Trending in the right direction! A lot of text before I get into the race itself, but I want to give some context going in. I was really looking forward to racing again in Louisville with how well the course suits me. Unfortunately I was feeling rough with heavy fatigue and the inability to sleep and recover the 2 weeks leading in. It was a downward spiral and I was no longer looking forward to putting myself out there. In the pro field, I feel much more exposed if I have a bad or off day.
For more context, IRONMAN Lake Placid was 4 weeks prior and it was also my 4th IRONMAN within 10 months (Madison, Kona, Texas, Placid). We also went straight into 13.5 and 22 hour training weeks coming off Placid. Needless to say, it was all starting to add up. But after some good conversation with my coach Brent, we landed on putting myself out there knowing I had heavy recovery on the other side. I was also listening to a Podcast with Joe Skipper where he said, “I would rather be at 100% mindset and only 80% physical going into a race”. With that, I did all I could to reframe my mindset for the next 24 hours.
We got in after 10pm Friday night, checked in and got to bed as soon as possible. I was up early the next morning to ride before traffic picked up and just felt worn out. I tried to nap a bit before taking care of the pre-race logistics and just relaxed as much as I could. It was a busy day between meeting up with family/friends, checking in, pro briefing and gear drop. I was on my feet much more than I typically would be, but I told myself I was staying loose.
Race morning went well, and no issues to report (other than noticing my cycling shoe inserts were missing when I was setting up for a flying mount). We got to the swim start plenty early and I relaxed for a bit before starting my dynamic warmup. At the swim start they had some ice in a cooler that I was able to grab and put down my kit to cool off the best I could. They allowed the pros a quick 5min warmup before our in-water river start.
Swim (25:29 - 24th pro): The hottest swim I have ever done at 86.9F. I only swam ~100 yards to loosen up and ultimately floated on my back to relax and not heat up more than necessary. The start was crowded and I had myself in the 2nd row all the way to the right. The cannon went and it was chaos for the first 400 yards. This was a good sign for me because it felt like I was “in the mix” and battling for position. I didn’t feel like I could get dropped from the guys around me, and I knew the main packs were already out of reach. I opted to stay where I was and watch for any breaks within the small group. The warm water definitely made it harder, so I just sat on the feet and conserved as much energy as possible. Other than the start, I felt completely in control and within myself. Overall a pretty comfortable swim. Also my fastest 70.3 by over 2 minutes thanks to the current.
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| Cheezin after seeing a 25min split |
Bike (2:16:02 - 29th pro): I was a little anxious to see how my legs would turn up when I tried pushing my power targets. Getting that average above 260 in the first 5 miles even with a flying mount was very encouraging. As I was going, Brian Reynolds (someone I’ve tried to be competitive with as an age grouper) came around me with another pro around 15 miles in. I was happy to be ahead of him the far into the race and did what I could to stay with. He ended up getting about 100-200 yards ahead of me, but I sort of maintained that gap throughout. I ended up passing another pro, which doesn’t happen often for me on the bike, so that gave me even more encouragement. A big highlight from the bike was seeing friends and family numerous times. Being a single loop bike course, I was surprised to see them 4 times! Definitely gave me the boost I needed. For the most part I held close to my power target and was around 265W through 35 miles. I had 1 incident with an SUV on course that I couldn’t get around and had to coast a bit. I eventually found a way around them with a big surge. I had 1 shortfall with fueling and that was missing a bottle at the final aid station. That aid station was staggered on both sides for 2 way traffic. An outbound age grouper came across the center line (cones included) towards me because he probably missed the aid station on his side. I reacted and missed half of my aid station to avoid a collision. I had a shot at the last bottle but missed… Pretty annoyed with that guy and had to ride the final 15 miles with minimal fluids. Regardless, I stayed steady coming back into town and was pushing the sneak under 2:15. Close, but still a good bike split for me on the day.
T2 (3:10): A very long run with the bike, but I was fairly efficient. Pretty much middle of the pack with my split and just a little slower than athletes like Ben Kanute and Jason West.
Run (1:21:17 - 11th pro): On paper, this doesn’t look like an impressive run. But given the conditions, how many places I moved up and checking other run splits…this was a great run for me. My legs were heavy at the start and I pretty much knew sub 6 pace was out of the question. I saw 2 athletes up the road (Brian being one of them) and clocked a 50s time gap. I caught one of them right at mile 2 and was approaching Brian at mile 3. I surged hard around him thinking he’s definitely want to run with me. After another ½ mile I had a comfortable gap. In hindsight, I closed 50s in just 2 miles so I was running 25s/mile quicker. As I got into the shaded park, there was 1 short out and back where I got to see 6-7 athletes ahead of me. I knew they were all within striking distance with gap of 5-6 minutes. I caught a few more throughout the park and was still feeling in control. I was very mindful at aid stations to get enough fluid since I was probably at a deficit from the bike. I was also taking a gel every 2 miles and had 4 down through mile 8. This run didn’t drag on too much and felt the miles ticking away. One thing I noticed was my core temp hit 103.2, which is the highest I’d ever seen it. It was only taking 2-3 minutes for the ice to melt inside my kit, so I knew I was running hot.
I still felt ok and kept track of my HR. As I came out of the park I could see a few more athletes up the road. My mantra the final 5K was Eyes Forward. I saw the next guy start to walk through an aid station and could see the heaviness in the other guy’s legs. I kept pressing and got a boost each time I caught someone. At this point, everyone was crumbling and I didn’t think any would pick it up and go with me. Even if they did, Eyes Forward…who is next? I passed 3 more in the final mile and kicked it in to the finish.
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| Pure Pain |
Finish (4:09:16 - 19th pro): Very proud to have cracked the top 20! This race was a big step up for me in terms of feeling like I belonged. Especially on the run, I was actually racing, making moves and dropping guys. I will say that I was fully expecting carnage on the run, and I was prepared to pick up the pieces. I did my specific heat prep before the race and planned to be smart and stay within myself. Seemed to work out alright :)
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| Post Race Dinner |
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