DSM Race Report

What a crazy way to spend Father’s Day! I am so blessed to have my dad hooked on triathlon, and it honestly felt more like a day for me than for him =) Congrats on your first Ironman 70.3 dad!

Let’s unpack the trip. This may have been the most interesting race I have done. To start, this is the first time my dad was on the same side of the fence. I loved going through check-in together and seeing his excitement throughout the 70.3 experience. Even though I was disappointed that my AWA status didn’t get me a low bid number for a better bike rack, I loved the fact that we were right next to each other.

 

Race Prep: I had a long week of work and training leading up to this race. I was tired, sore, and spent under an hour packing instead of laying everything out with care. I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a race feeling so lethargic or without any expectation. I was much more excited for my dad and didn’t feel like racing myself. The only thing to note from check-in was that parking and transition were about a mile apart. This was a pain for both bike check and pre/post-race gear transport.

Race Morning: The night before, we received a notice stated the race was delayed due to severe thunderstorms. We decided to “sleep in” a bit later, but still prepped as normal. While we were getting ready, they announced that there was a further delay and we’d receive an update by 7:30AM. We decided to park at transition and sit in the car until we received further communication. At this point, I was convinced the race would be cancelled and was already checked out. To my surprise, the race was to start at 9:30AM with a regular swim, half bike (27.1 miles) and regular run.

Swim (31:40 – 94^th): It wasn’t until I finished setting up my gear and was walking to the swim start that I realized I had a race to complete. After getting some energy from my wife and friends, the nerves started to set in. I had no idea how the race was going to go, but once my feet hit the water the switch flipped. I had one of my fastest swims without a wetsuit, and I only lost a few seconds due to leaking goggles and extra sighting.

*Quick aside: I seeded myself in the 30-33min slot and still passed a ton of athletes. I was around the 150-200^th age grouper in the water and finished the swim 47^th amongst age groupers. Lesson learned, seed myself higher so I can get on some faster feet rather than being the faster feet =)

T1 (5:19): A very long transition (0.75 mi), and I didn’t have good run legs from the water. I also ran to the wrong side of my rack and my bike seat got stuck under the rack. Probably lost 15-20s with those mistakes. No flying mount since transition was mostly grass.

Bike (25.1mph – 61^st): The shortened bike played to my advantage here. With some residual soreness from Tulsa and no taper, riding half the distance saved my legs. I decided to push closer to my Olympic power numbers while saving enough to still run a hard half marathon. The sky opened and the sun came out early on the bike. The water was lifted off the roads and allowed me to hit the turns as fast as I wanted. I felt surprisingly good on the bike and held HR in the low 160’s. I was only passed once and average 25.1mph. The roads were in perfect condition, and this was the fastest bike course I have ever ridden.

 

T2 (2:34): I almost ate it after my flying dismount when my shoe caught the ground and barely recovered. A gasp and applause from the spectators had me laughing at myself. Again, I went to the wrong side of my bike rack… and crawled underneath to get to my shoes. Was a little too lackadaisical in my transition prep (yep, had to spell check that one).

 

Run (1:20:53 – 31^st): Starting the run, my legs did not want to go. I started out with a 6:25 mile, but that ended up being my slowest split of the day. Once I found my legs, I let HR guide me by staying under 170bpm until halfway. I was very methodical cruising through aid stations and got everything I needed. I wouldn’t say it was hot, but the sun was out and grabbing ice was key. I was hungry early on and was not shy about taking my 2 gels by mile 5. I was also sure to keep my thumb over the salt tube to avoid another…incident. Once I hit halfway, I felt “fairly” comfortable and found a groove. I elevated HR to 170+ and negative split the back half by 1 minute. I did struggle to grab nutrition on lap 2 with additional course congestion. Miles 7-10 were a blur, and I was finally able to snag a banana at 11 to get more calories. I skipped to water to avoid plowing into a stopped athlete and choked it down until 12. The pain really started to set in here, but I remembered taking 2 positions on the final stretch at Tulsa. I closed mile 13 in a 5:30 and was very happy with a standalone half marathon PR!

Post Race: I bounced back quickly after this race and had 2 beers within the hour. I got to see my dad as he was starting lap 2, and decided to run a 1.5 mile cooldown to see him on the other side of the course. I then ran to get my bike from transition and saw him 3 more times on the course after that. The highlight of the day was getting back into the finish area and giving my dad his medal. This was a moment we will never forget.

Closing Thoughts: At first, I was a little disappointed with a 4^th place age group finish. But after seeing that I landed 6^th overall (amateur), I am very pleased. The 30-39 groups usually stand out, but 25-29 went 1, 3, 4, 6. This drives me to work even harder as these guys will be aging up alongside me in 2023. As I continue my prep for Kona, I still have a few more races to knock out: A local Sprint (DeWitt), Ohio 70.3 and Ironman Wisconsin. I am hoping to have some fun at these racing while staying focused on Kona.

 

I am not signed up for any races post Kona, so I would love some thoughts/feedback on any races I should be doing. I’d like to support more of the local races/events and maybe do 1 destination race.