Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos Race Report, Mexico, 30 Oct 2016

Preparation

For this race I had less than a month in between races, so just tried to recover the first 2 weeks after the past race (Cozumel 70.3) and tried to get some longer training's in the time that remained. Preparation was injury free. I didn't read any race reports before hand, but I heard from athletes that had completed the race previously that it was hot, very hot!

Location

I had selected the Los Cabos race as I wanted to complete my goal of racing all 3 Ironman 70.3 events present in Mexico in the same year, and this was the last of the 3 races. (Campeche was not on the calendar in 2016).
The race itself starts and finishes in San Jose del Cabo, located in Baja California in Mexico. Although at the sea it turned out to be almost a desert, just walking around made you sweat like crazy. 
Swim start and T1 are at the same location at Punta Palmilla, about 5 to 10 minutes from San Jose del Cabo. T2 is located in San Jose del Cabo center. 

Stay

Anywhere this race would have taken place, or anywhere we would have stayed, 1 star or 5 star hotel, this race was destined to be special! Apparently, my wife together with some friends of ours had in secret arranged to join me and my wife during this race while it was some hours flying away! So it was a hell of an amazing and pleasant surprise when our friends picked us up at the airport upon arrival. We all stayed in the same hotel and their presence during our stay there definitely gave some added value for all of us during and after this race weekend. Because of having them around, this will always remain a special race for me! So big shout out to them, thanks for the surprise and as always thanks for your support!

We stayed at one of the host hotels: Royal Solaris Los Cabos. It had all we needed, included some spa for after the race, and their location relative to T1 and T2 was optimal as well. Only negative comment I can make was that their kitchen wasn't open on race morning, however they did make sure that there was fruit, yogurt and coffee available at that time. Athlete check in and village were in this hotel, so that made it extra convenient. 
We arrived in Los Cabos on Friday morning, checked in the hotel, completed the athlete registration and went to the athlete briefing, so completed our entire Friday checklist. When checking the gear I noticed however that one of my tires had a flat, with tech support available and the athlete village both present in the hotel that was fixed and spare tube replaced within no time. 
On Saturday morning I got a practice swim in at the race location and noticed that visibility was pretty bad. The current was more than I was used to swim in, good to get familiar with the race conditions though. Rest of the morning we used to drop of the running gear bag at T2, get some short bike ride in with my personal escort and drop the bike of at T1, all was way easier as our friends were driving us around! During the short ride I noticed that there was little flat on this course, so would have to avoid starting to hard during the race to be able to hold on for the entire course.

Swim 0:43:13 AG-26/43

• The swim course is one big square, there should have been more buoys in my opinion though. Rolling start method during this race, so basically trying to position yourself among folks that probably will swim around the same time as you. 
• Although the swim course is a big square I kinda got disorientated after the first turn, not sure if it was a lack of buoys or me just being unable to see the orange turning point buoys in the morning light, but I just couldn't see any buoy to get an idea in what direction to swim in. So in the end I just tried to follow the people in front of me. As there were waves I had to stop from time to time and sight very high to get an idea where to go to. As there were buoys as well set out for the full IM race (starting some time after us) I wasn't to sure neither that one buoy we could see far away in the distance was for us or for the full IM race, so that didn't help at all in feeling sure we were heading in the right direction. When finally seeing the last straight line to the finish line I tried to pick up the pace, I still had plenty left. Because I pushed so hard during the last straight I tripped and fell like twice while trying to get out of the water and on my feet on the beach. When looking at my watch it said around 43 minutes, so wasn't happy with my time at all.

T1 0:03:18

Bike 2:28:58 AG-20/127

• Bike course is what you would call rolling, with some ever lasting inclines. Especially the last one, at around 80 km seems to last forever and is a killer right there at the end. Road conditions and safety are excellent, only points of concern and warning are where you cross the entry / exit points of the highway.
• For almost the entire first hour my legs fell sour, something that I didn't experience during training or races before, luckily it faded away during the race. I had printed in my head not to start to crazy this time, some mistake that I had made in my 2 previous races. So the first 50 km or so I almost raced with the brakes on, trying to keep myself from going full throttle. Even not going at full throttle I passed quite some folks. Once I fell that I could go full throttle for the remaining of the race I released the brakes and went all in. The last incline at around 80 km however is really a killer, it just keeps going and going, and as it has a slow curve in it, you never see far ahead to get an estimate of where the u turn is. It helped that I saw my wife and friends about right where the last incline started, cheering me on and giving me some new energy. What comes up must come down, so after that incline you basically race downhill all the way till T2. I felt pretty strong going into T2.

 

T2 0:03:12

• Arriving at T2 and jumping of my bike I was surprised that some volunteer was trying to grab my bike. I was like wth what are you trying to do with my bike! Only then I noticed that it was the way its supposed to be for this race. You arrive at T2, bikes went left with a volunteer and you go running right to the running gear bags. Not sure if I missed that part in the athlete guide or during the athlete briefing, but I hadn't heard about it before. 

Run 2:35:42 AG-88/127

• The run course consist of 2 laps close to the center of San Jose del Cabo and its harbor. Course is mostly flat with the exception of 1 bridge. Main opponent here is the burning sun.
• After just 2 minutes into the run I started to cramp up, luckily this went away while stretching a little. I hadn't noticed the heath on the bike, but while starting the run you could directly feel the sun burning on top of you. Reaching the first aid station my wife and friends caught up on me, glad they didn't see me stretching a few minutes earlier :). First time passing the bridge I thought ow this isn't to bad at all! When getting to the harbor the first time the heat was catching up on me, really had hoped to do at least the first lap without having to walk, but there I really had to slow down. Returning over the bridge is actually not so steep as when you take it from the other side, but it just keeps going under the burning sun. After completing one lap, more jogging and walking than running I was already completely dead, great that I saw my friends there again cheering me on!

• Second lap was really just about getting to the finish line, didn't even look at my watch again to get an idea about my pace, I knew it was bad, pretty baaaaaad. But .. I finished!! and at the finish line I fell in my friends and my wife's arms, great moment!

Overall 5:51:21 AG-58/127

• First of all by completing this race I completed my goal of 2016: finishing all 3 IM 70.3 races of 2016 in Mexico! Pretty proud of that!
• Less proud of my race results, did 3 races and seemed like the better prepared I was, the slower my race times were becoming. I know its hard to compare race times of different races because of different race conditions but still, had hoped to improve my time during the year. 
• For this particular race I was proud of the bike part, that went pretty good, I had the 5th time on the bike of my age group! Pretty impressive comparing my road bike with all those amazing bikes out there!

Result

• Swim   0:43:13     AG-26/43
• T1       0:03:18
• Bike    2:48:32     AG-5/43
• T2       0:02:43
• Run     2:41:41     AG-26/43
• Total   6:19:27     AG-17/43

Tags: HIM Los Cabos race report, race report HIM Los Cabos, 70.3 Los Cabos race report, race report 70.3 Los Cabos, Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos race report, race report Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos