Xiamen Ironman 70.3 Race Report  - In pursuit of Personal Best-ness

The Xiamen Ironman 70.3 race came into my radar of Ironman races after the Langkawi IM 70.3 race proved to be no-go as it fell on Deepavali Eve . The Langkawi IM race has proved to be elusive for the past few years. Something comes up during the Langkawi race season. No amount of brownie points earned throughout the year was enough redeem the race slot for Langkawi which fell on the eve of Deepavali.
 I had heard from those raced there that Xiamen IM was apparently a 'fast course' and i was hoping to break 6 hours for the 70.3 race.

After deciding on this race, I instigated my kakis on this race,  got in touch our Brazilian friends living in Guangdong who spoke highly of this race. After a few weeks, managed to rope in 4 other Trimakkals for the race.

1.      Pre-race

The race preparation started 16 weeks prior to the race somewhere in early July 2019. It was focused on Zone 1-2  bike rides and runs to build a good endurance base for the first 12 weeks and Zone 3-4 efforts were left for the last 4 weeks. The advantage of this type of training for someone in my age group was that  it didn’t wreak my immunity or strain my recovery from long rides.   The focus on the race was to build a good cycling base and I got myself the Hammer Cyclops indoor bike trainer . My plan called for  4 times a week of cycling and 3 of them were indoor rides. 

Pain Cave - After much negotiation and persuasion with my other half, I managed to set up my pain cave in the living hall of my apartment. My trusty Trek Madone road bike fitted with aero bars, new laptop and Rouvy cycling application provided a very realistic cycling experience for me. Week by week, I could feel that the cycling was getting stronger and during the Haze season in September 2019, I cycled exclusively indoors. The indoor trainer proved to be a real boon during this period.

Tied for Time - For any age-grouper like myself , it is a real challenge to have a balance between work, family and triathlon commitments. Quality over Quantity became the buzz word but in the world of long distance triathlon, quantity was equally important as quality of workouts. The endless struggle continued especially towards the last 4 weeks or training where festive occasions and work commitments took a toll on my trainings and weight☹

Bike Troubles -  My trusty steed of 6 years has travelled well, raced some hard races and the strains were showing. 2 weeks before my race, the mount connecting the bike and handle cracked and it rendered my Canyon bike not fit for racing. With a heavy heart, I called my local bike shop BikeLabz and poured my sorrow. Ah Chai, the owner of BikeLabz knew me and my bike well as I have been servicing my bike with him since 2013. After inspecting the bike, he managed to find a workaround that put my bike back in the racing circuit. Phew ! That was close.  While I was comforted that the bike was fit for racing, it wasn’t exactly 100%  fixed. So there was a lingering thought of what else could go wrong with the bike during the journey and the race. My fears came true after my race as I found another cracked mount point within the frame. This was discovered during dismantling of bike after the race.  I counted myself really lucky that the bike held itself together during the 90km bike ride.

Arrival at Xiamen – After a prolonged hectic work schedule, some last minute packing and 11^th hour work submissions, I found myself very tired and drained out before making my way to the airport.  My childhood buddy, brother-from-another-mother and fellow Ironman Edward picked me up and we headed to the airport to meet Praveen who was flying in from Qatar to join us for the race. The 3 of us had started our triathlon journey about 10 years and coming together and spending good quality time was equally a highlight as completing the race itself.

We arrived in Xiamen and we were awed by the technology, swiftness of the immigration process. Xiamen looked better than any modern city that I had visited. Check-in was a breeze at the race hotel which was about 1km away from the race site. Registration was at race village was pretty smooth but the merchandises at the expo was slightly disappointing.

Went for a dip in the sea and water was cold as expected but it was also choppy too. The bike course seemed to be promising with smooth surface roads but we didn’t go far as the traffic was quite heavy. Chose to ride along the bike connector path which was pretty decent.  The bike transition for the race set up was along a cycling path instead of usual big rectangular field. This set up was about 400m long and with the run from the beach , this meant that the transition was going to be long and we would have to run through the same long transition set up after the transition from the bike to run. Wasn’t too pleased with the setup . But it is what it is.

2.      Race Day

Swim Leg - Managed to get a good 7 hours sleep which is rare for pre-race sleep. Followed the usual breakfast of toast , coffee and some eggs. Headed slowly to the race site and started to fill up the nutrition on the bike. After which headed out to the swim start and stood in the self seeded 40 minute pen . The course looked like an inverted beaker and there was a strong current that swept from right to left. I started the swim course at an easy pace, settled into a rhythm and cleared the first 700m in less than 15mins which was pretty much what I was hoping for. Then I was met by a number of breast-strokers who seemed to be all over the place. No disrespect to breast-strokers but it is hard to detect one when they go under and when they surface, they give a nasty kick that will dislodge the goggles and disorient you. The swim seemed to get more laborious and I found myself drifting inwards and had to constantly course correct several times. After a what seemed like a long time , I managed to clear the 2^nd main buoy and started heading onwards to shore which was about 700ms away. As I glanced at my watch, I realised that I took nearly 20 mins to clear 500m. What a disappointment! All my hopes for a fast swim were dashed.  That was one strong current that all of us had to battle. As I started gearing myself for the finish, I could feel both my hamstrings cramping up. Every flick or any leg movement would cause my hamstrings to seize and cramp up.  Luckily wet suit was allowed for this race and that provided the buoyancy for me to compose myself and figure out what needs to be done next . Swimming with just my hands seemed to be the only option as any flick of the leg was a very painful option. As I battled my cramps and other simmers around me, the 700m swim was indeed a  laborious one.  Coming out from the water, I felt really giddy and had to hold the railing for a while before walking down to the transition tent. The lack of kicking didn’t circulate the blood well which led to the giddiness which I have not experienced for the past races.  Time spent on the swim was 50mins.

Bike Leg - I got back my composure after a few minutes but still didn’t feel good . Picked up my bike bag and headed to the transition tent to change and the cramps fire up again as I tried to pull out my wet suit . After what seemed to be eternity in the transition tent, I managed to head steadily into the bike course. Cautious of the cramps threatening to immobilise me, I maintained an easy pace for 10km as planned. I started feeling better, began picking up the power wattage and was trying to make sure that my heart rate didn’t go past Zone 2  (150bpm).

The bike course was probably the best course that I have ridden so far. The organiser managed to close 6 lane highway with ample space to overtake and the road surface was smooth with no bad road patches. The bike course seemed deceivingly flat with long gradual climbs and slight descents.  Kept a close watch on my nutrition and salt tablet intake an made that I had taking in both every 20mins .  I was hoping to make it before 2hr 50 mins but as I  pedalled my way into transition , the clock read 2hr 52mins.  Not bad for 90km bike ride but still slightly disappointed that I couldn’t break 2hr 50mins for the bike course.

Run Leg - Ran into the transition tent before and changed quickly and started the run. The hamstrings were still sore and threatening to seize. But all that fast riding hurt my glutes and it was probably due to me overcompensating for the sore hamstring. Now I had to contend with tight hamstrings and glutes while trying to keep my pace on the run.

Keeping my eye on my pace and heart rate, I aimed to keep my heart rate at Zone for a good part of the race and speed up towards the end. The run course was a 10.5 km loop and the weather was pleasant at about 20C. Whenever the heart rate raced upwards, I would break into a quick walk to bring the heart rate and stabilise it. An elevated heart rate would mean that the cramps would quickly kick in and derail my run. As the last few kms approached, I picked up my pace and drank some cola to provide the boost that I really needed.  The cold cola proved to be a wrong choice and I could feel my chest muscles tightening up. I felt really uncomfortable and had to walk a few times for the pain to subside. The severe reaction to cold water was a recent reaction that I picked up and it reared its ugly head once again during this race.  As I struggled to make my way to the finish line, I looked at my watch and all hopes of PB was long gone. I was aiming to finish below my PB time of 6hrs and 12ins and now was struggling to finish it below 6hr 30mins. With time ticking away, I had to stop a few times in the last 300m to catch my breath and painstakingly run the last lap. Crossed the finish line in 6hrs and 28mins.

Post race –  I sat in the massage tent after the race, wondering what went wrong or rather why I didn’t meet my own expectations. I reminded myself that there is rarely a perfect race as there are so many elements in this Ironman race that can terribly go wrong. Below is a equation of what i think  of what goes into getting a decent race performance.  

Race performance  = Function (Genetic advantage, muscular endurance, age, training stress, health, rest, mental mindset, race strategy, equipment performance,  nutrition, hydration, weather, stroke of luck)

Apart from genetic advantage and age, which obviously cannot be changed, there are several parameters that goes into obtaining a solid race performance . The above is not an exhaustive list of things that affects race performance.

The current was not in our favour today. Given the additional effort on the swim and weakened muscular endurance, I had to compensate by dialling down my race effort so that I could finish the race in a decent time. It was a decent performance and I did execute my race strategy well to hold off any cramps and finish strong. So I should be contented with my race time but … no I am not.

Lessons learnt during this race.

• Keep doing the right things (i.e. Indoor bike rides  & Zone 1-2 efforts) and work harder on weak points. During the off season, I need to work on my swim technique, strength training, transition times and simulate hard race efforts.
• Incorporate short but hard swims before a long bike ride to simulate race experience.  

The Sub 6 hrs or 5 hours+ race is still elusive but hopefully it will be within reach for my next race. Till the next race.

The post race event is something that i look forward which is basically hanging out ,having a good meal and a few drinks to celebrate the hard effort. It has a been joy racing with my brothers and friends.  Looking forward to the next one ... ..