Ironman Miami 70.3 – Race Day – Pre-Race & Swim

The alarm clock started to beep at 4:06AM and I quickly made a precision slam of the snooze button for another 9 minutes. I had been in and out of consciousness all night long except for the hour before the alarm clock went off, which I slept the soundest of the whole night. I laid there for 9 minutes pondering what the day would bring for my 2nd attempt at a half-Ironman this month. Would I experience another equipment malfunction? Would I malfunction? The thoughts whisked through my head and before I knew it it was 4:15AM and time to get up. I stumbled to the window of the Hyatt Regency hotel room to see that things look very wet outside. Not sure if it is raining now, but it has definitely rained during the night. Hard to tell from the 9th floor. Rain seems to be a recurring theme in my quest for Ironman 70.3, but at least this time it will be warm.

I don my headlamp and make some hot water in the room coffee maker. I mix in a packet of Starbucks Vanilla Via coffee mix. Ahhh caffeine…starting to wake now. I sliced up a bagel and butter it with some natural peanut butter with my trusty pocketknife. Then I peel a banana and scarf that down too. I had packed most of my gear the night before so it is just a matter of getting dressed and heading out. I say goodbye to my wife and I head for the elevator. As I am walking to the front door of the hotel I overhear someone saying “it is still raining!” Great. Heading out of the hotel I am met with a wall of humidity that practically stops me in my tracks, but I push on. It IS still raining. And raining very hard. I unzip my rain jacket and drape it over me and my backpack. I make my way through downtown Miami through the torrential rain to the transition area in Baypoint Park. I position myself along the buildings to the windward side to minimize the rain. I approach the transition area with the bright fluorescent lights glaring in the early morning darkness.

I made my way to my little spot at the back of the transition area near the run exit. There are several bikes crammed together in the small space and I have about a 6 inch wide area to layout all my stuff. Setting up a transition area in the rain really sucks. Fortunately I have some large ziplock bags to keep my sneakers and run hat dry. I eventually get everything setup and head over to the port-a-john for a last minute pee. As I was setting up, I heard the announcement that wetsuits were optional and would take you out of qualifying. I had no idea how I would do, so I wasn’t going to take the chance if I did do well, so no wetsuit for me. Bummer. Two guys near me started talking about the Pocono race and my ears perked up. They both did that race too. The one guy only did the bike and part of the run, but quit early since the swim was cancelled. His wife registered them for this race as soon as they got home from Pocono. Ironic. I am not sure whether the other guy finished or not, but seemed very disappointed with that event. 7AM came and last call was made to get out of transition. 

As everyone made their way to the swim start, the rain started coming down harder and the winds picked up. People were shivering and hiding behind any object they could to block the rain and wind. My wave didn’t start until 8AM so I would have to wait an hour to start swimming. I waited next to a guy that was in my wave, which I knew from his green swim cap, who was also doing his first half-iron distance. We chatted a bit about wishing we had our wetsuits on and other race related issues. They started staging the waves with people holding large signs that had the wave number and an appropriately color swim cap stapled to it. The age group was also listed at the bottom. I knew my wave was supposed to go at 8AM, but wasn’t sure of the number. A sign for wave 14 came up with a light green cap on it and an age group designation that said “40-40(A-C)” . Hmmm…Ok so they made a typo on the 40-44 age group, but why would I be in the A-C last name range when my last name begins with “S”? Did they go by first names? I stayed with this group as we shuffled slowly like cattle to the ramp where would eventually make the plunge into Biscayne Bay. Denise showed up while I was waiting and we said our goodbyes and she wished me good luck. I kept looking back for other waves with light green caps, but they never materialized. Then we took the plunge.

The Swim

We all took the 3-4 foot plunge off the platform into the water, waiting for the people in front of us to get out the way. The water felt good as it was warmer than the air and rain that was falling. The sky was still very dark and gray with the heavy cloud cover. I made my way to the back of the pack on the inside. I like to let everyone go and start out with a nice lane so I can start my swim without getting mauled. The gun went off and I waited 10 seconds for the others to get going. I started with a nice easy pace just like my long swims in the pool. Eventually I made my way into the other mix of swimmers and established my lane. Now I would have to deal with feet and kicks. I started to make the right turn around the first buoy which was a little tough since everyone had coagulated there and there was a good current pushing us back. I took one hit to the head, but eventually got around it. I started my stroke again heading towards the bay outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. I noticed that things were a little easier now as that current I felt rounding the buoy was giving a little boost. I kept on the inside of the intermediate buoys since there was not much congestion there. Swim felt really good and I totally forgot about not having a wetsuit on. I think I would have been too hot with it anyhow.

Eventually I reached the second turn buoy and made the right heading back towards Bayfront Park crossing bay outlet. I noticed as I was spotting that everyone was being pushed out to sea away from the buoys and the lifeguards were trying to wave everyone back in. The current was really strong. I picked out a intermediate buoy and angled back in towards it. It felt like I was swimming and not getting anywhere. I persisted on and eventually I got back in close before reaching the final turn buoy. I made my last turn and now was in the home stretch which was right along the shoreline of Bayfront Park. It was pretty cool having all the crowds lined up on the shoreline cheering everyone on. As I breathed to the left I tried to scan the crowd to see if I could see Denise. I knew she had my yellow cycling rain jacket on, but there were many yellow jackets along the shore. I saw the swim exit now and decided to kick it up a notch. I really felt great swimming and was thinking I could have done another lap. I reached the astro turf steps and made my way out of the water. I did a slow trot to get the blood flowing in my legs and started rehearsing my transition plan. Swim time: 45:25 at a pace of 2:22/100yds. Not too bad considering the current blowing me off course a bit.

I made my way through the long cattle shoot and spotted Denise on the left side of the line of cheering fans at the last minute. I said “hey” and continued on. Due to the lack of transition space, I had my bike helmet on one side of the rack and needed to un-rack my bike on the other side. Not optimal, but what can you do. I donned my lid, ran around grabbed my bike and made my long trek to the bike exit. The transition was configured around a fountain in the park and the walkway was made of marble. It was very slippery with all the rain. I had bare feet still since I keep my bike shoes clipped in the pedals. Can’t image what people with the bike shoes on would endure. I reached the bike exit and the timer mat made the loud beep. The bike leg has begun.