Ironman 70.3 Steelhead - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Somewhere in here I should probably add that this was my first triathlon. Not my first HIM but some how through the course of work trips and injuries I wasn't able to get out to any of my planned sprints and olympics earlier this year. With that said, I thought the swim course was absolutely perfect for a first timer.

I vacationed in Wisconsin last month and was fortunate enough to be able to bring my wetsuit with me and spend a few days out OWS in Lake Michigan in prep for Steelhead and through that knew I could cover the distance without issue. Toeing the race line the only unknowns in my head were how I would react in the race environment and what sort of effort I could sustain. I stayed in the back of my wave and walked out the first 50 meters or so until it was time to start swimming and I felt good and in control. Somewhere around 100 meters of swimming my heart rate skyrocketed and I couldn't breath at all, and at that time I told myself "you pretty much knew this was going to happen, you read about it all over the place so just pull yourself together, calm down, think happy thoughts and get freaking going." After a few minutes of side stroking and collecting myself I felt good enough to stick my face in the water and give it a go again. After a few strokes I was all set, found a groove and just stuck with it the rest of the way. I picked an effort level I absolutely knew I could sustain the entire distance and was more than comfortable with. In reflection I'm sure I could have gone at it a bit harder but being my first event I didn't want to come out of the water completely exhausted so I felt better to err on the side of caution.

One final note on the swim leg; I need more OWS work. Probably indicative of everyone but I had a difficult time staying on course. I'm not sure if it was the current (unlikely) or my inexperience (most likely) but I always seemed to stray to the left and was constantly having to catch myself and turn right whenever I'd sight. Additionally, while I can breath to the right I am much more comfortable to the left and due to the south to north orientation of the course all the buoys were on my right. Not a big issue at the end of the day but it would have been nice to have them on the same side I'm breathing on; that's my own fault and I can spend more time getting more comfortable breathing to the right. Overall I think my slowish time is more a result of an easier effort and swimming a zig zag the entire way.

Nothing this time around.

Pretty uneventful transition for being the first one. Bike was racked at the far end of a long transition area but the upside meant a short run out to the mount line. I took my time in T1 to ensure I didn't forget anything. Out of the swim I pulled my cap and goggles off and then my wetsuit down to my waist, leaving my cap and goggles in the sleeve. Once in transition I had the suit off quickly, found my helmet sitting on the ground two spots over, race belt, gel flask in pocket, shoes on and out I went.

Find a more secure way to set my helmet on my bike. Thankfully when it fell off it didn't go terribly far and my sunglasses were still attached to the helmet. Everything else was pretty smooth.

Cycling isn't my strong suit as I'm still fairly new to it and my plan was to target a HR around 135 and just roll with it, feeling it should put me around a 20mph average. Once out of transition and on the bike I was feeling pretty good but definitely a bit cold. Temp had to be around 65 degrees and cloudy and being a kid from Arizona with wet clothes on I felt it. However, within 10 miles I was drying out and no longer cold and ready to get going.

I spent the first 15 minutes going easy and letting my HR come down from ~155 to ~135 and then grabbed my flask to take in some nutrition. My plan was to consume approximately 2 gels an hour along with some concentrated Skratch to equal around 280-300 calories an hour. What I found as soon as I opened my flask was that none of my Gu wanted to come out due to being so cold and thick. What's rule number 1? Oh yes, don't try anything new on race day. Guess what, I never used the flask before today and I paid for it. As I'm trying to suck the Gu golf ball through the flask water hose I heard that rule going through my head over and over. I got as much out as I could and washed it down with some water and kept going. After a couple more attempts to get more out and only managing a small amount at a time I, in a circus like performance, screwed the cap off the flask, took the cap off my water bottle and filled what space was in the flask with water in an attempt to thin it out a bit. This worked so so and I was able to get a bit more out but it never fully mixed with all the Gu and thinned it all out. By the time I got off the bike I knew I didn't get all my nutrition in me and in retrospect it was catching up to me towards the end of the bike.

All in all though the bike went fairly well and I hit the 20mph average I thought I could comfortably hold. I could have gone faster but I know my run would have really suffered so I feel I kept it in control really well.

Thin out the Gu in the gel flask so I could take in all my nutrition.

T2 was uneventful as well. Coming down onto the boardwalk I pulled my feet out of my shoes and followed the traffic in as it was a no pass zone. Coming into the dismount line was a bit of a mess as there were at least a half dozen people stopped right at the line spanning the entire distance across it. I hopped off my bike and had to come to almost a stop to keep from running people over in front of me. The heard thinned and I was able to go around and into my rack.

Nothing

Coming out of transition I was feeling fairly good and taking a peak at my TGT showed around a 7mm pace, almost exactly where I wanted to be for this run. I felt that if I paced the bike well and took in my nutrition I could run around a 1:30-1:35 off the bike. After clearing the first hill I took a look at my watch and was surprised to see around an 8 minute mile. Boy it sure felt like I was running faster than that and my HR was up where it should be for 7s. Maybe it's just not picking up accurately so I kept running, looking at my watch, running, looking at my watch and it was still stuck on 8 minute miles or thereabouts. Then I felt just how sluggish my legs were and reflected upon wonders of just exactly how much gel did I get into me. I thought I got through a fair majority of my flask, not all the gels I'd planned but at least very close. Post race inquiry showed I got through three whole gels on the bike, not the 5-6 I needed. My wheels were slowly coming off as I was running out of energy and was nearing the 6 mile mark. I should also add that I had to pee ever since coming off the bike. There were johns in transition but as I ran through to run out not a single one of them were empty so I kept going, telling myself I'd stop when one was empty as I wasn't going to wait for someone else. Come to find out this led to a nice little cramp/stitch high up on the right side of my stomach that plagued me until I was able to find an empty john. At mile 6 I came upon an aid station with an empty john and found some relief. Immediately after going that cramp/stitch that had been plaguing me for the first half was gone. Moved up to the water, dropped a gel and took back off. Wow, was that gel needed because once it hit me 5-10 minutes later I had a whole new gear and found the pace I had been looking for. Bam, I was back at racking off 6:50 miles, passing people left and right and feeling absolutely great. I rode that pace for the next 4-5 miles and then fell flat on energy once again, just in time for the downhill jaunt to the finish. Final aid station I grabbed some Coke and got a bit of a boost for the last mile and was happy to have a touch of a kick across the finish line.

Go back to the bike and figure that gel flask out before the race. I really think I would have had a much stronger run if I had been able to take in the nutrition that I had trained with.

Met up with my family and gf who all came out to cheer me on for my first event on my birthday. Awesome way to celebrate my 35th! Stopped by the provided Pizza Hut buffet and tossed some food into me and then hit the road.


I'm quite happy with my overall performance but if I really want to pick it apart, which btw I think is an absolute must in order to learn how to perform better next time, I would have to look at my nutrition. I think my training showed I had the right nutrition dialed in and I strongly believe that missing just those few hundred calories on the bike cost me a nice chunk of time.


I cannot say enough good about the Steelhead race venue and organization. Granted this was my first event but even my gf, who has done numerous WTF HIM and IM along with countless other triathlons, commented on how well organized everything was. From packet pick up to aid stations to the volunteers it was all first class and without a single hiccup.