sunday's race.
I signed the release forms and then picked up my shirt, timing chip, and race bags. Then it was down to the transition area to drop off my bike. Looks like I was early!
Back to the race briefing... Nothing new here.
Pre-Race
I woke up at 4:00 with a plan to leave at 4:45. Driving to the race without traffic took 20 minutes the day before but I wasn't sure how much time traffic would add. Transition closed at 6:55 and I didn't want to feel rushed.
I finished packing my race bags, ate a banana, and drank a glass of water. I was ready to go.
The traffic ended up being almost non-existent so I arrived around 5:30. I set up my transition area but I certainly wasn't the first one there.
I headed down to the water with my sister to chat and review the swim course while we waited for my start wave at 7:45.
One last stop at the transition area to turn on the GPS. It's full now.
And back down to the water to get my swim gear on.
The Swim
Percentile: 60th
The swim course was a single loop rectangle. It actually looked short because the long parts of the swim were straight out from shore. Of course, looks can be deceiving.
The water temperature was 68 degrees. Perfect. My wave started right on time and I headed out with ~125 of my fellow athletes. There was minimal contact with arms and legs for the entire swim.
About 25 meters into the swim I realized that I hadn't started my watch. I paused for a second and hit the lap button. Later I realized that I should have hit the start button as I didn't end up recording the swim at all. Oops.
My goal as always was to keep a steady rhythm and get the swim over with. Other than a couple of times when I went slightly off course, this is what happened.
Based on my finishing time and overall position the course was probably a bit long but since we all had to swim it, no big deal.
My sister hung around for the swim and caught a couple of photos of me coming out of the water. It's great to have family around to cheer me on!
I had a bad cramp in my right side as soon as I got out of the water. The pictures above were the only part of the transition to my bike where I wasn't walking and stretching. By the time I had walked the 1/3rd mile to my bike I was almost pain free.
I was fortunate to have a spot very close to the bike out/in. I tossed on my helmet, glasses, etc. and headed out for what would be the hilliest course I've ever done.
The local newspaper caught this photo while everyone was out on their bikes.
The Bike
Percentile: 35th
I don't think that there were more than 2-3 miles of flat on the entire course. The first couple of miles were a slight down grade followed by a short climb that was steep enough to make some people walk. Over the next ten miles I would climb another 1000 feet.
I realized pretty quickly that I wouldn't even reach a 20 mph average. Oh well. My first plan was to get my heart rate under control. My heart was running around 180 bpm at the start and finally settled down to around 155 after 10 miles. Right where I wanted it.
Every 15 miles or so I grabbed a water bottle at an aid station to supplement the Mike's Mix sports drink that I had in my own bottles. This worked well and I felt like my hydration was good.
Miles 10-45 were fairly uneventful other than a crazy downhill followed by the opposite uphill where more people were walking. I think I averaged around 8 mph for that one.
The last 20 miles were against the wind but more downhill than up. I didn't pick up enough speed due to the wind but I still managed to get above 19 mph for the course. Not what I had initially expected but I wasn't disappointed.
I stripped off my helmet, sunglasses, shoes, etc. and put on my hat and race belt. I was feeling pretty good about the run but once I headed out of transition I realized that I had left my sunglasses. It wasn't worth going back for them but I was disappointed.
The Run
Percentile: 30th
The run was hard! I knew going into it that there would be 1000 feet of climbing but my body wasn't ready for it.
About two miles into the run I hit the first climb. I'm guessing the grade was 10% plus and most people were walking. I toughed it out but started to regret the choice when I got to the top and realized that I would have a short respite and then have to climb another hill from mile 2.75 to 3.5 with a 4-5% grade.
I pushed through the second hill and on the way down got a bad cramp in my right side again. I was forced to walk and stretch for around 3 minutes and then I pressed on. My 8 min/mile goal pace had already slipped to 8:20.
I completed the first of the two out and backs but when I hit the 1st hill again I decided to walk. By this time my legs began to cramp on every uphill. I ended up walking the ups and running the downs and flats the rest of the way.
I've never walked that much in a race other than my first marathon. It was disappointing. Having said that, I certainly wasn't the only person out there feeling this pain and the leg ended up being my best leg against my fellow competitors. Crazy.
Final Thoughts
This was the first half ironman distance that I have completed and it was tough. The swim and the bike went fine but I fell apart some on the run. I don't think that that would have been the case on a flatter course but I won't know until later in the year when I participate in the Lifetime Soma Half triathlon.
I feel that my training had been sufficient for this length of event but I had not focused on hill training for either the bike or run because it is simply not realistic for me to do so in the Phoenix area.
As far as Ironman goes, they do a great job. I'd heard that their events were well organized and I agree. There was ample food on the course, volunteers, drinks, etc. All of the things you would want to have during a race were there.
I especially liked the finishers hat after going through the shoot.
I'm going to miss the beauty of racing in Syracuse when I get back to Arizona. I'll just have to come out here again!
