I wasn’t sure what to expect 15 days after the Ironman World Championship. I felt like my cardio was mostly recovered and ready to go, but my legs were a different story. Going into the weekend, we had a late start to our 10 hour drive and arrived around 1AM Saturday morning. We slept in as much as we could before tackling the pre-race activities. Ty and I were efficient in knocking out the logistics and opted to skip course recon. I was dragging all day, and my legs did not feel ready after a spin and short run.
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| Time to Fly |
Race morning was flawless with parking, bike setup, boarding
the shuttle and taking care of those last few pre-race details =) I also hung
out with a Spaero Elite Teammate (Brian) while waiting to start. It was nice
having a friend to keep my mind busy and to suit up with. I’d say the only “mistake”
I made over the entire day was not lining up early enough. It was warm, so we didn’t
want our wetsuits on for too long. My intent was to be 50-100th in
the water. I ended up being around 1,500th in the water because math
(started at 7:27, so 4 athletes/4s x 27 minutes x 60s = 1620). One quick
note is I felt hungry before getting in the water. Normally I time my Gu 30
minutes before the swim and sip electrolytes until the start. It ended up being
about an hour, and I tossed my bottle too early.
Overall placements for each segment include both male/female
pros.
Swim (27:51 - 9th AG / 65th OA): Starting
late on the swim, I was anticipating this being a cluster. With the river, I
think there were varying tactics like swimming towards the center for fast
current vs hugging the shoreline to cut distance. This probably widened the
field and I didn’t have many swimmers around me. My goal was to simply sight
the furthest buoy since they curved a bit, and I wasn’t going to sit on anyone’s
feet. I pushed my pace from the start and feathered that “this is too hard”
mentality. Out of the age groupers, I ranked 24th. This was by far my
best swim (relative to the field). I passed several hundred athletes, but it
wasn’t apparent with everyone spread out. The pace is difficult to compare with
it being 1.4 miles downriver, but this was the hardest I had pushed in a 70.3
swim.
T1 (3:22) – I had no issues getting my wetsuit down, and the
volunteers yanked it off in one pull. Everything else was smooth despite narrow
bike racks and navigating through athletes. I fumbled with clipping in my first
shoe at the mount line, but that’ll show up in my bike split. I moved up 9
places despite opting out of a flying mount.
Bike (2:22:50 – 8th AG / 86th OA):
Once I got on the bike, I started out a little hot. In the first mile I was
around 270W and needed to cool that down right away. Part of this was starting
uphill and staying left passing a slew of athletes. The wind was also out of
the south, so we had a headwind out and tailwind back. One benefit of starting
back on the swim was getting a slight draft when passing athletes, but I bet
this was nullified by additional navigating and waiting to make passes. It took
a while for my HR to settle down, and I was in the upper 160s for the first
20-30 minutes. I finally settled in and got it into the mid 150’s. About 40
miles in, the passes took longer and we were more spread out. Until this point,
I was averaging around 230W, but my average speed wasn’t where I wanted it. I
was happy with the power numbers given how my legs felt the day before. The last
30 minutes I fell into a bit of a lull. I let my power drop and ended up at 221W
(some is expected preparing for a flying dismount). My normalized ended at 231W
and was in my goal range of 230-235. The bike was my weakest on the day based
on the 23.8mph average. This is where I lost most of my time. But to end on a positive
note, at no point did I notice or blame fatigue from St. George.
T2 (2:27) – I had a well-executed
flying dismount, and a quick run to my bike rack. My shoes kept catching the ground,
so I may need a solution to grab those precious seconds. I rolled my socks more
than last time and struggled a little less getting them on. Grabbed my hat/nutrition/bib
and went out hot to start the run. I got everything assembled before the timing
mat and felt good.
Run (1:22:02 – 3rd AG / 33rd OA): I
Love starting the run needing to hold myself back. Even though I was only ½ mile
in, I liked seeing 6:05 pace. The first mile was uphill, and I split a 6:17
followed by a 6:10. It felt fast, so monitored my HR closely to try staying
under 170bpm despite the heat. My highlight was passing Miranda Carfrae while
she was on her 2nd lap. When I caught the female pro just ahead of
her, she asked me how far back Rinny was (20 yards and closing…) I spent the entire
run weaving through runners and hitting fluids at each aid station, especially on
lap 1 before the course got even busier. My plan to stay under 170bpm for the
first half went out the window by mile 3, so I upped it to 172 and still felt
comfortable at this effort. Coming off the full 2 weeks prior made the run fly
by. I was halfway done before I knew it at a 6:24/mile average, and I upped my HR
to 175. Still feeling relatively comfortable at this effort, I opted to miss a
few aid station handoffs due to athletes blocking tables. As always, seeing my
wife gave me a boost, and she relayed my position and time gaps. I knew 5th
place was almost locked up, and I was ready to close the last 40s on 4th
with 4 miles to go. Miles 8-9 is where I really had to work and felt that fatigue
setting in. HR was occasionally touching 180 and I focused on keeping my
cadence. With 2 to go, I saw Ty for the last time. She reminded me, “You wanted
a fight? Well it’s time to fight!” I held that HR over 180 for the last 1.5
miles and pressed into it. With a net downhill finish, I closed in a 5:52 mile
and topped out my HR at 189.
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| Awards |
Overall, I am very happy with the race I put together. Going in, I didn’t feel like myself and already had the excuses lined up. St. George 15 days prior, driving in at 1AM the morning before, and just not feeling it. With the amazing support of my wife and her ever increasing knowledge, she had me as ready as I could possibly be (both mentally and physically). My main goals of the race were to take any spot on the podium and to enjoy pushing my limits. Other than the last bit on the bike, I’d say I achieved both. I’m sure St. George played a factor in my performance, but I can honestly say I didn’t think about much it or use it as an excuse to back off. I landed 4th AG and the 7th overall amateur. I loved the venue/course, and it felt so good to lean into the discomfort instead of being on damage control. I felt great all race and it reminded me of my performance at Tulsa when I got that KQ.
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| Wifey |
Next up is a little recovery and some maintenance before Steelhead 70.3 in 5 weeks. After that, it’s full tilt until Kona in October with some fun races to incorporate with my training.
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