Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Got in the water and lined up in front and on the inside. I think this spot sees most of the carnage, but it doesn't last long and is well worth it in my book. People everywhere for the first few hundred but it thinned out quickly. There was a guy swimming directly to the right of me at the same pace so I pulled back to try and get on his feet. Unfortunately there was someone already there. Gave him a little hip check and stole his draft. Sat on these feet all the way to the first turn and hit the traffic jam from previous waves. Lost the draft and soloed all the way back in. Coming in to the beach there were people littered everywhere and had to navigate through it all. Splits aren't important enough to swim over people so I did quite a bit of zig-zagging but I don't think it hurt my overall time too much.

Nothing... this is the fastest fresh water half iron swim I've done. I swam strong (for me) and didn't have to swim like a jackass to do it.

Ran up the boat ramp, hit the lap button on the Garmin 310xt. Gave it the cursory glance and was happy with my split. Ran directly to my bike. Had my top off already so I pulled my pants down to the ankles and did the "step on my wetsuit" dance while I was putting on my race belt, sunglasses, and helmet. WTC rules don't allow you to have shoes clipped in so I had to throw those on an do the duck run/walk out of T1.

Nothing

Got on the bike, switched the 310 onto the bike mount, and immediately started working at getting my hr's down. A few people passed me, but I've learned in the past that what happens in the first 20 minutes of the bike can really effect the entire race. Anticipating the heat that was predicted for the day I think it was pretty smart. After I was back down into the 150's I started my nutrition. The plan was to carry one bottle b/w the aerobars on the bike filled with regular strength EFS supplemented with a full flask of liquid shot. After that I would exchange with a bottle of Gatorade at the aid station and finish the liquid shot. I really don't think you need a smorgasbord of calories in a half. In retrospect the only thing I'd do differently nutrition wise is take in more sodium. Maybe salt caps or doubling up on EFS. The setup worked great and I didn't have to break aero to drink. Got settled in and started ticking off the miles. The second lap went by really quick. This course definitely keeps your mind occupied with all the turns, climbs, and gear changes. I thought that the new position might give me a little trouble as it's alot more aggressive than my previous position, but it felt great the whole time despite having almost 18 cm of drop on my aerobars. The last six miles of this bike course is truly a slog into T2. I swear it's all uphill and it was starting to creep into 90's.

Maybe push a bit harder, but I knew it was starting to heat up and I was trying to ride with my head. My average hr was a bit lower than I normally go for a half... so maybe I was a bit too conservative.

Nothing really exciting here. Standard flying dismount, rack bike, and get out as quickly as possible.

Nothing

Left transition and immediately did the mind/body check. Tight quads, not quite cramping but close. A little bit of shoulder and neck fatigue, but felt good otherwise. Checked the Garmin and was running alot faster than predetermined pace. Pulled way back and just settled into a comfortable hard run. Carried my second flask of liquid shot in my hand. After the first mile I really noticed how hot it was getting. My pace slowed but RPE was the same. It was gonna be a tough run. Started damage control at the 2nd aid station. The routine was something like this: See the aid station, pull off the gel, wash down with water, grab ice cup, dump down the inside of my shorts, and do it all without breaking stride. This kept me from overheating too much. I felt some rub going on the insides of my feet and tried to ignore it. I usually go sockless up to this distance and have never had a problem before, but I knew I was gonna have some serious foot damage by the end of the day. Going into the second lap the race really turned into a death march. I was passing long lines of people walking. I honestly have never seen so many people walking in a race. Not even at full iron distance. Everyone was blowing up and overheating. I saw Joanna Zeiger and was suprised how close I was to her cuz the pro women started 16 minutes ahead of mine. I knew she was having a bad day at that point. I was feeling pretty bad but was still holding pretty much the same. So I just pushed through. Came into the finish and immediately sat down and drank water. Looked at my shoes and I bled through pretty bad. Have to thank my mother-in-law who did a great job getting the blood out of them.

Nothing. I pushed as I hard as I could. Although I'm not satisfied with my time. I was in alot of pain from start to finish and gave everything I had.

Jumped in the lake and swam a little. More or less to get the race muck off me.


Conditions and not being adapted/acclimated to the heat.


This is what I could do on the day with the conditions. I had really hoped for a sub 90 minute run, but I knew it wasn't gonna happen in the heat. All my training leading up to this race indicated I was fully capable of it. I ran a 38:16 10k a few weeks back. A 1:02:58 for a ten miler last week and both of those were at elevation. This is honestly the hardest half iron course I've done. This was the fastest time I've ever done on this course and still 25 minutes slower than my PR for this distance. But even though it's not a fast course it's an honest one. I really didn't see one organized draft pack all day long. Gotta love the hills. I'm sure I'll be back.