What a way to cap off my 2026 season! Going into my final race, I had all of the excuses already lined up. It was my 3rd Ironman of the year in addition to 3 70.3s and running a 100K trail race 3 weeks prior. I knew my body was tired, so I didn’t expect much from it. That took a lot of pressure off, and I convinced myself anything under 9 hours would be acceptable. We stayed with friends about an hour from the venue. They have a beautiful house, direct access to the Gulf, and know how to entertain.
The 2 days leading up to the race we went on boat rides, ate incredible food and their personal cocktail bar was open for business. Mike had an entire book of mixed drinks he could make and we had wine every night. That’s all to say, I was in full vacation mode and had never enjoyed myself that much leading into a big race.
I talked to my coach Brent about the race plan and said I was just going to try and have fun out there. That wasn’t going to fly and I was instructed to “race stupid”. Conditions were great for a fast day, and he tossed out going for a run PR.
Race start was 5:40AM and we were up at 3:10 to get ready. Sarah was an all star the entire day, starting with that early drive. No issues getting my gear setup and we were parked close enough to just chill in the car to stay warm. This was the first time I tried to bail from the race, but Sarah wouldn’t let me. We got down to the start line and I kept my sweats on over my race kit until 5min before the start. I opted to not practice swim to stay warmer after I had a few rough starts when I was shivering.
Swim (58:45 - 35th pro): It was a short run to the water but a long shallow stretch before anyone dove in. I felt like I got a decent start and after 100 yards or so was happy with my position as we all strung out. I found myself in a group of 5-6 and I was content where I was. The water was incredibly calm with wind from the North (blowing out from the beach). I felt comfortable and settled until we hit the 3rd turn to head back to shore into the wind. I’m not sure if there was a small current, but I struggled to swim straight on that stretch and started to lose the feet. I was only a few seconds back getting onto the beach and it’s about a 150 yard run to start the 2nd loop. I was just under 30min but didn’t want to see my exact split, so I focused on trying to catch back up with the 5 guys ahead of me. We were all zombies wading our way back into the water and no one wanted to dive back in. It took a minute for me to regain my breath, and I stuck with 1 other pro since the rest scattered. As me merged back in with the age groupers, they were all over the place. I was hoping the right side of the buoy line would be clear, but not so much. It was mostly annoying with them in wetsuits because a lot of them tried to get on my feet. Going back around that first turn buoy the lead female came around the inside of me and gave me a good wack on the head. Nothing else to really report as I navigated my way through the rest of the swim. I was very happy to be under an hour when I got out.
T1 (4:51): One of the longer IM transitions, but I felt like I made my way through efficiently. I lost a little bit of time getting my aero socks pulled up, but I stand by that move to not need socks in T2, plus the aero benefit since I couldn’t wear calf sleeves without a wetsuit. I did stash a pair in T2 just in case I was with a big group and wanted to make that bike pack by skipping socks. That was not the case today.
Bike (4:33:30 - 39th pro): I was hoping for a bit more on the bike, but pretty much fell to the back of the field with only 3 other pros behind me. Not even a mile in, my buddy Kyle blew by me and I had no chance of staying with him. In previous races, it usually takes almost half of the bike for him to catch me. My transition definitely hurt me and I didn’t think I’d be seeing him again. The early headwinds were brutal and it was very cold the first 30min. Early on I was struggling to get my power up and could barely push 230W. I thought about pulling myself at the first aid station until I thought about everything Sarah did for me this trip to just quit because I couldn’t hit my numbers. A few more guys came around me again, but I was able to stick with the small group from about 20-30 miles. My power eventually came up and I was sitting in the low 240s right at my target. A lot of the ride is sort of a blur, but I do remember focusing on staying aero and pushing good power until we hit the final turnaround about 70 miles in. At that point, it was almost 30 miles of tailwind back to town before the final 14 mile out and back. I used this section to sit up more and take a lot of nutrition. I averaged a little over 28mph and enjoyed watching my avg pace tick up from 23.8mph to 24.6mph. I knew a 4:30 split was out of the question, but really wanted to be under 4:40. My primary motivator was knowing I could break 9 hours with a 3:15 run if I did that. Sarah decided to surprise me at mile 100 by running all the way out to see me a little earlier than expected. That motivated me to push the final 30min and my speed stayed up despite that slow off-road section. My power did slip at the end, but I was happy to be about 5min faster than expected. 239W avg / 245 NP.
T2 (2:11): I was expectingexpecting a wicked fast transition, except my legs did not want to play nice and I painfully jogged at snail pace through the gear bags. I figured I was in for a long marathon. I opted for my Nike Vaporflys and this was my first Ironman in them. I typically reserve them for faster races where I’m running sub 6 pace, but my Alphas needed to be retired. As I ran out of the tent, my turnover was solid and I had some pep in my step compared to the barefoot running.
Run (2:55:38 - 23rd pro): I came out of transition actually feeling good, but I refused to look at pace until I was at least ½ mile in. I opened that first mile in 6:43 and was hoping to settle into a bit faster pace through 5K. I started hitting some mid 6:30s and was feeling pretty good, HR right where I wanted it. I broke the race up as much as I could and focused on getting to the first turnaround at 6.5 miles. From there I started doing my mental math on splits. Averaging just under 6:40 with 20 miles to go meant I had over 2.5 hours to break 9. Since I was running well, I shifted my focus to being under 8:45 which meant 7min avg. So to me, every split under 7 was time banked towards that goal if I blew up. I saw Sarah again at mile 9 and even told her I was feeling good. The plan was to just run hard until I couldn’t. Mile 10 my stomach cramped up from either too many gels or fluid the first hour. It thankfully released after just a few minutes. Once I hit halfway, I decided it was time for more math. I went through 13.1 in just over 1:27, which meant if I continued sub 7s, I would break the 3 hour marathon for the 3rd time. I reset my time back to zero and got to work on lap 2. I then set my sights on mile 16 to see how fast I’d need to run the final 10. I saw Sarah again shortly after at mile 17 and asked her to be at mile 25 for me. I held on until that final turnaround and kept everything under 7s. At this point I knew 7:15s would be “good enough” but kept the pressure on and even elevated my HR. This was the first time I have ever closed the final 10K but upped my HR even further (low 160s). I was waiting for that final bonk, but it never hit. I kept the pressure on through mile 23 and used all of the lapped athletes I was passing as motivation. From there I just had 2 miles until I saw Sarah for the last time. That really helped break it up for me. I closed the final 5K around 6:45 pace and knew I was close to my Ironman PR. Altogether, this was my best executed and most consistent run, splitting 1:27:15 / 1:28:23)
Finish (8:34:54 - 34th pro): Missed my PR by 27s from IMAZ. Overall proud of the splits across the board, especially my run. This was one of my weaker rides with the 3rd slowest split and losing 41 minutes to the best rider Magnus. Given that he set a new Ironman world record of 7:19, my time doesn’t look so good anymore. I understand that he is world class, but it does point more to the conditions on the day helping me more than anything. Regardless, I didn’t want to race again this season but still wanted a mini Florida vacation. It’s hard to say if I was too relaxed in my final prep or how much fatigue I was actually carrying from Maryland and Mines of Spain 100K. As I continue to race and learn what my body can do, I find that it doesn’t actually matter. 2026 was a long season starting with Ironman Texas in April, and it felt good to cap it off with this race. I am always pretty shelled at the end of an Ironman, but this was the best I’ve felt post race.
