Ironman 70.3 Connecticut — seventypoint3

Quassy was the “Beast of the East” but I really did not know the history of the race until after I signed up for Ironman 70.3 Connecticut. Ironman took over the race and offered it up as a 70.3 for the first time and it was a challenge. The day started with a fog delay - something I’ve experienced only once before at a race in Old Forge, NY. In the end, the fog caused the swim to be shortened for safety and the mass start caused a bit of chaos in the water. I couldn’t get into a rhythm and just fought through the crowd to get to shore. My watch said we did 950 meters. The announced change was to a 750 meter swim so either way, it was short and frustrating while in the water.

I was looking forward to the climbing on the bike since the course had 3,800+ feet of elevation gain. I love the climbs and pushed it up them but rode the brakes on most of the descents. The road surface was the roughest I’ve had in a race and I was lucky to keep the bike on two wheels for this one. I played it safe after driving the course on Saturday before the race. It looked bad from the Xterra but from a bike seat, it was much worse. The course was littered with bike gear, nutrition, water bottles, water bottle cages, sunglasses and several riders went down. The emergency crews took care of several people (including one old friend) and I was thankful that they were out there on the course. I slipped off my bard 5 or 6 times so it very easily could have been me in the back of an ambulance. Thankfully I finished but was never more mentally exhausted following a ride. I was alway picking my line and I’m typically used to long sections where you get into the aerobars and crank out some power. There was none of that on this course. There was a bear on the course though. I am sure that shaved a few minutes off the bike times for several riders.

The run was a double loop and had a big kicker of a hill to finish it off. I enjoyed the layout of the run and the elevation changes on this one. It was challenging but manageable. I was a little slower than I wanted to be for this run but all in all I was pleased with the day. I finished in 6:12 on a challenging course. It was a nice test for Ironman Lake Placid which felt more manageable than this course on the bike.

This also wraps up 3 races in 5 weeks. Time for a little recovery.