Hennepin 50K Race Report

My first ultra! I had been wanting to run an ultra for awhile, but it just never seemed to fit into my triathlon schedule. Despite a busy season with 3 full IRONMAN races and 3 70.3’s, I felt I had a large enough gap between Santa Cruz and IM Arizona to squeeze this in. 

With an average run volume of only 20-30 miles/week, I wasn’t expecting to crush the race. But, I knew I should be able to run around my IM marathon pace of 6:40 from Lake Placid. I figure it’s only 6 miles farther without 6 hours of swim/bike beforehand. 

I’ve never done an evening race before, so Saturday was spent trying to keep myself busy
without being on my feet too much. I opted to hop on the bike for an easy spin to get the legs moving a bit before getting groceries and doing my meal prep for the week. I dropped my car off at the finish line and my dad brought me to his house to relax for an hour before heading to the start line. 

Before the race, I wrote out a detailed plan for my fluids and nutrition to be handed to me at any aid station where crew was allowed. This was so I could use exactly what I wanted, and they could keep it cold for me. I’ll roll through what I grabbed and consumed each step of the way as I go through the race.

The race started about 9 minutes late due to a lost bus. This was good in a sense that the temps were dropping, but it also meant a little less light. I thankfully started with a clip on light on my hat before grabbing my light vest at a later aid station. It was around 86 degrees and the sun was shining. I started with my running belt that had 20oz of water frozen solid to help cool my lower back and I planned to sip it throughout as it melted. I also had a gel for emergencies and a bottle of drink mix with 50g carbs, 600mg sodium and 200 calories (partially frozen). 

I was near the front when the race started and was a little surprised at how slowly the guys ahead of me started. I quickly weaved my way through and took the lead less than 100 yards in. I tried to just settle into a steady effort targeting 6:40 pace. The first few miles I felt like I started too hard as my HR was already over 160bpm. I was tempted to look back to see if anyone went with me, but I kept my eyes forward. I felt hot but relatively comfortable and wondered if I screwed my race in the first 20 minutes as I hit 3 miles. Drinking the tailwind was already upsetting my stomach and I knew I was going to have GI issues down the road. 

The first aid station was at 5.7 miles and crew was allowed. My dad was waiting for me with a cup of cold water to dump on myself, a new disposable bottle of drink mix and a PF90 gel that he was keeping cold. I yelled ahead to give me water instead of tailwind and he quickly made the switch. He also estimated a 2min gap to 2nd which meant I was 20s/mile faster.

As I kept going my stomach was getting worse and I knew I would want to make a pit stop before it got dark. Switching to water definitely helped, but the damage was done to my gut. And by skipping the electrolytes, I had to start working on that PF90 instead. I was also consuming my water at a rate that had me reaching for the belt bottle as well. My pace was fairly steady in the 6:40-6:50 range. At 10.8 miles I had a volunteer refill my disposable bottle while I took care of business. I estimate 45s and felt significantly better still clocking a 7:07 mile. This is where I was able to dial it up a bit more as the sun was mostly blocked by trees and the temps were starting to cool down closer to 80 degrees.

At 11 miles, my pace started to drop and my HR also dropped below 160 for the first time. This was a relief since I was trying to stay below 165 through 20ish miles. I started splitting low 6:30s and even saw a few 6:28s pop up at less effort than before. If you’ve ever heard of someone talking about reaching a flow state, this was it for me. From 11-18 miles I was motoring along feeling good. I did pause at another aid station around 15 miles to top off my water again, but they were efficient with the jug and I was off.

I knew I had more crew support at mile 19.2 and I wanted to use the bathroom again for hopefully the last time. I gave Drobs my belt to refill with water and ran a little off course to get to the bathrooms. I came out, had my dad get my light vest on, Drobs gave me my belt back and I got a fresh cold bottle of drink mix with another PF90 gel. At this point, I was a little over 2 hours in and had only consumed about 150g of carbs (drink mix, PF90 and a gel). My stomach was mostly settled and ready to take on another 50g tailwind along with another PF 90. This aid station was also the only timing mat on course and a key piece of information for me to get at the final aid station so I could know my gap for the final 5 miles.

Cheering Squad

Unfortunately the extra distance I ran to the bathroom was just that, extra distance on my watch. I estimated about 2 minutes for the entire excursion and knew I gave some time back to 2nd place (still clocked a 7:33, but that included the distance run off course…) This is where I really started to focus. Running in the dark has its own challenges, then you couple that with running 9mph. Everything felt like it was coming at me quickly and I was mentally tired from the additional concentration. Once I hit mile 23, I knew I had less than 1 hour to go, even if I slowed down to 7’s. I also knew that if I kept running 20s/mile faster than 2nd place early on and I actually sped up, it’s likely that I continued to put more time into him. 

Now I was just focused on hitting the marathon mark and gutting out those final 5 miles. Despite telling myself I’d pull back and just secure the win, I ran a few more miles in the 6:20’s as I came to the final crew aid station. This is where my quads were starting to hurt. I walked alongside my dad to pour another cup of cold water over my head, grabbed a Maurten caffeinated gel and a final water. I was told I had an 8 minute gap based on the timing mat, but we knew I lost about 2 minutes since I crossed the mat before my pit stop. With less than 6 miles to go, I knew I had 1 min/mile on 2nd place and anything sub 7 pace was more insurance. I put my head down, finished the last of my PF90 and got to work. Now this part of the trail I had run many times as an out and back starting from the finish line, so I knew it well. The familiarity gave me a sense of comfort and I pretty much knew the win was there. At this point I wasn’t sure if the course record was in play, but I wasn’t going to regret not trying. 

I was sitting closer to 6:40 pace as the lead 100 miler came into view. He was still running ~8min pace and it took a bit to reel him in. I came by with about 4 miles to go and we exchanged some encouragement. This gave me more reason to push because I didn’t want anyone on my heels as I came into the finish. I kept the gas on as I got to the final aid station at 29.5 miles. It was a self-serve water stop, and I just took a quick shower and guzzled some water. Once I hit mile 30 I was on the paved path and gave it everything I had. Knowing where I was at, I knew I actually had 1.5 miles. I got down to 6:20 pace and just kept leaning in as I hit mile 30. Shortly after the lights from the finish came into view and I had 1 last tunnel to run under. I turned off my front light (for pics of course) and let the crowd bring me in. Just like the red carpet in an IRONMAN, the pain melted away as I crossed the line to win my very first ultra. Also knowing that Fleet Feet Phil had won the 50 miler several hours prior, I was proud to represent and bring home the 50K win for Fleet Feet. And fortunately for Phil, I missed his course record by just over 3min. I managed to sneak under 3:30 and had a 16 minute gap on 2nd, so that was plenty for me to celebrate. 

Few things to note for next time, whenever that may be:

Work my way into the electrolytes, maybe start with water the first few miles.

Be ready for a lot of bugs. Not sure I can do anything different but squint more. 

It’s ok to go out hard even in a 50K. My HR actually recovered and dropped when I sped up later on.

Planning pays off and trust your crew to come through. 

Always good to have PT on hand

Up next, IRONMAN Arizona in 6 weeks to close out a long but fulfilling 2025. 

Santa Cruz 70.3 Race Report

Santa Cruz was a very late add that was chosen to fill the 13 week gap between Lou 70.3 and IM Arizona. I signed up after feeling strong coming out of Lake Placid, but my body was starting to feel the load of 4 full IRONMANs in under 10 months. 

Travel was long, driving down to St. Louis after work Thursday and hoping on a plane that next morning. We had a 90min delay on our second flight that put us in a little later, but all in all not bad. I got a quick practice swim that evening before grabbing dinner and heading to bed.

Race morning was smooth and we had plenty of time to relax before suiting up.  It was a little chilly and the water temp was 62, which gave me some issues during my warmup swim. I came out of the water a little dizzy out of breath…a little concerning.

Swim: Beach start for the 50 pros and it was chaotic. I got out as hard as I could to try and make a group, but within 2 minutes I was panicking. I was actually to the point of grabbing onto water support and withdrawing from the race. Fortunately there was no one close by and I opted to just slow down and try to catch my breath. I was still near a few other pros and pushed to stay on their feel. I knew I was pretty much the last swimmer and just wanted to get through it.

Bike: Flying mount was alright and I immediately focused on pushing my power up to my goal of 270W. At mile 4 I had to cross some rumbles and lost my 160g bottle of carbs despite having a rubber band this time. That required me to slow down at all 3 aid stations trying to grab bananas and gels. I also lost a small aero benefit from that bottle. My power was great, but the speed just wasn’t quite there. I was passed by 2-3 other pros and the first place amateur. I only passed 1 other pro and was a little bummed to be at the back of the field. My goal was the average 270W and I was at 273 before the final technical section and flying dismount. I ended with my all time best average of 269W and 275 NP. I was a full 1mph slower than Louisville at higher power, but several other pros that competed in both races had similar splits. Little bummed, but so hopefully I can sort that out.

Run: I pushed harder than I ever had on the bike and was behind on nutrition starting the run. My goal was to take a gel every 2 miles or more. Spoiler, I PRed my gel intake at 8 gels in 81 minutes. Honestly, my only goal was to not get run down by any of the female pros that started 5min behind me. I figured 6:20’s would be faster enough, so that’s what I set out for. I was hovering around 6:15 pace as I got to mile 5. The middle 5K was all packed dirt out on a bluff with lots of tight turns. I didn’t lose too much time and held steady. Each gel I took, I could feel a small surge of energy within 1-2 minutes, but it was short lived. That final 10 minutes seemed to take forever and there was another pro 50 meters ahead of me that I just couldn’t catch. As I rounded the final corner, I saw the tape ready for the top female pro. In a panic I waved them off as I sprinted through the deep sand to get through so they could have it ready for her. After crossing, I turned around and Tamara Jewett came around just 24s after me.

It was unfortunate to travel all the way to California to have a sub par result. 

3 weeks prior, I finished just over 7 minutes ahead of the female winner Jackie Hering at Louisville 70.3. At Santa Cruz she finished just under 3 minutes ahead of me. That’s over a 10 minute swing between the 2 races and a pretty disappointing result for me. 

Another athlete that was at both races was Justin Metzler. He finished 6 minutes ahead of me at Louisville and 24 minutes ahead of me at Santa Cruz, an 18 minute difference… All that is to say despite pushing career best power on the bike, I was significantly slower this time around.

I have 2 more races ahead of me to close out the 2025 season, so I’m hoping to turn things around and end on a high note. 

Lou 70.3 Race Report 2025

 Trending in the right direction! A lot of text before I get into the race itself, but I want to give some context going in. I was really looking forward to racing again in Louisville with how well the course suits me. Unfortunately I was feeling rough with heavy fatigue and the inability to sleep and recover the 2 weeks leading in. It was a downward spiral and I was no longer looking forward to putting myself out there. In the pro field, I feel much more exposed if I have a bad or off day. 

For more context, IRONMAN Lake Placid was 4 weeks prior and it was also my 4th IRONMAN within 10 months (Madison, Kona, Texas, Placid). We also went straight into 13.5 and 22 hour training weeks coming off Placid. Needless to say, it was all starting to add up. But after some good conversation with my coach Brent, we landed on putting myself out there knowing I had heavy recovery on the other side. I was also listening to a Podcast with Joe Skipper where he said, “I would rather be at 100% mindset and only 80% physical going into a race”. With that, I did all I could to reframe my mindset for the next 24 hours. 

We got in after 10pm Friday night, checked in and got to bed as soon as possible. I was up early the next morning to ride before traffic picked up and just felt worn out. I tried to nap a bit before taking care of the pre-race logistics and just relaxed as much as I could. It was a busy day between meeting up with family/friends, checking in, pro briefing and gear drop. I was on my feet much more than I typically would be, but I told myself I was staying loose.

Race morning went well, and no issues to report (other than noticing my cycling shoe inserts were missing when I was setting up for a flying mount). We got to the swim start plenty early and I relaxed for a bit before starting my dynamic warmup. At the swim start they had some ice in a cooler that I was able to grab and put down my kit to cool off the best I could. They allowed the pros a quick 5min warmup before our in-water river start.

Swim (25:29 - 24th pro): The hottest swim I have ever done at 86.9F. I only swam ~100 yards to loosen up and ultimately floated on my back to relax and not heat up more than necessary. The start was crowded and I had myself in the 2nd row all the way to the right. The cannon went and it was chaos for the first 400 yards. This was a good sign for me because it felt like I was “in the mix” and battling for position. I didn’t feel like I could get dropped from the guys around me, and I knew the main packs were already out of reach. I opted to stay where I was and watch for any breaks within the small group. The warm water definitely made it harder, so I just sat on the feet and conserved as much energy as possible. Other than the start, I felt completely in control and within myself. Overall a pretty comfortable swim. Also my fastest 70.3 by over 2 minutes thanks to the current. 

Cheezin after seeing a 25min split

T1 (3:20): Took the time to put on my aero socks and the right one ripped as I would trying to pull it up. Nothing I could do about it, so I just grabbed the bike and started running. The bike start was perfectly flat, so getting into my shoes was easy. I was also around a few other pros, so it was good to feel like I was in the mix. 

Bike (2:16:02 - 29th pro): I was a little anxious to see how my legs would turn up when I tried pushing my power targets. Getting that average above 260 in the first 5 miles even with a flying mount was very encouraging. As I was going, Brian Reynolds (someone I’ve tried to be competitive with as an age grouper) came around me with another pro around 15 miles in. I was happy to be ahead of him the far into the race and did what I could to stay with. He ended up getting about 100-200 yards ahead of me, but I sort of maintained that gap throughout. I ended up passing another pro, which doesn’t happen often for me on the bike, so that gave me even more encouragement. A big highlight from the bike was seeing friends and family numerous times. Being a single loop bike course, I was surprised to see them 4 times! Definitely gave me the boost I needed. For the most part I held close to my power target and was around 265W through 35 miles. I had 1 incident with an SUV on course that I couldn’t get around and had to coast a bit. I eventually found a way around them with a big surge. I had 1 shortfall with fueling and that was missing a bottle at the final aid station. That aid station was staggered on both sides for 2 way traffic. An outbound age grouper came across the center line (cones included) towards me because he probably missed the aid station on his side. I reacted and missed half of my aid station to avoid a collision. I had a shot at the last bottle but missed… Pretty annoyed with that guy and had to ride the final 15 miles with minimal fluids. Regardless, I stayed steady coming back into town and was pushing the sneak under 2:15. Close, but still a good bike split for me on the day.

T2 (3:10): A very long run with the bike, but I was fairly efficient. Pretty much middle of the pack with my split and just a little slower than athletes like Ben Kanute and Jason West.

Run (1:21:17 - 11th pro): On paper, this doesn’t look like an impressive run. But given the conditions, how many places I moved up and checking other run splits…this was a great run for me. My legs were heavy at the start and I pretty much knew sub 6 pace was out of the question. I saw 2 athletes up the road (Brian being one of them) and clocked a 50s time gap. I caught one of them right at mile 2 and was approaching Brian at mile 3. I surged hard around him thinking he’s definitely want to run with me. After another ½ mile I had a comfortable gap. In hindsight, I closed 50s in just 2 miles so I was running 25s/mile quicker. As I got into the shaded park, there was 1 short out and back where I got to see 6-7 athletes ahead of me. I knew they were all within striking distance with gap of 5-6 minutes. I caught a few more throughout the park and was still feeling in control. I was very mindful at aid stations to get enough fluid since I was probably at a deficit from the bike. I was also taking a gel every 2 miles and had 4 down through mile 8. This run didn’t drag on too much and felt the miles ticking away. One thing I noticed was my core temp hit 103.2, which is the highest I’d ever seen it. It was only taking 2-3 minutes for the ice to melt inside my kit, so I knew I was running hot.

I still felt ok and kept track of my HR. As I came out of the park I could see a few more athletes up the road. My mantra the final 5K was Eyes Forward. I saw the next guy start to walk through an aid station and could see the heaviness in the other guy’s legs. I kept pressing and got a boost each time I caught someone. At this point, everyone was crumbling and I didn’t think any would pick it up and go with me. Even if they did, Eyes Forward…who is next? I passed 3 more in the final mile and kicked it in to the finish. 

Pure Pain

Finish (4:09:16 - 19th pro): Very proud to have cracked the top 20! This race was a big step up for me in terms of feeling like I belonged. Especially on the run, I was actually racing, making moves and dropping guys. I will say that I was fully expecting carnage on the run, and I was prepared to pick up the pieces. I did my specific heat prep before the race and planned to be smart and stay within myself. Seemed to work out alright :)

Post Race Dinner

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report 2025

My 3rd pro race of the season and 2nd Ironman pro series event! By the numbers, this was my best Ironman despite the slower bike time. I swam in a small pack, some tactical moves to stay in it, pushed my biggest bike power for a longer duration, and ran my fastest marathon by 6 minutes. Let’s get into it.

 

Pre-Race: This was an incredible trip. Ty and I flew out early Thursday morning and travel was smooth. I spent a little extra money to stay at the Best Western between Mirror Lake and transition, which was well worth it. This eliminated the need to drive anywhere (offset a little gas money and parking). After unpacking we went for a quick swim, and I had a short run to shakeout the travel. Friday, I rode the Keene descent in the rain, and I’m glad I experienced it once before the race. Everything else from check-in, pro briefing and gear check was standard. My final ride/bike were great and it felt like the body was ready to roll. My swim felt good but pace was slow, so I had some concerns of repeating IM Texas.

Race Morning: I was up around 4:15, ate breakfast right away and walked my gear to transition. Given the technical start of the bike, I decided to not flying mount. That saved bike setup time, and I was out in just a few minutes. We walked back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit before I started warming up and getting my gear on. Pros had to report the start at 5:55am, so we didn’t have too much time to chill. I got in for a quick swim warm up and was a little chilled waiting to start. 

Some quick numbers before diving into the results and details. Of the 60 pros registered, only 42 started and finished the swim (8 total DNFs). I’ll include the DNFs in my placement if they finished that leg of the race.

 

Swim (58:17 - 33rd): One quick note is the water temp was 75 degs so non-wetsuit for pros and wetsuit for age groupers. I would argue that this was my best swim in terms of pace and execution. They started the pros knee deep and I stood behind in a 2nd row. I got out as hard as I could for the first 2 minutes and sighted very often to see how the packs were forming. With how clear the water was, it made it easy to see bodies and feet even with my face down. I found myself in a pack of ~6 and think I was on the very back. Despite having the underwater cable to sight, I kept my eyes up to watch for any splits. My first proud moment was seeing a split happen and surging around to stay with the faster swimmers. Shortly after, a second split occurred, and I managed to bridge back up once again. Now it was just 4 of us with me on the back 1000 yards in. The rest of loop 1 actually felt comfortable and relatively easy. I stopped sighting and just followed the feet/cable. As we approached the Aussie exit, I surged up next to the guy in front of me to not lose the front. As we came out of the water, he cut me off and I had to sprint back into the water and put in a very hard effort to get back onto those feet. I was now sitting 3rd in the group and could feel my feet getting hit. The worst part of the swim was passing the age groupers not staying left of the buoys (pros were told to take the inside). I kept getting knocked off those feet and put in big efforts to get back on. The second half was a much harder effort than the first with more water churning and dodging the stray lapped athletes. I managed to hang on until the end of the swim and I am incredibly proud of my result and tactical racing.

 

T1 (4:34): Bit of a run and I took the extra time to put on aero socks. I more than made up that time in T2 though. I also carried my cycling shoes to my bike and put them on at the rack. A flying mount didn’t feel safe in the beginning mile of the bike. 

Bike (5:11:30 - 36th): I felt like I was in a good position out of the swim, but not able to ride with the few stray athletes around me. I was nailing my power targets and still getting passed by a few male and female pros. Penny Slater and Laura Jansen came around me with a male pro, and I sat off the back of them for a few miles with the race ranger light OFF. Unfortunately, we rolled into a hill and the light went orange, blue, then red for a millisecond and back to blue. I had to make the pass and pushed 380W for 90s to pass all three of them; burned a match there. Otherwise, the first ¾ of loop 1 was uneventful and I felt like I was doing alright until we started climbing back to transition, around 1,200 ft in 14 miles. This is where the top amateurs came by in a pack with some females pros. This was degrading after a 12-minute head start. Then it down poured, and visibility was tough. I took my visor off several times to see better and slowly watched my average pace drop. I also started running potential bike splits in my head. My goal was 5:05 and it was looking more like 5:15-5:20. At this point, I considered stopping after loop 1 with how much time I was losing. This was by far the worst part of the entire day, and I really did not want to go out on the loop again. The only reason I stayed out there was to take my shot at breaking 3 in the marathon. Once I saw Ty the rain let up a bit and I started loop 2. At 56 miles I was at 2:37:30 which would be a 5:15 if I even split. My power was where I wanted it to be at 227W, but I didn’t think I could increase it much if at all. As I got back out of town, I started pushing 250-260 and actually felt pretty good doing so. My average power began to creep up, which was very encouraging. I kept the pressure on best I could and it wasn’t until mile 100 that my legs really started to hurt. The last few punchy uphills were tough, and I just wanted to get back to transition without digging too much deeper. I ended up averaging 231W (243 NP) with an average speed of 21.3mph. I pushed about 10W higher on loop 2 and negative split the ride by 3.5 minutes. I was at least happy to salvage something, but the power to speed was still not making sense to me.

T2 (2:00): 2nd fastest overall T2 on the day! Flying dismount was flawless, bike catchers were great, and I was running fast. Everything was soaked, splashing through puddles, but I was so happy to be off the bike. I did have a fresh pair of dry socks in my bag, but I knew I’d soak the instantly. Opted to save the ~30s and get moving. Very fast and smooth getting my shoes on and I was GONE. 

 

Run (2:54:51 - 16th): At this point, it had rained a lot and continued on and off for the rest of my race. Lots of water runoff down the hills and puddles to run through. I had a plan going into the run and stuck to it. The course had around 1,100 ft of gain with the first 3 miles all downhill. I knew I needed to run 6:20s for the first section to be on pace and clocked 6:16, 6:20 and 6:07. Miles 4-7 didn’t have any net gain with some gentle rollers, and I was still holding low 6:20 pace. As I started to climb back up, my goal was to be under 7:15 pace so my average stayed around 6:40 at the top. My slowest split of lap 1 was 7:14, so I knew I was doing great. I saw Ty around mile 9 and told her I may have gone out too hot given my average pace was around 6:30 even after the climb. I finished the next 2 out and back sections and started the second lap with an average pace of 6:35 (around a 1:26 half marathon). I was still feeling strong and was able to attack the steep downhills without needing to hit the brakes. I brought the avg pace down and with a few more 6:20s as I got back down to the bottom of the main hill. The next 2 miles, I set my focus on running sub 7s until mile 18. Doing my mental math, I wanted to have 60 minutes to run the final 8 miles (7:30 pace). I held steady and had about 61 minutes to do it. Mile 20 was the base of the 200 ft climb back up again, and I had about 48 minutes to run the final 10K. In my mind, I just had to run under 8:00 and anything faster was time banked. My slowest split of the day was 7:48 with a net uphill of 100 ft. This was encouraging since I was now close to the finishing elevation with 4 miles to go. I saw Ty again and told her I was breaking 3:00 today. This is where my legs really started to hurt, and I could feel myself slowing. I kept digging until that final turnaround where I saw 1 more pro that I could catch. I passed him with ½ mile to go and gave everything I had to the line.

Finish (9:11:10 – 27th): A phrase I started using this past weekend is “What’s the best that can happen?” Instead of worrying about the negative what-ifs, I tried to think about the positive outcomes. What’s the best that can happen? I make a swim pack and break 3 hours in the marathon. I’ve never regretted leaving everything I had on the course, and I’m glad I didn’t bag the race after a poor bike split. Coming away with what felt more like an elite run split was well worth the mental battle on the bike. There is always more to work on, but I’m content with how this one ended.

Quad Cities Triathlon 2025 Race Report

Final Quad Cities Triathlon

Pre-Race: Coming off a work trip from Arizona in 100+ degree heat, I had a feeling some of my energy would be zapped. I landed in Moline the evening before and drove straight to packet pickup. I got home, hopped on the trainer for an hour and did a quick runoff the bike. I hadn’t been on my TT bike in over a week, so race morning I got on for a quick 10 minutes to make sure everything was good to go.

Swim (7:48 – 3^rd): I was the only registered Elite athlete, so I just started at the front of the race. I paired with a guy who wanted to be first out of the water, so I expected some quick take-out speed. I got on his feet for the first 200 yards until I noticed him drifting to the left. I cut straight towards the buoy and put in a surge as he corrected and got onto my feet as I rounded the buoy. On the way back a highschooler came around me followed by the first female athlete. I got in her draft as we closed out the swim and was out of the water in 3^rd.  I was expecting a slightly faster time, but all in all an ok swim.

T1 (1:58 – 5^th): A very rough transition and I can’t explain why I was so out of sorts. I opted to forgo a flying mount with the uphill start, and I spent much more time getting my cycling shoes on than I should have. I came out 40s slower than the previous year but only lost a few seconds to the front.

Bike (36:31 – 1st): Starting the bike, I already had my shoes on and was able to punch it out of the park. I went by the high schooler and lead female that first ¼ mile and was off the front on my own. We had a strong tailwind heading out, but I could tell my pace was slow. HR was hanging at 172bpm and I was struggling to even hold 300W.  With my computer set to auto lap every 5 miles, the first 5 was 296W and I knew it’d drop more the 2^nd split with the U-turn in the middle. Next 5 was 291W (298NP, so I’m actually ok with that) and the final split dropped to 275W with the flying dismount at the end. Average Power: 285W (294NP) at 25.1mph. The next fasted split was my buddy Matt at just over 2 minutes back. So even though power was ~10W lower than last year, I felt like I had a decent ride. 

T2 (0:50 - 20th): I thought I was incredibly efficient and opted to go sockless again, so I’m surprised to be so far down the list. 2^nd place pulled 16s back on me, but I was through transition and well into the run before he came in.

Run (18:14 – 1^st): I had a comfortable lead of about 5 minutes to 2^nd after I hit the turnaround, but I made it a point to push as hard as I could. At the halfway point I was barely averaging 6min pace and didn’t have another gear. This was my slowest QCT run to date, and I was bummed to not be under 18. In the end, I came around the line over 7 minutes ahead of 2^nd.

Post Race: Not going to lie, it felt good to finally win what I consider a hometown race. At the same time, I must acknowledge the fact that the guys I couldn’t beat in previous years were absent. I was slower across the board in at 5 of my splits, so it’s hard to feel like I earned it. However, I am reminded that you can only race who shows up, and it’s possible that I could have dug a little deeper if I was chasing like previous years. I can blame travel, being in “Ironman shape” or a whole mess of other things. But when I have a race like this, I’m learning to let it be and just get back to work. So many times, I over-analyze an effort and convince myself that I’m off track. Instead, I’ll take winning the final QC Tri with a smile and start building to Ironman Lake Placid.

Here to hoping for a resurrection of the Quad Cities Triathlon in the near future.

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.