Ironman 70.3 Miami

After finishing my first post last night at 4:30am, I realized that Ironman 70.3 Miami was set to begin in less than two hours. With some not so thoughtful consideration I woke up the wife and enticed her to get dressed and ready with the promise of breakfast at her favorite bakery. We arrived at BayFront Park with just minutes to spare before the male pro wave started. Above is a picture I took with my phone while I made my way to the swim start. There were thousands of competitors and spectators lined up trying to get a glimpse of the first wave, what a sight! Being that this was an Ironman branded event, more often than not registration will fill up quite quickly. Unknown to me in the morning was what a disaster this race would turn out to be.

WTC, the company that owns the Ironman brand, posted on facebook this afternoon congratulating the two winners. What followed was an overwhelming stampede of angry replies from all angles. Some of the complaints included missing bike racks, aid stations running out of water, no water at all on the bike course, participants being pushed off the dock on top of each other, poorly planned bike route, and even course distance being longer than advertised. As it stands right now, 99% of the people replying are vowing never to race an Ironman branded race again if things don't shape up. I look forward to WTC releasing some kind of press release with an explanation or a plethora of excuses.

You would think such a high profile event would be more professionally planned. One thing I noticed when I arrived was the distance the athletes had to run once they exited the water and were on their way to transition 1. I estimate the run was approximately 500 yards of brutal cement sidewalk. Below is a picture I took of the first two male pro athletes out of the water. Sorry for the blur, they were THAT fast!

You can see a good example of what type of surface the athletes had to run on. At this point I was still oblivious to what was going on with the event since it was the first one I attended. However, seeing all this running and hearing several people complain as they passed by hinted it was going to be a long day for some.

This worries me some because my training plan will conclude with the brand new Olympic distance series the WTC will be running next year. The first race of the series will be here in Miami. I will keep my options open and look forward to some changes to ensure future events are worth the hefty price tag on WTC events.

I have to get my training on track, I have been slacking lately with all sorts of excuses and responsibilities. I have this next week off and plan to get some good training in. I will leave you with a picture of T1 (transition 1), which in my calculations had over $3 million worth of bikes.