RACE REPORT
Time on course: 6:06 hours.
Age category: 25 - 29
Swim: A 1.9km swim in the ocean right outside Hyatt Regency Resort in Danang, Vietnam. The sea was choppy as we expected. There were 5-6 waves rushing towards the sands simultaneously. I chose the 36-40minute swim time seeding. The entry into the ocean was a little challenging due to the waves. The sea felt less salty compared to India. The mouth wouldn’t feel too salty in just a few minutes out of the swim. The course was a 300m entry and included 6 turns - a rectangular course. Due to the choppiness, there was quite some sway even mid swim. I thoroughly enjoyed the swim part. There were breast strokers seeding themselves <35minutes and they were quite heavily built. I had to overtake a lot of people including them. One of them hit my goggle and I had to reset it in the course. I swam under a 2min/km pace till the last 200minutes where I got drifted into the ocean by some waves. The next I sighted, I was like 120m away from the other swimmers. Dint really panic, I just swam back diagonally. It was an extra 230m swim according to garmin totalling to 2.13km. At the end the ropes were also moving due to the drift and many people got stuck there. I just swam along the rope and exited as that was still part of the course. My transition felt a bit clear as many were still at the back. I had a pretty quick transition @about 3 minutes, did most things right and it included some good run distance. I also got a minor shoulder impingement a month ago but dint have any issues on the swim.
Bike : The bike course was a flat 90km course and we had 2 bridges to climb. The route was extremely scenic so It was a pleasurable sight. The bike course had good roads, a pretty fast course, no humps just some small rumblers, barely any winds. We had done majorly done volume blocks and not intensity blocks in training. I started pretty well, felt good after swim. It was a flat 29km stretch and then a small loop and a 33km stretch back. The hill climb felt good initially as the legs were fresh. There was some shade from the trees as well but the sun had already risen and it was getting hotter by the minute. They had lovely support and volunteers shooting water and electrolytes. It was the first time I was grabbing bottles from the bike and I got all of them. It felt better to take water from the aid stations as the water was cold. I dialled down my carbs/hour on this race as I wanted to stay away from the usual GI distress I had in bergman. That really helped as I faced no GI issues on the run. It’s a lifesaver when you’re already battling physical stress and the brutal heat. My body wasn’t completely ready for a 90km intense ride, had some lower back issues in the 2nd half. Pushed it through as my objective for this race was to have fun and stay motivated as my tri journey has just begun. Got a lot of motivation from people enroute. I also got stuck in a peloton of bikers and during my efforts to overtake them, I even hit a divider cone. It was non-draft legal race but it wasn’t being followed as such. My transition from the bike was also pretty quick @ about 3minutes and I removed my shoes right after dismount to make it more comfortable. The temperature had hit the roof by then.
Run: The run route was a 10.5km loop along the Oceanside. Most areas had no shade but some ran on the footpath that had shade from the trees at some points. It was extremely hot (40+ degrees) and humid by then and found a lot of people to be walking, cramping or stretching at points. The aid stations were at a distance of approximately 1-1.5kms and they were life saving. They had cold drinking water, electrolytes(loved them) , watermelon and coke. My run pace was consistent across the entire 21.1km. The only variation in time was the amount of time I spent at every aid station, about 30seconds to a minute each. Changed my pace from the 5’s to the 6’s. I was told to walk every aid station and energise appropriately to avoid discomfort. I honestly had a very comfortable run. There were many people cheering, supporting to push. I guess my body has an ability to tolerate heat pretty well. I had no lightheadedness, GI issues, cramps, heat issues or any muscle pain on the run. But I did hear about many who experienced the same or who went slower due to this. The recovery zone was pretty good with massage, icebaths, fruits , ice-colas and lunch. Loved my first ironman 70.3 and got a qualification to the world champs at Finland this year. Looking forward to train harder and race faster, now that I know I can do this distance
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