Ironman Maine 70.3 Race Review
Captain’s log, Day 1: headed up to Maine for my 70.3 Half Ironman. Vanessa is at the helm and I’m lucky enough to have the passenger seat for a bit. Rather than sleep like I usually do, I decided to get my thoughts down instead.
No different than any other race, I’m pretty excited for the weekend. Mostly because I don’t take the racing too seriously just yet, its just a fun day in the outside office. My plan is to finish 2019 strong with two more races and then get ready for 2020. Key word there is finish. We all know I haven’t finished a single race this year other than the St. Patty’s Day 5k and Justin hasn’t let me forget it. Ashley is more forgiving. But back to Maine. The race is in Old Orchard Beach, just south of Portland. Its a great beach town and I’ve heard recently that its known as the only beach in Maine. Having done the race last year I can say how nice the area is. Relaxing to grab some coffee and walk everywhere. Vanessa and I had fun last year with some of our Beacon Endurance friends and I’m excited for this scenic and somewhat fast course.
Last year I finished in 5 hours 44 minutes (if I remember correctly). Slow 41 min ocean swim, conservative 3 hour bike, and a barely sub-2 hour half marathon. My plan was to be easy on the bike and crush the run. For me, the 1:56 was a solid run because I paced myself well on the bike and remember picking up speed the whole time. It was a hot pavement run but there was about 4 miles on a woodchip forest trail which gave some shade. All in all a fun race complete with the finish line and pizza.
This year I think I’m maybe a tad bit faster swimming (still need to work on that), I’ll be aiming for 35-38 minutes splashing around. On the bike my target power will be 175-180 watts which is 23 more than last year. Ideally I’d like to mimic the run from last year. I’m not too sure how much better my run fitness is compared to last year so I’ll be happy with a sub-2 negative split. Calf cramps have been an issue for me this year and I’m gonna have to nail my nutrition. So there we have it. Lofty goal of 5 hours 20 minutes on a perfect day. Conservative goal is maybe 5:35 if there are no mechanicals and leg issues.
Thankfully race day weather looks perfect. High of 67 and sunny with low humidity. Swim is gonna be cold but my new wetsuit purchase last year was a two thumbs up decision. I’m most excited for the fast and rolling hills of the bike. That’s all for now. See you at the finish line! No but seriously, if I don’t finish this one then I’m not sure if Justin is gonna let me back in the clinic without some sort of community service. Maybe Kim will let me volunteer at Fleet Feet.
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