Ironman 70.3 Steelhead - Triathlon

Beginning the race in the front row for a change and this time with some confidence, unlike most other races, I chose a position just inside the right side of the course. I had approximately 4-5 guys to my right with the bulk of the 2nd wave of AG'ers behind and to the left of me. I chose the inside of the course to hopefully keep a shorter distance and straighter line.
There was about 3-4 minutes between waves but with about 30 seconds before launch we were able to get a sort of countdown. The typical "good luck" and h"have a great race" comments raced through the group and we were down to a few seconds, then we were off.
The first couple of hundred yards I felt were pretty important to make sure I got off quickly and remained in front of most of the wave. I did not want to end up getting kicked and beaten by athletes a little overzealous for the first 200 yards or so I took this time to stay out in front of most of that nonsense.
Over the course of these 200 yards I was able to get what seemed like fair separation from the slower athletes but with some other faster guys still in front of me. Once I made it past the first marker buoy I began to look for some feet to fall in behind and draft for a while. Over the next couple of hundred yards or so I looked for someone I might catch and then slow down to a pace that was more sustainable. I was about the 3 or 4 buoy out when I was able to make the connection.
Drafting isn't something I normally feel comfortable doing. I seem to have some difficulty finding someone going fast enough for me to feel as if I'm on the right feet and then I don't think sighting is as easy. Today however, things seemed much better and I was able to get into a groove and still feel as if I was working hard enough to call it race pace.
Not feeling real confident in the feet that were dragging me along, I kept sighting for most of the space remaining before reaching the first turn marker. I spent time checking my line and considering if I was reaching an effort that would cause me to work without overreaching, I seemed to find it, at least that was my thought during the race.
Late in this stretch I gained confidence in the man pulling me along and I relaxed my sighting efforts to conserve energy. Visibility was the best I have EVER experienced. I was able to see, underwater, no less than 15 feet most of the time and more than that at times. I though about what it must be like in ocean waters with visibility of 100 feet plus.
As I reached the turn buoy I pulled in along side the athlete I was using to draft to ensure what I felt was good positioning coming into the turn. We had began passing people about half way out to the turn marker and I was seeing some other swimmers getting close. I opted to pull in along side because I felt it would allow me better position between he and other swimmers from the previous waves making the turn. The turn went well and we were past the marker with relative ease.
Once around the turn I fell back into a "trusting" my partner mode and this was the wrong thing to do. As it turns out we went quite wide after making the turn, possibly 30-40 feet wide after having been within 10 feet for the first stretch. Once I noticed this I picked a buoy about 2 markers in front of me and figured I was unlikely to find any more feet and I would go the rest of the race on my own rather than end up so wide.
Once back at a comfortable distance, parallel to the marking buoys and about 4 markers past turn 1, I found more feet to drag me. This time I paid more closely to my line so I could check up on positioning without losing more ground.
All of this chasing was much more complex than I have noted at this point. After making it past the first turn the water turned into a sea of slower swimmers that made things all the more difficult. Navigation became as hard as it was going to get during this race. It seemed I could swim not more than 20-30 yards before having to navigate through several swimmers, all while maintaining solid effort, sighting for my own lines and making sure I was able to stay on the feet of the swimmer in front of me.
The second turn came up rather quickly and I was beginning to get happy to know I was well past halfway. At this point sighting into the beach became the easiest way to maintain my line while staying on the front of me. I didn't abandon sighting the markers but they became secondary to seeing all the way to the beach.
Most of the rest of the way into the beach was uneventful. I was able to maintain the same feet for almost the rest of the swim but as we neared the beach he turned on some speed and began to drop me. When I noticed it I turned on a bit of my own and I caught him , tried to relax a little and then lost him another time.
With 2-3 buoys left before hitting the beach I opted to stick on my own and wake my legs up a little bit a couple of times as I neared the swim out.
I did spend some time dolphin diving at the beginning of the race and considered it at the end but my pace coming in, as I watched the sand on the bottom of the lake blast by, felt really fast. I chose not to utilize dolphin diving on the way in because of space. Once my fingers began to drag the bottom a couple of times I stood up and began my run in.

Placement in the wave was pretty good. Taking the time to think about my typical performance on the swim I lined myself up well but it was sighting was the place I fell into a trap. Next time I'll do more checking following turns and then taper down a litte from there.

This transition felt decent. It didn't feel like I was into the time that is recorded. I felt I stayed moving so i have to think a little more about time gains for this one.

Not sure

The bike began with a little bit of tension about if I might be able to ride 240 NP for 56 miles. I recalled struggling at my olympic in May holding less than 240 NP when I was supposed to hold 260 NP, but not being able to hold much back I headed out with the intention to do what I could.
I had forgotten to hit my lap butting on transition for T1 and once I was out of the T area headed for the mount line I hit the button twice in a row to start the bike segment. I crossed the mount line and jumped on the bike almost knocking a bottle from the cage as I threw my leg over. Once on the bike there was a very short downhill grade that made it easier to get some speed up prior to getting my feet into my shoes. I was able to get up and over 15 mph before slipping my right foot into my shoe, pedal a few strokes and get my left foot in. This was one of the more smooth and seamless times I've gotten into my shoes that I can remember.
The first few miles were pretty flat and I was holding some solid speed through this stretch but once the hills started I felt like I was crawling. The first few miles saw speeds up to and over 25 mph and then they kind of crashed a little when I began climbing. the slowest on this initial 5 mile lap was 17.4 that I can find but it didn't last long. I was able to concentrate on holding a certain wattage and maintaining my effort fairly well. I had set my watch up a little different in the days leading up to the race so I could see the most relevant data for the race. I had fields set for time, NP, avg speed and lap NP. This made a big difference in keeping in tune with my goals fro the day. I checked my watch routinely through the ride and stayed close to my target.
For much of the first 20-25 miles I was little nervous about the course official riding close to me. The motorcycle was back and forth and within my sight much of this part of the ride and caused me some grief.
Several times I had to pass riders between the official and other riders making some of them closer passes than I would have liked, or should have been making at all. twice that I remember I there were 2 bikes riding abreast and the official riding across the yellow line next to them. I yelled "passing" on both occasions and kept riding. My problem here was that I didn't feel the course official should have been riding so close to the yellow line. I had been passing people on a very regular basis and this official had seen me multiple times and knew I had been flying past other riders.
All of the time I was riding through the first 30 miles of the course I was passing people rather fast. I had been looking to have been passed by several others riders over the course but none had passed me over the 25 mile mark. I took this to mean I was having a really good bike ride and I may have had a better swim than I had originally thought.
The roads, I had heard, could be pretty horrible but I really didn't seem to feel like they were that bad. There were spots it would have been nice to have had some newer asphalt but most of the roads were in fair shape. Having lost 2 bottle over 2 outdoor long ride in the 2 weeks leading up to the race I was nervous about losing my nutrition early and having to feed off the course. I did spend a few extra dollars and purchased a Gorilla carbon cage and transferred another from my road bike to my TT bike for some security, but I hadn't ridden with these cages on the back of my bike yet so I was nervous. I was able to keep checking the cage on the back for any slippage and found it didn't budge most of the time.
The last time I passed the course official, with about 30 miles or so in, I had a close call. He and one other rider were in front of me on a slight downgrade and I was carrying speed. The official was straddling the yellow and the other rider was in the middle of the lane. I observed this for a few hundred feet as I was approaching them and there was no movement from either of them in any direction to the sides. There wan't enough room for me to pass on the left, as is the legal pass, and I was carrying more speed than I wanted to give up by sitting up, slowing down and yelling at them that I was coming through, so I chanced and illegal pass. As I was passing, on the right. The cyclist must have been told by the official I was coming around and he veered right causing me to.......leave a stripe in my shorts. A minute later came another rider in my AG that passed me. He looked over at me and told me how close that was and shook his head.
This pass was the first time I was passed during the bike. The guy was cruising pretty well but not outpacing me with a lot more speed but he was definitely going to beat me back to transition. It was difficult to maintain my pacing when he passed me. Over the course of the next couple of minutes, as I watched him speed away from me, I had to check my watch, after changing my view, to see my 10 second power numbers to stay in the right zone. I was pretty distracted and wanted to hold my position behind him pretty badly but I knew doing so could cause me to crash on the run. I kept telling myself that I was going to catch him on the run because he (Clyde) would blow up. It was difficult but this seemed a successful strategy.
From here through the rest of the bike ride I was passed a couple of more times by athletes that I was fairly certain were different AG's. With each rider that passed me I had to refrain from trying to ride a little harder.
Later in the race, possibly 35-40 miles in, I caught another rider that I believe was on a relay team. He was riding strong but I had caught him during some of the flatter sections of the bike. Once we entered some of the hills coming back into transition we traded positions on nearly every climb. He would pass me as we rode uphill and I would catch and pass him on the flat or downhill. It became a joke and we bantered back and forth much of the remainder of the ride. I told him I was like a gnat that wouldn't go away. Once we got deeper into the bike and the downhills I passed him and never saw him again.
The turn onto M-63 again was a welcomed sight. The roads hadn't been bad but I was hoping for some glass to ride on through the rest of the bike and maybe have a little better bike split than I was already having. This wasn't to be the case but the roads did seem a little better and a little faster.
Many times throughout the course I had noted that I had an average speed of 24+ MPH and my watts were close to target but slightly over. With the 240 NP target I was seeing actual race numbers of 242-243. The key once i made the turn back onto M-63 was the slight amount of south wind coming is initially slowed me down. After seeing the highest avg. speed of 24.2 at one point I didn't want to see it drop below 24 for the race. With all of the climbing I had begun to get nervous. I wasn't about to give up any speed if I didn't have to. Somewhere in here I checked and noticed I had dropped to 23.9, I hoped to be able to pick that back up.
So far throughout the race I have been doing well with my nutritional intake. The goal was about 800-900 calories during the ride and water as needed. I was doing somewhat well by the time I got onto M-63 again but I was a little light on the EFS. I had been feeling like my stomach might be getting a little full and I didn't want to repeat the debacle of last years Challenge New Albany 70.3 where I was so bloated on the run that I couldn't take anything on board. So I din't mind skimping a bit. I had been taking salt but maybe a little light on the tabs, maybe missing one tab but the weather was almost perfect so I don't think I needed as much salt as I was taking in. I did consume approximately 40 oz. of water during the course of the day.
By now I was getting close to 40 miles and I was wondering when I might run into Meredith on tn the bike course. Her prediction was at mile 50 and at several places throughout the day I had gotten a little lost as to where I was on the course, and this was one of those times. I changed the field view on my watch and saw where I was. I began looking for Meredith and Sara, hoping I would see them before hitting the run. finally at mile 43 I passed Meredith, who thought I was Strasser I later found out. And I believe I passed Sara a few miles later but I can't remember for certain when I saw her. Passing these two lightened the mood a little for me because I hadn't seen anyone I knew during the race to this point. It always causes a nice distraction when I can run into someone I know on the course.
The passing back and forth of the relay cyclist continued and the bantering along with it. But then the downhill into the park and onto the sidewalk. This big downhill had afforded some fast speeds and seemed to make sure I was going to finish with a split that had me close to 24 MPH for the day.
As I entered the sidewalk area I became nervous that I was going to be unable to pass others while riding through here and there seemed to be a fair amount of traffic ahead of me. Lucky for me the sidewalk was fairly wide and I was able to pass people without any issues.
As I came into the transition area I could hear the crowds and music playing. I felt pretty strong but was a little nervous about the feeling in my gut. I didn't feel full like I had been worried about but I didn't feel full coming off the bike last year either. Then my mind began to drift toward the pain I was about to endure on the run for what I had hoped would be a 1:40 half marathon. I knew pulling that off would be something extraordinarily hard to do.

Nothing. This bike was far above my imagination.
245 watts normalized, 24 mph average speed and feeling strong coming off the bike seemed to point me toward a good day thus far.

I could have done better! As I ran into the transition area I feel I was on task. I kept moving well and seemed to be on a mission. I had a decent spot in transition, except that I had more turns than I would like to have had, but my spot was easy to find because of the land-marking I was able to use. I was just past the finishing line directly in front of a light pole.
However, once at my spot I seemed to relax for a couple of seconds for some reason. I don't think this was a conscious decision but as I was running out of T2 I seemed to realize that's what I had done.

Be better in tune with what I was trying to accomplish.

As I left transition I felt somewhat strong but almost as if I might easily deflate. I was kind of struggling mentally knowing I was at the beginning of a long, hard run. The goal was to run 7:40 miles, as given by Zach, and I knew he was putting me in the hurt box for the entire run. Simply put, I was nervous. Holding that kind of pace for that long after having the bike split of my life seemed a stretch.
The first 3/4 of a mile was basically flat. I seemed to be running well but almost as if I felt my energy stores dwindling. I had noticed this in T2 and had taken a shot of Liquid Shot as I began to strip my bike gear off. Now on the run I was hopeful my 150-200 calorie shortage on the ride wasn't going to leave me running on empty, especially this early in the run. I stayed focused despite the distraction and kept checking my HR for the goal.
As I neared the 1 mile mark according to my watch we made a left hand turn and I got the proverbial wind knocked out of me. There was what seemed to me a huge hill to climb and it looked long. I attempted to keep my effort the same and not my pace and powered up as much as I could. I would be lying if I said my mind wasn't wavering during this climb. I wanted to walk.....ALREADY!! But mentally I cannot seem to give up and the suffering continued. What made it worse was that another athlete pulled up along side me and asked if this was the worst of the two big hills. I told him this was my first Steelhead and he the same, we both trudged on.
Once past the past the steepest part of the climb there was a false flat for almost another mile. This didn't do anything for my waning confidence either. Once to the top of this stretch things flattened out a bit and I was able to get to business. I was still struggling but things seemed to begin clicking a little better. I was now into the 2 loop portion of the run and getting my first look at the course.
During this first loop of the run I was with a couple of people for a short period of time. I had hoped they I would be able to pick up my pace a little as they passed me but I was unable at this point to have confidence I would be able to hold pace, so I let them go. This first loop was a little lonely in some regard as well. Only the faster people were up here right now, although I sometimes wonder how it is that I get up here. I know I am faster than a lot of people but don't seem to understand why or how. I guess I've been blessed more than I realize.
About 3 miles or so into the run I was passed by on of my AG'ers. This was a little disconcerting since it seemed so early and I had had such a good bike split. And then it wasn't long before I was passed again, by another in my AG. This began to take the wind out of my sails a little. By now I was close to hitting targeted HR's and I felt a little slow and sluggish. I would be lying again if I said I had no "give up" in me when the second guy passed me. Still I tried to remain focused and hope they would later blow up and I would pass them.
We made a left turn on to a road and there it was, the beast of a hill the previous runner had mentioned. It looked big and I began to get a little distracted again. Then I began to see people turning right prior to running up the hill. Relief!!! Not so fast!! I saw someone running out of the road and toward the hill I had been worried about. But it was here that I think my resolve came back to me. I remember thinking that I was here to race, suffer and do what I could do to have the best race I could. Suffering is part of racing and being your best. Meeting your inner "give up's" and deciding if it's all worth it. I decided that I was going to suffer for as long as I could before I threw in the towel.
As I turned right, into the business entrance drive, I got my mind right and my pace going in the right direction, DOWN! The game had begun! I was now closing in on 4 miles into the run and I was taking on my nutrition as planned. My legs were coming back and my mind along with it. To this point I was unwilling to quit but barely making it work. Now I was in race mode. I had been passed by an athlete in my AG that I had met earlier in the week, although I hadn't recognized him just yet and I wasn't going to let him go, come Hell or high water. He now became my pacer.
As we wound through the wooded trail area I could feel my right hip beginning to flare up. I have been dealing with something occasionally during long runs that seems to leave my hip wanting to crack or something. I think it's a little bit of tightness from some type of an altered stride or something. I can't really pinpoint it. The way the ground rolled around and the tree roots made the asphalt roll is what I believe the cause may have been. Through here I was also able to run a little bit on the grass to help with any potential knee issues that may arise, although I never had any. I really didn't like this part of the run. It seemed to me they could have found something a little better to use as a course.
Once I came off the trail and onto the open road it seemed like things began to pitch upward but only slightly. It was just enough to make me have to think about slowing and pacing a little differently. As I ran through this stretch I seemed to pick up the pace slightly without knowing, my HR seemed to increase and I got a little more energy, whether mental or physical I don't know. After looking at the profile of the course I was running slightly downward allowing for this quicker pace.
I was then coming out of the business' area and making the turn toward the hill I had earlier been dreading. As I approached the bottom of the hill it seemed steep but fairly short. As it turns out there was only about 40 feet of elevation increase and I was able to mentally run up this hill without a lot of distraction. This left me hopeful that the last lap, and climbing this hill the second time wouldn't be all that bad. Once at the top of the climb the road turned left and back onto the highway where the bikes were making their way back into transition. As I was riding I didn't recall seeing any runners anywhere on the course and I thought it was strange that I hadn't. The good thing about running on the highway was that I knew I wasn't all that far from beginning the second loop and that was a mental win.
Then I made the turn for loop 2. It was here that I began to question whether the person I had been pacing from was the man I'd met in South Bend on Wednesday. As it runs out it was and later he peeled off for some water and got in behind me, realized who I was and pulled up next to me and we began to talk. Long story short, he called me a dirty dog for telling him I had hoped to go sub 4:40 and then blowing this race up. He had mentioned he's hoped for 4:30 but he was off his mark by a long shot. Although in the same AG he had gone off in the wave before me because there were so many athletes in the 45-49, 232 to be exact and I, at some point, had passed him on the bike leaving him behind me in the overall standings. This made me feel pretty good once I knew I had him beat, which was somewhat early in the first run loop. Soon after our discussion he pulled of the side of the road suddenly and I didn't see him until after the race. As it turns out his shoe had come untied and he stopped to tie it. He told me later he was never able to reel me back in.....BAM!! Don't mess with this kid!
Now on the second loop the run course was extremely crowded. the people I had passed on the bike were now in front of me on the first loop of their run and I had to navigate around them. This wasn't an issue on the road sections of the race course but on the trail through the woods it was different story. It got crowded back there! Even with the bigger crowds I was still unimpeded for the most part. It seemed I hit the right places at the best times to be able to pass the slower groups of people.
The I was out of the woods. I as happy to have been out of there because now it was clear sailing to the finish. There were plenty of challenges ahead but I at least was past the narrow running areas I had thought might slow me down if crowded with slower athletes.
It was also here that I began to run into other athletes from my team that had gone off in the waves prior to me. The first was Jerry, He was in the first wave and had gone off about 36 minutes ahead of me. Jerry had KQ'd last year at Lake Placid and it was good to see him on the course. As I passed him he mentioned how far I'd come since joining the team.
Next was Diana. While not on the team I have known her for some time. She was walking and limping pretty badly. I ran in behind her and told her she "had this race in the bag" and kept running. Later she told me it what I had done was exactly what she needed at that point in the race.
Then it was Chad. I ran into him in the aid station just before leaving the business' area. I almost ran over him. The area was flooded with volunteers and other runners trying to grab some nutrition and it was hard to move freely through here. I tapped him on the shoulder and said to go get 'em and kept going.
Now I was about 3 miles from the finish, the distractions were gone and only the pain in my legs and lungs remained. I was struggling hard at this point but I tried to hold pace. I had the final hill climb in this section but I was mentally on top of it this time. I knew I was almost done. I could feel the finish line getting closer and the more pain I seemed to feel the more I reminded myself that I can do anything for X amount of time. this is a mantra I rehears during long runs and rides when the pain begins to reach into my head, crying out for me to slow or stop. On race day it seems all the more strong to hear that voice and know I can conquer it.
I also knew that the final stretch had more downhill than flat or uphill, so I was gathering the small mental wins here too.
Beginning at mile 11 through the finish the course is either downhill or flat and I was there, now excited but hurting to be so close. I pushed the pace where I could and I was reaching some of the highest HR's over the course of the day for these final miles. The big hill at the beginning of the race was now in front of me, only this time I had the advantage of gravity. I let my legs carry me with a fair amount of control and then I hit the bottom....Less than mile to go. But I was in the hurtbox pretty badly at this point. My legs were shot! The downhill had taken me from the excitement of gravity into some serious pain from the weight that had been slamming into the ground causing my quads to absorb the shock load. I was in pain for the remainder of the race, which now was less than a half mile.
As I began the final push I tried to pick up the pace a little but gave up that hope after only a few feet. My legs and lungs just didn't have it. I had used everything up and now I just had to will myself to maintain pace for just a little longer.
As I neared the finishing chute there was some clown of a guy wandering around inside the chutes on the course. How he got there or why was beyond me but I blasted by him brushing him with my sweaty awesomeness on the way by. He had been oblivious up until that time that he wasn't the only person alive I guess. After I passed him a volunteer noticed him and began yelling at him to get off the course.
Now I was only a hundred yards or so from the finishing line and relief. I rounded the corner and could see the finish ahead. Whatever push I had, which wasn't much, I used up.
It was about 50 feet or so from the finish that I saw Lis taking pics, as she always does. I saw her and began to think of something Brenda has told me before, that smiling is something she wished she'd see me do during a race. She hadn't seen that from me before and so......I smiled for my tri-mom!
........and then I was finished........and toast fro a few minutes. They had to escort me from the immediate finish area because all I could do was stand with my hands on my knees gasping for air. It took me about 2-3 minutes before I felt like I could stand upright without wanting to fall over.

I would like to have had a better paced run. I think the first couple of miles were slower than what I think I could have run. I wouldn't have been much faster, possibly not even 30 seconds faster, but I think I could have been

HA! I love this part of the race report, it's always the same answer........Warm down? What warm down???
Oh yeah! I made the podium at my first Ironman event.......by 1 second!!!! That's right ONE second!!! That's NUTS!!
I spent a long time in the chute talking to teammates and Sara about the race. Sara finished just a couple of minutes after me. When I passed her on the bike she told me she's be coming for me on the run but I was doing all I could to hold her off and it looks like I barely was able to. She had a great race and has the ticket to go to Worlds in Oz next year.


Fitness! Is there anything else? I can always be more fit but not at this point. Really the only thing that may have made me faster was missing that nutrition on the bike and maybe not pacing well at the start of the run...........There's always some place to improve! Always!


A good race and a great venue! The water clarity was better than any race I have ever done and the bike course fast.