Oceanside 70.3
 

T-3 days as I type. I had a friend fly out for a visit. We leave tomorrow and stop for the day at Magic Mountain to get in one last hurrah before we have to admit we're too old for roller coasters anymore (Truth is, we already are. We're just no ready to admit it). We'll spend the night at my aunt and uncle's house in Thousand Oaks, plan to leave around late morning for the drive down to Oceanside. I am figuring about six hours for the drive. If less, I'll be thrilled, if more, not surprised.

Friday will be check in and bike staging. After that I'm going to see about getting a pass on base. I was stationed out there for three years back in the 90s. It would be nice to visit the old stomping ground.

I'm an eight hour finisher so I don't expect to be done before 3pm on Saturday, unless something really bad happens <cross fingers>. But afterwards, we're planning to just hang out on the beach until sunset. Grab some dinner on the road and head home. Depending on how long it takes us to get across to and up through San Bernardino, I'm expecting about seven hours for the return.

Good luck. I have a friend whose son is doing it for the second time. The first time he did it was when the mom didn't find out she was pregnant with him until after the race.

Try leaving Thousand Oaks around 11am. You might make Oceanside in less than three hours.
Warm weather in the forecast, although nicer near the beach. Good luck!

One of my friends on Strava is doing this race.

Dan

Hey all. I wanted to update this thread over the weekend but for some reason I didn't save my login on my phone and couldn't remember it.

Anyway, we did leave Thousand Oaks around 10:30-11am and blew right through for the most part. We had stop and go for maybe 20 minutes of the drive, I was very surprised. Arrived early enough I even got registered Thursday afternoon, so I had all morning Friday to stage my bike and spend $$$ in the village. And I did spend $$$.

I swear, Ironman is making money hand over fist. I know it costs a lot to put these events on but even so, just bookoo bucks. They were saying they had something like 3,300 entries. Figure an average of $500 a pop. I think general registration when I signed up was about $490 but round up for those that upgraded or registered late. That's over $1.5M just in entry fees. Then figure maybe $100 average per participant in swag (I think they got me for about $140 this time) and that's another $330,000. I know that's just an estimate, and I know there are all kinds of permits and additional expenses, but a lot of the actual work on the course is done by unpaid volunteers. They're making money.

Anyway, spent the morning Friday staging the bike, athlete briefing and getting a little oriented to the course. Friday afternoon friend and I got some food and spent a little time shopping non-Ironman related stuff. Actually got some good sleep Friday night.

Got up early on Saturday morning, which turned out to be a good thing because it was a bit of a cluster**** getting down to transition. They were supposed to be running shuttle buses from various pick up points to transition but traffic was so heavy the bus actually dropped us off about a half mile away and we had to hike in with all our gear. And that was my first problem of the day. I actually staged my bike so early on Friday morning they weren't done setting up transition, so when I got there at 6:30am, with thousands of athletes there, transition looked wildly different. It took me almost 10 minutes to find my bike. And they had the racks numbered really kind of screwy. It really didn't make sense how they had it set up, but I digress.

I still managed to get everything set up and I got in line for the swim start. It was a typical rolling start for age group and I started pretty close to where I expected at around 7:30am. I had a pretty good swim for me at just under 46 minutes, which was right about on target.

I spent quite a while in transition, which was also planned. More than planned but not by much. And that got me on the bike about 5 minutes later than my target.

I am pretty strong on the bike for the most part. My one weakness is climbing. I'm probably middle of the pack or even a little faster, for my age group on flat ground and descents. But get me more than about 3* of incline and I give all of that back and then some. But that wasn't my first problem. My first problem was at the first aid station I realized I really probably should make a pit stop. The reason that was a problem is I decided to wear cycling bibs and a pull over jersey instead of a tri suit. Being both hot and wet, the jersey just stuck to me like tape and I had to have a volunteer help me pull it off, and then pull it back down when I was done. All together, that little pit stop probably cost me about 10 minutes. My own self-inflicted cluster****.

But the real problem is the back half of this particular course involves quite a bit of climbing. One hill in particular is listed as 12% for over half a mile. There are two or three more that are 8% or better. Fortunately, none are really long but like I said, I'm really bad at climbing, and it cost me both in time and energy. My target on the bike was <3.5 hours and I didn't get into T2 until almost four hours.

Again with a long transition, but again, that was by design. I got on the run course with just under 3.5 hours for cut off. I'm a really slow runner, even in a stand-alone run. But after swim and bike, I'm happy with anything under a 15min/mile average. Yesterday was both warm and sunny, at least for me. Temps were in the mid 70s but there was very little shade to be had so we were all just out there baking in the sunlight. There was a pretty decent breeze that felt great running into, however, once at the turn around we were running with the breeze which felt like still air. Because I'm such a slow runner, my strategy is run between aid stations and walk through the aid stations, and up or down any steep hills. The course wasn't really hilly but there were a few that warranted a walk and I did a pretty good job at sticking to that strategy. I finished with a run time just over three hours total. I would have loved to break 3 hours. I've done it before but I really need favorable conditions for that (flat ground, cool temperatures).

Even so, my finish time was 8:13, which is hardly impressive, but it does count as a finish. And for me, that's my main concern. I know I'm not competitive on these long course events, and that's why I expect this to be my last 70.3.

So overall, I'm glad I got this event done. And it was a pretty good Ironman event, all things considered. But here's probably my one and only complaint. It seems that around hour seven or so, they begin to wind down athlete support. I noticed this sometime around mile 7 or 8 on the run, they began to break down some parts of the aid stations. This is not something that was exclusive to just this race this time either. I am a consistent 8 hour finisher and it's been like this at every 70.3 event I've done. Of course, I find this frustrating because us 8 hour finishers are the ones that need that water and electrolyte support the most. I pay the same for my entry as those 4 or 5 hour finishers but I feel like I'm an afterthought, keeping everybody from going home.

And to finish up this thread, friend and I got on the road from Oceanside about 4pm yesterday afternoon and made good time. Got in right about 10pm last night. I was super sore after the race and didn't sleep well because of the body aches but much of that has resolved now and beyond being a little bit stiff, I really don't feel bad at all.

Congratulations Jen! Any finish is a good finish.

Indeed. I know the feeling of finishing by the slimmest of margins and having to turn in a chip because you just can't go any further. Turning in a chip is one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced.

Good race report. Congrats on the finish.

Dan

You're right, you do pay the full fees and are entitled to full service. So here's the question: Them starting to break down the aid stations... did that still allow them to serve the (fewer?) athletes still out there, or were some aid stations closed down completely while athletes were still on the course? If the latter, that is a problem, assuming they haven't set a hard limit on time and saying things would be closed down after that. If the former, still able to serve the remaining athletes, good. If the latter and it was within the hard limits they set (if any), then it's cause for a polite but earnest letter/email to the organizers, emphasizing your earlier points about the event appearing to be well-funded and profitable, and image matters, especially when it comes to the health and safety of athletes near the end of their energy. Just my two cents, knowing I am completely lacking in knowledge of these events.

Congrats on finishing!

What's "turn in a chip"?

Thanks. I know I'm more of a participant than a competitor but I get it done. Not impressive but completed.
I remember heading into the second lap, and that would mean there was MORE than an hour left on the course, and one station was completely broken down. Now, to be fair, there was another station about a 100 yards further on the return part of the course. There really wouldn't be anything preventing an athlete from stopping at that aid station in either direction, beyond just going the wrong way on the course for 100 feet. Other aid stations closer to the finish were being broken down as I went by. So, technically, they were still open but they did not have all of the same items available at that time as they had earlier in the day. The one thing in particular I was actually looking for but that station was closed up was an energy gel. Fortunately, I had one in my pocket but when I'm on course, I prefer to use the ones provided by the event.

And to "turn in a chip" means to voluntarily quit the race. When you show up at registration, you are given a packet that includes a bunch of race related gear, helmet sticker, gear bag, that sort of stuff. One of the things you are issued is a timing chip that looks very similar to one of those home arrest ankle monitors, but it tends to be blue or orange and is held on by a velcro strap. That's how they track your progress throughout the event. When you start, you cross a mat that reads the chip and that officially starts your time. When you cross the finish line, you cross another mat and that ends your time. Then there are timing devices placed throughout the course to track you in each event (and to keep everybody honest about doing the whole course). If you get to a point, for whatever reason, when you are unable or unwilling to continue, you can remove your timing chip and give it to a race official who will then call in to race control and inform them that you are unable to continue. That gets you a "DNF" for the event. You do not pass go, you do not get $200, you get no points and you do not get labeled a "finisher" in the official results.

Thanks for both answers. The latter reminds me of this:

"... I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul."