Berlin 70.3 race report

In addition to my race report at the Team Timex blog, I wanted to include some information for people doing the race next year.

Overall, this was a great race for me (other than the broken toe). I felt like I could have pushed a little harder on the bike, but Ironman training has made it difficult for me to go into overdrive. I am definitely becoming a "diesel" and not a "turbo."

Here are my thoughts for next year:

1. The swim entrance requires going through transition. I normally give my gear to my husband and don't utilize the "street wear" bag. For this race, the spectators had to stop at the gate before transition, which wound up being about 300m away from the swim start. So, at least bring a) the white bag and put your shoes in it or b) throwaway footwear. The walk has a good amount of gravel on it. I was so thankful the people at the bag dropoff had extras. Lesson learned for myself is to bring the white bag even if I don't think I'm going to use it.

2. It is quite a hike to get your bags back after the finish, so if you want to change out of your running shoes quickly, have a pair of shoes with your spectators.

3. The hairpins on the bike course were well marked and widened where possible. If you compare them to a turnaround on a two lane road, there was much more room. All turns had orange signs with arrows about 50m prior to the turn.

4. The most dangerous part of the course was the 90 degree right hand turn off of Columbiadamm into the airport grounds. The turn itself was narrow and onto the granite cobbles. There is a metal bracket in the ground for the gate that could be a hazard. The next 250m is very uneven pavement and paver bricks. Some people had ejected water bottles here, so those added to the challenge. By staying far right after the turn, you can avoid the depressed area. You'll go through here 4 times in total.

5. When you make the 180 on Templehoferdamm, you'll be at the bottom of the hill. The turnaround is over a slightly raised median, but by taking the turn wide, you'll also cross over two well-worn road lanes. Be cautious here.

6. Using the S-Bahn is really convenient to the start/T1 (Treptower Park) and the finish/T2 (Tempelfhof).  Both are on the ring route, so you could look for lodging anywhere along there. I stayed in an apartment very close to the Hermanstrasse station and that was perfect.

7. I was concerned about the possibility of extreme congestion at the bike aid station. I purposely started with two full bottles, knowing that I would toss and take one during the first lap. I had no problems with this strategy. However, there are two important things to consider: 1) it was not hot, so hydrating was not a major consideration and I could get by on less water, and 2) I was in the first wave of amateurs, so there were not very many people on the course when I did my first lap. I do not know how busy it was when the bulk of the AG men came through.

8. Please be careful at the swim exit! Swim as far as you can and don't stop when you see the plywood.

My nutrition for this race:

Pre-race breakfast (eaten at 5 am): sweet potatoes, 1 package of Buddy Fruits gummies, 1 coconut cream Lara Bar

1.5L water consumed over 3 hrs until race start

1 gel 20 min prior to swim

Bike: 9x PowerBar Strawberry banana gels in a bike bottle with water, in the cage between my aerobars, total of 3 bottles of water (cage behind seat and one on seat tube)

Run: Coke and water at the western aid station, water and PowerBar Hydro at the eastern aid station. I thought it would be PowerBar gels, so I was suprised when they were holding out the bigger packets. Since beggars can't be choosers, I used them anyways. I had no stomach issues, but since the Hydro is more like a bag of liquid, I did a great job making a huge mess. I think I might have sprayed one onto the volunteer as I was opening it...oops. Sorry!

Post race: I had 1.5 bananas, as well as a bottle of my Infinit recovery drink. I didn't hit the finisher buffet until returning back for the awards ceremony, since I was more concerned about getting my toe checked out.

Hope this helps!