SYRACUSE 70.3 RACE REVIEW
This is more of a race review than a report, although, I will include a bit of both; hopefully some useful information about the race for those considering it as a venue, and some honest, prosaic, reflection on my race. (as opposed to my lame attempt at poetry in the previous blog).
THE LOCATION:
Syracuse the city, from what I could see, is a bit of a shit-hole. A brief internet search supports the impression that this is a city that once was. It is economically depressed, sleepy, and just not that interesting. In fact, the population of Syracuse has steadily declined since the 1950's, as has its ethnic diversity and industrial base. Carrier, once one of the major industries in cuse, for example, has moved its operations elsewhere. One senses that they are not the only ones. Syracuse has some very nice, old archetecture and century buildings. It once had a thriving salt industry. It played some part in the famous underground railroad and abolution. But it is just a place that was probably much more interesting early in the 20th century than it is now.
The race hotel, a Crowne Plaza, is nestled next to a delapitated park, surrounded by freeways, abandoned industrial sites and not so pleasant looking buildings in variuos states of dis-repair. It reminded me of certain not so nice parts of New Olreans and Los Angeles.
We were lucky that we stayed in a kind of hotel alley in East Syracuse, at the Marrriott. I would recommend this choice, or any of the other hotels close by, on Carrier circle. They are easy to get to, close to the race site, have all the amenties close by, including decent restaurants you can walk to, and you can even take your bike out for a ride from the hotel, not something that would be do-able if you stayed downtown or at the race hotel.
Justin's Tuscan Grill has nice pasta dishes and is a short walk from the hotel. The food was suprisingly good. The atmosphere was a bit more on the fancy side, but having said that, they were toddler friendly and my daughter enjoyed her booster chair, cup of ice and plate of fries. Grimaldi's is even closer to the hotel and served up one of the best homemade minestrone soups i've ever had. They also gave plenty of nice italian bread with our pastas, which made carb loading easy and tasty. I highly suggest sitting at the bar in Grimaldi's and having a drink. I felt like I was in a time warp. All of my seventies nostalgia was activated. The characters there were like from a book. Fascinating place. Nothing too fancy, but if you want to feel like you are in a David Lynch film, do it.
Syracuse really does remind me of my hometown, Hamilton, Ontario. Depressed core, but surrounded by more affluent rural/suburban areas and absolutely goreous countryside. As unappealing as the city core is, the surrounding areas are stunning in their beauty. Some of the small towns around: Jamesville and Fayetville for example, are pretty little places, with nice shops, colonial archecture, surrounded by forest, sloping hills, wine country and beautiful farm-land. Wonderful.
If you are looking for a destination race that packs alot of excitement and tourist value, then you might want to consider something else. If however, you want a place that is convienient, homey, allows you to focus on your race and has lots of natural beauty around, then Syracuse is for you.
RACE ORGANIZATION:
I dont' have much to say here. The event has been around a few years and it is well done. Perhaps a little on the low key side as far as Ironman branded events go, but that has advantages too. I have never had such a smooth, line-up free experience at race registration. Nor have I ever walked straight up to the cash with my (obligatory) ironman purchases with NO LINE UP. wow. Sometimes small and laid back is good.
You will need a car, no shuttles are available. However, by car, the race site is easily accessible and there is plenty of parking. Bike check-in was smooth and hassle free. There are plenty of volunteers to help. The aid stations were well stocked and plentiful. This is just a very well done race.
THE COURSE:
Not an easy course, but a beautiful one.
Transition is nestled in a really nice beach park, surrounded by sloping hills, and facing onto a really nice reservoir.
The swim takes place in the reservoir. There are plenty of nice views all around you as you site and breathe. The water was quite warm, on the verge of being wetsuit optional, which is, I understand, a stark contrast to what it was like when the race was held in September.
The bike course is challenging, but fair. Muskoka has a couple hundred meters more climbing for comparison. The climbing is largely front-loaded in Syracuse. In fact, the first 15 k are almost entirely uphill. After that it is mainly rolling hills, passing through gorgeous farmland and even by a pretty lake with cottages on it. This is one of the most beautiful bike courses I have ever ridden.
The run has changed in the few years of the race. This year was a two loop affair that was flattish in the middle, with a large false flat, and two fair size hills at about the 5 and 7 k point. There is also some running on coarse gravel roads, which stung a bit in racing flats. There is not much shade. This is not an easy or fast run course, but it was never lonely, and it was well stocked full of refreshment goodies and friendly people cheering you on.
MY RACE:
In short; i did not have a good day. i had a mediocre swim, a bike that was off target by almost 10%, and i blew up on the run, which is usually my strength. i finished in 5:25, easily 20 minutes slower than what i had realistically hoped for if i was having an average day and i lost most of that time on the run. so, in the end, my time sucked, and i completely failed in terms of race execution. (my plan was to make up good time on the run) i came away rather disappointed but this in itself is a lesson to me. results are nice, but at the end of the day, they are not why i do this. making results your end point really can take away a lot of the enjoyment in racing.
i learned a few things.
-training really hard does not mean results are automatic
-it really never does pay to have a time goal, you should focus on race execution first, foremost, and exclusively, there are just too many variables not under your control that can affect your performance to make a certain time the raison d'être for doing a race.
-i cannot spin low cadence on the bike for 90k and run well. i have experimented with this in training and it seemed to work, more power, lower HR, and running ok during bricks, but i have had two races now where i felt like total shit running off a low cadence bike ride. low HR to power ratio on the bike is not everything. 80-85 rpm here i come.
-you just never can take anything for granted in long course racing, and small things can make big time differences.
-most importantly, if this isn't fun, it is just too painful and inconvenient to do, so make it fun.
the race gave me a chance to test out my desoto forza tri-suit. i have on older one which has become my main cycling, training garment. the whole suit is great, and performed flawlessly, but desoto has nailed something very important with the bottom of this suit. the fit around the crotch, the support afforded by the invisi-pad are incredible and i prefer this sort of thing to a lot of padding on long rides in the aero-position. the forza tri-suit is an icon for a reason. it rocks.
THE LOCATION:
Syracuse the city, from what I could see, is a bit of a shit-hole. A brief internet search supports the impression that this is a city that once was. It is economically depressed, sleepy, and just not that interesting. In fact, the population of Syracuse has steadily declined since the 1950's, as has its ethnic diversity and industrial base. Carrier, once one of the major industries in cuse, for example, has moved its operations elsewhere. One senses that they are not the only ones. Syracuse has some very nice, old archetecture and century buildings. It once had a thriving salt industry. It played some part in the famous underground railroad and abolution. But it is just a place that was probably much more interesting early in the 20th century than it is now.
 |
| syracuse then... |
 |
| and now. |
The race hotel, a Crowne Plaza, is nestled next to a delapitated park, surrounded by freeways, abandoned industrial sites and not so pleasant looking buildings in variuos states of dis-repair. It reminded me of certain not so nice parts of New Olreans and Los Angeles.
We were lucky that we stayed in a kind of hotel alley in East Syracuse, at the Marrriott. I would recommend this choice, or any of the other hotels close by, on Carrier circle. They are easy to get to, close to the race site, have all the amenties close by, including decent restaurants you can walk to, and you can even take your bike out for a ride from the hotel, not something that would be do-able if you stayed downtown or at the race hotel.
Justin's Tuscan Grill has nice pasta dishes and is a short walk from the hotel. The food was suprisingly good. The atmosphere was a bit more on the fancy side, but having said that, they were toddler friendly and my daughter enjoyed her booster chair, cup of ice and plate of fries. Grimaldi's is even closer to the hotel and served up one of the best homemade minestrone soups i've ever had. They also gave plenty of nice italian bread with our pastas, which made carb loading easy and tasty. I highly suggest sitting at the bar in Grimaldi's and having a drink. I felt like I was in a time warp. All of my seventies nostalgia was activated. The characters there were like from a book. Fascinating place. Nothing too fancy, but if you want to feel like you are in a David Lynch film, do it.
Syracuse really does remind me of my hometown, Hamilton, Ontario. Depressed core, but surrounded by more affluent rural/suburban areas and absolutely goreous countryside. As unappealing as the city core is, the surrounding areas are stunning in their beauty. Some of the small towns around: Jamesville and Fayetville for example, are pretty little places, with nice shops, colonial archecture, surrounded by forest, sloping hills, wine country and beautiful farm-land. Wonderful.
If you are looking for a destination race that packs alot of excitement and tourist value, then you might want to consider something else. If however, you want a place that is convienient, homey, allows you to focus on your race and has lots of natural beauty around, then Syracuse is for you.
RACE ORGANIZATION:
I dont' have much to say here. The event has been around a few years and it is well done. Perhaps a little on the low key side as far as Ironman branded events go, but that has advantages too. I have never had such a smooth, line-up free experience at race registration. Nor have I ever walked straight up to the cash with my (obligatory) ironman purchases with NO LINE UP. wow. Sometimes small and laid back is good.
You will need a car, no shuttles are available. However, by car, the race site is easily accessible and there is plenty of parking. Bike check-in was smooth and hassle free. There are plenty of volunteers to help. The aid stations were well stocked and plentiful. This is just a very well done race.
 |
| shot on the way to jamesville beach from my "tour car" |
THE COURSE:
Not an easy course, but a beautiful one.
Transition is nestled in a really nice beach park, surrounded by sloping hills, and facing onto a really nice reservoir.
The swim takes place in the reservoir. There are plenty of nice views all around you as you site and breathe. The water was quite warm, on the verge of being wetsuit optional, which is, I understand, a stark contrast to what it was like when the race was held in September.
 |
| jamesville beach park the day before the race |
The bike course is challenging, but fair. Muskoka has a couple hundred meters more climbing for comparison. The climbing is largely front-loaded in Syracuse. In fact, the first 15 k are almost entirely uphill. After that it is mainly rolling hills, passing through gorgeous farmland and even by a pretty lake with cottages on it. This is one of the most beautiful bike courses I have ever ridden.
 |
| my bike ride wasn't too pretty, but the scenery was |
The run has changed in the few years of the race. This year was a two loop affair that was flattish in the middle, with a large false flat, and two fair size hills at about the 5 and 7 k point. There is also some running on coarse gravel roads, which stung a bit in racing flats. There is not much shade. This is not an easy or fast run course, but it was never lonely, and it was well stocked full of refreshment goodies and friendly people cheering you on.
MY RACE:
In short; i did not have a good day. i had a mediocre swim, a bike that was off target by almost 10%, and i blew up on the run, which is usually my strength. i finished in 5:25, easily 20 minutes slower than what i had realistically hoped for if i was having an average day and i lost most of that time on the run. so, in the end, my time sucked, and i completely failed in terms of race execution. (my plan was to make up good time on the run) i came away rather disappointed but this in itself is a lesson to me. results are nice, but at the end of the day, they are not why i do this. making results your end point really can take away a lot of the enjoyment in racing.
i learned a few things.
-training really hard does not mean results are automatic
-it really never does pay to have a time goal, you should focus on race execution first, foremost, and exclusively, there are just too many variables not under your control that can affect your performance to make a certain time the raison d'être for doing a race.
-i cannot spin low cadence on the bike for 90k and run well. i have experimented with this in training and it seemed to work, more power, lower HR, and running ok during bricks, but i have had two races now where i felt like total shit running off a low cadence bike ride. low HR to power ratio on the bike is not everything. 80-85 rpm here i come.
-you just never can take anything for granted in long course racing, and small things can make big time differences.
-most importantly, if this isn't fun, it is just too painful and inconvenient to do, so make it fun.
the race gave me a chance to test out my desoto forza tri-suit. i have on older one which has become my main cycling, training garment. the whole suit is great, and performed flawlessly, but desoto has nailed something very important with the bottom of this suit. the fit around the crotch, the support afforded by the invisi-pad are incredible and i prefer this sort of thing to a lot of padding on long rides in the aero-position. the forza tri-suit is an icon for a reason. it rocks.
 |
| i felt like i was running an ironman marathon, the only problem is that i wasn't |
THE BOTTOM LINE:
i really enjoyed my short time in syracuse. the place will not suit everyone, but i really liked it. it is a well run, challenging race and i am almost certain to go back in the future. (to redeem myself if nothing else).
for anyone looking for a challenging 70.3 race, that has a big convenience factor, is well run, friendly, a bit laid back, and surrounded by beautiful nature, then Syracuse is a great choice. i just think they should change the name to Onondaga 70.3, because it is the natural beauty of the Onondaga region that makes the race what it is.
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