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IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie Race Report [July 8, 2017]

Posted on by Anthony

Another memorable IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie!

Wetsuit Legal! Thanks to some crazy thunderstorms and cooler weather leading up to the race, Prairie Creek Reservoir cooled down JUST enough below the wetsuit cutoff temperature. Christina and I picked up our race packets on Friday afternoon and was able to swim for a total of 6 minutes before thunderstorms rolled through the Muncie/Selma area. Luckily, we also had enough time to take a pic too!

 

Race morning was pretty simple; put the bikes on the car rack, load up the car with gear and drive over to Muncie while eating a light breakfast. 

Christina and I got to Prairie Creek nice and early to rack our bikes in transition and setup our gear. After getting everything ready, I went over to Christina’s area to make sure we were good to go, which included a pre-race photo =).

 

A few minutes later, we walked down towards the start and if it weren’t for Christina, my race would have ended before I even got into the water. She had noticed that I was not wearing my ankle timing chip! Trying to keep my cool, I immediately freaked out and ran back up the hill and snatched my timing strap from the top of my transition bag. Huge shoutout to Christina for noticing my super rookie move! 

And with that crisis averted, we were ready to start!

The entirety of the course is a carbon copy of 2016, so instead of repeating myself, more details regarding the swim, bike and run can be found here (in my 2016 race report).

This is by far my favorite Ironman 70.3 bike course. Wide county roads, small rolling hills (if you can call them hills), and a double out and back allows me to keep my head down and hammer the pedals. With a lot less cycle training compared to 2016, I wanted to keep this year’s ride super conservative. My CEEPO Viper and I rolled back into transition after 2 hours and 14 minutes of riding, a couple of minutes slower than 2016. Thank you Karen Lauer for the snapshot right before dismounting the bike.

70.3 Muncie bike before dismount

 

After racking my bike, I sat down, ripped off my heart rate monitor and most importantly, changed into a fresh & dry pair of socks. The last thing I wanted to do was run a half marathon with wet socks – that would be a recipe for blisters and unhappy feet. So after a very relaxed and relatively ‘slow’ transition into the run, I got my racing flats on, and went to work!

The best part of this one-loop out and back course is that it is filled with rolling hills, net downhill out and net uphill coming back! This kind of course forces me to be completely honest with my run fitness and to leave some fuel in the tank for the final uphill sections. 

Like I did in 2016, I quickly found my run rhythm early on in the run and was running low 6 min per mile. There weren’t many people in front to target, so I kept my effort level consistent. A few miles in, I caught up to eventual winner of the 18-24 Age group, Matt S. – we teamed up and paced off one another as we approached mile 5 and 6. Before the turnaround, I made a small surge to see if I could catch a few more guys up ahead. 

The moment I made the turnaround halfway through the 13.1-mile run course, I felt a lot of fatigue settling in, especially near my diaphragm. This was a sign that a side stitch was developing, and they are always extremely PAINFUL! To avoid developing a side stitch, I backed off just slightly to control my breathing. The pace began to lengthen into the 6:20’s per mile and even greater through the rolling hills.

I seriously needed a boost of energy and around mile 10, I finally spotted Christina running the opposite direction. She looked in control and super strong, especially with IRONMAN Lake Placid on the horizon. 

As I approached mile 11 in 6:34 (my slowest mile split), that was my mark to dig deep and find whatever I had left in the tank. Subsequently, I ran miles 12 and 13 in 6:19 and 6:10 and surged as much as I could over the last hump and down towards the finishing line. Thanks to fellow Team Chocolate Milk teammate, Chris Day, for the super cheering and awesome video of me approaching the finish!

And here’s the Strava data:

 

This was my fastest run off the bike in a half ironman. The 1:21 run split allowed me to set a personal best of 4 hours and 15 minutes in the distance. Crossing the finishing brought me so much joy, especially when I found out that I had set a personal best and repeated as 2nd in M25-29 for the second year. 

Finish Line Bliss

After finishing, I went to transition and grabbed my phone, ran back on the course to catch Christina’s finish, and more importantly, JAZZ HANDS!

We both finished with personal bests! 

Thank you to Christina for always looking out for me and being the absolute best! 

Shoutout to Team ZOOT, CEEPO Triathlon Bikes, Brickwell Cycling, ISM Saddles and Honey Stinger for the support!!! 

We can’t wait to be back in 2018 for my third consecutive IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie.

IRONMAN 70.3 Steelhead Race Report [August 14, 2016]

Posted on by Anthony

Another month, another race. After a breakthrough performance last month at IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie & securing my spot at the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, I took a few days to recharge and recover before starting another training block.

Christina and I spent a few days training around the flatlands and cornfields in central Indiana before heading to Benton Harbor on Saturday. We arrived at Jean Klock Park around 2pm for race packet pickup – the registration line was incredibly long but thanks to our All World Athlete status, we skipped the line and breezed through registration in 10 minutes.

Afterwards, we did a short shakeout swim in Lake Michigan. Water temps were much warmer than I had expected…the one previous time I had stepped foot in Lake Michigan was during my 2010 trip to Chicago where water temps were in the low 60’s.

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Little did I know, the warm water temperatures would result in a non-wetsuit legal swim portion of the race.

Race Day – Sunday, August 14th, 2016

Swim: non-wetsuit announcement meant that I wouldn’t have the chance to swim in my Zone3 Vanquish wetsuit. Being in Wave #5, I started 16 minutes after the first wave along with the relay team swimmers. I lined up on the left side of the group in an attempt to avoid the thrashing and kicking of other swimmers that populate the middle and inside lane (right-hand side). Within a few minutes of the swim, I had found some feet to follow and decided that it was a comfortable pace. I spent the rest of the swim in the slipstream and reached the beach in 39 minutes and 38 seconds.

Although this is my slowest swim since last year’s Ironman 70.3 Eagleman, I had exited the water feeling very relaxed. Drafting for nearly the entirety of the 1.2-mile swim portion of the race proved to have saved tons of energy.

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Transition #1: Slapped on my Rudy Project aero helmet AND put on bike gloves for the very first time in a triathlon!

Bike: The legs were feeling super strong in the first hour of the bike, producing 245 watts of normalized power at 26mph. The roads were super bumpy and I was relieved to have worn my bike gloves. However, I had dropped one of my water bottles early on and had to grab a bottle at an aid station with about 10 miles left. The second hour of the bike was a slight fade, dropping my average power down to 241 watts for the 56-mile split. To my surprise, I was able to better my 70.3 Muncie time of 2:12:14 down to 2:11:59, a personal-best in time & power.

 

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Transition #2: Quickly racked my bike and sat down to clean off the sand covering my feet before putting on my New Balance RC1600 racing flats.

Run: There was one goal – to run even mile splits. Once out of transition, there were five other guys immediately up the road for me to pin down. I passed those guys within the first couple of miles and once I started the 2nd loop of the run, there was a lot more company. Nothing out of the ordinary happened as I ticked off each mile. With about two kilometers to go, I picked up the effort towards the finish, gave Christina a high-five as she passed me going the other way. The 13.1-mile run resulted in 1:27:03.

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Total race time of 4:23:44, a 2nd personal best finishing time in the half ironman distance.

Coming out of the water 29th-place in the Men’s 25-29 age group, the consistent bike and run combination ultimately placed me in 2nd-place [& 14th-place Overall].

Despite the unseasonably warm water conditions and losing a water bottle through the bumpy roads of south-western Michigan, IRONMAN 70.3 Steelhead provides an enjoyable race experience. Did I mention that they had CHOCOLATE MILK at the finish? Chug!!!

Thank you to all my sponsors, friends and family.

Special shoutout to Christina’s parents for being our race ‘sherpas’!

Thank you for reading 🙂

Revolution3 Quassy half aquabike [June 5, 2016]

Posted on by Anthony

After racing the 2015 edition of the Quassy half ironman triathlon and suffering on the 13.1 mile run, I was quickly attracted to the idea of the ‘aquabike’ category for this year. Swim, bike, DONE!

The day before I had raced in the olympic distance triathlon – you can find the race report here.

Let’s fast forward to the aquabike.

The half [ironman] distance triathlon started at 7am. My wave was 25 minutes later, along with all of the women 35 and under racers. This was a pleasant experience since I got to swim with a bright pink cap for the very first time!

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no rush here…

Because of the relatively late start, I was able to find plenty of company in the water. Cloudy conditions made sighting the neon yellow and orange buoys quite elementary – and after 34:01, I emerged from Lake Quassapaug towards my bike.

I got on the CEEPO Viper and started hammering away. I have done this course twice before, and had shaved 5 off about five minutes from year to year. I wanted to keep the trend going despite the wet and rainy road conditions. [The announcer advised racers to deflate their tires down to 80psi; I kept mine at a 110psi]. Knowing that I would be done with my ‘race’ after finishing the bike course, my goal was to squeeze each and every last watt out of my legs.

So here it is:

I was able to shave off another 5 minutes off of last year’s bike split, and in doing so, I was the first ‘aquabiker’ to cross the timing mat.

Winning the aquabike category was an excellent way to cap off my 3rd consecutive year racing at Quassy. This race has become a benchmark of my triathlon season and I’m relieved to see Revolution3 #BackInBlue put on such a top-notch event.  

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