Racing in the Islands - 70.3 St. Croix

Moko Jumbies!  Dancers on stilts at the Pro
reception on Friday - fun show!

70.3 St. Croix was not a race; it was an effort of survival.  It was the second of two races that I was training through, but unlike Galveston I was not able to change gears or adjust as I went.  The lack of warm-weather training and hill work on the bike over the brutal winter caught up to me in a big way and I was unprepared for the severity of the hills and the strength of the sun.

Swim Start on another island a 100m from the transition area

Swim - 29:47
I was excited for the swim.  It was the first non-wetsuit swim I've had in two years and I was able to get in a great warm-up beforehand.  After getting locked into the fourth group at Galveston, I wanted to jump out a little faster and swim with a faster group.  Unfortunately I got thrashed at the start, and took the first turn (less than 100m into the race) wide and lost contact with the lead group.  I tried to bridge up, but was gaining no ground, so I settled in.  We were swimming straight into the sun, and my lack of open water training caught up to me - couldn't sight well and was all over the course.  Looking forward to some solid open water swims in the LIS over the next couple months.

These bad boys were in the water near the swim start

Bike - 2:52:14
The hills here are NO JOKE.  Everyone talks about The Beast- a .75 mile climb at mile 20, where grades hit 27% and you gain 550ft.  This took me 8' - was out of the saddle for most of that time, and pushed me into a zone I have never seen in 70.3 racing, and that was just to maintain enough momentum so I didn't fall over.  I'm not sure there's a cog big enough for that climb, but as bad as that was it was everything else that made the course brutal.  It was highly technical, there were long stretches of headwinds and plenty of other climbs where the grade topped 10%.  I was happy enough being consistent with my effort over the entire course, even if it was consistently slow.  It was for this bike course that I came, in the hopes that it would mildly prepare me mentally for IM Lake Tahoe, in September.

Run - 1:35:03

Hotel Buccaneer golf course - far point of the run course

Usually I love racing in the heat.  All of my hot weather races have come in July, or later - something I realized as I looked back after an exceptionally brutal day of racing yesterday.  I could feel myself overheating on the bike, and then the run got intense as we ran through the gorgeous (but exposed) golf course at the Hotel Buccaneer.  I had planned to run the first loop relaxed and drop down from there, but by the time I got to the turnaround to start the second loop I was in total survivor mode.  I was taking as much water and coke as I could at the aid stations, but was suffering bad.  I reached the point where a cold glass of water tasted like the greatest drink I'd ever had around the 5 mile mark - a sure sign that I was massively dehydrated.  Again, I was able to maintain my effort - 7:14 pace for the front half and 7:16 pace for the back half - not fast, but at least consistent and I didn't walk a step.  Another positive was that I didn't have any problems running off the bike as I had in my previous two races, no muscle ripping sensation or numb feet, so very happy about that.


Overall - 5:00:10
As I said - survival.  Was my worst overall finish time, as well as the slowest I have been in all three disciplines.  Was definitely a test of mental toughness out there; glad I was able to finish.  I will definitely be looking back on that this day when workouts and races get tough - nice to have that in my back pocket as I move forward and looking forward to getting into my next phase of training leading up to Challenge Atlantic City on June 29th!  Thank you to all my sponsors and the PFC Elite Team for continued support and encouragement!

Relaxing on the balcony at Club St. Croix after the race -
Thanks to Jackie Holt and 70.3 St. Croix for setting up
this amazing homestay!