Steelhead 70.3 Race Report - The 2nd time is sweeter!

I've been thinking about what the theme of this entry was going to be all weekend. I don't think that there is one theme that I can zero in on. I can summarize the weekend and tell you that it was truly amazing from start to finish. I learned that no matter what happens in a race - you have to adjust, make smart choices and keep putting one foot in front of the other. So here goes...my weekend in the Hamptons of the Midwest and the Steelhead 70.3 Race Report!

Friday

We had to leave Madison on a Friday since the race was on Saturday. It's unusual that a race is on Saturday, but it was a really nice change of pace for all of us. It meant having a full day to recover before going back to work.

Caitlin, Amanda and Seth picked me up at home around 9am on Friday morning. We headed out of town and made it down to Chicago in good time. Due to heavy traffic, we ended up missing the ramp for the Indiana tollway. I had the brilliant idea to take a 'shortcut' through the south side of Chicago. We drove through a pretty interesting and sad part of Chicago. It definitely made us appreciate our own lives all that much more. Once we made it back onto the highway, we made great time getting into Michigan. Of course, we didn't account for the time change and arrived at Caitlin's family's beach house in Benton Harbor around 4:30pm.

It was amazing! The house was right on Lake Michigan, but you felt as though you were in the Hamptons. The water was a beautiful blue with small waves crashing into the shore. There was tall beach grass everywhere and white powdery sand. If you looked up and down the beach it was gorgeous! How lucky were we! And how awesome was this going to be after the race?!



After admiring our new surroundings, we set out to the race expo to get registered and rack our bikes. The race expo was about 1/2 mile down the beach from where we were staying. It was perfect! We got our race packets and headed off to transition to rack our bikes. To ease congestion race morning, they have everyone rack their bikes the evening before the race. This is a bit nerve-wracking, but they do have guards watching the transition over night.

This was by far the biggest race I had ever done. There was approximately 2000 athletes registered for the race. It was pretty intimidating and very obvious that this event would be more competitive than what I was used to. This race was also an official qualifier for the ClearWater 70.3 Ironman Championships. Basically, it's the equivalent to the Hawaii Ironman, except half the distance.

In the evening, Catilin needed to head to Grand Rapids to pick her husband up at the airport. Seth, Amanda and I set out for the grocery store to pick up some essentials for the race....and after the race. We went out for pizza with Caitlin's cousins - Richard and Tracy - after our shopping excursion. They were fantastic hosts over the weekend and we genuinely enjoyed their company!

Saturday

The alarm went off at 5am. I had laid out my race gear the evening before, so I was ready to go. I did the usual - brushed my teeth, got dressed, prepared a bagel with peanut butter, ate and double-checked my gear. Our goal was to leave the house by 5:30am to head to transition to set-up our gear. We managed to get out of there by about 5:45am. Seth, Amanda and I headed down the beach in the pitch black of the morning. The sand was cold on our feet and the water was pretty calm. We could see the buoys and figured that we would be swimming from the south end of the beach to Jean Klock Park. The start of the swim changes based on the current. That morning the current was headed north...and so we would too.

Transition was filled with people. It was a little tough to see initially, but as the sun started to come up we were able to see things more clearly. Amanda and I got things all set-up and decided to head towards the swim start. We would make a pit stop at the beach house to make a final bathroom trip and get into our wetsuits. It was a beautiful morning!


Amanda and I made it back to the house. We got our final bathroom stop out of the way, took a few photos, got in our wetsuits and headed for the start, which was only 1/2 mile down shore. As we headed to the start, I thought the water looked really calm and that the swim was going to be amazing. It looked peaceful. Little did I know, what looked calm was actually a bit wavy.

Amanda, Caitlin and I started together in Wave 5. Each wave had approximately 200 people in it. This was the largest wave I'd ever been in...and it was a true beach start. At 7:10am, the horn sounded and we were off!!

The Swim (1.2 miles)
Given the number of people in my wave, the swim started out amazingly calm. There wasn't a ton of contact and that comforted me initially. I got ready to start swimming when I saw how high the swells in the lake actually were. I had a really difficult time calming down. My heart rate was way up and I just couldn't put my face in the water. I expected some of this for a few minutes, but this went on for nearly 10 minutes! I was extremely discouraged. To top it off, my goggles were fogging up, the sun was bright and I couldn't see the next buoy. I knew I was a better swimmer than how I was doing, so I finally put my face in and relaxed.

Once I was going, I was moving. I could feel the current pushing me along and before I knew it we were making the final turn towards shore. I was relieved to have the swim turn around for me, but disappointed that I struggled for as long as I did.

After exiting the water, you had to run uphill through the sand and then about another 400 yards until you hit transition. This was a long transition!

T1: What can I say about transition, other than it was long. The distance you had to run was so much greater than what I was used to. I paced myself, but got in and out as quickly as possible.

Swim: 37:13
T1: 3:21

The Bike (56 miles)

I had no idea what to expect for this bike course. I knew it was rolling with some hills, but I didn't know to what degree. I definitely wanted to creep under the 3 hour mark, but wasn't sure what challenges I'd face on the bike.

I started easier that I wanted to go, but knew if I went out too hard that I would pay for it later. Like at High Cliff, I needed a bathroom stop about 10 miles into the ride. Fortunately, there was a porta potty open and I was able to make a quick stop. I just kept thinking, well there goes 2 minutes.

I was amazingly focused for the remainder of the bike. I felt great, focused on maintaining a certain wattage, minimizing the time spent coasting and sticking hard and fast to my nutrition and hydration plan. Starting at 15 minutes into the bike, I ate every 30 minutes. For the first 1.5 hours, I had croissant sandwiches (Thanks Allen!!!). For the remainder of the bike I stuck to a balance bar and Gu. I drank 2 bottles of gatorade and half a bottle of water on the bike. I know that I need to try and drink more on the bike, but every 15 minutes I drank like clockwork. I didn't have any stomach issues and felt great about my plan leading into the run.

The one thing that was different about this bike was the competitiveness. The men were flat out jerks. Many of them wouldn't even warn you when they were passing and would come very close. This can be incredibly dangerous when you are riding 20+ mph and may have to dodge a dropped water bottle, pothole or another biker at the last second.

Also, due to the sheer numbers of people, drafting or avoiding drafting became an issue. The rule is that if you are passed by a cyclist, you must drop back 3m and wait 20 seconds before attempting to pass back. Many times, I would be passed by someone going just a hair faster than me. I would then be forced to slow down and wait to pass them back. This became annoying very quickly. I had been going back and forth with this one woman for most of the ride. She wasn't very good at handling her bike and quite often rode right down the middle, which made it hard to pass. I finally made a hard pass at around mile 40 and never saw her again.

The last 10-15 miles of the bike were into a head wind. It was kind of annoying at that point, but I knew that I was going to break the 3 hour mark as I hoped. In fact, I was going to break it by more than I thought I could. With the bathroom stop and all, I cruised on in!. It was an awesome bike - the course was beautiful and easy to ride. It flew by!



T2: The transition to the run wasn't quite as long as the one from the swim, but there was still some distance to cover. I spent a little extra time digging through my Transition bag, as I forgot to put out my socks. I could have tried to run without those, but I have a feeling I would have had blisters. I decided that spending the extra seconds was worth the payoff.

Bike: 2:52:36
T2: 3:08

The Run (13.1 miles)
The run....this was something I really wanted to improve on over High Cliff. I completed High Cliff in 2 hours and change and walked all of the aid stations. I was hoping to shave 5 minutes off my run time at Steelhead and to do this, I would need to walk a bit less.

I started out of transition and looked at my watch - 3:35. I started doing the math...if I ran the same as last time, I'd set a personal best at this distance. I had hoped to sneak under 5:30 and the goal was definitely attainable, but you never know what is going to happen on the run and I didn't want to put the pressure on too early.

I forced myself to take the first few miles slow. I didn't want to blow-up mid run and starting out blazing was a sure way to do it. I wasn't sure how I felt the run was going to go for the first few miles. I cruised through the first few aid stations, grabbing water and gatorade without walking. I started chatting with a gentleman around mile 3. He (and about 20 other runners) asked me how I liked my Newton's. They are a new running shoe that is supposed to force you to run more anatomically correct. The jury is still out....

Around Mile 4, I realized I was cruising and it felt fantastic. I kept up the pace, passing people left and right. I also stuck hard to my plan of keeping cool and drinking at the aid stations. I only walked when I took my gu.

The course itself was a 2 loop stem course. We ran out about 2 miles and then did two loops before running back. Still cruising along I was nearing the turn around for the 1st loop. As I hit Mile 6, I checked my watch. I was 50 minutes into the run already! I was flying! At this pace, I could definitely break 5:30. It was still too early though to get too excited.

I maintained a steady pace mile by mile and was very focused. Any time I started to get tense or feel exhausted, I backed off the pace until I was comfortable again. I continued to stop at all the aid stations and take in fluids. If I waited or skipped an aid station, I would certainly pay for it later. I got to see Amanda twice during the run, which was awesome! She looked great and was running very strong.

I was closing in on Mile 11. If I was going to break 5:30, I would need to hit Mile 11 by 5:12 AND maintain a 9 minute/mile pace. At Mile 11, my watch said 5:09! I had a 3 minute cushion and knew that no matter how tired I was I needed to push. What I thought was impossible during the early moments of my swim was very possible.

The last 2 miles felt so long. I kept pushing and kept passing people. I felt pretty good overall, but was definitely ready to stop. The final turn towards the finish was awesome. We ran between 2 giant sand dunes that were lined with people. I could see the finish and I started sprinting and smiling. I was done and I had kicked ass! I couldn't believe that I met my goal. It felt awesome. I heard the announcer say my name.

Afterwards, I realized they were playing music during the finish. Only, I had completely tuned it out. I had no idea what was playing when I finished. I immediately went to the post-race tent and began refueling - root beer and plum. Yum!

Run: 1:51:15
Overall Time: 5:27:32

Age Group Place: 19/92
Gender Place: 89/517

I knocked 12+ minutes off my time from High Cliff. I had a kick ass run and an awesome bike. I struggled early in the swim, but recovered and pushed forward. This race definitely taught me that it's not over, until it's over. You can always push yourself farther than you thought. Quite often, I think we can amaze ourselves when we least expect it.

I stuck around and watched Amanda finish. She was awesome! I am so proud of her efforts. She looked strong and I have no doubts that she will rock the Ironman on September 9th.

We missed Caitlin finishing while we were gathering our gear from transition. This was a first for both Caitlin and Amanda. Both became Half-Ironwomen! And both were truly amazing!


Post-Race
We hung around post-race, grabbed some food and started to head back. For grins, we all decided to check the results. I checked the Clearwater 70.3 Championship slots and was surprised to find MY NAME on that list. I couldn't believe it.

The way it works for qualifying slots is that each Age Group is awarded a certain number of slots. In my case, it was 4 slots. The slots are automatically awarded to the top 4 finishers in each age group. If any of these athletes chooses not to accept the spot, it rolls down to the next participant. This continues for a certain number of individuals. I was 19th in my age group, so it was unlikely that it would have rolled down to me, but I was honored and overjoyed to be on that list.

We went back to the house that evening. We enjoyed a trip to the beach, a great lasagna dinner, ice cream and beer in the city and a good night's sleep!

What an awesome experience all around - a fantastic race, great new friends, beautiful surroundings!

IM WI is now 5 weeks away and it is my next race. I'm more excited than ever for this event. I know I'm going to have my ups and downs that day. I know I'm going to have moments of panic and pain...and moments of joy and amazement. It's currently 6:45pm in Madison, WI. 5 weeks from this moment, I should be in the final 10 miles of my Ironman Marathon. I can't wait!

Next Race: Ironman Wisconsin 2007 - September 9th