Ironman Texas Pro Debut

Pro debut!!! So much to unpack from the weekend and race. Might need to set aside a little extra time to get through this one. I plan to include a few tidbits on key differences that I noticed between the amateur / pro experience as well.

Travel to the race went very well. My dad, buddy Matt and I took off for O’Hare around 3:30AM the Wednesday before the race. No issues or hiccups with the flight and arrival in Houston. We packed ourselves into a Nissan Rogue and drove straight to the venue to get check-in out of the way. At athlete village, there was a massive line for check-in. Unsure if I’d need to wait, I hesitantly walked by everyone and found a volunteer to ask where pros check in. She let me through, and I walked up to the pro registration table with no wait time. Everything else was the same except a different colored wristband, pro-series backpack and pro-series shirt. I also got to sneak ahead and grab my timing chip. That is all to say, the check-in process was much quicker!

On the way out, we saw Kristian and Gustav taking pictures and seized the opportunity to grab some as well. I told them it was my first pro race, and my big goal was to earn at least 1 pro series point (basically finish within 83 minutes of the winner). When I said my predicted time of 8:55, Gustav laughed and said that wouldn’t be fast enough. I was shocked at him implying they would break 7:30 in the heat. Fast forward and Blu went 7:24.

 

Pro briefing: This was new since there are slightly different rules and requirements for the professional athletes on race day. This was mandatory to attend (we had to sign in), and it was held at 2pm Thursday before the Saturday race. The briefing wasn’t announced until a week out, so I was glad I booked my travel early enough. It was so cool sitting around my idols, and I met/shook hands with several of them.

Some key highlights from the meeting were: Race Ranger, GPS pucks to be worn in our kits, a lower wetsuit threshold and a few differences for our transitions.

Without going into too much more detail on pre-race… I did a shakeout swim that felt great, 2 short bike sessions and 3 runs between Wednesday-Friday. Given how hot and humid it was going to be on race day, I spent additional time outside to acclimate the best I could. The Midwest hadn’t done me any favors and sauna prep only got me so far.

Race morning was great. My sherpas did a phenomenal job finding parking and getting me to transition 10 minutes before it opened. Since the pros were required to report to swim start by 6:05am, I wanted to be there as early as possible to set-up my gear and start the mile walk over. I was the first one in thanks to a volunteer letting me go early. The mechanic filled my tires for me, I prepared my nutrition and pre-mounted my cycling shoes. Once I was set, I swung by my gear bags to see where they ended up (Ironman moved the T1 bags overnight). After that, it was a long walk to the swim start. As I was walking, I chatted with Ty on the phone to calm my nerves (while also sipping on a Redbull to amp myself up). Once we got there, I put on an extra layer of sunscreen, suited up, took lots of pictures, then got into the pro corral.

All that and I haven’t even gotten to the race itself!

*I’m taking a guess on my placements relative to the male pros in each discipline since there were a lot of DNFs. I do know that 61 male pros started, so that’s what I’m going off.

Swim (1:01:04 - 56^th?): 10 minutes before the start, they let us all into the water for a quick warmup. I did a few take-outs to rev things up, but it was nearly impossible to see with how dark it was at 6:15am. The strangest part for me was treading water during the national anthem. I wasn’t going to fight for position on the line, so I just got into my prone position in a 2^nd row somewhere in the middle of the buoys. After the cannon went off, my goal was to push hard and try to stay in the draft of the main pack for as long as I could. I don’t think I even made it to 200 yards. I did, however, find some feet, and the effort to stay there felt hard enough not to try going around. Even though I was far off the back, I felt like I was doing ok…until I heard a boat and saw the media crew slowly creep up next to me. I took one breath to the opposite side and saw Rachel Zilinskas and Taylor Knibb FLY by me. I was not expected to see them until the canal (2/3 of the swim), but they passed me at halfway… This was that gut wrenching feeling that I was already having a bad day. Shortly after, Haley Chura came by as well. For the rest of the swim, I was feeling down and disappointed in myself and just wanted to get through it. I stayed on that athlete’s feet until he took me off course and a kayak directed us. I took over and swam the rest of the way down the canal. I got out of the water and saw 1:01 on my watch for a not-so-great swim. My goal going in was to be in the 58-59 range, so I didn’t totally fail, but it just wasn’t how I wanted to start my race. I saw 6 lonely gear bags remaining and grabbed mine from the end of the row.

T1 (2:58 – 29^th): No real issues here and my bag was easy to find amongst the few. Since I wasn’t in a wetsuit with calf sleeves underneath, I opted to put on aero socks that always take a little extra time. I got them on efficiently, threw my swim gear back into my bag and took off with my helmet. I grabbed my bike and as I was getting to the mount line, both of my rubber bands broke so my shoes swung down. This made getting going a little more difficult and added 5-10 seconds onto my bike split. Maybe I need some thicker bands next time.

One perk for the pros was leaving our gear bags in the change tent for the volunteers to take care of.

The Bike (4:37:28 – 48^th?): Not sure on the actual position, but I know a few did not finish the bike so my place appears better than my swim. Either way, this was my fastest IM bike split, and I was completely solo. Getting through the first few miles Alice Alberts blew by me along with a male pro working together. I knew I couldn’t keep up, so I just settled into my own pace. Once I got through the first 20 miles, I was excited to time trial down Hardy Toll Road. With only overpasses for elevation, this was the fastest and simplest bike course I’d ever ridden. With the wind from the south, it was 20 miles of headwind and 20 miles of tailwind repeated twice. I decided to push a little above my power target into the wind and a little under with to allow myself to stretch and eat. It was a little lonely the first loop, but that made it easier to simply focus on my power and HR. I did come up to a female pro around mile 30 and opted to sit behind for just a minute or 2. This was my only real exposure to race ranger, and I really liked it. Sitting in the blue was MUCH closer than I expected. I pressed on and anxiously waited to see the lead group heading back north so I could get a time gap. As I got to the turnaround, I was already 30+ minutes back after averaging around 22.5mph at 240W. Once I started heading north, I dropped to 230W and was going closer to 28mph. This part flew by, and I took the time to sit up more often and stretch out when I could. Before starting loop 2, I slowed way down to grab water from an aid station before the course got crowded. My preference was to only grab aid into the headwind since I was already going closer to a good “bottle grabbing speed”. I was glad I got it early because the next aid station was jammed, and I would have needed to stop to get anything. Loop 2 was completely different from loop 1 with the age groupers scattered throughout. It took a lot more focus to navigate and stay safe, going quite a bit faster than them. Even though the headwind was increasing, I felt like I got a slight draft benefit and went about the same speed as loop 1. After loop 2 there was a very tight right handed U-Turn that I struggled with, otherwise it was mostly tailwind there rest of the way back to transition.

Average Power: 230W (236 NP) / Average Speed 24.2mph

At first I was quite pleased with my bike split until I saw Cam Wurf set the all-time Ironman Bike record in 3:53. I feel like I still had a good ride with my best power output, but it was also a very fast day and all bike splits were fast. Still a lot more work to do losing over 40 minutes to the lead group.

T2 (2:13 – 7^th): One highlight was looking back at all the T2 times. I had the 8^th overall fastest time amongst every athlete. It helped that I already had my socks on, but I am proud of that one. The only thing to note is that Blu had already lapped me before I made it out of T2.

Run (3:05:21 – 24^th): I had a goal of running 3:10 or better going into this race. Reminding myself that I had only started running again for 4 months, I relaxed on my usual target of breaking 3. I also wanted to break 9 hours, and I was in the perfect position to achieve both. I started the run at what I felt was very conservative, and my first 8 miles were all around 6:50 pace. I was happy with where my HR was sitting and honestly did not expect to be running sub 7s. I was amongst 3^rd-5^th place, which included Rudy Von Berg and Nick Thompson. I felt that I did a great job of sticking to my plan and pace as they worked their way passed me. My HR was also in the 150-155bpm range, which is exactly where I wanted it to be. Around mile 9, I felt like I was already hitting a wall. I don’t typically say much when I race, but I told Matt and my dad that I was already struggling after getting through Hippy Hallow. My pace slowed up to around 7:20, and I felt the bonk happening. About a mile later I came up to my friend Ernie (who is a Dynamo OG with his wife Betty). He could see my pain and struggle and instead of yelling and pushing me, he simply nodded his head in acknowledgement. Something about that recognition struck me in that moment, and it was exactly what I needed at the time. From there I brought my pace back down to low 7’s and even snuck a 6:57 back in at mile 14.

From here on, I felt like the best I could do was just barely sneak under 9 hours. To do that, I needed to average 8min pace for the final 10 miles. To me it became a game, and every mile I ran under 8:00 was seconds banked in case the wheels really came off. 16-22 where I had a lull and relaxed my effort to reach that goal. I still kept it in that 7:20-7:30 range and “banked” about 3 minutes going into the final 4 miles. At this point I could almost close in 9 minute pace, but my motivation started coming back. Now if I stayed on that 8min pace, I’d finish in 8:55 (which sounded much better than 8:59). I got my pace back down to 7:15 and kept pressing into the effort. I would say that this was the most impressive final 10K I’ve ever run in an IM marathon. My final 3 miles I got back down to 7min pace and closed in a 6:53. As I was approaching the split to the finish after 3 loops, I came up on another male pro with ¼ mile to go. After we split off, I surged hard up a short hill and glanced back to see that he didn’t go with me. This allowed me to soak in that red carpet and give some high fives as I came across the line in 8:49. I ran down 15 pros (if you include the DNFs that came off the bike ahead of me), and it felt good to finally play pac man again.

Kudos if you made it through all of that. For my first pro race, I wanted to capture everything I could possible and reread this blog months or years from now. A few highlights at the finish were grabbing another picture with Blu (after telling him I missed that 1 point by 43s), chatting with Taylor Knibb and just being done by 3:30pm! It took me a little longer to get this post written, so I’ve had time to assess how my body is recovering. This was the easiest IM course I’ve raced, and I would say that my recovery has been the quickest. Chattanooga is just over 2 weeks away now, and I’m excited to put in a hard week of training after some down time.

Kona 2024 Race Report

This was one of those races where the final 2 months were less than ideal. After Ironman Wisconsin I took 5 weeks off of running due to a hip injury that still isn’t fully resolved. Coupled with some personal conflicts, my final build for Kona was far from what I had hoped. Regardless, my coach did everything he could to prepare me, and my wife even got me on an underwater treadmill to give me some running stimulus in the build-up. 

Race Week: Travel to Kona was perfect. No issues with flights and baggage arrived only scuffed. We arrived on Monday to give me plenty of time to adapt to the heat and humidity despite 10 days of sauna prep. My first few workouts were rough with heart rate ~10bpm higher than normal. That first morning I swam 50 minutes with my buddy John (thanks for being my safety buoy), then went on a social ride with my bike partner Kú. Wednesday I rode up to Hawi to get a feel for the climb and crosswinds with a short uphill run off the bike (easier on my hip going up). Thursday was just an easy swim and Friday was my final shakeout in the Energy Lab. I hadn’t been sleeping well all week, but I did get a good night's rest right before the race. In terms of that final prep week, everything went very well.

Ku Photoshoot

Race morning: Very smooth morning getting up at 4:00 to start the day. Breakfast was 3 pieces of bread with PB and a banana. Later in the morning I had a cliff bar as well. We found good parking and I quickly set up my bike without any hangups this time. While we were waiting the start the race, my mom’s side of the family dropped by to wish me luck and sent me off with some encouragement. I drank my Redbull and took that final Gu before heading to the corral. As luck would have it, I joined my buddy Kyle and we took to the start line together.

The Swim (59:23 - 73rd): As we were treading water waiting to start, I heard several guys say owe, ouch! Seconds later I got stung 2-3 times as well. I unfortunately did not have a great starting position, but seeing that I was 73rd in my AG, I probably deserved to start 3 rows back. The first 10 minutes were pure chaos and there was no clean water. As things started to settle, we caught the next wave and more chaos ensued. Overall I felt like I was in control and having a great swim, but I wasn’t able to get feedback from my watch. Probably for the better not checking it all the time. Knowing the different colored swim caps was incredibly helpful since I knew who to just go around. As I got to the pier, my goggles decided to break with 200 yards to go. This was my 2nd race in them and I got this new pair to avoid that… I was able to snag them and shove them down my kit to not litter. I swam eyes closed and only opened them when breathing/sighting. Coming out of the water, I had no idea what my swim time was, but I felt like I did well.

T1 (3:53): I skipped the fresh water hoses again and had to walk with all of the older athletes moving slowly. I got my bag and the change tent was Packed. I opted to sit on the wet concrete to get my socks on. More of a struggle than normal, but got them up and took off. As I was running out, I had a volunteer spray my jellyfish stings with vinegar, and I rinsed off with my water bottle as I ran to the bike. The rest was smooth as I cruised out and successfully got my feet into my shoes.

The Bike (4:50:53 - 67th): I felt good heading out and was mindful to not get caught up in the excitement of other athletes hammering up the first hill. I tightened my shoes and settled right in. Once I got back up to Queen K, I turned my attention to power numbers. Before I even got to the airport, I knew I needed an adjustment. I was already over my max HR cap and settled for 10-15W below target. As I was riding along, I caught my buddy Mitch (who was having a mechanical at the time but didn’t tell me until after). We gave some encouragement and off I went. The next 30 miles were uneventful other than a media moto riding alongside me for a few minutes. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, but I don’t think they used the footage :/

Around 45 miles I heard a familiar voice, Kyle Martinelli right on schedule. As he went by, he had 4-5 guys within a few feet of his wheel… I can’t say enough how much I hate cheating, and there was nothing Kyle could do. He eventually pulled onto the shoulder and forced them to pass and came back by me before trying to surge ahead and drop them all. I hung onto the back of that group for ~5 miles until the climb to Hawi started. At that point I was starting to cook and let them go. To my great joy, an official went by me. 15 minutes later I saw at least 2 of those guys in the penalty tent after the turnaround. 

Last time I did Kona, I left a lot of time out there on the Hawi descent. This time I pushed the entire time. Thanks my to Kú TF1, I can honestly say I felt very stable in those crosswinds. I moved up 18 spots and averaged 34mph in that 5 mile stretch. From there it started to thin out and it was easier to focus on my power and my race. There isn’t much else to report other than the conditions were mild. I got back to transition before the crosswinds turned into a headwind like they did in 2022. My power ended up being 20W below my target, and I knew I wasn’t really “in the mix” going into the run. I had to alter my expectations a bit more and started focusing on a course PR.

T2 (2:56): Fast and efficient. I felt great about this one and scanning through some times, not many were under 3 minutes. Nothing to report other than my salt tube staying in the bag… May have come back to bite me later.

The Run (3:19:12 - 46th): One of my goals for this race was the start the run before 6 hours elapsed time. I was happy to have about 2 minutes to spare, so I took that as a small win. At this point, I was focused on running a 3:30 to beat my time of 9:29 back in 2022. As I was getting settled, Mr. John Butcher BLEW by me ½ mile into the run. In typical fashion, him and I were never separated my more than 1 minute (up until that point). Before my injury, our dream scenario was to run together in Kona. We were perfectly set up, but I just couldn’t go… sorry man. As he vanished, I stuck to my plan of saying slower than 6:50 pace for the first 5K to settle in. Good call because my fastest mile of the day was 6:55 that first mile.  I was never under 7 the rest of the run. From mile 1, I was missing that spring in my step and was content to just hold 7:15 pace. As I continued to adjust goals, I knew I needed to be under an 8 min avg. With that in mind, I wanted to be at or under 7:30 pace in the energy lab to give enough buffer. Seeing my family along Palani was a nice boost and I pretty much plugged along for the most steady run I’ve ever done. 

I felt much smarter this time keeping a water bottle to have it refilled at aid stations. I did this twice and it only cost me 30s to always have water on hand. I took the aid stations slow and walked about half of them. Once I got to the energy lab I was still holding 7:15s, so that was encouraging. One thing that pissed me off was athlete 977 blatantly cheating. Numerous times his partner came by on a bike and handed him a cold drink from a cooler. He’d drink it for a minute or 2 and drop it for her to come by and pick it up again. I saw it at least 3 times, and I engrained his number into my memory. Fortunately I beat him by just a few seconds…

Back to my race, I was very conscious about walking the aid station prior to leaving the energy lab. I made sure I had ice and extra water. It was slow running out, but I didn’t breakdown like I had previously. Once I was back up on the Queen K, my pace was hovering around 7:20. With 7 miles to go, this was a great place for me to be knowing the finish was net downhill. Around this time I noticed I needed a bathroom stop. As I came up on mile 22, the opportunity presented itself and took care of business. The hardest part was getting my dang kit zipped back up. That was my slowest mile of the day at a 9:20 with the stop. As I got to mile 24, my aunt and uncle were still out there to cheer me on at the time I needed it most. Everything started to slow down at mile 25 and forward progress was my only thought. At Palani, I was stoked to actually open my stride and run down. Coming through that final mile I saw the rest of my family spread out and I pushed as hard as I could to the finish. I passed a handful of athletes down the final stretch and did not soak up that finish like I should have.

The Finish (9:16:14 - 40th): Given what I brought into the race, this was the best I could manage. I left everything I had on the course, and I’m proud of my effort and execution. To my wife and family that came to support me, I can’t thank you enough for everything all week and in race day. And to everyone back home sending me encouragement and tracking my progress…thank you.

To be blunt, this was not how I wanted my season to end. I wanted to leave amateur racing with a bang and feel confident turning pro. To not run for 5 weeks hurt me, and I wasn’t even sure I could run the whole marathon. Considering that the pain was a non-factor during the actual race, that’s all I could have asked for.

3 weeks before the race my wife got me on an underwater treadmill as the only way I could run without pain. It was our best stab at acquiring  any run fitness, so we did what we could.

Enough with the excuses though. I’m in a better spot injury-wise than I was leaving Madison, so that’s a win. I am hoping to avoid surgery and manage this with physical therapy as I enter the off-season. As for next year, I don’t have a single race on my calendar, and I am somehow ok with that.

Ironman Wisconsin 2024 Race Report

A few days before the race a wise friend asked me if there was a scenario where I didn’t win but walked away satisfied. I had to think about it, but my answer ended up being yes. Fast forward to the finish, and that was the case. So thank you Phil. 

I didn’t start much of a taper until 3 days beforehand, but the body was feeling rested and recharged. My resting HR and HRV were the best I’ve ever seen, dropping to 36bpm at night. I knew I was primed from a cardiovascular standpoint. Musculoskeletal-wise, I was not feeling 100%. My only complaint was not feeling loose.

In terms of final race prep, everything went as well as it could. Two nights out I ate my traditional Taco Bell and the night before I got my sub from Firehouse. I got up early to get my final ride and run in on Saturday and went to a diner for a large breakfast right after. I was in and out to drop my gear at the venue before heading back to the house to put my feet up.

Race morning was smooth with no issues. I ate 2 pieces of bread with a banana and peanut butter the second I woke up. We left my brother’s and parked where there was zero traffic or stress. I got all my gear setup and found a spot to chill at the terrace. I had so many friends come up for this race, and many of them were there to send me off race morning. I felt like I handled the stress better this year (slightly), gave my final hugs and worked my way to the start.

The Swim (57:29 - 16th OA): This was actually a very comfortable swim. It didn’t take too long for everyone to find their space and I focused more on myself than trying to find feet. On the top side of the loop, I remembered just how far an Ironman swim is. I concentrated on getting to that first turn signifying I was ¼ done. I knew the wind was against us on the way out and the return trip went by much more quickly. Before merging with everyone on my 2nd loop, I found a guy swimming the same pace as me and jumped on his feet. He had a distinctive wetsuit and lifted his upper body out of the water when he sighted, so it was very easy to track and follow. I let him navigate through the slower swimmers and sat very comfortably behind. After we made 2 more turns, I decided to take my own line on that final stretch back to transition. Part way back I was completely stopped by water support informing us that there was a water emergency. After 10-15s I was able to locate where it was occurring and opted to continue swimming the other direction around the kayak. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to help and just wanted to get myself out of the way. As I came out of the water and got my wetsuit down, I glanced and saw a 57:?? on my watch for 1 minute IM swim PR.

T1 (5:25): I got my wetsuit down easily before the peelers and felt like I had a solid transition. I pulled on my new aero socks that take a little more time plus a pair of throwaway knit gloves that added an extra step. I ran with my shoes in hand across the top of the parking garage and put them on next to my bike while a volunteer grabbed it for me. I moved up 5 positions to 8^th and was 19s slower than last year. I’ll take that with the gloves and how cold it was.

The Bike (4:59:58 - 5th OA): The bike started out quiet and I only passed 2 or 3 people the first few miles. It was around 50 degrees at the start going into a headwind, but I felt comfortable. I knew my pace would improve on the way back, but it was tough only seeing 20mph. Not even 10 miles in, Alfredo blew by me. After having such a good swim and transition, I was shocked to be caught so quickly. I had intentions of going with him when he did pass, but it would have taken way too much power to stay with him. I focused on my own race and pushed the exact numbers prescribed. At mile 40 Ty told me 4^th and 6 minutes down from 1^st. This meant I lost 6 minutes in just under 30 miles. At that rate, I’d be about 15 minutes down starting the run. Honestly, I didn’t believe I would win a run battle even if we came off the bike together so this was bad news. As I was coming up the last climb of my first loop, a fellow Ku Next Gen athlete caught me on Timber and told me nice bike =) I was hoping I wouldn’t see Kyle until lap 2, but he was riding FAST. We shared some notes on splits in the race for about a minute, but I wasn’t going to be able to hold his wheel. As I started lap 2, I had the first loop riders to contend with. For the most part everyone stayed right, but a few times I was help up. Annoyingly, one of the bike marshals cut me off on a turn. I had to brake hard and lost a lot of momentum. Nothing else too exciting other than me consuming all of my nutrition. This was important because I had an extra 50g of carbs in 2 Maurten gels if I felt I needed more. This put me right at 105g/hr.

T2 (1:44): I felt good coming off the bike and was ready to work. I already had my socks on and the shoes came on easily. I grabbed my gear/nutrition and was off. Glancing at the tracking now, I was around 30s faster than the next best split.

The Run (3:02:10 – 2^nd OA): Run legs felt good right out of the gate, so I knew I had to be mindful and hold back. First update came within 1/4 mile, so I knew I had 13 minutes to first and around 7 to second. As I came around the capital, I had more friends and family ready to pump me up. That first mile was net downhill, and I clocked a 6:18. In those first few miles I focused on the heavy nutrition plan of 4 gels/hour and had two down before mile 5. I felt completely in control but did notice some GI issues around that time. I saw the gaps at the first turn around and Alfredo was a solid 12 minutes ahead of me. The other two were getting closer but still 6+ minutes. At this point I was averaging 6:32/mile and was a little discouraged to run that fast and not make up much time. I saw my crew again on state street and keep pressing. At this point, I knew I needed to make a pit stop but I wanted to make sure I was only going to do it once. I also wanted to do so before I caught anyone. My idea was that at the next turnaround, the 3 guys ahead of me would think I was already slowing down. Needless to say, it took around a minute and I felt like Kristian Blummenfelt pulling my kit back up. That mile split ended up being 7:28 so I estimated about 50-60s lost. Regardless, I was back in pursuit and measured my gaps again at the next U-turn. Around mile 12 is when I finally caught back up to Kyle, and he told me the same thing I said on the bike - I was hoping to hold you off until lap 2. We pressed on and I started working my way towards 2^nd. At the halfway point, I was only 1 minute back and had him in my sights. I made the pass at mile 15 and was told there’s still a chance, keep pushing for the win. Around 16-17 is when the body started to push back. My 6:40s were now 7’s, but I knew everyone was probably slowing down at this point. I had enough calories in me, but was probably lacking on fluids despite the cool temperature. I made it a point to slow down through the next few aid stations and really had to muscle down 3 more gels in the final 10K. I measured the gap at just over 6 minutes with 6 miles to go. Very different from last year, I was able to avoid those dark thoughts of you “you don’t want it enough” or “forget the tape”. I held onto the idea that if he slowed down to 8’s and I held my 7’s, it’d come down to the wire.

The final 10K I did just that and averaged 7:05 pace to the chute, but unfortunately so did he. At 1 point I was within 5:30 but lost by over 6 minutes in the end. Initially I was disappointed to not have broken 3 hours on a very ideal day, but looking at my Garmin splits I was actually 5s/mile faster than last year.

The Finish (9:06:44 – 2^nd OA): I was a little bitter coming into the finish chute while the winner was showboating and even walked in front of me as I came through. Zero acknowledgement whatsoever. When I won last year, I stayed behind the finish arch and waited for 2^nd place so I could congratulate him. Different mindset I suppose. Despite the disappointment of not defending my title, I walked away with a 6-minute Ironman PR and my tank empty. Given that this race was a full year apart since my last Ironman, I was expecting to perform a little better than what I displayed.

A few key take-aways:

1.      The 6-minute PR all came from my bike split, and I attribute that to hard work and my new Ku TF1. Also, a note that Kyle rides a TF1 and dropped the 2^nd best bike spit on the day, 12 minutes faster than me! These bikes are no joke.

2.      My friends and family are the real MVPs. I’m afraid to leave anyone out, so I’ll just say I had a massive crew come up for the sole purpose of supporting me this weekend. I got so many updates and was able to feed off their energy all day.

3.      Last year this was my A race. I was peaked for the season, got a full taper and it was the only full Ironman that year. I can give myself some grace and focus all of my attention and effort on Kona.

I truly appreciate everyone following my journey. I know most of you are proud no matter the result, but I really hope to have a better showing in Kona.

Lou 70.3 Race Report

Anyone that followed my Ironman Louisville 70.3 race knows I served a 5-minute drafting penalty, so let’s get it out of the way first. Yes, I was too close. Yes, Once I entered the draft zone I should have completed the pass so  it was deserved. I apologize to my competitors and accept it. I’ll go into some specifics on this during the bike portion.

By the numbers, this was certainly my best 70.3. I came out of the water the highest up in the overall, pushed my biggest power by almost 20W on the bike, and had the fastest overall run by just over 90s. Let’s get into it.

Pre-Race: This was such a fun weekend for me. I drove  down to Louisville on Friday with my buddy Drobs. He did all of the driving so I could just chill and catch up on work. We checked in later that evening, set-up most of our gear, and consumed $33 of Taco Bell for pre-race cleansing. We went to bed early with a plan of running in the dark and then biking as soon as it was light enough. Saturday was perfect. We knocked out our shakeouts, showered and ate a massive breakfast. After that, we just kicked back in the room with the AC turned down while I watched course previews and got some more work done. Around 4pm we dropped the bikes off and grabbed a sub sandwich for dinner. We ate in the room and watched Mad Max and The Incredibles until lights out at 8pm.

Race Morning: I was up around 4:15 after a typical restless night, but actually felt quite good.

Ate some PB, bread and a banana for breakfast before suiting up and heading to transition. A very short walk; we were there in about 5 minutes. It took me longer than normal to set my bike up, but once I was happy with it, we started our walk to swim start around 5:30. My conversation with Matt consisted of wondering why the heck we get so nervous before these races. The anticipation hit me much harder than normal, so it was nice to have a buddy to keep me grounded. One new thing was slamming a Redbull before the start, and I think it will become part of my routine. We got up nice and close to the front, and I had an awesome starting position.

Swim (28:04 - 18th OA): What made this race especially fun was a new friend and rival, John. We are essentially identical athletes across all 3 disciplines and agreed to start as close together as possible for a battle. We were about 6-7 rows deep to be up close but not get swam over. Once I ran in, it was game on. I felt very good on the swim and found my own space early on. I didn’t feel much of a current helping, and the wind was blowing up river causing a little chop to swim into. The water was 82 degrees F and I could feel myself heating up. I felt like I did a fairly good job sighting and didn’t need to navigate around too many people. The only tough part of the swim were some “swells” that formed under 2 of the bridges. I swallowed some water and told myself I should probably avoid any more of that nasty river water. I came out in what felt like a good position, but I never checked my time as I was focused on a strong T1. Looking back, this was one of my strongest swims.

 

T1 (3:18): Not my best, running to the wrong side of my bike, but it only cost about 10s to jog back around. With the non wetsuit swim, I couldn’t swim with calf sleeves and they’d be too difficult to slip on. I opted to test out my brand new aero socks for the first time (they arrived Thursday). I knew they’d be hard to get on, but I did practice a few times with wet feet/legs. Since I need socks anyway for the run, I was willing to take just a little more time to get these tighter ones on before the bike. My bike mount was pretty much perfect and I slipped into my cycling shoes straight away.

 

Thank you Devon for this gem!

Bike (2:19:58 - 16th OA): I was feeling really good starting the bike and had to back down to my race watts. I was told 1st in my AG with 2nd literally right behind me. Sure enough John came around me 2-3 miles in and off we went. We traded lead a few times and I was right at the top of my prescribed power numbers. Around mile 10 I noticed someone sitting a little close and threw in a hard surge to try dropping him. John noticed the same thing and surged by me once I let up. Around mile 15 we were coming up a roller and that’s when I got too close (within 4 bike lengths). In that moment, I should have completed the pass. For me, I was already pushing my limit and we were only going about 10 mph. I opted to let myself drop back and that’s when I got my blue card. This was frustrating to me since only I got a penalty when there was other drafting going on. I burned a match to try and get away, but got burned myself. That’s racing and I fully accept the result.

With that, I came by John and let him know about the penalty in case that altered his race strategy at all. I wasn’t sure if there was a penalty tent in the middle of the course, but figured I might as well go above planned power until I got a 5 minute rest. There was a tent at 30 miles, so that’s where I stopped. As soon as I got there I told them my number and there was a long long pause before being asked what color card I got. After stating blue, he THEN started the stopwatch…. That was at least 10 more seconds than necessary. As I was standing there moving nutrition around, John came by and eventually 8-9 other athletes before I could leave. Once I got the go ahead, I hammered the back half. In my mind, John was my main competitor and I believed I had a chance to pull 2 minutes back on the bike, and would need to run out of my mind to close the remaining 3. I had a choice to bag the race and focus on IMWI or see if I could make some lemonade. I chose to fully commit and go for it. Even though I could push a little harder with the rest, between stopping, the 5 minutes and starting again, I’m confident my mistake ended up being a full 5 minute loss. Without it, I’d have had the 3rd fastest bike split (for me, that’s a good indicator for where my bike is currently at. The Kú is fast). Moving on. I dropped from 4th to 15th, but it felt damn good to repass 6 of those guys before T2.

T2 (2:29): This was one of the fastest T2s on the day. Despite my shoes catching the ground every few steps, I did my best to keep my bike in control. It was rough, but I got it done quickly. Racked the bike and all I needed to do was remove my helmet and slip my shoes on. Nice and smooth, grabbed the hat and I was out.

Technically a run course record?

Run (1:19:37 - 1st OA): The information I got from my friend Katie was going to determine how I ran. I pushed the first half mile until I saw her and was told 3 minutes back from John. As soon as I heard 3 and his first split was 6:15 pace, I told her I’m going for it. Assuming the tracker was accurate on pace, I needed to run 6 flat without him speeding up. Sure enough I clocked 6:01, 6:00, 6:00 and 5:58. By mile 4 mile my HR was hitting 170 bpm and I usually don’t like crossing that until halfway through the run. The middle of the run was tough with some good hills and lots of turns. I had no ability to see down the road and there were no out and backs to check splits. I was in no man’s land without anyone I could see. I kept pressing and tried to get a split from random spectators but no luck. The aid stations were incredible and I got everything I wanted each time. One lady even told me to hold out my hat so she could fill it with ice, pro move. Quick side note, I netted 5 Maurten gels by the end. Around mile 11 there was a long straight downhill where I finally caught a glimpse of 4th. A rough estimate of 90s was all I had to go off of. I sort of lost hope, but that’s when we got back to transition with the crowds. I leaned in even more and held my HR over 175. The final mile uphill ended up being my fastest at 5:50. Normally running under 1:20 isn’t anything to brag about, but I’m pretty stoked based on how everyone else fared. I was the fastest runner by a little over 90s. 

Finish (4:13:24 - 5th OA): I’ve never regretted leaving everything I had on the course. Today was no different, and I walked away not feeling 100% dejected. I chatted with John after and apologized for drafting and ruining our battle. Thankfully, he’s a good dude and my apology was accepted. 

Chasing the same dream

This was a race where I felt good the entire time. Leaning into it felt good, like I had a smirk on my face the whole time. Going in I felt heavy, but the power was there on the bike and cadence was solid on the run. I will continue to question Coach Brent’s crazy methods (like 8 min/mile easy runs), and always be amazed that he was right all along. He knows it. I know it. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Up next, Ironman Wisconsin to defend a title. The field is stacked, so get ready for some fireworks. 

2024 DeWitt Sprint Triathlon

 

The 5-time defending champ is no more. As I’ve said in years past, this race has gotten faster every year since my first win back in 2018. 1:08:34 was enough for the win in 2018 and that would’ve landed me in 8^th this year. This year I finally broke the 1 hour mark at 58:19, over 10 minutes faster than my first race here. Despite the effort, I finished 37s behind the new champ, Tyson (who set an overall course record).

Pre-Race: With the new advancements in aero technology, I knew I wanted to wear calf sleeves for the bike. With transition being critical in a sprint, I was set on wearing as wetsuit (if allowed) so I could have the calf sleeves on underneath. If not, I was planning to wear a swim skin and not spend the time in transition to put them on. A generous temp measurement had us “just under the limit” and the water was quite warm.

Swim (6:12 - 2nd): They allowed us to do a wave start for those that wanted to start at the same time. Around 20 people were bobbing around in the water as they gave the ready-set-go! Despite my best effort to get onto the leader’s feet, I just don’t have the take-out speed to hang on (even though I was in a wetsuit and he wore a swim skin). I felt no one around me after that first turn and had clear water. Coming up to the beach, I was ~15 yards behind when the leader stood up. My swim was 28s faster than my previous best time, and I was over 1 minute faster than 3^rd place.

T1 (1:15 – 3^rd): I got my wetsuit down quickly as I ran to my bike. I opted to put my shoes on at my bike since the first bike out starts on 25 yards of gravel. With the amount of space we had at the bike racks, I was able to leave my shoes wide open to step into and felt very efficient. I got on the bike and was only 7s off the lead. At DeWitt, I’m normally 2^nd out of the water and 1st onto the bike, so this was new to me.

Bike (33:28 – 1st): Starting the bike, I already had my shoes set and took the lead that first ¼ mile. I put in a very hard effort to see if I could get a gap averaging 360W for the first mile. Around mile 2 I settled around 310W and just focused on pushing my numbers. Somewhere between miles 3-4, Tyson came around me to take the lead. I sat around 5 bike lengths back and saw my power drop to around 250W with the draft. My HR also dropped about 10bpm and I felt like I could sit there all day. Knowing I’m the weaker runner and a similar cyclist, I considering just staying put and conserving for the run. I just couldn’t play that game and took the lead again for another mile or so. Looking back at my power data, we played merry-go-round 4-5 times. Each time I passed, I did so with the intent of dropping him but no luck. We came into transition together as he passed me just before the dismount line. Since I started the bike a few seconds behind, I set the new bike course record on my Ku TF1.

Fastest Bike Split and new Bike Course Record

To put this in perspective, my previous best bike speed was 25.3mph on my P3. This year I was 26.9mph, 2 minutes faster over just 15 miles. Although there was some shared work between the leaders, I believe I had enough power in reserve to maintain that pace solo.

T2 (0:36 – 2nd): I came in at what I thought was a solid pace, but not nearly fast enough as Tyson blew by to the dismount line. Normally I’m alone in T2, so this was quite stressful. As I got my 2^nd shoe on, I saw him running the to wrong exit and hesitated a bit. Not sure why, but I took a few extra seconds to get going. I was still right on his heels as we sprinted out.

Run (16:50 - 2nd): As we took off, I was quickly dropped. Coming off an easier bike, I would have thought I’d have more to give. Regardless, at the 1-mile mark I was already 20+ seconds back. To me the race was over after that first ½ mile, and the next cyclist hadn’t even come into transition yet. I had no reason to push anymore but still wanted to break 1-hour.

 

Overall (58:19 – 2nd): In the words of Kristian Blummenfelt, it hurts more to lose. Yeah yeah, it’s just a sprint so whatever. I still gave everything I had and was beat by a better athlete. Going into the race, I knew my chances we slim but really focused on a positive mindset. Whether you say you “can” or “cant”…you’re probably right. So, all week I kept telling myself you can.

Let's find the positives. I’m incredibly proud of my swim dropping 28s from my previous best split at this race. In previous races against Tyson, I was a minute down starting the bike and this time I bridged up that first ¼ mile. I also got to mix it up with him the entire ride and dropped 2 minutes off my best bike split. I will say, it was much more fun and entertaining trading blows than riding solo for 15 miles. That’s how I want to remember this race, but I also want to remember that feeling of getting dropped like a bad habit. For me, it’s healthy to be humbled and is motivating to keep working.

2024 DSM 70.3 Race Report

This race felt like a little redemption after an ok result at Chatt 3 weeks ago. Having raced DSM back-to-back years now, I’ve copied my 2023 race report and am editing as I go. I’ll try to draw some comparisons throughout as they come up.

Similar to last year, I didn’t get much a taper until Thursday. This was something I requested from my coach after getting sick the previous weekend and backing off on my weekend workouts.

 

Race morning:

We left the hotel just after 4:45 and were walking into transition just after 5. I opted to forgo the flying mount this race with how close I was to the bike out, which saved me a bit up set-up time. I met up with Drobs and his wife to walk over to the swim start and we just chilled until we were 30 minutes out. Exactly the same as last year =)

 

Swim: 28:56 (26^th overall)

I started in the 3^rd wave of 3 getting into the water. Normally everyone is fighting to start up front, but it seemed like they were more timid this time. Before I got to the first buoy my chest felt tight, and I was having a very hard time breathing. Now, let me leave the exact text I had from my 2023 race report. “I had a first on the swim, and that was a claustrophobic type breathing issue. 200 yards in, it felt like someone was standing on my chest and gave me some heavy anxiety.” This was the exact same thing that happened last year. The main difference is that it lifted after 500 yards back in 2023. This time I felt like I was limited the entire swim.  So in typical Matt fashion, there is something I am going to overanalyze here. Feel free to skip this next paragraph as I get into it.

I don’t see this breathing issue as a coincidence and believe is has something to do with the water. Here is why… Post race while driving home, I started to have an allergic reaction to something in car. After a rest stop, I started to improve. Once we got back into the car, I was sneezing and plugged up again. When I finally got home and started handling my wetsuit to rinse it off, the reaction came back. I am thinking something in the water triggered an allergic reaction and tightened up my breathing. I will also say that 5-10 minutes into the bike, I cleared right up and went on to have a strong race.

Back to the bike… Needless to say, I was not happy with my swim being 40s slower than last year. I know I’ve gotten faster and swam this same pace at IMWI last fall. Regardless, I wasn’t overly concerned and was ready to hit it on the bike.

 

T1: 1:56

Out of the water I had already planned on skipping the wetsuit peelers. The run was also not very long so I wasn’t concerned with overheating. As I mentioned in my race morning, I opted to put my shoes on at the rack. When I leaned over to put them on, I felt dizzy and had to sit down. I was disoriented and struggled to get my shoes on. Even with that issue, I was only 19s slower than last year and I know I made some of that time back when I started riding. Once I was upright again, I felt fine, got clipped in and off I went.

 

Bike: 2:14:28 (5^th overall)

The bike was very solid for me. Since I opted to not pre-mount my shoes, I went straight to race power and blew by 2 other athletes still messing with their shoes. The first 5 miles were technical, but I had a good rider ahead of me to see how he cornered. Once we got out onto the main roads, I was with 2 other athletes and jockeyed positions a few times. I was hitting my power targets exactly how I wanted and let them do the work when it made sense. Once my power started dropping, I opted to make a move on one of the faster descents hitting 43mph. One thing I can say with confidence, my Ku descends incredibly well and fast! Post race I was told I’m very “slippery” on the downhills.

When we got out to a 10-mile straight, we were heading west into the wind (it was light). I was passed and decided to sit back for a bit to see where my effort went. After about 5 minutes I felt I could go faster off the front and put into a 20-minute effort around 270W. When we got to the turnaround, I saw I had dropped 1 of the riders, but the other was still close. He came by me up the main climb despite me pushing 305W. We exchanged a few pleasantries and confirmed our gap to the front of the race was 7 minutes. We went back on forth 2-3 more times until the end of the ride, and I felt very good holding my power numbers. I took over again with 5 miles to go and pushed it through the technical section back into T2.

Last year I made a wrong turn that cost me 2 minutes, biking 2:23. Even if you remove those 2 minutes, I was still 6.5 minutes faster on my Ku. This was also my 2^nd time riding under 2:15 (but on a course with 4 U-turns and more elevation).

 

T2: 2:31

Felt great getting off the bike and becoming confident in my flying dismount on the Ku as well! It seemed efficient and I was 23s faster than last year. I came into T2 with my buddy behind me, so I wanted to create a gap if I could. Sock and shoes came on quickly and I was off.

 

Run: 1:18:54 (5^th overall)

I felt better starting this run than I did last year despite pushing more power on the bike. I was told I had a 7-minute gap to the lead, but I wasn’t sure who was in 1^st this point. The guy that won last year ran a 1:23, so I thought I had a shot. I had a slightly different HR plan to push harder early on and upped it every 2 miles. At 10K I reached true race effort and really started to work. Early on I was hitting 6:05-6:10 pace. I knew this wasn’t going to be enough, but it’s what I had at the time. I could see the 4 guys ahead of me at each turn around and measured each gap. It was clear I wasn’t gaining on 1^st or 2^nd, but I was gaining on 3^rd and 4^th. At mile 7, I decided it was time to dial it up a bit more. The next 3 miles I split 6:01, 5:58 and 5:58. The body was responding well to the push and that is when I caught 4^th place at mile 10. This was timed well with my plan to lean into the final 5K. He didn’t try to go with me as I split 5:54, 6:03 (uphill) and then 5:48 down that long straight. I could barely see 3^rd up the road but kept digging like I had last year. I ended up staying in 4^th just 35s behind 3^rd (and the winner of my AG).

Finish: 4:06:42 (4^th overall)

A 4.5-minute 70.3 PR and my first time under 4:10. This was also 7 minutes faster than last year despite the warmer conditions. Although my time would have won back in 2023, everyone was equally faster, and I finished 4^th once again.

Overall, I am very pleased with my effort and result on the day. But relative to my competition also improving, I have plenty of work to do.