Ironman 70.3 Wolrd Championships

Since inception, the annual Ironman 70.3 World Championships were held in Clearwater Florida, but this year the race venue relocated to Las Vegas. Long course triathlon is no stranger to this part of Nevada; the Silverman half and full distance triathlons have been held here since 2005.

The Silverman course is notoriously tough, so when the WTC teamed up with Lowery's Multisports, the aim was to develop a challenging race worthy of the World Championships. They also hoped to solve the drafting problem that was typical of Clearwater.

Well, there is no doubt about it; the new course is very hard and not surprisingly, it’s the heat that makes this course what it is. On the day it was ~36oC but it can get into the 40's at thus time of year. Indeed, this course is a real leveller, favouring the best "triathlete".

The swim takes place in Lake Las Vegas, ~13 miles due east of The Strip, and two factors means that this favours the stronger swimmers. Firstly, at this time of year, it’s warm enough to make it a non-wetsuit event. Secondly, because of the silt, visibility in the water stops at the end of your hand, so finding feet is very difficult. So for those of us that rely on neoprene and a good draft to compensate for our poor technique, the swim is always going to be tough.

Straight out of T1, the bike course goes uphill for 5.5k, out of Lake Las Vegas and on to the main road. A ~64k out-and-back section heading north east then takes you in to Lake Mead National Park and through some spectacular scenery. The final 20k goes back past Lake Las Vegas and into the T2/finish area, which is based in Henderson, a town South East of Las Vegas proper.

The course is rarely horizontal, with a net ascent/descent of 1168/950m, so the uber-power bikers who prevail on Antwerp-like courses suffer. At the same time, the hills are never particularly steep, so the power/weight merchants who enjoy Wimbleball-esque terrain don’t have it all their way. This route really does favour the well-rounded strong bikers.

The heat on the bike doesn’t feel like a major problem at the time; the movement of dry air keeps your temperature down but this is deceptive. You’re sweating all the time, and even if you do keep your water, salt and nutrition intake up, this course really does take it out of you.

But it’s on the run where the course really plays its trump card. Not only is it very hot but once again, it’s not flat. There are no hills per se on the 3-lap out-and-back route, but you are either going up a very long slow drag or back down it, gaining/losing ~75m over 3.5k.

The transitions are pretty slick. I heard a few grumbles about the ~250m run from the lake exit to T1, but it’s a flat path followed by a downward grassy slope so no biggie. Marshals then call your number out ahead of you so that volunteers can get your bag for you. Out of T1, there’s an uphill push before you can mount in the car park but again, no biggie.

Approaching T2, the dismount line is around a corner and comes up quick, but it’s reasonably predictable so sufficient time to take feet out your shoes. Volunteers take your bike off you, and again your bag is handed to you as you move through. No excuse for slow transitions.

The aid stations worked well enough on both bike and run. Not the slickest I’ve seen but enthusiastic volunteers and kids made them work. Plenty of water Powerbar products, sponges and ice.

There are only partial road closures, but the way the course is set up with traffic cones etc, works well. Only in the National Park do you have to share the road with cars and there the drivers are very courteous.

The atmosphere either side of the race is cool. The banquet on the Friday night and the post-race awards party far out-strip the usual pasta parties and roll down ceremonies. You really feel that you are part of a big deal. Wandering about the hotel and race venue is a bit intimidating, the place is chock-a-block with tanned lean muscle and serious tri bling. But seeing people wearing calf guards at breakfast even before the race reminds you not to take things too seriously - LOL!

There’s not much support out on the bike course but plenty around T2 and they look after you once you cross the finish line. The split transition set up makes registration etc a bit of a hassle if you don’t have a car, but in the grand scheme of things it’s a very well organised race. Race HQ is at the Lowes Hotel in Lake Las Vegas, but the Ravella is right by the swim start. Both are great places to stay.

So much for the generalities, how did my race go? Well, I had clearly peaked, both physically and mentally, for my Ironman back in August. Since then, I had kept my training up but I was certainly in recovery mode and trying to hang on to dissipating fitness. I got a very solid training week in 2 weeks before race day but after that my motivation was up down like a yoyo.

Part of me just wanted to get the race over with so I could draw a line under this season. So the plan was just to take it easy and enjoy. But then other times I felt really up for it and wanted to smash it – this was the World Champs after all! Once the race started, the “professional” in me took over and I was uber-focussed on completing as fast as I could on the day.

The swim start was uncongested and I found good rhythm it but seemed to go on for ever. I anticipated a 35-40 min split and got out of the water with 39:xx mins on my watch; slow, but to be expected. However, I was exhausted! Oh how I missed my wet suit!

T1 went fine and the bike was uneventful. Kept to my plan in terms of nutrition and salt intake and drank water whenever I felt like it, which was often. Again, no congestion so no excuse for drafting but I did see some blatant cheating. Saw one guy get a yellow card so the marshals were on the case, and overall the drafting situation wasn't so bad. My best guess was for 2:45-2:55 split. As I approached T2 I thought a sub 2:45 might be on the cards but with a brutal run to come I spun into town to give the legs a rest, final split 2:47.

When I handed over my bike, I hobbled into T2 as both Achilles areas had seized up! Anyway, out on to the run course and into the heat. About half way around lap 1 I realised I was doing the Ironman shuffle; psychologically the heat had already gotten the better of me, so I shouted to myself to pull my finger out and start "running"; the pace and posture picked up immediately and I felt strong through to the end of lap 2. On several occasions hamstrings and claves complained so I dug out more salt tabs which did the trick pretty quickly. While I was clipping along at a reasonable pace between aid stations, once again psychologically I caved and I started taking longer to walk through each aid station, trying to convince myself that this was necessary to avoid blowing up. While my planned 1:30 turned out to be totally unrealistic, I’m still a bit disappointed with my 1:45. A lack of mental toughness on the day probably cost me up to 5 mins.

But you live and learn, and that’s what this race was mainly about for me, getting experience racing in the heat, as next stop is IM Lanzarote!

Anyway, at the end of the day, my official splits were 39:47, 2:47:44, 1:45:59 with 3:49 and 1:53 for T1/T2 giving a final time of 5:19:12. This placed me 782^nd overall, out of 1700+ starters. And in my age group, 119^th out of 178 finishers. That equates to 67 percentile. Now, considering that I got the last of 7 slots at UK70.3 via a roll down, all things being equal, that should place me in the bottom ~14% of the field. Well, 67% is certainly better than 86%! I’ll take that!

A great race and a great experience, I’d love to do it again. So maybe after Lanza I’ll just have to do Wimbleball all over again next year :-)

I’d definitely recommend it as a race to aim for but be prepared for some pain: this may sound a bit strange, but of the three big races I did this year, UK70.3, IM Regensburg and the 70.3 World Champs in Vegas, the “easiest” one was the full Ironman!

It was great to take part along side other ManTri members; Howard and Carla qualified along side me at Wimbleball, Mark and Anna qualified at Antwerp. All of us did very well to complete the course in style and it was great to have friends at the finish line. And as always, Jacky’s support throughout was great!