Life is about identifying goals that force you to stretch, that force you to grow; then doing everything in our power to achieve higher and higher goals. A continuous goal of mine is to cultivate a truly indomitable brain. I punctuate my advancement toward this goal with deliberate defining moments. Triathlons serve as the perfect defining moments. I did three Olympic triathlons last year (Chicago, Mighty Hamptons then Washington, D.C.). This year I advanced to Ironman 70.3 races.
This past Sunday I competed in the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Portugal after being ultimately disqualified from Ironman 70.3 Barcelona largely due to a severe muscle cramp on the bike.
Sunday therefore was redemption. And what sweet redemption it was. I finished the race in 6:45:27, never stopping on the course (other than a critically necessary potty break on the run) and only walking at aid stations on the run. I nailed my target swim time, cutting off 11 minutes from my swim at Ironman 70.3 Barcelona and over an hour from my bike.
70.3 Portugal
Swim: 45:10
Bike: 3:19:39
Run: 2:28:06
70.3 Barcelona
Swim: 56:11
Bike: 4:28
Run: --
The course was AMAZING. At the start of the race, the Portuguese military fired a modern real cannon, which was such a cool experience. I seeded myself in the sub-:45 group for the swim and made sure to focus on swimming Z2/Z3 the whole leg through. I got excited toward the end and unfortunately swam off course enough for me to tack on probably 30 seconds at least to my overall time. But I’m still highly content that I swam it in sub-45 minutes (there was about eight seconds of running on the beach before entering the water, then maybe 20 seconds running across the shore before re-entering the water, then about another eight seconds on the ramp exiting the course.) Next goal will be getting it down to 42! :)
The bike was an extraordinarily fun experience. It was rather flat up until km 50, then it shot straight up. It was then steady climbing with short intermittent flat areas between regular portions of ascent. Three main highlights:
We got to ride on an official European circuit race track!!!! It was in Sintra about ¾ of the way up the full ascent of the bike leg. As a former 10-year-old boy, it was a ton of fun pretending I was a pro triathlete training with my coaches and analysts up in the race booth.
The flat part took us by some really amazingly beautiful quintessential Lisbon monuments and landmarks, from Geronimo’s Monastery to this petite castle on the water. I had been to all of them before during my layover in Lisbon between the US and Senegal for college study abroad.
The descent was super fun. There have been few activities in my life as euphoric as going fast with my body exposed in the air while on a device that I control (i.e., descents on a road bike, jet skiing in the open ocean, and riding a motorbike on a Thai highway).
Come the run, I unfortunately bonked right after starting. My stomach by that point just felt like a literal sack of water and sludge from all the gels, electrolyte drink and water I had consumed steadily over the past four hours of straight energy exertion. I found myself immediately having the runs, but there was no bathroom in sight. I told myself, “Screw it; you’re going to carry forward without stopping as you endeavored to do at the beginning of the race.”
So I did. I was only able to manage a trot as I was concerned that any one thud would literally make me crap my pants, but I carried forward anyway. I averaged 12:30 or so as I recall for the first five miles until I made it to a porter potty. Afterward, I felt steadily better. It unfortunately wasn’t until the last three to four miles that I really felt fine again, though. I powered out sub-8:30s for the last two miles until I found myself running down that picturesque red and black carpet toward the Ironman gate. Pure joy.
My first thought after crossing the finish line? “I could definitely do an Ironman in three months. I feel ready now even.”
Ironman South Africa 2019, GET READY.
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