To continue the build up to AC100, I competed in my 4th consecutive Bayshore 70.4 half-IronMan triathlon two weekends ago. It is a fantastic grass-roots race event that offers a great opportunity to get some race experience in a fun and welcoming environment. It is not as a competitive race as an IronMan event would be, but still a great opportunity to compete against some fast dudes and dudettes. Triathlon continues to play an important cross-training roll as I prepare for my 100-mile run, and the main objective with this race was to normalize the effort, to get comfortable with grinding for 5+ hours that the race feels much like a solid training session.

My A+ half-ironman goal continues to be a sub 5-hour finish. I fell short of that this year with a 5:21:36 finish, about 19 minutes slower than my half-IronMan PR of 5:02:10 (2018), but 40 minutes faster than the boondoggle that was last year’s race of 6:01:58.

The results over the year. 2020 was better than 2019, but I feel I left some on the table and will continue to work towards a sub 5hour half IronMan.

Given that the 100K ultra-marathon was on 8th February, I took a week off to recover and started my two-week triathlon focused training block the week of 20th February, taking a taper week during race week. Two weeks was not a lot of time to focus primarily on getting my bike legs ready, but ill take what I can get.

Swim

Race morning started with a 0315 wake-up, giving me enough time to make a good breakfast (bacon, eggs, avocado on toast with arugula, and plain-yogurt with fresh fruit), and get all my things together before leaving at 0415. We got to the race site around 0530, giving me plenty of time to set up in transition before it closed at 0645 for a 0700 race start.

I am not the best swimmer, I never swam competitively and more importantly never had a swimming coach. I know my technique can use A LOT of work, it is just not as high on my priority list just yet. I do intend to get some help from a coach in the next year or two and clean up my technique, as I think I leave a lot on the table. I usually start the swim near the front of the crowd (since it is a small race we still do a mass running start), and use their pace to put in a stronger swim than I would without a pacer. I got passed a few times, but my average pace was about what I expected. Except for some foggy goggles, nothing out of the ordinary happened. For the elusive sub 5-hour goal, I’d like to put in a 30-35 minute swim.

A+ goal: 30:00 (1:20/100yd pace)
Actual Time: 37:52 (1:37/100yd pace)
Grade: B+

Bike

Transition 1 went smoothly, right around my expected time of 3 minutes. My flat tire trouble last year was due to some faded rim tape allowing some of the spoke heads to protrude and poke holes in my tubes when I had hit some larger cracks on the bike path pavement. I made sure to replace all rim tape and also include tire liners to be protected from both sides to avoid any further trouble. My goal on the bike was to push an average of between 185-200Watts, with a 20mph average speed as my secondary goal.

The bike route was ~28 miles upstream following the San Gabriel River bike route to the turn-around, and bike back towards the pacific for the second half of the 56mile bike ride. Like most river bike-path, going inland it climbs gently while returning to the beach it will descend. I was able to maintain an average power of 208Watts and 19.8mph on the way to the turnaround. I got passed by a handful of riders, but they were pushing some serious power and speed. I decided not to draft them as the power output was beyond my comfort zone. The head-wind on the way back to the beach was a killer, maintaining an average power output of around 200Watts but dropping my average speed down to about 18mph. My decision to not stay on the wheel of the riders that passed me on the outbound leg paid off, as I passed them without any additional effort on the way back.

Threw down the hammer pretty good for my current bike conditioning level.

Average heart rate was a bit higher than I wanted, contributing to feeling a bit cooked coming off the bike.

The lack of a significant triathlon-focused training block, especially a solid bike-build up, was obvious as I finished up the bike. My legs felt heavy as I was wrapping up the bike. I think a target average power output, given the limited time I spend on the bike training for this race, of 185Watts would have been more realistic. Otherwise, Transition 2 went smoothly, coming in just over 2 minutes.

A+ goal: 2:45:00 (avg 20.5mph)
Actual Time: 2:53:18 (avg 19.1mph)
Grade: A-

Run

The run is where I had planned to bring my A-game. After a ton of run and lower-body weight training to prep for the Sean O’Brien 100K ultra marathon in February, I felt that the run would be my strongest discipline of the day. During the two weeks of training leading up to Bayshore, I had consistently put down 6-8 mile training runs at a comfortable sub 7:30/mile pace with fresh legs. I only trained up to 5 miles at 7:30/mile pace after my two long bike rides the two weekends preceding race weekend. Although those miles did not come as easy, I still felt I would be able to put down a 1:35 half-marathon coming off the bike at Bayshore.

Though I started off at a 7:30min/mile for the first mile, I could not sustain that pace. My legs felt heavy as the 205W bike effort took its toll. With my heart rate averaging 165bpm, I knew I couldn’t push it much harder and sustain the effort. I fell into average pace of 8:00min/mile for the remainder of the run. My goal quickly became not to get lapped by the 1st place male on the two-lap run course. He ended up running a 1:18 half marathon, and passed me about half a mile from the start of my second lap (and his final lap). Damn, some of these guys are fast.

Overall results. 12th overall (4th AG) is not too bad, but I felt i could have gotten closer to the 5-hour mark. Always next year!

By mile 4, I passed two runners that had finished infront of me on the bike. By mile 8, I saw the 11th overall runner about a half mile infront of me. Try as I did, I could not catch him in the remaining 5 miles as we were pushing very similar paces. I finished the run in 1:44:58 with an average pace of 8:03min/mile.

A+ goal: 1:35:00 (pace 7:30min/mile)
Actual Time: 1:44:58 (pace: 8:03min/mile)
Grade: B

Path Forward

Overall, it was great to be back in Bayshore to compete in my 4th consecutive triathlon there and to see old friends. This is an event I will continue to do as long as I am in the greater LA area. It was a great way to kick-start my 2020 triathlon training campaign in preparation for the IronMan on 02 May. Triathlon, and the cross-training it encourages, will be a crucial tool in my preparation for my first 100 miler later this year. 20202 training numbers to date are below. I have accumulated over 61,000ft of gain in my runs, my number one priority in training, to get my legs conditioned for the brutality that will be the 100miler in the San Gabriel mountains.

The biggest focus of this race was to normalize the effort. Putting in the sheer amount of work in training to make this half-IronMan feel like a high intensity training session. This is the mentality I need prior to tackling a 100 miles on foot. Most importantly, I am doing this in honor of those who are not as fortunate to move their bodies like most of us can. Please consider contributing to my Ainsley’s Angels 100 Miler Fundraiser

Check out our awesome 100 miler fundraiser page!