2014 Ironman 70.3 Steelhead

Right off the bat, I want to start off by apologizing for my tardiness in the production of this post! The smooth sailing, cool days of summer are unfortunately behind us and the less welcomed juggle of school and triathlon has officially taken over. This past weekend, I capped off my midwest-swing of races with my third half-distance event in four weeks at the 70.3 Steelhead triathlon in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The short drive, awesome race course and a shot at some prize money left me eager to see just how much the 'ole legs had left in the tank.

After a bit of back and forth, I decided it would be best to make the drive to Michigan on Friday afternoon rather than squeezing it in the day before the race. So Jillian, Mom and I loaded up the car, headed out and got checked into the hotel with plenty of time to to relax.

Fed, bathed and shaved before 8pm. Just how I like it. 

Saturday was a fairly standard low-stress day that included some short workouts, a bit of course recon and the afternoon pro meeting. I enjoyed a pre-prepared hotel-microwave dinner and then fell asleep with the lights on at 7:45 (who's ready to party?).

Orange speedo making an appearance on the pre-race swim. 

Typically I wait until the last minute to book hotel accommodations which leaves me stuck to drive 20 minutes or more to the race site the morning of. Thankfully, Mom was on reservation duty for this one and scored us a hotel 1 mile away from the transition area. So after slamming down a bountiful bowl of quinoa, I hopped on my bike and rolled over to the race on the moonlit streets of Benton Harbor. Now, unfortunately, the moonlit streets are still dark as hell. So when I rolled into the parking lot before dismounting my bike, I clearly did not see the heaps of sand I was flying into and once again, DOWN HE GOES! (very similar to my pre-race experience at Collegiate Nationals this year). I picked up my bike, put my bottles back into their cages and fixed my fallen-off chain. I had a few scrapes and bruises but otherwise both me and more importantly, my bike were completely fine. I should really stop making a habit of this though...

Something like this 

I set up my gear in transition, went out for a long run warm up and then made my way over to the swim start to throw on my wetsuit and get ready for the 7am start.

Wear gloves when putting on your wetsuit to prevent tearing the rubber with your nail. Also, you will look like you are sponsored by Hamburger Helper. Win win. 

After splashing around for a bit and getting a feel for the conditions, I lined up right on the front, ready for a fast and furious point-to-point swim. 7am sharp and the cannon fired. You all will now get a really good example of how to miscalculate a dolphin dive and face plant into the sand. 

Despite the less than optimal start, I eventually worked my way into the second main pack and stuck there for the remainder of the swim. The conditions were actually quite wavy and the current was in our face the whole way, making things slower than expected but still fairly controlled. I exited the water in the mix of the second main group in 9th position overall. 

There was a long run from the shoreline and through the narrow transition area which I made good use of and ran hard, getting to my bike first out of the group. I had a flawless transition and hopped on the bike ready to take stock of how far down I was from the leaders and how many chasers I had behind me. 

As I put my head down and started to settle into a rhythm, a continuous string of riders came passing by and began randomly slotting in front of each other. The first 5 miles or so were spent battling for position and trying to avoid any sort of penalty from the unintelligent riding of my fellow racers. These guys were illegally slotting in and blatantly blocking (with an official motorcycle right next to us!) and by the 10 mile mark, I was not having any of it. I took the lead of the group and never looked back, towing what would be a 6-7 main train all the way through the remaining 45 miles. Although I can only assume they were all riding the legal 12 meters between each other, there is certainly a psychological boost of following the leader with the leader doing all the work. Although it was frustrating that I wasn't getting any "help" out there, my legs were feeling good and I kept the hammer down. I kept reminding myself that if the pace was hurting me, it was killing them. 

Huge thanks to Ali Engin for the kick ass photo! 

As I flew over the rolling hills and into transition, I made sure to keep the gas on full throttle in order to be first into the no-passing zone; 1 mile away from the dismount line. I unstrapped the shoes, dismounted the bike in 6th place and sprinted into T2 as the announcer rambled off the list of racers hot on my heels in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th respectively.

Time for a foot race

Once onto the run, I put in a hard two mile effort to establish some sort of pecking order in that group that I came off the bike with and was happy to find myself on the pointy end of that bunch. Around the second mile mark, I passed a fading cycling-specialist and moved into 5th position on the road. My legs were feeling good and I started to increase my effort even further. Just when I started to feel comfortable I noticed that whenever I passed a group of fans they would cheer and then almost immediately would cheer again- that meant someone was closing in on me. At the 5-mile mark, the fleet footed Argentinian, Mario de Elias, tried to make a move past me but I was not going to go down without a fight. From miles 5-9 the two of us battle back and forth, fighting for position and clicking off miles that would have more closely resembled a 10k run. At the 9 mile mark, Mario put in a :15 surge that I simply could not respond to. I thought he would be able to increase his lead but I held tough and wouldn't quite let him get away. I tried to put in surges to bring him back but I was already on my complete, red-line limit. I dug deep into the well on those final few miles, trying to bring him back but ultimately crossed the finish line in 4th place, :15 seconds behind de Elias. 

I crossed the finish line physically obliterated but incredibly satisfied with my 3:58:52 performance and 4th place professional finish. Additionally, I ran 1:16:55 for the half marathon- my best time yet. Not to mention a $750 prize for the day's work. $187.50 an hour ain't half bad! 

Now, as if the race was not hard enough, I hightailed it out of Michigan and got straight home to throw all of my prized possessions in a U-haul truck and then hit the road once again. I am moving back to Iowa City where I am finishing up my final year at the University and obtaining my degree in Human Physiology. I am all settled now, but it sure was a whirlwind 48-hours. 

A whirlwind 48 hours that would have NOT EVEN REMOTELY been possible without these two amazing people. I love them so much and their support means everything. Thanks guys. You are truly, the best. 

You also may be wondering, where was the big man? Well Stevie worked his ass off and scored a brand-spanken new job in the Big Apple. That's right, NYC baby. So although Dad couldn't be there physically I know he was glued to the Ironman live tracker for four hours straight, refreshing the page like a mad man. When I was digging deep on that run, there were times when I thought I was completely toasted but instead, I pushed that little bit harder knowing he was there following every step. 

I miss things like this. Whatever this is. 

Huge thanks to the entire crew at Sammy's bikes (Sammy, Alicia, Leslie, Kyle, Ryan/ Jackie) for their individual support roles. You all are amazing and knowing that you have my back allows me to race as hard as I do. Also thanks to EGO for putting me in a position to be a debt-free first-year professional triathlete, Craig Strong at Precision Multisport for crafting the training that produces these types of results and Tony and James at the Wellness Revolution for using their jetti-tricks to put my body back together when it's feeling beat. Also thanks to Jeff Kamai, Brian Jacobson, and Jeff Drost for believing in what I'm doing here full-heartedly. I was thinking of all of you out on the race course Sunday. Thanks guys. 

Well I just enjoyed myself two FULL days off from training to move into my apartment and recover from that racing block but I'm back to work tomorrow (otherwise I would jump out of my skin!). Although it will be a challenge to balance the start of school and another big training block, I am ready to roll with the punches and make it work. My final two races of the year will be 70.3 Princeton on September 21st and 70.3 Augusta the following weekend on September 28th. I'm more motivated than ever to cap off this year with two more head-turning performances. 

Thanks for tuning in, 

Justin