Chattanooga 70.3 Race Report

 Racing 70.3s back to back weekends! I wasn’t sure how this would go, but I’m satisfied.

Travel: I’ll skip the travel and pre-race logistics this time. Everything was smooth and nothing to note EXCEPT I brought Taco Bell back 2 nights before the race.

Swim (31:20 - 27th pro): Arguably one of my better swims. The water temp was non-wetsuit for pros and the current was light this year. I felt I positioned myself well at the start as everyone was bunched up to the right. I went out as hard I I felt comfortable and was getting bodied for the first 200 meters. Once things settled out, I could clearly see a decent group ahead of me and did my best to recover a bit and not lose the back of it. I could tell Ari Klau was ahead of me and I felt good being in his company (he missed the win by 5s). I felt like I had to work very hard to stay with him, and throttled the gas the entire time. Once things did settle, it was “easy” in a sense of just stay on the feet. The current certainly helped me and I had to work for it. 

T1: I did better with the helmet strap this time! Took 3 tries which is better than standing there for 35s! I didn’t lose any positions, so that’s a win in my book. No aero socks this time helped as well.

Bike (2:18:54 - 38th pro): Here we go again on the bike. I was really happy with my position starting the bike and I had several opportunities to try riding with a large group or a few individuals that came by. A group of 5 came by and put down the power to stay with them for about 10min. Even at 300W, I was getting dropped so I decided to go back to my target of 270 before blowing up. I auto lap every 5 miles and 5-10 was 290W. Each rider that came by pretty much dropped instantly to the point where I asked another pro if I had a flat on a climb. He said it looked low but he wouldn’t stop for it. I checked after the race and it was about 10psi below where I thought I had filled it (despite being 15 deg warmer too). Either way, I can only describe it like I was riding a flat up those small rollers. I ended up pushing the same power as I did in Gulf Coast last week, and my split was comparable to 2 other pros that did the double as well. I was fully expecting the top female pros to come by at any moment, but fortunately they didn’t. I will have some time before my next race to attempt a few tweaks. One thing I was going to leave out but I think is important...I've been dealing with a nasty eye stye since Guld Coast. Without exaggerating, I could not see out of my right eye during most of that ride, so I just kept it closed. I felt this had a minor impact on my ability to see hazards and navigate turns as well as I would normally. Not going to post any pictures of that here.

T2: No issues here and took the flying dismount cautiously again. Pretty much every bike was racked like last time, but I just focused on myself again. One reason I had preferred socks in T1 is because I’ve had my abs cramp when bending down to put on the socks. This happened like normal today and I had to straighten up twice to stop it. As I was starting the run, I saw the lead female roll in.

Run (1:19:51 - 28th pro): Yes you read that right, relative to the pro field I had a better swim. I still thought it was a solid run, but this was a first for me. I started the run pretty disheveled… put my bib on backwards, dropped a gel and just struggled to get myself situated. It’s also all uphill and I had to pee again. I was able to take care of business between miles 1 and 2 this time then got to work.

I thought run was going to be bad when both of my calves were feeling very tight and crampy. I couldn’t run a single sub 6 mile that first loop. But when I saw my support crew, shoutout to Dynmo, my mom, Sarah and cousin Hannah (with her daughter)…I got quite the boost. Everything seemed to loosen up and from 8 on, I as under 6 except for 1 uphill mile. I also closed in a 5:38, so that felt good. 

Overall I am very satisfied with this performance after Texas 4 weeks prior and Gulf Coast 1 week prior. Even those the river helped me stay with a better group, that swim showed me I can come out ahead of strong riders. My big missing piece is still the bike, and I am bleeding way too much time. I welcome any and all thoughts. In typical fashion, I ran down a few positions at the end. 

Gulf Coast 70.3 Race Report

Getting straight into this one! Taking a stab at being concise for once.

Travel: I left after work Wednesday and spent the night in St. Louis with my mom. We got up early and drove a little over 10 hours to a hotel in Alabama, then finished the last 2 hours Friday before the race. She was a huge help sharing the drive so I could relax and stretch myself out in the passenger seat. 

Friday was a little hectic getting checked in, the pro briefing, setting up my bike in the parking lot and waiting until 3:30pm to check into our hotel. I let a few of the little details overwhelm me, but managed to get to bed by 8pm for a start time of 5:40am. 

One thing I want to touch on going into this race is a change to my day to day and race week nutrition. I won’t go into the details, but everything I consumed was timed and tracked to hit certain macros. My girlfriend Sarah was the main reason I tried this and she was pivotal in meal planning. She also sent me with every snack imaginable and even pre-packed bags with the macros listed to make tracking easy.

Race morning: We got to transition right as it opened and I quickly got my gear setup. As I was leaving they announced the swim would be shortened to 1000 meters due to hazardous water conditions and we’d now start at 6:10am. They mentioned this contingency plan during our pro briefing, so I wasn’t too shocked. My mom and I found a place to hunker down for the extra 30min and I was glad I packed a little extra nutrition to stay topped off. 

Swim (9:23 - 27th pro): It was a beach start and I opted to stay in the back row to avoid some of the chaos. As we ran into the water, several bodies were falling and I just did that awkward water skip until I had passed most of the breaking waves. The swells were decent and I found my space heading to the first turn buoy. After going around it, I started swimming to the first sight buoy and soon noticed no one in front of me. Confused, I looked around and saw everyone closer to the shore side. Those buoys must have been blown out slightly and I could see the far turn buoy and aimed for that. I don’t think I swam too wide, but definitely missed my chance at sitting on anyone’s feet. It was over in a blink and probably closer to 600 meters. I’m not happy or disappointed with it.

T1: I felt like I was efficient through the sand and getting to my bike quickly. I opted to skip aero socks this time and just grab my bike. Despite practicing clipping my new helmet strap 30+ times the night before, I literally stood there for 30s unable to clasp it (verified because my buddy Kyle was 35s faster and we ran through it together). I lost touch with anyone I came out of the water with starting the bike, so that stunk.

Bike (2:07:45 - 29th pro): The first 10 miles of the bike I was solo and passed 1 guy who didn’t try to stay with me. As I was grabbing a bottle from the first aid station, 2 guys came around me and may have been with me without me realizing. I actually had some fun playing with race ranger and stayed with them since they were similar in ability. It felt like actual racing to me, and I was pretty happy with my power production and effort level. I felt like we were moving a little slow with what I believed was a tailwind until we turned around and had an actual tailwind riding about 30mph. At the time, I thought I was killing it and was super happy to split under 2:10 for the first time. When I saw Sam Long 3 miles into the run as I was coming off the bike, I realized everyone rode insanely fast. Looking at the results, 18 guys broke 2 hours which is insane. Still some work to do, but I felt strong and enjoyed my first taste of “pack” dynamics.

T2: I felt like this went well. I took the flying dismount cautiously. The last time I did one was Texas, and we know how that went. Pretty much every bike was racked, but I just focused on myself and was quick to get socks and shoes on. I did drop my sunglasses and had to stop and grab them.

Run (1:16:50 - 15th pro): If you’ve read my blogs and race reports before, you know there’s no such thing as TMI. I really had to pee starting the run, so I took the first mile slow. I was running behind another pro and was trying to take care of business before passing him. After a mile of trying, I couldn’t get it started and decided to run through it. I split a 6:20 and then a few 6’s for loop 1. As I started loop 2 I decided to try again and was successful at mile 5 clocking a 6:10. With an empty bladder, I started dropping 5:45 miles and felt strong. I actually felt comfortable and could lean into that effort. I told myself I would wait until the final lap to go, but I kept accelerating around lapped athletes. When I saw my mom ending lap 2, I told her this is the strongest I’ve felt deep into a 70.3. I fully attribute that to how well Sarah helped me fuel for the race. I ended up closing the final 5K in 17:45, and that felt really good. First time under 1:17 and a minute run PR. I will say the course was very fast and conditions were perfect, but my run was strong compared to the rest of the pros.

Overall I’m happy with the performance 3 weeks post Ironman. I wasn’t sure if I could recover in time, but maybe that’s from having a slower day in Texas. Little shoutout to my buddy Kyle Martinelli in his pro debut finishing 3min ahead of me! I was hoping to catch him on the run, but his bike was just too strong. Next up is a quick turnaround in Chattanooga, and I’m excited to see how the body responds to racing back to back weekends. 

IM Texas 2026 Recap

Warning! This recap is going to be raw. I may have met some of my softball goals, but I fell way short of my true targets.

Missed a pro series point by 15s

This was one of the worst race weeks I’ve had in terms of stress. Even though it was self-inflicted, I could not shake it. Since December, I have averaged 20 hours/week and never dipped below 17. I was feeling a bit worn out, but very fit. The pressure to perform came from the sacrifices made these last 5 months, and I really wanted that training and effort to bear fruit. I’ll get into the details in each section on the recap.

Race Week: As I mentioned, this was a stressful week for me. The night before our flight, my dad called me at midnight to tell me our first flight was cancelled. We made a snap decision to drive to O’Hare after a call with United to make our connection. This meant getting up at 3:45AM after some already broken sleep. Thankfully my buddy Drobs handled the driving/parking to take as much stress off me as possible. Everything was smooth sailing after that.

Once we arrived we got checked in early, built my bike and got me out for a ride and run. My Achilles was bothering me during the run, so we decided to shut down running until race day. We also managed to squeeze in check-in before heading to dinner. 

One little stressor was riding around the Woodlands leading up to the race. I found a 2 mile loop I could repeat and many times as needed, but getting to and from was a little sketchy.

Bike Check with Taylor Knibb

Swim (1:00:20): The 80 pro men mass start wasn’t too bad because I was spit out the back quickly. I went as hard as I could for the first 500 yards to attempt to make a pack but was at my limit and ended up settling in with 3-4 other very weak swimmers. Turns out we were jockeying for last place back there. I wasn’t expecting a great time, but I thought I would be better than an hour… the top 3 female pros passed me halfway into the channel, and this was the first indicator that I’m probably not cut out to be a professional. There were only 4 bags left when I got to mine, so I knew I was pretty much last out of the water.

Bike (4:37:57): The bike started out alright but I was quickly passed by Kat and Solveig around mile 10. I rode off the back of them for a few miles, but lost touch before we got to Hardy Toll Road. I was ok with being dopped for a World Champion... I held my power targets but felt HR was a little high early on. The entire south section was into a headwind and I was solo the entire time. I felt like I was riding conservative at the lower end of my range at 240W and was more or less waiting to bump it up on loop 2. Once I got there, I didn’t feel like I could. My glutes felt useless and even that lower range was not sustainable for me. I was also having a hard time with passing the age groupers and another pair of female pros caught me. Second sign that I’m not cut out for professional racing. I did my best to let them through and not interfere, but anytime they got cut off, I’d be in the 20M draft and needed to execute a pass. I knew this was annoying to them, but we had a ref riding along side us the entire time and I really couldn’t afford a penalty with how slow I was riding. 

There was an interesting wind shift that also made my split a bit faster. Despite my power numbers dropping and only pushing 220W, I was still holding 24mph. I will also admit that I was getting a draft off the ref’s moto while I hung back from the 2 women. This lasted about 10 miles before I caught a 2nd wind and decided to make a decisive pass and leave them behind with 20 miles to go. As I was finishing the last mile, Jackie Hering came around me and that felt like the nail on the coffin. I let her through and nearly ate it at the dismount line when she came to a complete stop to get off her bike. 

Lap 2 Vibes

Run (3:02:04): I was proud of myself for getting to the run and was hoping this is where my race would turn around. I did my best to just run comfortable, and that ended up being around 6:40 pace for most of the first loop. I was able to pee around mile 4 and felt ok overall. Anytime I was running faster, I pulled back to try and save myself for that final loop. Jackie again caught me around mile 10 and I ran with her and Grace Thek for a few miles. I even apologized for the bike jockeying earlier.

Mile 11 my core cramped and slowed me down to a crawl; I was ready to throw in the towel and call it a day. But, I thought about everyone back home tracking and my support crew that came all this way just for me… It’ll pass became my mantra and after a painful mile it finally did. The rest of laps 2 and 3 were getting congested with lapped athletes and many would stop right in front of me, grabbing every cups in sight. It was certainly a mistake to keep my momentum and not wait for them to move to get what I needed. It was extremely humid and a noticed that any ice I put in my kit melted within a minute. My core temp was clearly high, but my CORE sensor wasn’t giving me a reading to verify. I entered fight mode the entire 2nd half, focusing on a course PR to motivate myself. If there’s any positive I can take away from the race, it’s the tenacity and grit on a non-ideal day. 20 pros DNFed for various reasons if that says anything. And looking back at some data, my HR never dipped and steadily rose the entire marathon. Despite that, my pace fell off and I was definitely dehydrated. 8:44:59 official finish time.

Final Thoughts: In all honesty, if I hadn’t booked travel and accommodations for my next 3 races…I’d be done right now. Despite “earning” my pro card, I am so far away from being able to validate and actually keep it. In my mind, that pretty much says I’m not deserving of it. I’ve also heard a few podcasts talk about this exact same topic and that someone like me should not be a professional. Final stat: 7 amateurs and 7 female pros beat me, and that’s just sad. That all being said, I’ll be back to it pretty quick with Gulf Coast in less than 3 weeks. Hopefully the body can recover quickly and perform better at the shorter distance.

PS: I’m not looking for validation or sympathy about the race, but if you do have comments...feel free to send them my way, positive or negative. I'm just being vulnerable and honest about it all.

2025 Recap

It’s that time of year! I’m already in full preparation for the 2026 season, but I wanted to give a quick-ish recap of 2025 to put a bow on my rookie pro season. 

Overall, I am quite satisfied with how things went and was about what I expected. Here are the highlights before diving into each race:

All 3 full IRONMAN races were brand new to me! Texas, Lake Placid and Arizona

3 70.3s with 1 new at Santa Cruz

I flew to 4 races this year. The most I’ve ever traveled by air is twice in a season.

Total Hours: 800

Swim Yards: 600,000

Bike Miles: 9,000+ (over 50% outdoors, which was a big goal of mine)

Run Miles: 1,250

Ironman Texas (34th pro - 8:49:03)

My first pro race was a big one. With it being a pro-series race and guys like Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden showing up… it was quite intimidating. Highlights were an embarrassing swim that I’ve since learned from, a PR bike split, and a 3:05 marathon in hot conditions after little run training. I put together the best race I possibly could, ran down 15 guys and came away with a shiny IRONMAN PR. I also got pictures with Taylor Knibb and the entire 2025 Men’s IRONMAN World Champs Podium in Nice (Casper, Gustav and Kristian).

Chattanooga 70.3 (29th pro - 3:34:50)

First 70.3 as a pro turned duathlon. We drew lots to determine the time trial starting order on the bike and I was somewhere in that first 3rd. I got to experience losing my bottle with 80% of the nutrition I needed at mile 1. And every year I seem to have some sort of adversity at this race, but I’m proud of how I pivot, manage and fight to the line regardless. I never wrote a race report for this since I was pretty disappointed in my result.

Quad Cities Triathlon (1st Overall)
The final edition of our local sprint triathlon. I have tried to win this race several times, but was outclassed each year. My main competition was absent, and I won by about 8 minutes. Not much else to say, just happy to take the hometown win in the final QC Triathlon. 

Ironman Lake Placid (27th pro - 9:11:10)

Lake Placid was circled on my calendar as a race I wanted to experience. I knew the bike course was especially hard, but I was looking forward to the challenge. The location was absolutely beautiful, and I can see why it’s a North American Favorite. My swim was one of the main highlights after what happened in Texas. I was able to stay in a small pack and even made some tactical moves by catching several breaks. By far my best non-wetsuit swim at 58:17. The bike however, was one of my worst and I was ready to drop out after loop 1. I remember wanting to see what my run would look like, so I powered through and slightly negative split the back half. When I got to the run, I had never felt so good. Despite the amount of elevation, 6:30s came easy to me. I just snuck under 2:55 to finally break the 3 hour barrier in an Ironman.

Louisville 70.3 (19th pro - 4:09:16)

Best performance of the year and cracked the top 20. I had a great swim, a solid bike and a phenomenal run, moving up 9 places. I mostly remember a hot swim and pure carnage on that run. I had incredible support from family and friends on course, and they were able to see me a record number of times.

Santa Cruz 70.3 (33rd pro - 4:15:31)
I almost didn’t include this one because of how poor I raced. Panic attack on the swim, lost nutrition on the bike, and almost got run down by Tamara Jewett (starting 5 minutes after me). My only take-away is PRing my gel intake at 8 gels in a half marathon (1 every 10 minutes).

Hennepin 50K (1st - 3:29:44)

My motivation for the 50K was twofold. I really wanted some sort of “win” for the year after getting dusted in the professional IRONMAN fields. I was also looking for a course record to put a notch in my belt for sponsorship outreach. With it being 85 degs at the start, my chances dwindled a little bit. I still gave it my best shot and at least came away with the win by over 16 minutes in my first ultra. 

Ironman Arizona (29th pro - 8:34:29)

Final race of the season, and the fastest course I’ve competed on. I felt I had a respectable swim despite some concerns of panic in my wetsuit after Santa Cruz, but I went out a little more conservative and it paid off (57:12). I felt great on the bike during loop 1 holding 250W, but the wheels quickly came off and I fell way short of my power targets. Still an ok split, but actually gave me encouragement that I can go faster when the power is there. Another example of me wanting to quit on the bike, but backing my run instead. I was so ready to settle for an overall PR, but kept wanting more. I ran my 2nd sub 3 marathon off the bike, and this is the expectation moving forward. 

Top 3 take-aways from 2025:

1. This sport takes time. I’ve been on a long and steady rise since 2017 (with a hiccup here and there), but the overall trend is up. Keep trusting the process and keep stacking those blocks, the results will come. 

2. I still think this is funny from 2 years ago, so I’m using it again. Not everything is a lesson: https://youtu.be/kyy5pirAaoI?feature=shared    

Sometimes there isn’t anything to “learn” from an experience, and that’s ok. For me, I learned that it’s important to stop searching for a reason and simply accept the result. 

3. Keep changing it up. Everything I do does not need to be a triathlon. The 50K, although barely more than a marathon, was a new and fun experience for me. Be on the lookout for something else like this in 2026. 

Once of my favorites: Hunting

IMAZ Race Report

 Wrapping up my rookie pro season at IRONMAN Arizona! This was the first time I’ve taken several days before trying to unpack anything from the race. It’s already been 3 days and I haven’t even opened my data files to dissect everything. 

Unfortunately this was the last year for Arizona and it was a great venue. Prior to the race, I spent some time at the zoo to kill time and keep my mind busy. Saturday before the race I did my shake out ride and run. During the ride, my visor fell off and was immediately run over by a car. I have seen several pros wear sunglasses with their arrow helmet instead of a visor, so that is what I opted to do.

Swim (57:12 - 31st pro): It was about 20 minutes before sunrise when they started the pro men. We were given 10 minutes to warm up and treaded water until the cannon went off. With over 60 on the start line, it was hectic as always. I opted to not go quite as hard for the first 400 yards after what happened at Santa Cruz, and I think I made the right call. I could feel the tightness in my chest again, but it never got to the point of panic with pace I was going. It felt like the first 1000 was a constant battle for feet, and once I felt like the packs were established, I pretty much let myself fade to the back of my group. In the future, I will need to push harder for longer in hopes of making a main group instead of the scattered slow swimmers at the back. After this point, the swim felt pretty casual and I enjoyed sitting on the back of a group of 5. Around 2500 yards, I noticed we were all pretty separated with someone that broke about by 15-20 yards. I felt my effort was quite easy, so I put in a big surge the go around the guys I was with and move up to another set of feet. Once I caught up, I settled back in until the swim was done. I came out thinking I swam 57 high, and it wasn’t until after the race that I found out it was 57:12 and a PR for me. 

Proof that I did in fact close a gap

T1 (3:03): A shorter transition but I still managed to make it take 3 minutes… I struggled to get the wetsuit off and shove everything back in my bag, and we had to carry the bags to the bikes with us. The run was good though and my mount was quick and efficient. I chose to wear a different pair of cycling shoes (a heavier pair that I only train in), but it was much easier getting into them and strapped down. I’ll most likely stick with them in the future. 

Bike (4:35:48 - 39th pro): With a 3-loop bike course, I pushed lap 1 slightly above my targets. I was very happy with the pace and the effort felt sustainable. I came through the lap 1 u-turn with an average power of 253W. Knowing laps 2 and 3 would have traffic, I was hoping I could still hold decent power even with occasional coasting as I navigated through age groupers. As I was halfway out on lap 2, my legs were already struggling before I reached halfway. I watched my power slowly drop and couldn’t find the same gear I had. By the halfway point, I already dropped to 245W average. My speed was decreasing, but not as much as I would have expected. With the way the headwind was hitting us from right going downhill back into town, the age groupers were providing some protection. Even though pros are not allowed to slip stream, there was enough benefit just staying left the entire time. As I finished lap 2, I was ready to be done. I thought about just pulling off, ending my day and coming up with some sort of excuse. I remembered I felt similar at Placid and still had the run of my life, so I hit the u-turn and went out for that final lap. I haven’t looked at my power numbers in depth yet, but I know they weren’t great. I’d estimate around 220W to close it out. My legs felt out of juice and simply hurt. I figured a bike PR was out of the question given how much I dropped off, but I managed to come in about 2min ahead of my Texas PR. Average power was 237 / NP 243 with an average speed of 24.4mph. My heart rate was a few bpm below target, so it was clear that my legs were the limiting factor on this ride. 

T2 (1:59): I came into T2 relieved to be off the bike. Given how smashed my legs felt, I fully expected to walk some of the marathon. I had a smooth dismount, bike catcher took the Ku right away, and I was off to the change tent. As I was leaving, I decided to just power walk as I sorted myself. As I got to the arch, I started my shag. My legs were dead and I refused to even look at my pace as I slogged along.

Run (2:56:27 - 21st pro): The first mile felt rough and my legs were crushed. I refused to check my pace and thought I was running 7:30s. To my great surprise, mile 1 beeped and I saw 6:37. Considering how slow it felt, this was a positive sign. Mile 2 clicked off at 6:32. I still felt like garbage, but I changed my tune to focusing on an IRONMAN PR (8:49). This required a 3:09 marathon, and I felt it was attainable even if my pace slowed. At this point, I was focused on getting to the 10K mark while maintaining a little under 6:40 pace. My mental math told me I could run 7:30s for the final 20 miles to get that PR. I hit 10K in just under 41 minutes and started to feel a touch better. Around mile 7, Menno Koolhaas came by me and I overheard his support crew tell him 5min lead to Sam Long. He was locked in, running smooth at 5:30 pace. This was another very encouraging sign that I “held off” getting lapped until mile 7. At IM Texas, 1st-3rd had already started loop 2 before I even started my run. This told me I was having a better day than Texas.

As I started lap 2, my next focus was to get to mile 10 to see what pace I’d need for the final 16 in order to PR. I had just over 2 hours which is exactly 7:30 pace. At that time, I came up on a female pro (Amanda) and chatted for a bit. We ran together for a few minutes, and that was a great distraction for me. Miles 10-12 was a section of packed dirt, and I was 10-15s/mile slower on it. Once I got through it for the 2nd time, I really used the crowds around transition to give me the boost I needed. Now I am looking to get to the halfway point and see what I’d need to split on the back half. I came through at 1:27 and knew I could run 1:42 the second half to still get that PR. Given I was averaging 6:40 pace, I changed my tune again and went back to my original goal before the race. Finish under 8:40. 

I kept pushing and now focused on mile 16 to see I’d need the final 10 miles. I was now running mid 6:40 pace and really just wanted to stay under 7’s. As I started lap 3, Ty said something that motivated me for the rest of the marathon. “Last lap of the entire season, what are you going to do with it? No reason to leave anything in the tank.” My coach said the same thing before the race as well… Nothing after this race, so empty the tank. I repeated this in my head throughout and starting picking off a few more pros. When I hit mile 20, I changed my tune 1 final time and that was to run another sub 3 marathon. Even thought I could coast in at 7:20 pace to be under 8:40, I changed my goal again. I focused on getting to that final 5K where there would be no more excuses to ease up. The last few miles were a blur, but I remember catching 2 more guys in the final mile after splitting off towards the finish. I ran my legs off and closed my final mile in 6:32. 

Pac Man

Finish (8:34:29 - 29th pro): I crossed the finish line strong, but with nothing left. I turned around to see my official time, and seeing that made it all worth it. I’m very proud of the grit I had on the course. Usually the suffering doesn’t start until 80 or 90 miles into the bike, but one this day it was mile 50. The run started hard instead of floating through the first half like I did in Placid. Despite quitting in my head several times throughout the day, I kept going back to my friends and family refreshing their trackers. I also remembered how I felt in previous races and the results I still achieved. A nearly 15 minute IRONMAN PR to close out my rookie pro season was the perfect way to end it. That last lap of the season really felt like a victory lap for me.

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.