Is Ironman a Superman? Santa Cruz Ironman 70.3 2024 Race Report

I am not Superman! and you should know that!
Never in my life I've ever thought of competing in any triathlon event, especially the Ironman.
I’m just one ordinary human being. Just like you, I make all kinds of dumb mistakes over and over again, with a slight twist to each of them.

After many weeks of training, I am well prepared for the Santa Cruz Ironman 70.3, that’s what I thought. But anything can happen during the race. Saturday is bike check in. We arrived at 10AM, and there’s no long line. Check in was easy, just needed the QR code and my driver’s license. And we Got the race bib and a goodie bag.

Sunday morning, we arrive at the transition area at 5AM and we are the very few arriving so early.
At the swim line up, I felt confident and optimistic. I drank a bottle of electrolyte, ate an energy bar and a gel pack while lining up for the swim at the 35-37 min time slot, which is the expected swim time for the 1.2miles. When the swim got started, i took it easy and yet I felt that my heart beat was racing fast, feeling uncomfortable, the wetsuit was too tight. I felt anxious, and some sort of panic as many swimmers were passing me and making big splashes around me, and the worst part was some swimmers kicked water into my mouth as I came up for air. According to the statistics, the death rate (that’s right, I meant dying ) in triathlon is the highest among all sports and usually the death occurs during the swim. Heart attack is the most common cause. I can totally relate to that. In the open water, and with so many aggressive swimmers around you, water splashing everywhere, you felt that cannot catch your breath, you may get panic and you may go into cardiac arrest. I certainly felt like that during the first 15 mins of swim. And the thought of dying in the water came to my mind, the fear was real. The life guard there won’t be able to save you if you happen to have a heart attack, your body would just shutdown and no one would notice you until the water is calm.

Swimming back toward the beach was easy, as the ocean waves pushed me in . I actually finished the swim in 42 mins. That’s the same swim time I had two years ago.

As I was about to get out of the water, I thought I would jump up and run up the beach front like a Bay Watch Life Guard. But suddenly my legs locked up and the legs were cramping, oh no, I thought, what the heck just happened. That never happened before during the swim. That’s a long 19 minutes in the transition area.

(Days later I found out that my lower legs were probably stung by some jelly fish, through the wetsuit, causing my legs to cramp and body to shake feeling like I had a hyperthermia. my body had bad reactions. The scare would take weeks to heal.)
I finally got started on the bike. It was cold. My body was still shaking, and I wished I had a light jacket on.

I kept a watchful eye on the power meter and made sure that my power output was under 160W or 65% of my FTP (functional threshold power, maximum). I kept a steady pace, drank electrolyte, one bottle per hour, eating and taking salt pill at regular intervals.

For the first time, I saw the Event Referee riding the motorcycle up and down HWY 1 warning people not staying within 30 feet behind other cyclists. I got a warning for staying behind another cyclist for just a few seconds. The referee shouted at me, you have 5 seconds to pass her or you stay way behind. Wow. That’s crazy. At times, there were many cyclists packed together. The referee was forcing them to spread out.
The bike ride came to and end without trouble, but I had to stop by the water aid stations to pee twice. And that took a few long minutes since there was always some wait time at the portable toilet.

Transition 2. That took 5 mins.
I started the run slowly up the hill. As the run progresses, the early afternoon sun was getting really hot. I kept running at a constant pace, trying to keep the cadence at 170. I enjoyed running along the coast on gravel, I love the feel of the cool wind
With the last 3 miles to go, I saw my good friends Erin and Wenjun. They were cheering me on. I felt ecstatic and energized again, and picked up my pace toward the finish line. I felt good, raised my arms and pumped my fists crossing the finish line. Yea. I felt I’ve accomplished something. I felt good. Life is good!

The greatest enjoyment I got out of this was seeing my good friends and volunteers. Their smiles and energy have made me forgotten all the pain and suffering.