Oceanside Half Ironman – April 2024 – John Remus III Photography

The Oceanside Half Iron was one of those iconic races that I had kept on a mental list of triathlons to eventually do.
This was for a couple reasons. One of them because it’s “local” to me here in Southern California and would only be a short drive. Another was that it’s a race that’s talked about a lot (or at least seemed to be) at one point as a must-do event.

So in Summer 2023 I signed up for the 2024 event as soon as it opened up. This race historically would sell out quickly, so I knew I wouldn’t have a ton of time after it opened up to decide if I was going or not. I think it sold out in about three days this time around – slower than previous years I tried to get in. And while I really enjoyed the weekend and the race as a whole, I think this course is a one-and-done for me. The Oceanside 70.3 is (or has been) talked about as a great first-timer race, an “iconic” course, and one you shouldn’t miss. I’m not entirely sure I agree with all those statements.

So let’s get into my race weekend recap

This was another Spring race for me – just like Half Iron Morro Bay was last year. So it meant another winter of (most likely) indoor training. And when Jan/Feb/Mar all rolled around, it definitely was a lot of weekends indoors on my trainer while it was pouring rain outside.

My family and friends would not be signing up for this event this year either. Everyone’s schedules and lives are much more complicated than 6 and 7 years ago when there was a bit more regularity to everyone doing tris. But I was still going to have a great time. Again, this was a local event for me. And speaking of being local, my family from San Diego all made plans to come up to watch and support at the event. And that ended up being my favorite of the weekend.

Overall Target – 6hr to 6:30

Now unfortunately I managed to plan my cycling prep wrong for this event. Earlyyy on in my initial researching of the course I remembered the bike leg only being around 2,000 feet of climbing. I was wrong. Like, completely. And I didn’t catch this glaring error in reading the maps wrong until about a week or two before the race. So, zero time to try and correct my prep. So I was heading into the race under-trained for the climbing the cycling would require.

As far as my Swim and Run prep… well, swimming was whatever. I was expecting a totally normal-for-me 42 minute swim since I’d only been doing pool training and not ocean swimming (due to the winter months). But I was looking forward to the ocean swim because that would break up the group quite a bit. I was worried about trying shave off a few minutes of my swim since the effort required is better spent toward run training.
For my run training I had been putting more effort into overall endurance and was running 1:45 half marathons as my training pace. So I was ready for the run course.

Heading into the race I was thinking a 6hr time was a reasonable goal. Up until I realized I undertrained my cycling, and had to change that target to “probably a 6:30”

Combine all that with the storm that blew through Oceanside the day before the event, checking-in my bike in pouring rain, and the possibility for a cold morning and cold day for race day… it was anyones guess how things were going to turn out.

I just kept reminding myself that I did Morro Bay last year in some chillyyyy weather and had a great day. So this was going to be fun regardless.

Swim

Projected Time: Under 45min
“Good day” time: 42 minutes – average pace I was training at
Actual official clock time: 45:47

The ocean swim was cancelled. I was really bummed out.

I will say that I’m glad that they had the option to move the swim to a harbor-swim due to poor ocean conditions instead of cancelling the swim.

I’ve been to several events when the swim has been cancelled. And it sucks. Cuz you get less than what you paid for, and trained for. So I will 100% always appreciate a situation like this where they have a backup option.

But I was bummed about the cancelled ocean swim because the ocean breaks up swimmers and puts everyone where they aught to be in the water. Not where they think they should be.

So what do I mean by that? Well, the swim was an absolute shit show.
They had to have everyone line up on the beach – cuz that’s where there is room. However the Swim Start is over in the harbor. Which means that swim groups had to cross the Bike Course Starting Line to get to the Swim Start. Combined with people severally overestimating their pace, it made the start groups a mess.

As they rushed people across the bike path to get them out of the way of the Pros who were already out of the water after 20 minutes, the slow groups got mixed with the faster groups. So, people from the 45-plus were getting mixed in with the 30 minute group.
When I finally got in the water the first quarter mile or so was a sea of people with poor swim strokes splashing around, looking like they’d never swam in open water. One guy in front of me was flopping along and doing a dolphin kick. Another guy kept crossing into me and stopping to pop his head up and sight, causing me to have to try and do a hard correction just to get around him.

On the way back for the return you’re swimming into direct sunlight. You can’t see a damn thing.
That morning I had my choice between my tinted goggles or my clear. I went with clear because I wasn’t sure how dark the morning’s cloud cover was actually going to be. In hindsight I probably should have used my tinted lenses.

But the way back in was even worse. I managed to hit another group of slow people, causing me to have to stop at one point. Did everyone just join the 25 minute group regardless of how fast they actually swim??

Trying to sight any buoys was near impossible from the blinding sun and small buoy size.
I came up on two swimmers at different points in the return that were doing backstroke and flopping along hitting people because you can’t see where you’re going with backstroke.

Finally getting out of the water I was just annoyed. That was by far the messiest swim ever.

The harbor was a usable option. I’m not arguing that. AND we still got to swim versus them cutting it entirely.
However the harbor is far too narrow in my opinion for 2,500 people when nearly half the field are apparently first-time racers, sighting was difficult due to the sunrise (but might be fixable with better goggles than I used), and easily my least favorite swim leg of any of the races I’ve done.

Exiting the water there were people to help you unzip, wetsuit strippers in you wanted an assist. Followed by a somewhat long jog to your bike.

T1

If you take a close look at the run path you see two triangular “bumps” in the path after the water exit. This portion you’re running along the street alongside the bike paddock and going around large planters and telephone poles.

I saw my cousin Gianni shortly after getting out of the water and he jogged alongside the fence for a bit saying hello and that I seemed to be on my planned pace so far. I told him the water was a mess. Haha!

In transition the overall bike paddock was messy. Again, a lot of first timers with stuff spread out everywhere. I get it, we all learn with experience. However the guy next to my bike had his “transition bucket” with all his stuff in it that he had setup to sit on/etc. Stuff like that isn’t usually allowed at Iron events. I’m not sure if this race is an exception, or they just didn’t enforce it. But things like that made the already too-narrow bike aisles even worse.

I tried to make sure I was as dry as possible as I got ready for my bike ride. I gave myself 15 minutes for transition based on my T1 in Morro Bay. And while that’s a long amount of time, I knew I wanted to be as dry as I could be since this was going to be another chilly morning for the first half of the bike ride. It was still in the low 50s.

On the way out of T1 my family was all off to the side the bike paddock yelling and cheering. Which was very cool. I would not see them anywhere on the bike course since it was single loop, and crossed through the military base – which aren’t public roads.

Bike

Projected Time: 3hr 30min
“Good day” time:flat 3 hrs
Actual official clock time: 3:14:09

So, the Bike Course..

My training for this race was entirely indoors the last three months. We had a ton of rain in Southern California, and a lot of that rain happened to be on weekends when I would have otherwise been outside for my long bike rides.
Combined with me somehow misreading/misunderstanding the course itself when I looked at the data after first singing up. I had misremembered the bike course being around 1,800 feet of climbing for 56 miles.
The course is actually 3,000 plus feet of climbing over the 56 miles and largely concentrated in the back half. I had prepared for rollers. So basically I headed into race weekend probably 80% of where I needed to be without realizing it.

Starting out of the bike course you immediately have to get out of the marina area. This was messy. Again, lots of less experienced-on-a-bike racers that had a hard time navigating some sharp turns followed by very sharp inclines.
Just getting out of the marina there were two guys that didn’t downshift quick enough and nearly fell on their bike because they struggled to unclip fast enough. So, watch out for others getting out there at the start.

The first couple miles are on back roads, and at some points behind some businesses on access roads. The terrain here went from a few freshly paved areas, to older broken asphalt.
And around 5 or 6 miles in there was an underpass under Highway 5 that is followed by an extremely sharp right turn and incline. Again another area that people ahead of me misread, didn’t downshift, and nearly fell off their bikes narrowly missing others.

The majority of the first half is along the coast. And I tried to remember to enjoy the views in this area. But at the same time you’re not that close to the ocean, so the view is only average if I’m being critical. You’re not missing much. By contrast a great ocean view during the ride is the Puerto Rico Half Iron.

The road conditions here weren’t the worst, nor were they the best either.

One thing I clearly remember, however, was noticing like 10 miles or so into the ride that I wasn’t noticing my hands. My feet, however, were freezing.
Two days before the race I had gone to Harbor Freight and bought some $1.99 Hardy work gloves. Inexpensive gloves for mechanical work/etc that were cheap enough to throw away when I didn’t need them, but thick enough to “hopefully” keep my hands warm during the bike ride.

These $2 gloves were easily one of the best investments in my race day, and probably something I’ll buy for the next event, too. They were comfortable, gripped, and lightweight. They blocked the wind with no issues while not overheating my hands either. I wore them til probably about mile 35 and finally threw them aside during an aid station trash section.

I did my best to temper my speed the first half of the bike course, knowing that the back half was going to have climbing I didn’t train enough for.
In the image above I’m around mile 25 or so. My feet were still freezing at this point

Looking back at my Stamina potential on Garmin I started the bike at 89% and ended the bike at 22%. Not horrible. But also not great. I was expecting to get off the bike with more energy, but the hills I was just not as prepared as I could have been.
You can actually see the difference between the gradual decline in my energy the first half, to the slightly sharper decline in the second half.

The back half of the Bike Course is through Camp Pendleton. And it was very cool to be able to cycle through the area since it’s not an area open to public as it’s an operating military base. And cycling through the hills I can understand why that is. There were a lot of different hills, mountains, and terrain all within that area. So, all sorts of environments for the military to train and run drills.

But the roads through here were in bad shape. Old worn asphalt, broken parts of the roads, and just the type of road conditions that slow you down a bit. The hill climbs were some solid workouts. And honestly I would say are great parts of the “challenge” if you were someone who trained for them, unlike me. hahaha! Definitely a few very, very steep grades in there. Average of 12% in one short climb, with moments of 20%. Whew!

There is also a speed-trap section that all athletes are warned to stay under 25mph

Here’s what they don’t tell you about the no-speeding zone. It’s DOWNHILL. You are literally riding your brakes the entire time because you come out of a hill and continue into and even steeper part of the road that is the no-speeding zone.
Make sure your brakes work well because you will be on them the entire time, watching your speedometer, to make sure you stay under 25mph.

As I headed into the last 12 miles or so of the bike I could feel my legs being a little burned up from the climbs. I tried to back off just a bit from pushing too much as I finished the bike leg.

I passed some guy on his cell phone talking to his wife. Clearly a first timer. Cell phones are not allowed. And this was just another guy oblivious to others around him as he’s chatting with his wife and definitely just a danger on the road for everyone at that point.

T2

As we came into T2 the last bit of bike section follows the section you ran after the swim that goes around the planters/etc in the parking lot until finally hitting the official Bike End arch and turning into the bike paddocks.

Finding my rack spot was reasonably easy – however someone else put their bike in my spot. I swear, the newbies that I was sharing the racks with were probably getting to me ore than they needed to. It was frustrating to say the least.

I made sure to spray on a lot more sunblock, drink some of my electrolytes I hadn’t finished on the bike leg, I grabbed my gels, and headed out.

Run

Projected Time: 2hr
“Good day” time: 1:58
Actual official clock time: 2:12:06

I was about 200 yards into the run course when I could feel that my legs weren’t going to be quite what I needed for my run.

I had been training at a 1:45 half marathon pace, figuring that would put me around a 2hr run for the Half Iron. But I could feel the soreness from the bike taking a bit more out of me with the climbs. I knew I had a 10k in me no problem and that I would see where I was after that.
My family was waiting for me right around a 1/4 mile into the course to cheer as I ran past.

The run course is interesting. It takes you along the beachfront, and then up the pier – which is an incredibly steep climb – and then along the street before going back down to the beach, and eventually back into the neighborhoods.

It was already warm out as I got started in the run. At the first or second aid station I grabbed some chips for some salt, and water. I also grabbed ice and put that down my race suit to cool my chest/core. And I’d do it again a few miles later at another station, the heat here kinda sneaks up on you.

There is a ton of support along nearly every part of the run course though! And the mileage is surprisingly deceiving when you’re running through the neighborhoods. You feel like you’re covering much more distance than you actually are. This “back” part of the run course is also a lot of rolling terrain you need to prepare for. So that might kick your butt a bit if you’re not ready.

Wrapping up the first lap of the two lap course I could feel my legs tightening up. I passed my family again at this point and laughed as I passed saying “Little tired.. I’m a little tired..”
Gianni ran alongside me asking how I was doing and I said my legs are tired, I’m beat.

I was pacing great up til about that point. Hitting the 10k mark around 56 minutes, and the halfway turnaround a few minutes later. So while I was initially right on pace to do a 2hr run leg, I could feel that I needed to walk a bit.

Garmin actually shows me depleting the last of my energy about 5miles into the run.

It was around mile 7 where there is a climb to get up and over the causeway toward the marina and the turn around point that I realized my legs were pretty burned up.

So the second half of the run I would break up my pace to walk inclines and jog flats. I was actually a bit bummed there was no Red Bull on this race day – I remember thinking how good that sounded at one point when I was feeling I needed either caffeine or a bit of sugar.
Not the way I hoped my running leg would go, but not a huge deal for me either at the same time. I grabbed gatorade at one point, and ate my second of the two gels I brought for the run. But I was pretty much spent, so that wasn’t going to help a ton.

The support along the course, the people watching and cheering, and all the volunteers and aid stations were great. And any course with this much support is going to be a blast.

Coming down the finish chute at Oceanside is pretty narrow, too.

But regardless it’s still a great finish with plenty of people cheering for everyone!

Wrapping up with a 6:31 is just a fraction slower than the “Slow Day would be 6:30 for me” target I had in my head. So, overall I’ll take it! haha

Finished with a time of 6:31:57

Officially I was 160 of 299 in my age group for Men.
And 1211 out of 1,382 Men.

There was definitely a lot of foot traffic after the finish for the Athletes waiting to take a photo, and then wait again to get into the food line.

I think that the area/course is probably stretching the limits of capacity for the size of this event. But regardless, they manage to make it all work.

My family was there waiting for me, and waited patiently for me to get some food and then come sit down with them and chat about the race day.
Honestly them being there to cheer and support was my favorite part of it all.

My thoughts on Oceanside 70.3…

So I’m going to gauge this race by those that I’ve done previously and say that Oceanside is a one-and-done for me.

Now that’s not to say the location and event is not a good race. I just feel that it was a bit overrated or oversold. I feel like a lot of marketing I’d seen in the past said it’s a great first timer event. I disagree. The narrow swim in the harbor, tricky bike corners, hard climbs and steep descents at high speeds are all things that require more experience than people I saw on the course. However the run, while having a couple steep climbs, has tons of support and viewing and I think that Ironman kind of upsells that particular feature as a “great first time experience”.
The bike course through the military base, Camp Pendleton, is cool mostly because you would not otherwise be allowed back in that area. But the upsell of that one trait isn’t enough (in my opinion) to make this event “better” than others. There are other beautiful courses that I would rather do, personally.

So for those reasons Oceanside will be a one-and-done. But since it’s reasonably close to me, it would be an event that I would probably go volunteer at next year if I’m around and my schedule is open.

Pre Race and Post Race Gear Pickup & Drop Off.

Staying nearby is something I do my best to arrange at races when possible. It makes everything more convenient during race weekend. The less I have to drive around, the better.

Our hotel was just about a mile away from the start line. Which meant that we would not have to deal with any sort of busses, drop off, or other problems that can slow down a race morning and add unneeded stress. Kellie and I walked from the hotel to the start pretty quickly and without any problems. I did remember to bring my headlamp for race morning though – something I tend to always forget.

Returning to pick up my bike and gear after the race

After the race my family and I decided we would all go back to the hotel and then go get food before they returned to San Diego. I had to go pick up my bike of course.
I went by myself since I figured that would be quickest – because I would likely ride my bike back to the hotel and not walk. Kellie offered me my cell phone, which I declined. But later realized I should have accepted because I didn’t get any “last photos” like I normally would have.

The walk from the finish line / amphitheater area is just over a mile. I climbed up away from the beach and onto Pacific Street rather than walk along the still-active run course on the The Strand. As I crossed over the bridge for the river outlet I approached the run course turn around point. People were cheering on a runner who was juuuuust coming into the checkpoint and almost about to miss the turn-around cut off. I stood and cheered, too, since those are the people who always need the encouragement the most. He still had a 10K ahead of him to stay on pace for and certainly had his work cut out.

Back in the corrals to pick up my bike I chatted with a couple other racers. We commiserated on the messy swim and the lack of clear direction to the first timers we had met that day. That said, I hope all the first-timers all enjoyed themselves racing, cuz they’re only going to get better at all this the more that they do it.

I got packed up, made my way out of the paddock, and hopped on my bike to ride back to the hotel.

Honestly I think that little bit of spin helped stretch my legs after stiffening up after the run. It was a quick mile back. And I was able to remember where the walking path was that we had taken early that morning in the dark and able to avoid some of the busier roads.

And where we stayed.

We stayed at the Best Western Plus, right off the Highway 5 exit. Located at: 909 N Coast Hwy, Oceanside, CA 92054

This ended up being a great location. I was trying to find a reasonably priced spot that was somewhat equal distance between the start and finish – with a bit more importance toward proximity to the start line for race morning.
I booked a room about a month after booking my entry, so in August 2023 for an April 2024 stay. I booked a double-queen with kitchenette for $165/night.
This location had plenty of parking, large, clean and quiet rooms. And the staff was all very friendly. It was also very walkable to both the Start Line/Transition area. As well as the finish line/Ironman Village

After getting back to the hotel with my bike and gear I took the opportunity to get a shower in and clean up while we waited for my Aunt/Uncle/cousin to arrive. From there we all headed down to Carlsbad to get pizza and hang out a bit before they all returned to San Diego that night.

That evening Kellie and I relaxed at the hotel where I spent most of the time cleaning up and packing up my gear.

The next morning we got up, packed up the car, and headed down the street to Pannikin Coffee & Tea for a small breakfast.
This ended up being a very cool little spot that we sat outside and enjoyed our drinks.

Shortly after we had to get on the road down to San Diego so Kellie could catch her flight home to the East Coast.

From there I went to spend some time with my family before heading home to Orange County that afternoon. It was a long and busy weekend with some interesting weather between checking in during pouring rain, swimming and cycling in cold morning weather, and finishing up the ride and running on a warm sunny day.

All in all though, I had a great time spending the weekend with family and enjoying a race that was close to home and very easy to manage.

Not sure what and where I’ll race later in 2024. It’ll likely be in California, though, since I don’t see myself doing any big travel for races this year.

More photos from the overall weekend:

First I’ll kick off with the remaining photos I’ve selected from the on-course photographers

Coming out of the water I’m actually pulling on my collar cuz it had been cutting into my neck while I swam

This is the very start of the bike course. The crowded and dangerous stretch as we’re approaching the exit from the Marina area in right after where this photo was taken

This is about the halfway point in the bike ride, and one of the few sections with newer, smooth asphalt on the course

Coming around some of the last turns entering the Marina to finish up the bike portion

Just getting started on the run

The main thing I notice in these photos is how filthy the photographer’s camera’s sensor it! Haha, those aren’t birds or something in the sky. That’s the guy’s camera sensor.

This is the climb up and out of the pier on the run. Super steep.

And coming in to finish!

And a mix of photos from my phone from the weekend, and my family during the race, too

Thursday:

Just arrived in Oceanside

We started walking toward Transition because I read the map wrong and entered the Transition address instead of the Village address

So we decided to walk to the Village, about a mile away.

I had already paid for parking, and figured we may as well see how long the walk would be since we’d be doing a lot of walking that weekend ahead

The Strand. This is part of the run course

Arriving at the Village. We actually walked right past the building for Check In because there was no sign out

Found the actual Check In location.

The t-shirt they had for us with our bag and stuff was actually really nice material. Probably one of the few free t-shirts I actually really like

So the Check In is actually in this building here

It’s right next to the amphitheater

Pretty nice looking backpacks for this event

Went back to the Village to look around. Talked to Emilio from DeSoto for a bit since we’d communicated many times over email, but never met in person. I own a few DeSoto race kits, and wanted to buy Kellie some shorts for spin/cycling

Not the most exciting cycle top, I admit. But still decided to buy one

Well, bought several things, actually. I really like that they stepped up the design for the water bottles though with the insulated design

Andddd $309 later… we’re done

Back at my place after driving back to Orange County it was time to get my gear together for my transition bags

Friday:

Anddd, startin off Bike Drop day. Have to pack up and drive back Oceanside. Garmin is calling for rain…

Great weather here in OC for the morning. But that’s probably going to change

Arrived in Oceanside. It’s pouring rain…

But, I have to drop off my bike. Can’t wait around forever

Visually it was really pretty with the storm clouds. I just was getting soaked walking through it all

Grabbed a bunch of shopping bags out of my car since I forgot to bring garbage bags with me

Alright, ready to go!

Already quite a few bikes dropped off

Still damp from all the rain. But the sun broke through!
Grabbed Starbucks by the hotel and walked over to the Village for the Athlete meeting

It’s not a white-girl California-vacation without a walk on the beach with your Starbys

Warmed up and became a sunny afternoon

Back at the hotel and checked in! Plenty of space because originally I was expecting family to stay with us, too

Great room here at the Best Western, though

Anddd organizing my gear, again, for the next morning

Ready to go!

For those not aware, I always go to IHOP before my triathlons. It became kind of a family tradition where we would either find an IHOP or diner type place for dinner if possible

Race Day

Time to get up!

Well, that’s about as good as I could have hoped for I think

Packed up and ready to get to Transition

New wetsuit for this race

Dark walk to the beach!

Starbucks opened up at 430a for race day though!

Halfway there

Starting to see more people out

Got into the bike paddock

Bike is ready, bag is ready!
Notice the dude next to me though.. shoes all laid out, and a mat, AND A BUCKET. Lots of people had messy areas taking up a lot more space than they should have for as packed as the racks were. Oh well