Ironman Florida Race Report

Final race of 2022 is done and dusted! I am so relieved to close the book on my 2022 race season and put my feet up for a while. I’m sure I’ll go stir crazy after the first week, but I am certainly ready for a short break.

Jake and Brooke

Pre-Race: This was one of my favorite trips to a race venue. Normally 16 hours in the car wouldn’t sound like fun, but I had great company. A large part of my success this weekend was thanks to Jake and Brooke (two athletes I coach). They drove the entire way down to Florida, and I just focused on relaxing. Everything went according to plan from check-in, final tune-up rides/run, and getting to the start line plenty early. I am also very thankful for my Dynamo teammates helping me fill tires, carry gear, and get my wetsuit on. 

Swim (1:00:30 - 32nd OA): This was the toughest swim I’ve done in terms of water conditions (and jellyfish). Kona was tougher from starting in the last wave. Thanks to my teammate Robert, I started very close to the front (probably 30th into the water). Being with the faster swimmers and not having the course congested made the swells and waves much more manageable. On loop 1, I went out hard into the waves and eased up after the first turn with them at my back. My first little jellyfish sting was on the palm of my right hand, and it just tingled for the rest of the swim. After loop 1, I was told 29 minutes (on pace for an hour), so I was very happy to get that feedback. Starting loop 2, I stayed inside of the buoys to avoid as many loop 1 swimmers as I could. I found some feet to lead the way and stayed on them until we had the waves going with us again. Somewhere in there my right foot got stung on the top and the bottom, but again just tingly after. On that final stretch to shore, I got stung on the face and was mostly just wanting to itch my nose after. Finishing the swim, I was happy to be close to the 1 hour mark.

T1: First transition was pretty smooth. I got my wetsuit down to my waist before the peelers, and had it off and handed back quickly. It was a long run on concrete, and I felt pretty winded for most of it. I didn’t have the fastest time, but I did move up 14 places. I opted to carry my shoes (no pre-mounting in this race), and I ran with them and my bike until the mount line before quickly slipping them on. 

Running Mitch's disc

Bike (4:49:24 - 13th OA): Early into the bike, I felt ok holding my power target. I made a few passes in the first 10 miles, but also had several guys blow by me. I was fortunate to have a very gusto cyclist pass me as we started into 10 miles of headwind to the first turnaround. I opted to keep my power slightly under goal and sit 20 meters behind him. We had the bike marshal buzzing around us constantly, so I was sure to be plenty far back. He skipped the first 2 aid stations, so I put in some surges to stay with him. After we turned, he started to fade and I went back up to goal watts without anyone in front of me. We had a long section coming up with a tailwind heading north, and I knew we’d have a strong headwind coming back. I opted to lower my watts again with the tailwind and sat up every so often to get the body ready for a long stretch staying as aero as possible. Going into that final turnaround, I was concerned to not see my buddy and competitor Robert on his way back. I figured I had just missed him, but really expected him to be leading the race. More to come on that. After I turned, I bumped the power back up and was ready for a solid hour into that wind. After turing out of it, we had 1 last out and back section that was by far the dumbest bike section I have ever seen in an event. I felt like I should have been on a mountain bike to navigate it. After surviving that, it was a final 6 mile push into the wind to get to T2. In every Ironman I have done, this is where I let up a bit to focus on the run. Instead, I held power and leaned into the effort the rest of the way in. I was very happy with a 17 minute bike PR (easy course I know) and 23.2mph.

203W average at 208NP with an avg HR of 150bpm. Goal was 211-216W.

T2: Flying dismount was successful and I got my bike to a catcher right away. I was quick through transition with 2 guys in the change tent. On my way out, I was about 50 yards behind one of them. He looked like he could be my age and was moving fast.

Hanging with Thiago

Run (3:14:03 - 6th OA): This is going to be a jumble of thoughts because that’s how this run went for me. Good luck following along! Starting out, I felt like I was running slow but saw 6:45 pace on my watch that first mile. I took the first 2 miles to bridge up to the next athlete, and was already at my HR limit. I thought I heard I was in 2nd place AG, but wasn’t sure how far back 3rd was. I didn’t see my Dynamo teammates for splits, and this made me more concerned about not seeing Robert. Before I made any conclusions, I decided to wait until the first run turnaround to see him. At this point, I was flying a little blind and just wanted to put down a solid run. On my way out to the 6.5 mile turnaround, I ended up running shoulder to shoulder with the guy ahead of me. We didn’t say a word, and I didn’t want to ask his AG. As it turned out, this was Thiago, an athlete from Atlanta that knew my teammates. After that introduction, we started talking and found out we were different age groups. We got to the turn around and never saw Robert. Based on this, I knew there was an accident on the bike, but there was nothing I could do. I just wanted to finish and find out if he was ok. I also knew he would want me to close it out and grab that Kona slot, so that’s what I aimed to do. Around mile 8 I really started to struggle. My effort felt harder, HR was dropping and my legs didn’t want to go. I was on top of my nutrition and salt, so I thought maybe I needed more fluids (despite carrying a bottle out of T1). I told Thiago that I was suffering and thought I needed to start walking aid stations. He told me to wait until lap 2. I kept pressing on and we took turns leading. We started the 2nd loop and still no sign of my Dynamo fam, and it started to hit me a little harder. I hung with Thiago until mile 15, but the elastic started to break. I had no response and started walking the aid stations. At this point, I was still averaging just under 8 minute miles even with the walking. I told myself, you can run 10 minutes and then walk. Turns out this is just what I needed as my pace slowly dropped back down to the 7:30 range. I hit the final turnaround and felt like I was moving decently well. Focused on ice and fluids during my walk breaks, I got to that final 5K and started to pick it up even more. With 2 miles to go, Thiago came back into view, and I actually felt motivated to put in the effort to catch him. With one mile to go, I gave him a fist bump and he told me to finish it. I brought it in around 6:30 pace, and probably showed the most emotion I ever have on that red carpet. I’m not normally one to beat my chest, but I took in several high-fives and came across pumping my fist. Far from the win, I’m not sure what got into me.

Finish (9:14:23) - 4th OA: 

Overall, I ran my way to 4th place, held onto 2nd AG and was the 1st American across the line. I was very happy with my swim considering the conditions, and I believe I landed as expected placement-wise. I am also happy with my bike power and speed, but I gave up way too much time to the leaders. Even if I ran the time I thought I was capable of, I’m not sure I would’ve run them down. Despite my run being 1st AG and 6th overall, I’m pretty displeased with the time and how I fell apart. Before beating myself up too much, I am proud of how I rallied back to close that last 10K around 7:15 pace. I punched my ticked to the Ironman World Champs for the 3rd time as my primary goal this race. Secondary was an AG win and third was the overall. I am continually humbled every time I race, but that will simply drive my hunger next season.

Without saying too much, I’ve alluded about my friend Robert Swan. He was in fact hit by a car while Leading the race at mile 50 with a ~2 minute gap. He was brought to a hospital before I even got to where he was (yeah, I was getting my butt kicked). I can say he is back home now and recovering, but will leave the rest for him and Devon to share via social media. @devonandrobertcoaching. This is the first time I’ve been directly affected by one of these incidents. I am so heartbroken and cried several times post race. I was told one of his goals was to beat me, and I have no doubt he would’ve been waiting for me at the finish.

Had a crowd for my post race massage

For me, that is a wrap on 2022 and I am so happy to be taking a break. I knew I had a season of fatigue during this race, and it thankfully didn’t really hit until mile 9 on the run. With Kona secured, that will be my only full and sole focus for next year in the 30-34 AG. 

As always, I appreciate everyone for following along and motivating me every time I toe the line.

Kona Race Report

Going into this race, I was more prepared than I have ever been. My coach Brent Pease trained me well, and gave me a few final tune up workouts on the island to ensure I was ready for the toughest 2 parts of the course (Hawi and the Energy Lab). Other than stepping on a bee 2 days before, I was feeling pretty good.

Pre-Race: The day before the race was executed perfectly. After dropping off my gear at 2pm, we picked up dinner on the way back to the AirBnb and I had my feet up from 3:00-bed. I went over the course maps and my race plan a few times, ate at 4:00, and had lights out at 7:30.

Race morning, I got to transition plenty early, and my rear tire blew when I started inflating it. Bike tech didn’t have a line yet and they got my tube swapped in under 5 minutes. Hurt me knowing I was running a butyl instead of latex, but I am sooo thankful that happened pre-race and not when I mounted my bike. After my gear was set, they closed transition and my age group had over 90 minutes to kill after the female pros started. I had a front row seat as the top few came through transition while we waited. I definitely waited too long to get lined up, so I was about 3 deep at the start without much time to tread water.

Swim (1:00:13 - 59th): The mass start was hectic and stayed that way for the entire swim. It was difficult to navigate through the waves that started before us, and they were definitely getting agitated as we passed. I spent a good portion just weaving through traffic and couldn’t quite go the pace/effort I wanted. I stayed on some feet a few times and let some guys from my wave make the opening for myself. When I got to the pier, I checked my total time and saw I had a shot at breaking an hour. I decided to save my energy for T1 and ended up with an Ironman swim PR! I was stoked to be a few minutes faster than I was expecting. 

T1 went very smoothly. I was able to work my way through the older athletes taking their time and only left myself a water in my bag (helmet was required to be left on the bike). I did miss the bag at first pass and a volunteer helped me out. I threw my swim gear into the bag and used that water to rinse myself off as I ran to my bike. Mounting my shoes was the way to go because I just had to put my helmet on and grab the bike. I was stuck behind some slower athletes with their bikes but made a few passes when it opened up. I was efficient climbing the first hill on top of my shoes, and got my feet in quickly once it flattened out. Very happy with how this went.

Bike (5:07:32 - 59th): Early into the bike, I had to hold myself back a bit to keep the power where coach wanted it. If I didn’t have those numbers, I’d have gone out way too hard. The first part of the bike was mostly head and crosswind, but seemed to go by fairly quickly. I was hitting the numbers I wanted and feeling good. I also now understand everyone’s annoyance with the draft packs on the Queen K. With how windy it was, it’s clear why they do it… I literally watched 2 guys ahead of me take turns pulling each other. Plenty of officials out there, but I only saw 3-4 athletes in the penalty tents. The ride up to Hawi was easier than I had thought with the riders to my right blocking some of the wind as I went by. The decent back down was tough in the crosswinds and I mostly just coasted with my legs pinching the top tube. When I had 30 miles to go, I was expecting a slight tailwind and net downhill to the finish. When I found the wind against me again, it was a huge mental drain. I had to stay aero longer than expected, and that started to take a toll. I also had a guy sucking my wheel for about 30 minutes, and I just couldn’t drop him in that wind. Unfortunately I burned a match or 2 trying… Another kind athlete yelled at him on my behalf, and I finally ended up dropping him on a long steady climb. I was about 10 minutes slower than expected after battling the last 30 miles. I was very happy to be off the bike when I coasted down Palani. 204W average at 213NP. Goal was 211-216. 

T2: Flying dismount was very successful. I probably pulled my leg over a little too soon, but it was all downhill. I was quick through transition again other than being behind a slower runner again, and I struggled to find my bike rack since they changed them to just hold your rear wheel. A volunteer helped me out again and I was good to go. I started the run with a bottle to toss, and I’m thankful I did.

Run (3:15:29 - 20th) Starting the run, I didn’t think my legs were going to be there. Turns out they just needed 1 mile to warm up. 1-9 were the highlight of my entire race. We had some soft cloud cover, occasional shade, and 2 guys with hoses spraying us on the out and back. I was running low 7’s feeling very comfortable at goal HR. Once I got up Palani to the Queen K, the race had finally started. The sun was in full force, and the aid stations were ~1.8 miles apart. It was around mile 12 that I started to suffer and dehydrate quite a bit. I caught up to one of my Dynamo teammates Robert around this time and we just ran together in joint suffering and silence for 2 miles. At the halfway point, we got to the energy lab, and this is where it got real. The aid stations couldn’t come soon enough and every minute felt like 5. At the 16 mile turnaround I took a quick stop to pee since it had been nagging me for 2 hours. I assume it was under 20s. Getting my run special needs around 16.5 was not the boost I thought I’d get. My water was 90+ degrees and didn’t seem to help. Now, the worst part of my day was the long steady climb out of the energy lab. With the wind at my back and sun beating down, the air was just stagnant. I have never experienced heat like that before, and I was determined not to walk. I plugged along at a 10min mile just waiting to turn back into the wind. 

The first time I walked was the aid station at mile 18. With so few volunteers, they couldn’t keep up with the athletes and I needed to go through slowly enough to get what I needed. Looking back, I wish I started that strategy around mile 12. I got back onto the Queen K, and I felt like the sun was finally weakening. The struggle was real as 2 athletes passed me at 22, and I had absolutely no response. I just kept doing mental math on my total time and marathon pace. In that final mile, I nearly took a spill down Palani when my hammy locked up. After that it was just grit to the finish. I was stoked to see my Dynamo teammates ¼ mile out, and from there the pain started to melt away as you come up to that red carpet. 

Finish: If I am being completely honest, the finish was not what I had expected it to be. Maybe I needed to slow down more to take it all in. I felt like I had left everything out on that course, but could have pushed a little faster with better hydration on the run. Despite carrying 2 of my own bottles, it just wasn’t enough. 

Thanks Coach

Overall, I landed in 30th place for my age group in the world. Always wanting and expecting more, I am trying to figure out where I could have dropped just a little more time. I will say, I did have some fun afterwards with plenty of tequila shots and beer.

Shots for days!

Up next is Ironman Florida to end my season that started with St. George on May 7th. Then, I’ll be ready for a nice little off-season. Mahalo!

Dynamo Training Camp

My first triathlon training camp was a success! As part of Team Dynamo, the coaches put together a camp at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA. Even though I am a remotely coached athlete (of the legendary Brent Pease, seriously look him up), I was highly encouraged to attend. This required packing my bike and flying down from Moline Thursday night and returning home Monday afternoon. Luckily my teammate Nick let me crash at his place and shuttled me around all weekend.

Fueling Stop

I’ll go into a fair amount of detail farther down, but I wanted to put my “Cliff Notes” up here to share the highlights for a quick read.

First off, Team Dynamo is an incredible community. Other than Nick (who I only met once for beer after IM Tulsa), I didn’t know any else. After that first 80-mile ride, I felt right at home. Even though I wasn’t the strongest rider, they let me pull and made sure I had a wheel to hang on if needed. Racing with them on Saturday, I’ve never felt more relaxed (other than coach Rebecca yelling at me in T1). We all wanted to win, but at the same time were looking to bring the best out of each other. Robert, Nick and myself ended up sweeping the podium in that order, and I was actually “somewhat” content with 3rd. Then if it weren’t for the team, I wouldn’t have gotten back on my bike to knock out another 80-mile ride after destroying myself that morning. And to cap off the week, we all got up early on Sunday to close out camp with a 120-mile ride. Just shy of 300 miles in 3 days.

What made this camp special was the community and coaches. Lain (under no obligation) showed up with all sorts of food so we could cook a giant dinner to fuel up. Coaches Alec and Rebecca provided the best SAG during those 80 and 120 mile rides. They literally bent over backwards to ensure our success out there. Knowing they were waiting up the road kept me going. Then my teammate themselves took me under their wing to teach me about proper nutrition and fueling. I’m hoping to make some adjustments there, and they will be game changers for me in Kona.

 

Long Winded version:

The weekend started out with a 5:45AM swim with the Dynamo Master’s group. A humbling experience to be the slowest swimmer in the largest lap pool I’ve ever seen. I was literally thrown into the deep end and tried to keep up during a fast-paced 5K workout. By the end of the session, I understood why Dynamo athletes are the best swimmers in triathlon (I’m working on it!) I also received some on deck feedback from coach Rebecca to apply to my training back home.

After the swim, we all drove down to Pine Mountain for our first of 3 long rides. Day 1 was an 80-mile self-supported ride that let us scout the Olympic triathlon bike course before riding up and down Pine Mountain. Being new to the group, I hung back for most of the ride and let my teammates set the tone and effort. It wasn’t until the way back that we started a pace line and I took a few short pulls. During that portion of the ride, we had two wheels touch and a rider go down at 24mph. It was scary, and we immediately thought the worst. Luckily it ended up being road rash and a few bruises (bike was nicked, but no fatal damage). We got him in a truck and finished a fairly quiet ride back up Pine Mountain to get home.

The next morning, the team geared up for an Olympic triathlon in the area. I knew I was going to be playing catch-up after both the swim and the bike, but I ended up being 6^th out the water and had less ground to make up than I had thought. The bike course was very technical with some cross traffic, and I was quickly gapped by my teammate Nick. After passing 1 other rider, I found myself in 3^rd, but was losing ground to him, Robert and Ben. I started the run hard, but couldn’t see anyone for ½ mile up the road. It wasn’t until the 2-mile turnaround that I saw Robert leading the race with Nick 1 minute back. I was about 3.5 and 2.5 minutes behind, respectively. We ended up sweeping the podium in that order with 1 minute between the 3 of us. After the race, I received some critical feedback from both a coach and my teammate Juan (all to make me a better athlete). One critical point that was made is how much hip and upper body movement I have on the bike. This is no doubt something that I will need to address through bike-fit and strength. We believe I am losing both aerodynamics and efficient power transfer.

Callaway Olympic Overall Podium

After the race, we refueled and hopped on the bikes again for another 80-mile ride. This time in the heat of the day. We climbed Pine Mountain for the 2^nd time, and this one stung a bit. Out on the route our coaches Alec and Rebecca were already parked and ready with cold Gatorade and assortment of nutrition for us. After a quick refuel, we road to the turnaround and back for 1 last stop before heading home. I have never had such incredible support on a training ride, and it helped me realize the importance of a support system. And to make it even better, Juan (who crashed the day before) road the full 80 miles with us and did most of the pulling! That’s a tough and dedicated teammate.

Juan and Nick leading the way

The last day of camp we got up early to start our 120-mile ride with the last 40-50 miles at Ironman Effort. It was very foggy so we made sure someone with a light was always in back to keep the group safe. Thanks again to our incredibly SAG support, I was topped off on nutrition and actually felt stronger during this ride than the previous 2. So many times, I just wanted to stop riding, but I had the accountability of my teammates and coaches to keep me going. After that last push at Ironman effort, we all averaged over 21mph for that ride (Ironman efforts were all individual without drafting). Nick and I capped off the weekend with a hard 3-mile brick.

Walking away from this massive weekend prep for Kona, I am ready to make the final push in September. Many Dynamo athletes will be racing Kona, so I’m excited for that reunion on Kailua.

If you’ve thought about joining a team or are looking for a top coach, Dynamo is the place to go.

https://www.dynamomultisport.com/

 

Summer Races 3 for 3

In the busyness of my Kona build, coaching, and work travel, I haven’t gotten a race report out for my last 3 triathlons. Even though they were all small-town races, I am stoked to have gone 3/3 winning each race.  Instead of full-blown race reports, I’ll attempt to write a short-ish recap of each.

DeWitt Sprint (1:02:20):

4-peat! And this race has gotten faster every year. The first time I raced in 2018, my winning time was 1:08:34. That would’ve only placed me 7th this year, so it’s been exciting to see athletes coming from places like Dubuque and Iowa City to this small-town race.

I was 21s slower than last year, most likely due to a 100 mile ride the day before and higher heat/humidity this year.

Swim: A few seconds faster thanks to getting onto the lead swimmer’s feet.

Bike: Just not there this time. My legs couldn’t produce the power I know they’re capable of, and I was 30s or 0.5mph slower than last year. Splits were slower overall, but my bike should have been stronger than last year.

Run: Faster than last year by 10s, but the course was almost a full 10^th of a mile short. Based on GPS, I was ~8s/mile slower. I think the higher heat and humidity had a direct impact on my run performance as well.

Overall, I am stoked to have won my 4th straight DeWitt title. I once again took 2nd in every discipline like last year, so at least I am consistent! After the race I got to enjoy a hot/humid 90 minute long run, so I apologize to my friends and competitors for not being present at the post-race party.

 

Route 66 Lake Springfield 70.3 Triathlon: (4:30:46)

I was battling a summer cold going into this race and almost didn’t start. I figured all my gear was ready and set-up, so I might as well jump in the water and see how getting to the first buoy went. Conditions were calm and the temps stayed below 75. Humidity was reasonable, and the wind never exceeded 3mph.

Swim (30:09): No one stepped up to start the swim first, so I ended up being the first athlete in the water. It was incredibly calm, and I swam in the lead until the final turn buoy. I swam a little wide and another athlete came from the inside to pass me. I just got onto his feet and let him pull me to the swim out. Overall a fast time for me in my swim skin, so I’m hoping the distance was accurate.

T1: I was up the boat ramp before the first swimmer and left transition as he got to his bike. I didn’t see anyone else within a minute of us, so I had a healthy lead starting the bike.

Bike (2:21:45): The bike was strange because I felt like I had an easier time hitting my power numbers than Steelhead. I was still sick and not tapered, so something felt off. My speed of 23.9mph was also a little slower than I would’ve have thought for 239W avg and 245 NP. There was a packed gravel section that lasted about 1 mile that we did twice, so it may have contributed to my slower pace. At Steelhead I was 24.9mph at 8W less, but the roads were a little better there.

T2: Going into T2 was a little different as well because I had instructions to stay Zone2 for the run. Knowing this, I gave a little extra at the end of the bike to try and increase my lead.

Run (1:36:56): With numerous races on the calendar and Kona being the true goal, my coach didn’t want me taking on additional fatigue. My target HR was 145-147bpm, and I was able to run around a 7:30 mile at that pace. With the multiple turnarounds, I could easily see my gaps, and that made keeping the effort down that much harder. I had an 8 minute lead that shrank by about 2 minutes every 3 miles. It was kind of fun just jogging around and thanking volunteers, but I also didn’t want to get passed. I ended up averaging 151bpm and finished about 2 minutes ahead of 2^nd. In a true race, I have been holding my HR in the low 170’s for the run.

Overall, I am so glad I decided to jump in the water because I felt better as the day went on. This was also my Brother Scott’s first Olympic Triathlon (let’s see if he even reads this), so huge congrats on smashing it.

Great Illini 70.3 (4:12:23)

I was feeling great going into this race. I had taken Thursday/Friday easy, so my body was ready to go. I was a little disappointed to find out there were only 50 registrants for the 70.3, and that took some fun out of racing.

Swim (28:49): Course was a little short like 2 years ago, but I think I would’ve been under 30 regardless. There was 1 faster swimmer that was going a little wide of the course, so I opted to stay on my line rather than getting on his feet. Around halfway through loop 1, I looked back to see I was dragging someone myself. I put in a surge to get a 10-meter gap and settled back in. By the end I was 30s ahead, so it was well worth the short effort. I ended up 90s down from first, so it would have clearly been smarter to stay on his feet…assuming I could have.

T1: I got to my bike before he had left transition, so I made up around 30s there. The transition area was tiny, so I was out in under a minute.

Bike (2:20:17): It only took 2 miles before taking the lead, and I just focused on my power meter. The bike course had 5 U-turns on it, and 2 of them were tight (dropped down to 2mph). I averaged 236W / 243 NP, so close to what I did at Route 66. At each of the U-Turns I could see my gap growing, and by the 3^rd out and back, I was off the stick before 2^nd place came rolling in (4 mile lead).

Run: (1:21:23): At first I wasn’t very happy with this run, but looking back I felt like I still salvaged it in the end. The main reason is that I have been chasing that 1:20 mark, and I knew I was going to fall short after a slight bonk at mile 4. A Gu got me back on track for a bit, and I saw my lead was about 3 miles after the first turnaround. I felt like I was slogging along and targeted a 4:15 to keep myself motivated. I did close the final 2 miles in 5:54 and 5:46, so that was the silver lining. The course was slightly long, so Garmin had me at 6:10 average.

Overall, I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t go under 4:10 or break 1:20 in the half, especially in cooler weather. I do believe that competition brings out my best, so winning by 40 minutes didn’t give me that same push I had at Steelhead.

 

A busy racing season is starting to wrap up with Kona only 6 weeks out. Until then, that is my one and only goal. I appreciate the support from everyone tracking my journey, and the Road to Kona is almost at a close.

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report

A 70.3 PR and highest Overall placement yet! I felt fully recovered for this one having 5 weeks between races. Body felt good and I was ready to hit it. Beware the run section is length, but I got to enjoy my first real battle. 

Pre-Race: My dad and I made this a quick weekend by driving out the morning of. I added a little stress to my race prep by borrowing Mitch’s wheel set and only giving them a short 4 mile test drive after checking in. Got a quick run in, dropped off the bike and swam in Lake Michigan. I also had one of my best pre-race sleeps, so that was excellent.

Drobs keeping me calm before the storm (also provided the haircut)

Swim (31:10 - 32nd OA): This was the first race where I actually started at the front. I had trouble convincing myself that I belonged there, but I’ve been landing top 10 overall consistently. So, I lined up in the 12^th wave and started about 1 minute after the cannon went off. My buddy Matt started up with me and got me to the line calm and ready to rock.

The first 25 yards were shallow, so I watched how far the athletes in front of me went out before diving in. Some started too early, so I used that to determine where I’d go. The water was rough for 6:30AM and the swells made it hard to sight. A huge perk to starting up front was I only passed about 10 swimmers and had little traffic throughout. Form went out the window as my focus was on swimming straight and navigating the waves. After that first turn buoy, the waves came from the side and I felt good about where I was at. Swimming with my watch covered again prevented me from checking splits and getting distracted. Nothing exciting after that point, and I enjoyed riding the waves back to shore after the final turn.

Time wasn’t as relevant as my overall position out of the water, so I am very happy with 32^nd and 12^th AG going into T1. (Although I didn’t have the feedback during the race)

Not going to document a photo of my T1

T1 (2:15): One of my best transitions… until the flying mount. I struggled to find my breath running up the sand but made it through quick. I had no issues getting the wetsuit down and pulled it off my feet at the bike rack. Putting on my helmet and grabbing the bike went smooth, and I had a very fast run down a mostly empty row. My T1 time was quick relative to the field, and I moved up 12 positions to 20^th starting the bike. Everything was great until I went to mount and didn’t have enough pedal stroke to get moving. Ended up sitting on my top tube scooting myself along like a toddler. Shoes were flopping around, a race photographer took about 20 pictures of it, just a mess. It probably cost me 20-30s. Someday I will learn.

Bike (2:15:38 - 11th OA): By far my best bike performance. I had a watt target of 240 and held that well, after the flying mount debacle… There were a few athletes ahead of me that I could see down the road, and it felt good to slowly reel them in while only focusing on power. The effort felt too hard, and I wanted to back it off (something I’ve done almost every race on the bike). As I came up to some turns, I was able to watch how fast others took them to see what I could do. I felt like I cornered well overall but had at least 2 turns where I slammed the brakes and lost some speed. About halfway through, I couldn’t see any riders between myself and the next turn. This worked in my favor and allowed me to focus on the watts. A cramp-like muscle pain formed at the bottom of my left quad but was more of an annoyance than anything. I kept an eye on it, but it never progressed beyond that. Around mile 35 I started to catch 2 more athletes as we were going into a headwind. Once I got just outside of 6 bike lengths, I backed the power down for a minute before making a surge. Despite the effort, I didn’t break away and they held on. At mile 40, I was expecting a nice cross-tailwind back to transition. It was more of a cross headwind, and that mentally drained me. Normally, I’d relax a bit and focus on having a good run. This time, I tried holding my power until that last mile. In doing so, I dropped the guys behind me. As I approached transition, I had my 2^nd mishap of the day on the flying dismount. I got my feet set plenty early and brought my leg over the top tube only to find out there was another S-turn. I lost a ton of speed and had to bring my leg back to pedal again. I lost another 10-20s here. So between my flying mount and dismount, I missed that 2:15 bike split to average 25mph. Nonetheless, I was happy with a NP of 237W and the 11th best bike split on the day. 

Jen capturing a little float in transition

T2 (1:53): Since the dismount only affected my bike split, my transition time was fast. Somehow my shoes settled perfectly and never caught the ground. It was very smooth running to my bike rack, and I sat down to roll on my socks and slip on the shoes. I got everything set quickly, grabbed my hat/nutrition/bib and took off. Run legs felt better than expected considering how hard I road, especially with that left quad pain.

Finish Line Feels 

Run (1:20:12 - 4th OA): I wanted to go out hard on the run to make sure I didn’t leave any time in the first few miles (goal of under 1:20). I had a good sense of the HR I could hold from Chattanooga 70.3, and knew I had a little more to give early on. Despite trying to push, I couldn’t elevate must past 165bpm. Before I hit the first hill, I was at a 6:05 but quickly slowed to a 6:25 at the top. I knew I’d get that time back but wanted a little more from myself. My left calf injury from St. George flared up starting a mile 2, and overall the first 4-5 miles were tough. Instead of needing to hold myself back, I found myself just trying to hold a decent pace. I kept thinking this just won’t be my day. Without an athlete in sight, I felt like I was going nowhere.

A spectator told me I was in 9^th (gun time at least), and this was the first time I had a sense of where I was. Mile 4 is when I finally saw some guys and was able to check the gap (over 2 minutes back at first). This is where things started to improve, my cadence picked up and I started to Pac-Man my way up like I’m used to. I slowly reeled in 2 guys and was coming up on the 3^rd. *Once of the nicest interactions I’ve ever had in a race, the guy told me I was now in 6^th place as I passed him. I’ve never had someone try to help me and usually get cussed out or ignored if I dare ask someone their age… I thanked him and got his bib number, so thank you Aaron Mahoney for that needed boost.

At this point I was about to start lap 2 and saw 1 more guy on the same lap as me. After I passed him, I assumed I was in 5^th but couldn’t tell who was on their first or second lap anymore. I held steady until mile 8, which was a turnaround at the top of the course. I saw I guy behind me that I hadn’t passed, so I knew he was catching me. He had to have closed 1-2 minutes since no one was behind me out of transition. He got on my heels, and I pressed a little bit more to prevent an easy pass. From 8-10, he stayed off my shoulder and tucked behind into the headwinds. I was getting annoyed and just wanted him to pass or drop off. In that moment I made a mental switch and thought of Lionel Sanders. This was my first “battle” where I risked increasing my effort in order to compete. Instead of complaining, I wanted to make him to suffer. Prior to the race, my wife also told me to go at mile 10, so the timing was right. I pushed up the last major hill and heard his breathing labor worse than mine. I pressed more as we rounded the top and stayed on the gas. It was hard to tell where he was as we continued to lap people on loop 1, but we finally made that turn to the finish. With 1.5 miles to go and a big downhill, I opened it up and couldn’t hear him anymore. Not wanting to show weakness, I never turned to see where he was. At the bottom of the hill was another athlete, and I switched my focus to chasing him and forgot my pursuer. He was at least 100 yards up with 1 miles to go, and I slowly started to pull him in. Athletes just starting the run were yelling, “he’s yours”, “he’s fading”, “go get him!” With ½ mile to go I eased up a touch as I got to his shoulder, then put in a surge for a decisive pass. It didn’t look like he was going with me, but I started my “sprint” with 400 yards to go regardless. I came across the line putting 20s into him and 30s into my chaser. I closed those last 2 in 5:49 and 5:46 and almost broke that 1:20 mark.

Post-Race: In the end, I landed 4th overall and 2nd age group with a 4 second PR of 4:11:21. My goals were to crack top 5 overall and take the age group win. My AG winner also won overall, so it’s a tough one to swallow. I am stoked with my performance, but as always…I’m not completely satisfied.

From here on my focus is on building for Kona. I have 2 more 70.3s in July/August, but those won’t be anything more than hard training days to me. I’ll be working with Brent Pease as my coach until then, and I can’t wait to see where we land in Kona.

 

Chattanooga 70.3 Race Report

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.

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 50-100^th in the water. I ended up being around 1,500^th 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 - 9^th AG / 65^th 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 24^th. 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 – 8^th AG / 86^th 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 – 3^rd AG / 33^rd 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 2^nd 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 5^th place was almost locked up, and I was ready to close the last 40s on 4^th 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.

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 4^th AG and the 7^th 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.

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.

Ironman St. George World Champs Race Report

So much to unpack so strap in! Although this wasn't the Kona I was looking for, it brought me one step closer to the real deal. 

Pre-Race: The thing that worried me the most going into this race was recovering from a calf strain 12 days out. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish, let alone compete at the level I wanted. Without much improvement, I cut running for 10 days and biking for 7 prior to the race. I added a few extra swims to offset but felt this was the worst taper I’ve ever done. I intended to bike a few key parts of the course and run at elevation to solidify my final preparation. This was my hardest course to date with 7,300 ft of climbing on the bike and 1,500 ft of elevation gain on the run. The weather also played a factor where the 2^nd half of the bike had 20-30mph winds, and temps hit 90 on the run with more wind. Overall, I was intimidated by the course and had a poor mindset from the super taper.

When I went to athlete check-in, I got pulled for a random drug test. I was very happy to see Ironman taking this seriously, but I also hate needles and it took about an hour to get through the entire process. Every supplement I take needed to be listed with duration and frequency, so it was very extensive.

 

Swim (1:01:23 – 20^th AG / 200 OA): A 1 minute PR lake swim for me! 1 thing I did differently was cover my watch under my wetsuit so I could peel it off quicker. Plus it prevented me from checking the time and my 500 splits. The water was a chilly 60 degrees and calm race morning. Other than the initial minute after running in, I loved the colder swim. I went out hard for the first 100-150 yards hoping to find the feet of someone swimming under an hour. Unfortunately, we caught the swim wave in front of us early on, and I started to lose the green caps in a sea of purple. I kept pushing along until I got to the first turn buoy about ¼ way through the swim. The water opened up after working through that first wave, and I felt the tickles of someone swimming on my feet. They never disrupted my stroke and backed off any time I needed to swim through more swimmers. Around the halfway point he pulled around me and I quickly took advantage. I swam at a very comfortable effort on his feet and let him take care of plowing the path. Any time I was outside the wake, I had to increase my effort to stay on him. Based on that, I knew I wouldn’t drop much (if any) time by going around. Other than down river in Louisville, this was my easiest Ironman swim. I had no issues and got through it at a moderate effort.

 

T1: (4:53): This transition was not good. I struggled to undo my velcro and couldn’t get the wetsuit pulled down before the strippers. Instead, I continued running to the change tent while I worked on it. The tent was packed since I was in the last male swim wave, and I had to walk behind a bunch of athletes taking their sweet time. Luckily, I decided to do a flying mount, so I only had my helmet hanging in the bag. I threw my swim gear in, popped the helmet on and ran out with the bag. I located my bike quickly and had a very fast run to the mount line. Nothing fancy swinging my leg over and stepping on the shoes to get going. I made sure the rubber bands all snapped and slipped on my shoes without issue.

 

Bike (5:23:46 – 16^th AG / 184^th OA): Normally I’m not the biggest fan of mantras, but I chose one for this race. Respect the course. The bike started out in the low 70s, so comfortable and not too warm before the sun got up. Early on the course was Packed. Riders were all over and it was very difficult to navigate around them all. The most dangerous parts were the early descents trying to work through traffic at 40mph. I settled in quickly though and accepted that I was not going to hit my power targets. I knew what was coming, so I decided to hold steady and keep my HR where I wanted it. As I continued to settle in and tackle the early hills and wind, my power slowly started to go up, so that was encouraging. Nutrition was flawless, and I ended up grabbing a lot more water from aid stations than I originally planned on. I was drinking at such a rate that I only skipped 3 aid stations the entire ride. Once I got through 60 miles of mostly headwind, I was through “part 1” in my mind. This was where I would climb about 2,000 feet in the next 25 miles. Everything was going smooth, and I even had a few words with some athletes I was playing merry-go-round with. 60-85 is what I considered “part 2” and it got me to the highest elevation of the day around 5,000 ft. The climbs getting there were tough, but manageable with a tailwind to help. At the top I noticed myself feeling a little nauseous and dizzy. It clicked that I hadn’t done any training at altitude, so I just stayed focused on waiting for the descent to begin. I checked my average speed at 20.1mph, so I was happy to see I’d be close to biking a 5:30 by the end. Going down the canyon was nerve-wracking with the 20-30mph crosswinds increasing throughout the day. I knew fast and confident descending would pay off, so I pedaled until my legs spun out and tucked it best I could. Once I got to the bottom, I had one last 1,500 ft climb back up Snow Canyon, then it was all downhill to the finish “part 3”. Even though I drove it, I underestimated how difficult this climb would be. With the wind at my back, it got incredibly hot and it was the first time I noticed my sweat dripping. My HR was in the 160s and I had to maintain the effort to stay upright. Once I hit the top, it was time to bomb down one last time. This time the crosswinds were even worse, and I just needed to get to transition safely. This being lap 2, there were more athletes to weave in and out of. The final 5 miles, I averaged 34mph =O

Overall, I was happy with my time, but the average watts were about 20 lower than I had planned. Normalized was about 10 lower.

T2: (2:59): This transition was smooth other than a struggle to get my socks on. Having bike catchers sped it up and it was just an ok transition for me. I grabbed my hat/nutrition/bib and got everything in place on the go. My run legs have felt better out T2, but overall I was pretty happy with how I handled my effort on the bike. 1 thing I did different for this race was stash a water in my T2 bag to stuff in my kit during the run. This bottle came in handy between aid stations as they got more crowded on lap 2.

 

Run (3:22:05 – 5^th AG / 84^th OA): I lowered my expectations for this run before the race started, so I was hoping to run a 3:15-3:20 given the elevation and conditions. I started off hugging the top end of my HR zone for the first 6 miles and used that as my guide regardless of pace. I believe this was a good decision because pace was relative when ascending or descending the 2 main hills. In the back of my mind, I wanted to be under 10 hours. It helped me press more as I hit key points in the run and kept my mind busy with time calculations. I stuck to the plan and focused on seeing my wife, dad, and other supporters to push me along. The heat was tough, but I believe the wind hurt my pace just as much. My legs were the limiter though, and I never really challenged the HR zones as they were meant to increase throughout the run. Around mile 3 Ty decided it was time to tell me I was in 17^th place with 3 guys in striking distance. Just stick to the plan and I’ll work my way through them. The next update I got was I was in 14^th place with a long (but manageable 8 minute gap to 10^th, according to Ty). After I got through lap 1, I knew what to expect for lap 2. My final update from Ty told me I was in 11^th, but 4 minutes back from 10^th with 5 miles to go. Ty’s instructions, “make these the best 5 miles you have ever run”. Even though my pace was fading, I shuffled up that final climb. Checking splits at the top, I knew I could run 8-minute pace and still break 10 with over 250 ft of net downhill. I ran hard when I felt “good” and managed when it was time to fight. Most of the last 5K was a blur, but I remember cruising by the struggling runners as I made that final turn around the M-Dot monument towards the finish.

 

Total (9:55:04 – 10^th AG / 66 OA Amateur): Overall I thought I managed my day incredibly well. I would also say that is the deepest I ever had to dig, but it was pretty much on the run alone. I may have had a little more to push on the bike, but I expected some carnage on the run to make it back up. It ended up working out because I Pac-Man’ed my way from 17th to 10^th AG.

I wanted to land myself a top 10 AG finish and be under 10 hours, both accomplished in the final miles of the run (once again). For now, I believe that is just how I need to race until I can further my swim and bike. On this course, and with the competition present I am stoked with my performance. But as I do, I am already analyzing and trying to figure out where I need to train more and be better. This was a world class field of athletes, and I want to elevate my performance to become a true competitor. My next Ironman will be in KONA!

I also got to chat with someone from Triathlete Magazine about how this race compared with Kona. Check out the article here: https://www.triathlete.com/culture/news/how-did-the-world-championship-in-st-george-stack-up-to-kona/

This was a novel, so thanks for sticking it out until the end! Despite how much I wrote, there is so much more I neglected to include. Hit me up if you want to hear more, and I’ll have another race report coming after Chatt 70.3 in 2 weeks.

 

Matt