California Half Ironman Race Report



Photo courtesy One Multisport


I was out for redemption this year. I had done this race before in 2009 and I knew how tough it could be. The 1.2 mile Pacific ocean swim in Oceanside Harbor had resulted in hypothermia for me. I came out of the water miserably cold, and was promptly whisked into the medical tent. I couldn’t warm up quickly and it added over thirty minutes to my race. Even if my time sucked, if I avoided the medical tent, it would be a win.

I never know what a race experience is going to be. Sometimes it is a body crushing sufferfest where the physical demands are so great that I can barely finish the race. Most of the time a race is fun test of my physical limits. Once in a while a race experience is extraordinary.

I didn’t sleep much because I dreaded the swim. As a slow swimmer, I always fear the swim a little, but a bad race experience such as hypothermia makes the second time psychologically harder. I was happy to find out when I got up at the god awful hour of 3:45 a.m. that it was fairly warm outside.

The race is so large, that people go off in many waves. I was in wave fourteen. People line up in their waves on the pier and can wait up to an hour to get in the water. I was reminded of a marathon chute where people line up like a herd cattle going to the slaughter. No warm up in the water is allowed. A racer jumps in the water and only has a few minutes to get to the start line.

Cold water makes me tired. I got into the water, which was bearable, but not really comfortable. I had a neoprene hood with another cap, swim booties and a two- piece wetsuit. The water was fairly smooth, but I had to rest a lot until I got into the last two thirds of the swim. The last part of the swim funnels into the harbor too many swimmer in too little space. I figured that it was their problem if I was in their way and I wasn’t bothered by the crowd that bumped into me. I think I got a draft off of all the people passing me. Total time was 56 minutes, which was 2.5 minutes faster than 2009.

Out of the water. I was dazed and uncoordinated, but not too cold.. The warmer air made a huge difference in how well I tolerated the chilly water. Due to the brain fog, transition took much too long, but it was better than being in a medical tent for thirty-eight minutes. I struggled to get my booties and wetsuit off; put on a vest, shoes, helmet and arm warmers. Then the swim gear had to be packed up and put in a bag to be transported to the finish area. Plus, the porta potty was a necessary stop.

California 70.3 has a beautiful bike route through Camp Pendleton, which is mostly undeveloped and looks like a nature preserve. The scenery was the typical California rolling grassy landscape dotted with yellow, orange and purple wildflowers. Not many events have bike routes that go through “tank crossings”. For good measure, some steep hills are thrown in.

The bike was much harder than I had remembered. I recalled the two steep hills and riding by the beach, but not all the rollers. I felt good until mile twenty. My bike computer was on kilometers because I had changed the battery. It was a good mental exercise in a way, trying to figure the speed. More terrain like this around Phoenix to train on would have been nice. Even at my slow pace, I passed a fair number of people, including the hapless people that walked their bikes up the steep parts. Even I could get up the damn hills on a bike.

Past all the climbs, I thought the flat road would be easy. Then a head wind picked up, coming from the west–just a little more pain to endure. The fifty-six mile bike split was a minute faster than 2009.

At the start of the run. I said something rude to a rider in my way who had finished and was wheeling out his bike out of transition. To be polite would have required too much energy. I was utterly exhausted, depressed. I mentally berated myself for being such an inadequate athlete. Thirteen miles seemed impossible to run.

I had planned to eat a Powerbar gel and a salt tablet every hour, but I passed on the gels. Maybe because they taste like spit. In desperation, I tried a Gu, Bonk Breakers and Coke. The Coke was magic and the run was miraculously resurrected. I suddenly felt human again and could run faster. The black hole receded and I continued to use Coke at almost every aid station. I wished for more salt tablets. I had six the whole race and was still craving salt on the run. I fantasized about pretzels.

The run was two laps along the beach, pier and streets of Oceanside with some short, steep inclines. A crowd watched and cheered the runners. I passed people I knew and it helped to see friendly faces.

No one was going to get in my way, even the volunteer that I shoved gently aside when I had the finish line in sight. The run is the heart of a triathlon and the most difficult to pull off well. In long course races, I am lucky to slog through it with tired legs because the bike sucks out all the energy out the muscles. To have some control over the fatigue felt powerful. I was tired and hot, even with the ocean breeze, but happy to run a little faster. I wanted this pain to be over with. I glared at anyone even thinking about crossing my path. The second lap was five and a half minutes faster than the first lap. Total time was 7:36.

The idea that I could do better than merely survive amazed me. A psychological barrier had fallen and now other feats might be possible, like a faster half ironman or ironman run. I didn’t care that some people would consider the 2:34 time to be mediocre. It was the best I had ever done in a half ironman. The last mile was the fastest, a difficult feat. To climb out of a dark physical and mental place and turn around a bad run felt incredible. That’s what I like about racing--every once in a while I exceed what I thought was possible. 

Courtesty One Multisort. Ramp we had to run up
and down twice

California Half Ironman

This is me April 4, 2009, with finisher's medal after eight plus hours of racing in the Oceanside, California half ironman(including 35 minutes or so in the medical tent trying to recover from hypothermia). The ocean was about 60 degrees, which apparently my body did not like. Being a slow swimmer, I was in the water for almost an hour.

A half ironman is a 1.2 mile swim; 56 mile bike; 13.1 mile run. I signed up for this race in an iron-depression after failing to finish Ironman Arizona in April 2008. It seemed like a good idea at the time and a cool race. The only other half ironman races I had done were here in Arizona.

This race was a lot of firsts; first long road trip by myself, first swim in the ocean that was more than half a mile, first half ironman with real hills(my first two were Soma, which has a much easier bike course).

Other than being cold, the swim wasn't bad until the turn around, where the swells were larger. I was in the first wave of women, so after the turn around the waves behind me caught up to me and the water got really choppy. Previously, in other races I would get panicky at this point, but I decided to let people run into me and not fight it. I had no where to go anyway.

I got out of the water and immediately felt miserable. I had trouble getting my wetsuit off and in general was uncoordinated. A volunteer shanghaied me when I was heading out of the transition area with my bike and got me into the medical tent. I couldn't warm up for a long time and I shivered violently. They finally got a heat on me and I recovered a little. I didn't want to miss the bike cut-off, so I got the hell out of there.

The bike course is scenic and deceptively easy at first. It runs by the ocean for a while and also winds through the Camp Pendleton, which is relatively undeveloped. About mile thirty, you see a hugh hill. If you don't conserve your energy, this hill crushes you. Once you make it over this hill, there are two more smaller hills until you reach the flatter sections into transition. I didn't have a lot of speed on these hills, but at least I didn't walk it like some people I saw. The bike course made Soma's look like a pussy course.

By the time I reached the run course, my legs were toast. I had been hoping to run well, but I just ended up doing a survival slog. The run wasn't difficult except for some hills and a sand section, but it was pretty painful by this point. The locals were enthusiastically cheering everyone, which was nice because I didn't really have anyone else to cheer me on in person.

I would have liked to do better at this race, but sometimes finishing a race is an accomplishment in itself, especially if the race is difficult. When I was running, I heard someone say that they wanted to quit because she wasn't having "fun" anymore. The point isn't necessarily "fun" because at mile sixty in a half iron you are not having "fun". It hurts too much. The "fun" is the feeling of accomplishment that you get from finishing something that you weren't sure that you could do. It's everything.

As a final note, I would have also would have liked to have a halfway decent race photo. The race photographers always seem to catch my worst angles(assuming I have any good ones). It's hard to look good when you have been shivering, sweating and generally exhausting yourself for hours on end. At that point I don't care what I look like, let alone look good. Still you think I could have at least one good photo. Maybe someday. The same day I actually crush the run course in this race.