NEVIS CYCLE & TRIATHLON CLUB

Sunday the 28th October held the third annual Ironman 70.3 in Miami Florida. 2774 athletes lined up on a very cold morning for a deep water wave start in Biscayne bay. After days of tropical storm weather from the passing of Hurricane Sandy the water had dropped to 73 degrees making a wet suit legal race. This was only decided the night before so for those of us traveling from overseas we had little choice but to just jump in and get acclimatized as quickly as possible. I was in wave 9 with 106 other athletes in my age group we had two minutes to jump in and tread in the deep and very wavy waters of Biscayne bay listening to the current warnings and taking a moment to decided on my how best to tackle the 1.2 miles ahead.

Knowing this was my first triathlon in 18months my whole goal was just to take my time and relax through the swim. As we set off I was once again reminded that the swim in triathlon is a contact sport, 106 athletes all heading in one direction with hundreds more two minutes ahead and the same behind. the swim was uneventful, the current made it a challenge but I felt comfortable through out and had no major issues until I got close to the steps where I took a heavy kick to the chest, it left me breathless and I took in a good amount of water but I was so close to the end it was ok although I can still feel the impact 24 hours later.

46.36 for the 1.2 mile (2km) swim a personal best   - delighted

Uneventful T 1 quite a distance from the water to transition but i surprised just how fluid my transition felt. Must have had some good coaching :)

4.49 T1

On to my bike, decided on my road bike and am glad I did the wind was horrific pushing over a flat course and only doing between 22 and 25k?????? I was gonna be on my bike all day! First 10k was technical and tough my quads cramped and I was not happy. Got some food in and the miles started to click by. At the turn around I could have laughed tail wind awesome saw the odometer rising 35- 40 all the way, hit the aid stations as needed but by 30 miles I felt amazing knew the training had paid off as I finished my bike in another personal best

3.09 on a 56 mile (90km) bike - awesome!

T2 went well packed my gear as transition was chaos running shoes on and no legs at all!

T2 3.44

The heat was on and I set out for a two lap course I hurt, my quads were screaming and I knew I may have pushed a little too much on the bike but with only 13.1 miles to go I was giving what I had left. With a strong mix of walking and running I got through the run :) the course took us over the bridge giving a steep incline and of course a steep downhill, heat and hills (where am I again?) really felt the injury time I had off but elated the finish line is at the end of this.

2.34 run - 13.1 miles (22km)

Total time for half ironman number five 6 hours and 39 minutes I am one very happy triathlete!

with another personal best - bring on the Texas full :)