2016 Syracuse 70.3 Race Report – Part One

Coach Nicole in Jamesville, NY for the 2016 IRONMAN Syracuse 70.3

Here we go! My A-race for the season.

 

My last 70.3 that I completed was the Kansas 70.3 in 2013. That year I also did Boulder, but didn’t do the run due to injury. But now I’m back!

 

For this race report, part 1 covers the days leading up to the race, and part 2 will be the race itself.

 

Thursday

My flight left Denver around 1:45 in the afternoon, and I had a long layover in MSP. I got into Syracuse around 11pm, got my rental car. This was also my first time flying with my bike.

 

I would be staying with my aunt and uncle (my Dad’s sister and her husband) about 15-20 minutes from both the airport and race site, so it was quite convenient. Once I got there, I got a quick tour of the house and went to bed.

 

My room for the 2016 IRONMAN Syracuse 70.3 weekend was my uncle’s yoga studio. No excuses for not stretching!
My room for the weekend was my uncle’s yoga studio. No excuses for not stretching!

 

 

Friday

 

I wanted to get as much race preparation work done today so that I could relax more on Saturday. Gina had plenty of food and good healthy stuff that I eat, so my meals stayed right on plan. We caught up in the morning, I was able to get some work done, unpack my bike, get it put together and head to the race site for packet pick-up.

 

 Photo of Coach Nicole in front of a hot air balloon sculpture at Jamesville Reservoir.
This guy in the balloon would be watching over us all weekend.

 

I got my race packet, and then had a mechanic check out my headset on my bike. I don’t often take my handlebars off my bike, so I didn’t quite get that right. It’s now on my “things to work on” list. I then listened to the athlete briefing. Most of it would be valuable to newer triathletes, but there is always race specific information that is quite useful for every athlete.

 

[Tip: Know your bike! Take a basic bike maintenance course at a local bike shop, especially if you travel with your bike.]

 

[Tweet “Tip: Know your bike! Take a basic bike maintenance course at a local bike shop, especially if you travel with your bike.”]

 

Athlete briefing at the 2016 IRONMAN Syracuse 70.3
The athlete briefing

 

 

After I knew my bike was in good shape, I went for a quick ride to see the first 5 miles of the course, and with that I got to experience the first climb. This course is not easy by any means; there is about 3000 feet of climbing on the bike. But at least that made for about 3000 feet of descent, too! Wheeee!

 

After the bike I went for an easy jog, and noted how some of the rolling terrain felt. Even coming from Colorado, I knew the glacier carved landscape was going to be a challenge on Sunday.

 

Coach Nicole and the Sweet Rd intersection on the 2016 IRONMAN Syracuse 70.3 bike course.
Behind me is the start of the Sweet Rd Climb.

 

 

At the house Gina and Michael were taking good care of me. We had a nice chicken dinner with salad and veggies, and a quinoa-rice pasta. They stocked a great fridge and pantry! I’m glad I had home-cooked meals to eat rather than be forced to eat out.

 

[Tip: if you’re forced to eat out when traveling for a race, do some recon work ahead of time so you can pick the places and even what you will eat.]

 

[Tweet “Tip: if you’re forced to eat out when traveling for a race, do some recon work ahead of time so you can pick the places and even what you will eat.”]

 

Saturday

This was my sleep in day. I went to bed early, got up around 7:30 or so. Gina had some oatmeal made up, so I added my protein powder, some peanut butter and berries. Next up was to get ready to head to the reservoir to get in a quick swim/bike/run workout and check in my bike. My swim plans changed as the swim beach wasn’t open yet and I didn’t want to hang around quite that long. The water was calm and when I waded in to see how it felt. Cool yet comfortable!  The buoys were all set up with one about every 100m, so it would be a fairly easy course to swim a straight line.

 

The 2016 IRONMAN Syracuse 70.3 swim course at Jamesville Reservoir
The swim course is ready!

 

 

On my way back to the car, I stopped by a chiropractor tent and got a free adjustment to my lower back. My right hip was feeling a little tight, and I thought a little tweaking could help. You have to be careful with these things – and these guys knew not to do anything drastic. Anything too intense could have consequences on race day.

 

After I got back to my aunt’s house in the afternoon, I started making final race preparations – putting my race numbers on my gear, sorting my swim/bike/run clothes, and going through my race checklist. I got a short stretching session from my uncle (he’s a trainer/yoga instructor), had a great “traditional” pre-race dinner (salmon, brown rice, and veggies), relaxed some more, made sure my alarm was set (3:50am!) and then tried to sleep.

Kudos once again to Gina and Michael for really making sure I didn’t have to do much but take care of my race stuff. They were excellent triathlon hosts!

 

Coach Nicole’s 2016 IRONMAN Syracuse 70.3 race gear organized before packing it into her transition bag.
My gear organized before I packed it into my transition bag

 

 

With that early alarm set, I went to bed.

 

Part 2 will be the next published post where I talk about how the race itself went down!

 

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