Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

There was about 100+ in our wave and at the start there was a lot of thrashing in the water and some crowding as we all tried to find our own space and jockeying for position. I started out slowly and let myself work up to full speed gradually.

I did get in behind feet a few times but I found they seemed too slow so I passed them. I was really enjoying the swim and even glancing around as I turned to breath and keeping an eye on everyone around me when my face was in the water.

I kept passing people quite quickly and began to notice different coloured caps so I was catching up to the waves in front of me. More than a few times swimmers behind me would grab my ankles but when that happened I just pushed harder and pulled further ahead.

For the whole swim I just swam about 10' to the right of a rope laid out under water along the course but in the last 200m I lost sight of the rope and had to site myself to the finish line. I was a bit unsteady when I stood up to get out of the water fortunately the volunteers were really helpful to get us onto the mats and out of the water.

I'm not sure about the distance of the course. It seemed a bit long to me OR my training swims that I thought were accurate 2km swims were a bit shorter than they should have been.

I really enjoyed the swim and felt really comfortable in the water but in retrospect I think I could have easily gone faster so I need to push myself a bit harder than I usually do.

I felt great coming out of the water and I didn't want to be too slow but I also wanted to take my time to get my equilibrium back to normal after the swim. I changed quickly and kept myself calm.

I also ripped open a Clif Bar and had it ready to eat once I got out on the bike route and I chugged a good bit of a bottle of Perpetuem.

I was a bit too casual and could have been a bit faster than I was without getting anxious.

On the way out of transition a fellow from my wave was staggering out of balance so I held back coming up to the mount line and let him go ahead. I quickly passed him and got comfortable in the saddle.

The route had a lot of ups and downs and I knew from reading past reports that I needed to ride as fast as I could for the first 36 miles because the last 20 miles had some of the hardest climbs and sharp corners.

I rode as fast as I could and planned to drink as much as I could every 15 minutes or so and I planned to eat a HS Waffle or Power bar at each AID station. I only stopped twice very briefly to open food packaging and once to refill my water bottle.

Everyone along the ride was supportive and encouraging. Many people called to me by name and urged me on and I got into it myself urging anyone on that I could. A lot of the fun of the day was talking back and forth with people and playing leap frog with others and encouraging anyone who was struggling.

I'm always slow on hill climbs and this was no exception. I did manage to push on the down-hills to make up time lost but I couldn't make it all back up.

Then we got into the last 20 miles and we came to the hills. At a few points here my bike computer showed 20% grades and it was pretty tough going. I managed to climb each hill even though I was pretty slow. I passed a lot of people walking up the hills and encouraged them to keep going. I passed one relay fellow who was zig-zagging his way up the steepest hill going up only a few feet at a time.

I finally reached the last 6 miles and there were still some climbs but nothing too hard and everyone was upbeat anticipating the ride finish. I heard later that someone had cast tacks out onto the rode and caused many flats. I was fortunate not to have any issues but I did see many people repairing flats.

I rounded the last corner and pulled up to the dismount line. The crowd was enthusiastic and calling to me by name and cheering me on. Pretty exciting.

I am slowly getting faster but for Lake Stevens or any event like it I definitely need better bike fitness. I worked hard all winter to develop my bike fitness but I still have a long way to go.

I was quite a bit faster here but I chose to walk out of transition to get my legs back under me and that cost me some time.

As I said above I need to work on my bike fitness but I also need to get more comfortable with running off the bike.

I'm not a good runner and I showed it on this run. After the hills on the bike I had little left in my legs to get me going. My HR seemed high so I tried to walk briskly to calm my HR down but it remained high so I found it hard to get going.

I managed to maintain a decent pace when I ran but I was only running about 50% of the time then walking briskly trying to calm my heart rate down. Otherwise I felt fine and I just kept going.

I felt well hydrated along the route and even stopped twice for a quick pee.

The crowds coming out of transition were even more vocal than on the bike and many called to me by name which really did help to encourage me. I also passed many of the people I had chatted with on the bike and many of them also called out to me which was really cool. I particularly enjoyed any high-fives I got and also the small children that held out their hands for high-fives.

All along the route the volunteers were fantastic and eager to help with anything we needed.

I met up with a fellow from Phoenix Arizona and we ran/walked together for a while. He was hurting a bit and he told me to go on ahead of him. We were close to the finish and I figured he had enough time to finish even though he was now walking and hurting. I did watch for him at the finish line but I never saw him. I did leave the area briefly to get my bike and gear out of the transition lot so I hope he finished then. I would have loved to see him finish.

I maintained a pretty steady pace on the course and I slowly got a bit stronger and picked up the pace a bit. Then in the last leg I was walking and came up to about 10 young athletic men and some ladies sitting by the side of the road (I think they had done the race themselves) and they all stood up and wildly cheered me on and they all high-fived me and shouted, "You've got this. You've already done it." I can't explain it but as I passed them I was full of emotion, tearing up (which I never do) and I started running and even though I was tired I ran my fastest mile ever and accelerated up the finish chute like I was a real runner.

That was my 1st ever half marathon. A lot slower than I intended but I'll be a lot faster next year. The finish was quite emotional to me. Two years ago I was neither a swimmer, cyclist nor a runner.



I should have pushed myself harder through the bike and run.

I have a lot of room for improvement but I could feel I had the ability to do it better/faster. I will do this again as soon as I can find an event with less hills!!!

I will be faster.

After I got across the finish line and got my medal and hat I walked over and turned in my chip then they gave me an ice cold water. The water was awesome and went down really well.

As I walked through the finish area several people I had passed repeatedly called out my name one last time and I waved back to them. In my mind I was taking stock of what I was feeling. After 8 hours of non-stop hard effort I felt really good. I was steady on my feet and clear headed perhaps even capable of continuing longer.

I soon found my friend who won a third in his Age-group in his very first ever triathlon (he was third of four). He took me to the food tent and I picked up a couple pizza slices a big cookie and a Sprite. I enjoyed the food and also had brought along a "Recoverite" for after the event and took a Motrin.


I think my own sense of comfort limited me. I need to learn how to push myself beyond my comfort zone as well as improving my training focus.

I loved the event and the spectators, volunteers and the other athletes made the event an incredible fun experience.


I would have appreciated an information booth in the package pick-up area to ask questions before race day.