Yay! Another Ironman 70.3 for the books.
After COVID and a horrible case of asthma triggered by the California forest fires of 2021, I finally got back on the proverbial saddle and completed my training and racing.
First, the race was in Varkiza, not Voulgiameni, which is funny and ironic. Different towns with different mayors.
The race was new. I got to do an inaugural Triathlon. And given the local participation of 800 Greek Athletes and the venue, I hope it will have a long and productive run.
The swim was at Yabanaki Beach in Varkiza, in gorgeously clear water that was cold enough for wet suites and warm enough not to require them.
The bike ride was along the coast to Anavisos. It was 22.5 KM out, and then back and then out and then back. It could have been boring, but the pace was fast and so pretty.
The run was a brutally insane course. It was 5km out, 5km back, 5km out, and 5km back over a single hill.
Now this elevation profile doesn’t look too bad until you realize that the aggregate climbing is about 800 feet which is the same amount as the Athens Marathon.
Do Greek Race Directors have an infatuation with that distance? Or is it a side effect of the Ironman 70.3 distance? The swim, bike, and run are too short for creating effective separation, so to provide an opportunity for better athletes to break away, they have a tough run.
Probably. Same pattern at every 70.3 I have done, where the Race Directors scrounge up every bit of grade they can.
This course was annoying because it was literally up, down, and then turned around for three hours. Yes, I am slow. Very slow. But I am faster than EVERYONE who didn’t start! And one other person.
One of the excellent parts of a Triathlon is the play-by-play color commentary. There’s typically some person doing color commentary at the start of the race and during the race, and then at the end, calls your name out as you finish the race. Having someone shout your name as you finish the race is a rush. And this year was no different.
At the start of the swim, I met this dude from Dubai, apparently a freak who obsesses over every race. His wife was like – dude, chill out. And I sat there and smiled, did my old man of the sports routine, and pointed out, “hey, we have the money and time to do this sport. Instead of being annoyed at failing to get a score, a time, or a place, we should celebrate our privilege and enjoy the moment.”
He looked at me and said – “You are right! I will do that with this race. What’s the point of being angry with my time? I am blessed to be healthy, wealthy, and have the time to do this.”
Paying it forward!
So the swim was a marginal success. I did it in 41 minutes, which was above my goal time of 39 – and I might have even gotten that time if my total distance wasn’t 2100 meters. I went ridiculously fast for me, but I covered more distance. Not St. Croix like extra distance, but still a lot.
The transition was a fiasco. I hadn’t done one of these new transitions where the clothes are in a bag that you have to remove, put on the new gear, and put the swim gear in the bag. First, I misplaced my sunglasses as all these athletes were racing to do their PRs and had to hunt them down in a churning sea of legs and frantic athletes. Then I had to return to the changing area because I had forgotten my food. While trying to extract my gu, I misplaced my glasses again. Finding those glasses felt like trying to pick a treasure in a pool with thousands of lethal deadly fishes floating around you.
The story of the bike race is a story of a bike rental. I was initially planning to bring my specialized bike to Greece, and then Natasha said – “dude, why don’t you rent one.”
So I looked into renting a bike and was able to rent a pretty good road bike from TopCycles.gr. They bought a bike frame from China and put it together from parts in their store. It wasn’t the fastest bike, and I did miss my electric shifters, but I can’t complain that my time was impacted. And I did pass a relay cyclist on a somewhat more expensive triathlon bike.
And it only cost 160 Euros, which is less than the cost of shipping my bike in one direction from California.
The folks there were super friendly and helpful! I can’t recommend them enough for next year when they said they would have better and fancier bikes!
A massive shoutout to the Greek fans at the bike-to-run transition. They were out in force and cheering loudly. One of the friendliest, noisiest, and most awesome crowds
The run was an epic pain in the – every single muscle. The problem was that when I saw the elevation profile, I didn’t quite realize how boring and hard it was. The run-up was quite long. 200’ is a big climb with some pretty steep sections. And it was hot. But I already said that.
At the start of the run, the fans were, once again, AMAZING! I have never had such a loud, boisterous crowd at a triathlon. I was energized and, I admit, surprised.
Okay, maybe, just maybe, the Race Director had a good idea. I admit having those cheering fans was super cool.
When you are the last guy (136/141 in my age group), you get to meet people in the run. I met this French lady who was doing her first Ironman 70.3. She was pulled off the course the last time because the stewards decided she was too slow. On the other hand, she claimed it was because of a late swim start. Later, she took her dispute to the Ironman Federation and proved that, given her pace, she should have been allowed to finish. The Ironman committee agreed and gave her a free pass to an Ironman of her choice.
I guess that’s a reward?
So this was my 13th Ironman 70.3 and 17th triathlon overall, and there was a moment where I thought, “why am I doing this?” and then I got into the water, and I was like – “this is why.”
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