IRONMAN Muncie 70.3 was this last weekend and it was great to race that distance again. Going in I was a little nervous about my training for the swim and bike legs. But as soon as my wave went off at 7:31am that nervousness disappeared and the fun began.
The swim always seems the same to me regardless of training. So despite only being in the water once this year, my swim time was only 5 minutes slower than standard 1.2 mile time (43 minutes this year).
The swim course goes away from the shore, cuts right a bit, and then comes back. Heading out felt like an eternity. I didn’t count the buoys as I passed them and at the time didn’t care to know how many I had left. By the time I reached the first turn I felt like I had already swam a mile.
The stretch cutting over went really quickly. Before I knew it I was swimming directly into the sun to head back to shore. This last part of the swim is just awful. The morning sun is still low, so sighting is practically impossible. I would just occasionally glance up to make sure that there were people splashing somewhere generally in front of me.
T1: My transitions this race were slow. 6min. 10 sec. for this one.
On to the bike. The last time I did this race I did the run leg of a relay team, so I thankfully got to avoid the bike leg. The year before when I did the entire thing, the course was terrible. There was a chip-sealed section that was a no pass zone for about 2 miles. Now, depending on what swim wave you were in you could end up behind some really really slow cyclists. That happened to me.
This year, however, the roads were smooth and this made the bike leg much more enjoyable. You leave transition and take a few turns through country road. This lasts 6 miles before you hit the highway that consists of 2 loops and the majority of the miles you’ll spend in the saddle.
Heading out on the first loop we had an amazing tailwind. I was seeing 24mph regularly and didn’t feel particularly stressed to get there. This meant something was coming at the turnaround. Indeed, after the turnaround the headwind quickly put me in my place. Thankfully, the fact that the race nearly sold out meant that there was tons of traffic. This translated to lots of drafting out of necessity – there just wasn’t anywhere else to go! So naturally lots of little groups formed to battle the wind together.
T2: after 2 hours and 50 minutes on the bike I am back at transition. Four minutes and seven seconds later I am heading out on the run – my favorite part of the race.
Leaving transition on the run you quickly hit a 1/4 mile downhill. For me this meant starting off the run at a 7 minute pace – not sustainable in my current level of fitness. But hey, it’s exciting. You’re off the bike, running down hill, and there is a ton of crowd support around, so enjoy it while you can.
A couple miles later the noise dies down and you just hear the footsteps from the other runners. Then you hear the growing noise from the next aid station (located just about every mile on the run course). The volunteers at this race are great. I saw many times when a runner missed the water or gatorade they were reaching for, and the volunteer quickly grab another one and ran down the athlete to make sure they got what they wanted.
This run course is a standard out and back along rolling hills. So everything you go up and down on the way out is waiting for you on the way back. This year I really enjoyed this route because it let me see several of the other folks I knew who were also racing. My run lasted one hour and forty-three minutes. Not my fastest 70.3 run, but not my slowest either.
I crossed the finish line just before the race clock hit 6 hours – which meant an overall time of 5 hours and 27 minutes for me. Definitely happy with that for the day.
With Muncie behind me I will now focus on base building for IRONMAN Chattanooga in September. The thought of a 112 mile bike leg followed by a marathon is a bit daunting right now. Time to dig in . . .
Chris