Ironman 70.3 Galveston

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I broke my own advice. I entered a race I was not sure a could complete; Ironman 70.3 in Galveston, Texas. Well, I did complete the race, and in a decent time too! It was a good experience.

I signed up last year when so many triathlons were cancelled. It looked like Ironman 70.3 Texas, was going ahead in November 2020, but it was cancelled just a few days before and moved to April 11, 2021. I had paid the hefty entry fee, I live in Texas, it is hard to get a spot at all, I am not getting any younger, so I went for it.

But I was worried, so I did not share my race preparations on this blog. I did not change too much anyway; a few longer bike rides (the longest was 50 miles), a few longer swims (up to 1.5 miles) and I ran 6 miles once. ONCE. The run part on Ironman 70.3 is 13.1 miles. I am not a fan of long workouts, I don't believe it helps much, and I think I am vindicated.

My total time was 6.51.28 , swim time (1.2 miles) was 46.57, bike (56 miles) 3.21.13 and I ran the half marathon (13.1 miles) in 2.33.20. 

During long races, energy management is everything. I used an even and comfortable pace from the beginning and it lasted to the end. After a businesslike swim, I was in 7th place in my age group. It was a sea swim and it was windy and choppy, but I was not bothered by that as I am used to open water. 

In transition 1, I drank an orange juice and water, and put on sunscreen as well as I could. (Later, it showed that I had missed the back of my shoulders.)

Area where I failed to apply sunscreen...

Bike ride was an out and back and started with a tail wind and we were flying! I had 1.15 at the turn-around half way. Going back, it was like a wall hit me, I had almost the double time on the second half of the ride. Knowing that I was facing a half marathon after the bike, I did not want to push too hard, and I was 13th on the bike part. I am not very good in head wind.

In transition 2, I took an energy gel and water, some more sunscreen, and went off for the run. 

I was not overly tired, but I had light cramps around my knees, so I had to walk every now and then to lose up. The cramps disappeared after about 4 miles. I had already decided to walk every uphill, in my experience, it ultimately saves time. So I jogged and walked through the 13 miles as my energy levels allowed, probably about 80% running and 20% walking. 


I took liquid at every opportunity, water and Gatorade. To cool down, I also poured ice water over my head several times, allowing some cubes to enter inside of my suit. At one stop, I took Red Bull by mistake, I have never tried it before. I think it livened me up a bit, so I took some more sips on later support stations. The run was three laps and I noticed that I was catching up more people on my last lap. I was number 6 on the run leg, and finished overall in 7th place in my age group.

Afterwards, I was tired, but not as exhausted I thought I would be. The following day, I was sore and walked with some difficulty, but I was improving all the time. I took two days off training and then I did a short swim, day 4 a bike ride and day 5, I rested again. I waited 6 days before a short, but fast run. It looks like I got through the Ironman 70.2 without any injuries.

Training for the next few weeks is focused on getting my speed back. I notice that after long workouts, my max speed declines quite significantly. So I will do several shorter training sessions with faster intervals in all three disciplines for a while.

This Ironman has been a natural escalation for me, in 2018 I did only sprint triathlons, in 2019 I included two Olympic distance triathlons and now I graduated to a half Ironman. I think I leave the full Ironman alone.

/Gunilla




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