Elbaman 70.3 race report

I like being around beautiful girls with a bag of IV going to the veins … :)

but let’s start with the race first.

The inaugural Elbaman 70.3 started at 8.30 AM on September 27 from the beach in Marina di Campo. Days leading up to the event went well and I felt good before the race (pre-race stuff can be found here).

It was a beach start and men got a 5min head start. I got a good start and after some non-swimming movements due to low water I was into a good rhythm. The swim course was basically in the form of a triangle and water in the ocean was surprisingly calm and warm. Some fighting near the first turn buoy was needed but fortunately my goggles stayed put and punches weren’t too hard. After the first buoy I found myself swimming in a group that contained maybe 10 or so other triathletes. I saw some guys further in front but just contented on following the group and saving some energy for the challenging day ahead. On the return trip to shore it felt that our group didn’t quite manage to take the shortest possible route and instead zig-zagging was the name of the game. However we hit swim finish in about 29mins and I was quite happy that I was somehow able to show some improvement on the swim.

The run up to T1 was quite long so I got off my wetsuit straight under the showers after exiting water and it made both the run and transition easier. The nice thing with the 70.3 race was that everything was laid next to bikes in transitions so no extra bags were needed. In addition the bike mount line was pretty close so I was able to put my cycling shoes on before hopping on to the bike and thus I managed a pretty smooth T1.

The challenging and scenic 2-loop bike course started with a few km long gradual climb and I managed to find my cycling legs quickly. My HR from the swim was still pretty high and I just tried to stay within my power limits. Before the race I decided to try stay under FTP (270W) for all the climbing and in no situation exceed Vo2 wattage. On the first climb I passed quite a lot of people but most were from the full-distance race that had started 1h30min before the 70.3 race. The bike course in Elba follows the coast for the most part and is almost all either climbing or descending with 1400m of climbing. Some climbs have a decent gradient and the downhills are very technical (not a TT-bike course, something I learned for the 2nd time already!).
The little villages through which the course passed had spectators along the road making the sufferfest all the more enjoyable. Already after just 15km my back and hips started hurting and I realized that changing saddle height the day before the race wasn’t a good choise. I usually need to raise my saddle a bit when going from padded cycling shorts to less padded tri-shorts but this time I had made too big a raise. Fortunately I had the right allen-key in my repair kit and I was able to lower the saddle. I lost some time with the stop but I probably couldn’t have been even able to finish the bike without it. When I resumed riding my hips thanked me and I started hammering back up. On the last long climb on the first lap I was able to catch guys I was near with before my stop but of course on the following long descent I just didn’t have the skills to hang on. At the end of the first lap however I was able to catch the leader of my AG. He appreciated the good draft (maybe a bit too close) and we entered Marina di Campo together to start the second lap. It was nice seeing and hearing my cheering posse of Mom, Dad, Emma and Claudio when I zoomed past.
I was determined to negative split the bike no matter what so I started riding a bit more aggressively. I was also hoping to drop the guy that was following my back wheel but unfortunately he managed to hang on for quite a while. Thus I realized I was going to have let go of my limits and finally after a few surges I got rid of him. Again on the last longer climb I managed to pass people and got myself into 4th or 5th overall at that stage. The following descent proved costly as I lost my only bottle on the bumpy road and I had to ride the last 20km without anything to drink. There wasn’t much I could have done however and continued riding hard and managed to pass one more guy before the end of the bike and I entered T2 in 3rd position overall (1st in my AG) after just over 3 hours of riding (course according to SRM was 96km).

SRM data:

Entire workout (226 watts):
Duration: 3:00:32 (3:01:26)
Work: 2452 kJ
TSS: 254.5 (intensity factor 0.92)
Norm Power: 244
VI: 1.08
Pw:HR: -3.33%
Pa:HR: -3.38%
Distance: 95.935 km
Elevation Gain: 1398 m
Elevation Loss: 1401 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-3 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 536 226 watts
Heart Rate: 97 180 155 bpm
Cadence: 20 211 86 rpm
Speed: 0 60.5 31.9 kph
Pace 0:60 0:00 1:53 min/km
Altitude: 13 371 121 m
Crank Torque: 0 83.3 25.8 N-m
Temperature: 19 28 23.0 Celsius



Again I managed a surprisingly fast transition but got passed by the guy that rode to transition with me.

His pace for a little on the higher side for me so I let him go and just tried to find my own rhythm. I quickly settled into my tempo pace which was around a 160HR. There weren’t any consistent km markers so running had to be done pretty much on feel. The run course was a 2,5 lap out-and-back affair with a long and hot climb up to the first turn around. I was happy to reach the first aid station about 1,5 km into the run by which time I had already been without anything to drink for over 30 minutes. I was about 2 minutes down to the leader after the bike and I managed to hold the gap pretty constant on the first lap. I was in 4th or 5th position and just putting one foot after the other. The hot weather and too little fluids and salt started slowly to take its toll however and my legs started showing some warning signs of cramps. I was trying my best to get something from every aid station but sometimes the contents of the water or cola mug just went everywhere else but in my mouth.






On the second lap I tried to lift my pace a little bit but after a while of faster running I always had to slow down not to overheat. At the end of 2nd lap I had already managed to run myself into 3rd position but then at an aid station a couple kilometres from the finish I had to stop to grab a drink and when I got back running my left quad cramped like never before. At this point I was passed by two guys falling back to 5th place and I just had to try shaking the cramp off. Good thing was I faced the last climb and was able to fight myself to the last turnaround. From there on I just decided that getting to the finish line as fast as possible would be worth no matter how much it was going to hurt. It’s funny how the adrenaline always kicks in the last km of a race with all the spectators cheering and just the thought of finishing makes me run well again. I sprinted like crazy hoping that I would see a back in front but unfortunately everybody in sight were in other laps. I crossed the finish line in 5h18mins as the winner of my age-group and in 5th place overall. (link to the results here)

And I almost passed out. I was taken to the med tent and was apparently very dehydrated. For the first time ever I received an IV bag of fluids. I was a lucky guy I was being treated by a nice and beautiful girl who even burst and cleaned a blood filled blister I had gotten.





I was very pleased with my race as this was by far the most consistent race I’ve ever done, especially as I wasn't even able to walk pain-free 2 months ago. The race was very well organized and I want to thank and congratulate Marco Scotti, his team and of course the wonderful volunteers for putting up such a beautiful, quality event. I’m already planning on returning next year but this time again for the full Elbaman. And with a road bike!!!

Being able to finish a season with a lot of setbacks on a good note is always nice. And for the first time in a couple of years I’m entering the off-season injury free. Now it’s time to enjoy a few days of R&R before tapering for the big one in Hawaii! (as an internet-spectator though :D

A big thanks to my family, friends and sponsors for your support!

thanks for reading!

Thank you to my family, friends and sponsors for enabling me to do what I love doing!

-JH