Ironman 70.3 St. George - Triathlon

Swam fine and navigated fine, was comfortable the whole way. But my 2nd slowest swim pace in a race, due to not enough swim training yet this year. It didn't feel quite so slow while I was out there, and my T1 time is faster than I expected, so maybe the swim/T1 timing point was after wetsuit stripping, which I stopped at.

This all went fine - needed to bag everything so it would be easy for them to collect and bring to the finish line for us.

Really great bike course, rode pretty well on flats, probably could have pushed a bit harder on climbs, and lost time descending and in the tight handling sections, as usual. Held up well on all the climbs, and effort on the big climb through Snow Canyon was good, passed a lot of people in there and hardly got passed myself. Given that I hadn't done any long rides outside yet this season, about the best I could have hoped for.

Typical transition for me, stopped on the way out to use the restroom. Skipped sunscreen, which was a mistake - my arms and shoulders got roasted on the run.

Really tough run course, and the heat had kicked in by the time I got started. Ran everything except the steeper uphill sections, and walked most aid stations. Energy level was pretty consistent the whole way, so managed to negative split due to more uphill on the way out and more downhill on the way back. Ran the last three miles pretty strong. Given my inconsistent training this year and the tough course, I was pretty happy with the time - sadly, my 2nd fastest HIM run ever.

My right knee was in rough shape at the end, so I rested on the grass for a bit, then hobbled over for some lunch, got my bike back to TBT, then shuffled to the parking garage and drove back to the hotel. My knee responded well to ice and was much better after a few hours. Felt fine by Sunday morning.


My plan this year was to focus life less on triathlon than the past three years, given I wasn't doing a full and wanted to do some other things. So I feel like I got the race I trained for, as well as suffered the effects of about 15 more pounds than I should be carrying to do long-course racing to the best of my ability.


Can't say a bad word about the inaugural St.George 70.3 - really well organized, great town for a race, beautiful course, challenging, great support, and the weather was just about perfect. Would recommend this race to anyone who is up for a challenging 70.3.