Officially back to racing! After Ironman cancelled Wisconsin, I signed up for this race a week out (bib 99 out of 100). I was still recovering from my backyard 70.3 and road a century that next Saturday, but I couldn’t miss an opportunity to race. After the century, I took my last few days easy and felt pretty good by race day. As always, if you want the cliff notes version, feel free to skip to the Summary at the end 😉
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| Setting up Transition with my support crew |
Pre-Race: I am starting a tradition of eating Taco
Bell 2 nights out before my race. I like to think it clears everything out, and
I honestly just want another reason to eat TB. The night before the race, I
usually eat a sub sandwich (preferably from Firehouse), but I’ve been known to
eat a rack of ribs. I drove the course the evening before and took note that
the bike route was rough. This made the decision to run lower tire pressure
easy. I showed up to transition early race morning to grab an end rack and had
plenty of time to get that pre-race poop taken care of.
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| The train was moving too slow, so I decided to pull it |
Swim (32:38 – 4th): We did a rolling start with 2 athletes every 6s jumping off the dock. I was probably the 15th person in the water and naturally forgot to start my watch until a few strokes in. This was possibly the easiest swim course ever, a straight out and back with a slight overshoot before finishing. Water was calm, I only had to pass around 10 people, and we were already "spread out". I knew I was pushing my pace since I didn’t have enough air to maintain a bilateral stroke. Halfway through, I came up to a short draft line and wasn’t willing to sit back. So I made the pass and ended up pulling the entire line for the second half of the swim. Overall, very happy with my swim time and the swim skin. Thanks QR!
T1 (0:41 – Tied for 1st): Not much to say other than I struggled to undo my swim skin and buckle my helmet. The timing mats were at the edge of transition, so my swim time included the 75 yard run from the water. Pretty quick and easy, but the flying mount was a pain going uphill.
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| Rough Roads all Ride |
Bike (2:24:11 – 4th): The route itself was scenic, but the roads were very rough. Out of transition I knew I was in 4th, but no one was in sight. I never caught anyone, and no one passed me. It was a lonely ride for sure. The aid station wasn’t setup when I hit it the first time, so I missed my first chance at fluids. I was able to snag a water the next 3 times I passed and drank all of it. I ate ¾ of a Cliff Bar, 1 tube of shot blocks, and my 1 emergency Gu since they didn’t offer Gatorade. I only held 218 Watts (seems low), but my average pace of 23.3mph was good considering. I intended to stay under 155bpm heart rate before the race, but continuously exceeded it to maintain the pace I thought was necessary to catch everyone on the run. Average ended up being 157bpm.
T2 (1:00 – 4th): This one was a struggle
for me since I don’t normally wear socks in a half. I was moving fast and lost
time fighting my sweaty feet (next time I’ll roll the sock on). So because of
that, I didn’t pull the backs up enough and rubbed my Achilles raw by mile
3. I started the run in 4th, and my dad said 2nd and 3rd
were in sight. With the sprint and Olympic athletes on course, it was very hard
to tell who was in my race.
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| Closes the 4 minute gap in 2.5 miles: Dad, "You're in 1st!" - Me, "Wut???" |
Run (1:25:29 – 1st): My plan for the run
was to go out at a 6:30 and slowly drop my pace down to 6:10-6:15. I was hoping
this would be naturally fast enough to pick off the 3 runners in front of me,
but was ready to push it as needed. Around mile 1, I passed 3rd
place as he started walking. Around mile 2, I caught who I thought was 2nd
place. At this point, I was already suffering and knew 6:15 pace wasn’t going
to happen. I chose to pass him strong and appear to have more in the tank than
I did. Once I was a full turn ahead, I backed it down and just tried to keep
the HR under 175bpm. As I passed the Olympic turn around, I asked the volunteer
if anyone else had gone straight yet. Without anyone in front of me, I was
focused on the gap I was creating behind me. 5 miles in, I was able to see that
I put over ½ mile on 2nd place. At this point in the race, I
was on damage control and focused on HR and perceived effort to still finish well. The run was hot, humid, and
athletes needed to grab bottled water from swimming pools – which required a
complete stop each time. There was no Gatorade offered, so I salted every 2
miles and took my 1 Gu at mile 7. The rest was pretty much a blur, but I closed
the last mile in a 6:04.
Post-Race: I knew I formed a pretty good lead, so I
waited 15 minutes at the finish line for the next athlete to come through. No
one was coming, so I got on with my cool down and started grabbing my
gear from transition. I caught
up with a female pro who finished 2nd overall with a time of
4:44:42. It was certainly a rough day for everyone out there, so I like to
think that I handled the conditions more effectively than the competition.
Summary: Going into this race, I’d say my body was at 90-95% in terms of being recovered. I was incredibly happy with my swim, as it was my fastest time without a wet-suit. Transitions were short keeping the overall time down, and I posted 2 of the fastest splits of the day. Out of T1 I was in 4th. The bike course had some rough roads and intersections with a layer of gravel. Running lower tire pressure was the way to go, and I still held 23.3mph. I wasn’t able to catch anyone, but still maintained my position in 4th. Starting the run, my dad said 2nd and 3rd were in sight. It was tough to tell who was in which race, so I had to guess. I focused on opening with a 6:30 mile and passed 3rd place by mile 1 and 2nd place at mile 2. I saw my dad at 2.5, and he believed I was already in first. I was able to confirm my position with a volunteer at mile 5 where the Olympic turnaround was. At this point, I had an out and back to see my 1/2 mile lead. I was afraid of pushing too hard, so I stayed on the “easier side” of redlining. By mile 10, I was leading by nearly 2 miles. At the finish, I wasn’t super impressed with my overall time, but the heat and picking up our own waters slowed everyone down. I found out how bad it was when the next person (a female pro) finished 20 minutes after me. I also peed blood for the first time (Not sure who even reads all this, but hey...we're in this together now right?!?).
All in all, I am beyond excited to have won my first 70.3. The training is clearing paying off, and I am excited to test myself whenever the next Ironman event is. I am currently signed up for 1 more 70.3 in September where I hope to break 4:20 if the conditions are right.
That’s all for now
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