About me


Back in 2017 I made the decision to complete my first Ironman. With a background in running and 1 marathon under my belt, I sought after the title of “Ironman”. I had no experience swimming, and I rode a BMX bike to get me to school. After 8 months of training, Mike Reilly announced me as an Ironman at Madison with a time of 11:38:36. My plan was to be a 1 and done, but I was hooked and completed my 2nd Ironman 5 weeks later. Fast forward 5 years and I crossed the finish line in Kona, Hawaii in 2022. Moving forward, my goal is to inspire and empower other athletes as I work towards my professional racing license.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Virtual Races and Winter Beard

A lot to recap from the past few weeks! I participated in a virtual half Iron bike/run, trimmed my winter beard, and set a new marathon PR.
9 miles into the marathon: Feeling strong

Virtual Half Iron Brick
What started as a friendly competition between me and my Wattie Ink family turned into me carefully planning a race. Many chose to complete the bike on the trainer and finish the run the next day, but I wanted to truly gage where my training was at. I don’t trust trainer miles, so I chose the best day of the weekend to get it all done outside. I stripped down my bike, swapped on race wheels, and drove out to a county road to avoid traffic and any forced stops. I also set some goals prior to competing, so here’s how I did:
Bike goal 22mph (under 2:33): I finished in 2:29 at 22.6mph – I admit there was probably a wind benefit.
Run goal under 1:30 (6:50/mi): I smashed my goal with a 1:22 at 6:15/mi! I was less than 30 seconds off my stand-alone PR, so it was a great effort off the bike.
Overall, I was extremely happy with this effort and proud of my run. The weather was perfect for fast times starting in the 40’s and only getting up to 55. Feeling pretty good about my fitness for April.

Winter Beard
6 months of work!
At long last my winter beard is gone, and Ty couldn’t be happier. Apparently, it “needed to go” so we could take some nice photos. The weather was finally starting to turn anyway, so I suppose it was time. A sad day indeed.

Breaking 3:00

Last weekend I wanted to break 3 hours at the IL marathon before it was postponed. My last attempt was slower than the 3:15:30 I ran at Ironman Wisconsin, so I still wanted to set a PR I was proud of. More important than breaking 3 hours, I wanted to see where my run form is at.
With bike support from both Ty and my brother Scott, I had access to nutrition and fluids whenever I wanted (definite advantage over an actual race). My training partner Jeff also ran the 2nd half to encourage and push me.
Jeff Paul pushing me through the 2nd half: Wearing his new Fit After 40 tank!
Based on what I knew about my current fitness level, I believed I could hold 6:40s if I kept my HR below 160 for the first half and under 165 until I was 10K out. It was a perfect 55 degrees with 10-15mph wind, so the conditions were right.
Through 13.1 miles, I split 1:27 and was feeling strong. It wasn’t until mile 16 that I started to fatigue and have shortness of breath. Despite losing a little time into the headwind, I was confident I would get back to 6:40 pace on the return trip. With 5K to go, I was just under 6:40 pace and decided to push it home. I closed it in a 19:30 5K and a 6:00 last mile.
Final time was 2:53:01, so I can finally say I broke 3 hours!

Aside from losing the beard, it’s been a successful month despite races being cancelled. Motivation is certainly hard to come by, but seeing results at race effort gives me a boost.

Cheers!
Matt

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