This race was Good, Bad and Ugly. Only fun for the first half, but still glad I did it. I was kind of overconfident that I could do a Half Ironman despite training for a shorter distance, and I was able to finish it – but confirmed that the volume of training really matters when race day arrives.
I signed up only 10 days before the event — usually sold out months in advance but deferred after the race was washed out by September’s Nor’easter — because after recovering from injuries I wanted another race this season. “Only an hour” (plus traffic) to Jones Beach. I was most worried about the cold water (64-65 degrees F) followed by cycling in colder air (45-50 degrees F), having broken a tooth from shivering on the bike at Oceanside 70.3 in 2024. So, before the race, I drove to Greenwich, Connecticut to borrow from Coach Steve his thermal wetsuit, and I already had a neoprene swim cap. (NOT an attractive outfit.)
We had to rack our bikes on Friday, and at the briefing for athletes, the race director recommended we practice changing under a towel out of cold, wet shorts and into dry clothes. So I bought a pair of shorts — which I actually needed, was last on the rack at the Ironman merchandise tent in my size, and on sale — and practiced changing pants under a towel at my AirBNB in Uniondale (not a recommended destination, but adequate for the night). The water temp Saturday morning was expected to be even colder — 62.4 degrees! — so they announced on Friday they would push the start time to 9 a.m., to be warmer for riding.
After a solid night of sleep (gotta love a late race start!), arrived at transition and \laid out my warm clothes next to my bike in order of appearance, and climbed into the wetsuit. Chatted with other athletes on the beach, including Rob (who announced he was the last person out of the water at the Lighthouse Swim we both did in August), Phil (who “lives right here”), and a woman in the 70-74 age group (“I might be the only one here!”). At 9:20, we hadn’t started yet, and they announced the swim course would be cut from 2km (1.2 miles) to 1.5 km (0.9 miles). Fine by me!
The race starts, and they send us off from the beach 4 at a time every 5 seconds. The water is so shallow that we run almost up to the first buoy, and then plunge in. It’s cold of course, but not bad, and the water in Zach’s Bay is totally calm. My legs feel like logs in the thick wetsuit so I scarcely kick, but focus on long, strong, even pulls. The field of swimmers is crowded and we bump each other now and then; but after rounding the second, return buoy I stop short on top of someone and someone else brushes my leg and my left hamstring. Starts. To. Cramp. But I let this barge-size wetsuit do its job of floating, and I don’t kick for a few strokes and I don’t fight the cramp and it subsides. And there’s the finish and I survived another swim! 28:53 minutes (1:56 min/100 yds., slower than the 1:46 pace Coach Steve had predicted, but I’m fine with anything under 2:00 minutes); I later learn that’s 3/11 for AG, and at a pace only a few seconds slower than 1st in AG!
Waded out of the water, walked up the concrete pathway, jogged in the thick wetsuit across almost the entire parking lot to my rack (surprised that the twins on my rack hadn’t arrived yet, I must have swum well!). Wetsuit took little effort to peel, and I had laid out my towel and clothes in perfect order, but I hadn’t practiced changing under a towel when I was WET as and briefly failed to cover my butt (an attorney’s nightmare!), but by the time I was in my dry tri shirt, bike jacket, lightweight beanie under the helmet, and medium weight gloves (try putting THOSE on with wet hands), I was warm enough and didn’t need the mouthguard to protect against another jaw-clenching debacle. T1 in a very long 7:18 minutes (but only 6 seconds slower than 1st in AG!)
Ah, the bike. Went out feeling strong, goal was to keep a very manageable pace at 179 watts and average 19.8 mph on this very flat course, 3 loops (argh!) up and down the Wantagh Parkway, closed entirely to traffic (hurray!). The road has a few potholes and crevices near the dividing lines on the 3-lane road, but I’m sailing along the first 20 miles with my Garmin dinging solid averages every 5 miles: 17.8 mph, then 20.2, 21.0, 18.9… but the wattage is getting to be a struggle. Maybe I started too fast (I don’t think so); more likely I’m just undertrained. I hadn’t planned on this race until 10 days ago, I was fully ready for another Olympic distance but I hadn’t ridden over 42 miles and this was 56 miles. So even with the inspiration of another age grouper leap frogging with me (“What age group?” “60” (in a French accent, must be Québécois); “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of”) and off he goes into the distance. And despite keeping up with my nutrition, my legs are toast by mile 35 or 40, and I phone it in to get to the finish. Still, finished in 2:56:35 (18.9 mph), NP 169 watts, 5/11 AG.
T2 is straightforward, out of bike jacket, sit down to change to running shoes (no need for one-legged standing heroics!), switched to lightweight gloves then stuffed them in back pocket of tri shirt, and grab my water belt (so I won’t be ruled by the rest stops’ location to tell me if I’m thirsty). T2 in 2:57 (again, only a few secondsrr slower than 1st in AG).
Ah, but the run was not as strong as I had hoped, wiped out by the ride. I took a bathroom break and wanted to quit at Mile 2 of the 13.1 miles (half marathon). My legs were worn out and my heart rate was soaring. Coach Steve predicted a 9:45 min/mile pace, so I was encouraged by the first few 9:20s, 9:35s. But I focused too much on my pace and on looking for other Old Men who I might catch and both were poor distractions that further sapped my energy. I should have focused on just feeling good. Instead, by Mile 8, just after starting the last of 3 loops, I started walking. (Another, younger guy stopped running at that marker, and said, “Looks like we had the same idea.”). I was ready to walk the rest of the way. But then I got bored.
So I ran. And walked the rest stops. And marveled at the poorly named Gatsby Hotel (doesn’t that story end badly?), and at the wedding couple being photographed on the beach. And eventually, very very soon after Mile 12, mile 13.1 arrives and I finished! Miraculously. Exhausted. But finished.
Bottom LIne: Ran in 2:11:54, 5/11 AG, and finished in 5:47:35, 5/10 AG, 436/890 OA. Better than average, and another one (maybe my 17th 70.3) for the books. Time for a rest week before my putting in the necessary volume for my next race: El Salvador 70.3, in February 2027!
