Ironman 70.3 North Carolina seems like it has been on hold for me forever. The time has finally come and gone and I have to say it was worth the wait.
We loaded up the 4Runner and made the 9-10 hour drive down to Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina on the Wednesday morning before the race. We arrived at our AirBnB on Wrightsville Beach that evening . This race is a Saturday race so we wanted to get their a little sooner than normal. We also took a more western route from Eastern Pennsylvania via I-81 in order to avoid the traffic mess of Washington DC. It is an extra hour, but so worth it since our drive was very smooth. We ordered ahead online a Ceviche’s and picked up our dinner to eat when we arrived.
Our AirBnB was located just across the bridge on Wrightsville Beach which made it a very convenient location to swim in the bay and ocean, walk to the race swim start and to restaurants. Our go-to was the South Beach Grill which we ate at 3 nights in a row. We did a practice swim on Thursday morning which we were able to put out wetsuits on at our place and walk across the street to a public access area to the bay and do a open water practice swim.
Registration and check-in occurred in downtown Wilimington on Thursday and Friday. While it was a little drive to get there it was a great place to have this. The registration and expo were held in the Convention Center which was very new and had plenty of space to hold this. I think many people stay at the hotels downtown so for them this is very convenient. There is plenty of parking downtown which made it very smooth process.
Race Logistics
Ironman 70.3 North Carolina is a bit tricky with race logistics due to it having the swim start, T1 and T2 /Finish in different locations. The swim start is located about a mile south of the causeway bridge on Wrightsville Beach. T1 is located about two miles from the swim start back across the bridge in Wrightsville Beach Park. T2 and the Finish line are located about 12 miles from T1 in downtown Wilmingtown. All of your transition gear is placed in bags similar to the ones you use for a full Ironman.
Your run gear is placed in a Run Gear bag and dropped off in downtown Wilmington the day before the race and you do NOT have access to it before the race. Your bike gear is also placed in a bike gear bag and your bike are also dropped off in T1 the day prior to the race. You do however have access to your bike/gear in T1 on race morning if you choose, but your gear still has to stay in the bag. We chose to skip the morning in T1 and walk right to swim start from our AirBnB on Wrightsville Beach. I put my Tailwind mixed bottles in my bag and wrapped them in a towel so they would not bake too much in the sun.
Since my wife and I were both racing, we had one vehicle and were staying within walking distance to swim start, we chose to drop off bike and bike gear in T1 first, then drop off our run gear bag downtown and also park our car in an overnight parking garage. We also had to change garages when we found out our initial garage would have been parked in until the race was over, so we moved to a garage east of 2nd Street in order to get out as soon as we were ready. I think we parked on 3rd & Grace streets. We then called a Lyft ride to take us back to the beach. The ride picked us up in 3 minutes and it took about 20 mins to get back to the beach on Friday afternoon for about $17. The overnight parking was supposed to be $8 for 24 hours, but it ended up being free since the gate was not working correctly.
Our other alternative would have been to get up real early race morning, drive downtown, find a parking spot, take shuttle from downtown to T1, then another shuttle from T1 to T2. That would have sucked having to get up that early and deal with all that race morning. I really would not want to stay downtown either when you can stay at the beach.
The other decision we had to make is how to get our car keys to the finish line since we are both racing. We ended up just putting a set in my bike bag and another set in my wifes’ run gear bag. I also debated putting my phone in my morning clothes bag. I probably could have done that, as many others do, but getting our morning clothes bag and bike bag after the race was a mess! It took forever for the kids to find the bags sorting through the piles. I felt bad for them since it was pretty hot and there was no shade with people yelling numbers at them. If they had a little more room to lay the bags out in the right order it would have made things easier for them.
Race Morning
I slept in until 5:15AM on race morning! That was probably the latest I have ever had to get up before a race. Since we were not going to T1 in the morning we could get up a little later and have an easy morning. It was so nice! We put on our wetsuits at the house and made the mile walk up the street to the swim start. It was the most relaxing race morning ever.
The Swim
The swim start area was pretty busy with activity. We just hung out there watching everyone else get ready before they started lining up to start. I dropped my race morning clothes bag off in the appropriately numbered bin and stood in line. The line took a while to start moving and when it did start it went pretty slowly. When I got close enough to see people swimming it looked like they were cruising! Got Current!
I eventually got to the water and made my way to the outer left lane so I could get out as far into the channel without running into others and catch the current. I was immediately feeling pretty settled early on. Usually, you get that initial adrenaline rush which makes you feel a little panicky until you settle into your swim. I didn’t have that with this swim at all.
The swim course follows the channel North then makes a left turn, then a right turn and then another left before you hit the swim exit at a large hotel or condo building. The spotting for this course was pretty easy except for the section after the right turn. This was mostly due to the bouys being darker and angled a bit to the next turn. I had minimal issues running into people like usual which also made for a more pleasurable swim too.
The current was definitely fast here. In the early part of the swim I was going so fast that I actually swam head first into one of the spotting buoys because it came up on me quicker than I am used to. I got a nice mouthful of salt water on that. Before I knew it we were exiting the water on the slippery ladders getting out of the channel. I swam around 29 minutes which is about 9 minutes faster than I typically swim this distance. So the current and the bouyancy of the salt water definitely made a difference.
T1
From the swim exit to T1 is about 0.3-0.4 miles. It is mostly on sidewalk and a little road too. Some people stashed shoes at the swim exit so they could run without issues. I didn’t have any issues except for sandy feet. Pulling all your stuff out of a bag is not something I have done for a couple years, like Ironman Placid, so it is probably something to practice since it takes some time to get everything together. I definitely could have shaved a minute or two off my T1 time with a little practice here.
The Bike
The bike heads inland and quickly up and over the first metal drawbridge. It was a nice and sunny morning so now slippery metal to deal with. Regardless, I kept a steady and straight path over the drawbridge. The route follows RT74 in the left-hand lane, opposite way traffic would flow, until you hit Market Street where you will make a left turn. You are not on Market long before you turn left again onto the round off ramp onto College Road. This will be your 2nd “hill” of the course. LOL! This course is super-flat, so the only hills you get are bridges and on/off ramps.
You are only on College Road for less than a mile before making another left onto Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. After 4 miles on MLK Parkway, you will make a super-sharp, 135-degree left turn off of MLK, then two more quick lefts and back onto MLK on the opposite side of the highway. The first 10 miles of this course is a bit complicated, but at mile 11 you will make a hard right onto Andrew Jackson Highway (Rt 421) and then it is smooth sailing for a while.
The next 30 miles were just steady cruising. We had a slight headwind out of the South-southwest, which is typical, but not bad. I was averaging around ~20MPH most of the way here. The road conditions were mostly decent. There was one freshly paved stretch that was so nice. I was so bummed when it ended but realized I would enjoy it again on the way back. You really have to keep your pace in check here since you still have a lot of miles to go yet. People underestimate flat courses. Holding that race pace with no coasting can really hammer your legs. Many are not used to being in aero position that long too, which will tighten up those hip flexors.
At around mile 34 we made a left onto Bell Williams Road. This 4-mile stretch got a little bumpy and there is no bike lane or shoulder to ride on. You are right in the mix with the cars. A very impatient female driver came flying by us on this road and then got backed up behind some other cars ahead of her. None of the guys around me dared pass this lunatic on the left and there was no shoulder at all on the right. We were stuck behind her until we got back to 421 again when she pulled into the Johnson Corner Grill parking lot on the right and just parked her car there.
Once back on US-421 it was smooth sailing again. It was even better because there was a nice tailwind the whole back. The next 15 miles I averaged around 23 mph. There was a couple overpasses in there which slowed me down a little bit. I had totally forgotten that this bike course was long. I realized it when I was approaching 56 miles and was still on US-421. We still had to get to downtown Wilmington yet.
We made a left onto MLK where we originally came into US-421 and then quickly took the ramp to the right and then another right on to N. Front St and into the transition area. That was a very fun bike and I really enjoyed it. Flat, fast and a nice tailwind to bring you home.
T2
T2 was laid out on a sloped parking lot near the Civic Center. The bikes were pretty spaced out with our run bags hanging off the transition racks where we would stash our bikes. There are no trees around the lot and the hot sun radiated off the asphalt made things a little toasty. Again, we had to dump our run gear out of our bags and load up our bike gear into the bag after we racked our bikes. This one was a little faster than T1. Time 1:48.
The Run
I was looking forward to this run because it seemed fairly flat and I was expecting a bit of shade from the large droopy trees that supposedly lined the course. We started off pretty flat down around the back of the Civic Center on the wood plank boardwalk running along the Cape Fear River. We then headed up a short, but steep hill on Red Cross St., then making a right onto N. Front St.
We headed down, then up and then down again on N. Front St. for about a mile and half before making a left turn up Greenfield Street. We were on Greenfield St. for about two blocks mostly uphill and then made a right S. Fifth St which eventually turned into Lake Shore Drive which followed the jagged shoreline of Greenfield Lake in Greenfield Lake. The run around the lake was very nice. There were nice homes on the left and the trees and lake on the right. Unfortunately, the trees did not provide as much shade as I would have liked due to the time of day. However, I didn’t feel like the sun and heat affected me that much.
The turn around point seemed to never arrive. There was an aid station with a big Red Bull arch that I thought was the turnaround, but realized it wasn’t when I got to it. That is such a mental let down. The turn did come at about 6.75 miles and it was very close to closing the loop to where started around the lake. I was still running around 8:44 pace and possibly PR-ing this race.
I was relieved to finally hit the turnaround and start on my way to the finish. It was getting a bit hotter out now. Somewhere after mile 8 my legs started to get a little crampy and my pace began to slow down. Good thing was this happened around mile 6 at Musselman earlier in the season. So, the first 8.6 miles I averaged 8:49/mi, the last 4.5 miles I averaged 10:20/mi. Ugh.
I ended up finishing the run in 2:03. Not my best, but not my worst either. I would have like to finish under 2 hours. I was able to carry a sub-9:00/mi for two thirds of the race. Unlike Musselman earlier in the season when I blew up half way through the run.
Overall, I finished in 5:29:22 which would be my 2nd fastest Ironman 70.3 finish. My fastest was Timberman 70.3 back in 2014. So I am seven years older and still getting close to my best time. I could have PR’d this race if I could just maintain that run speed. So close. Maybe next year?
So would I do this race again…Hell yes! As a matter of fact, I am doing this race again. My wife was not able to do the run because of an injury, so she wanted to come back and try again. The course is fast and so much fun. An easy, enjoyable swim. A fast and fun bike course. And well all runs are challenging to me. See you in 2022 North Carolina!
