I am stoked, thrilled, happy, and super pumped on todays success at this years 70.3 World Championship in St George Utah. This post will be Race Eve following from Part 1 post and till this point, soaking in an Epson salt bath and drinking a spiked Arnold Palmer, and then Banquet since it took so long to write this.

Race Eve – While watching the Pro women, I had a Large Chai Tea Latte and 2 bagels with butter. I ate a bag of Airhead bites and got 2 amazing cookies from Sloth Cookies. I may have had 2 peanut butter jelly sandwhiches but cant recall. I had 2 more mini mac and cheese microwavable bins, and then dinner was 2 cups of Ramen Noodle cups with 3 GRAMS of salt. I finished 1 liter of 7UP and also ate a muffin. I did no training at all. Bed at 9:30am. I slept 6hr30min, “Good” and an 81 score. Prior to bed I watched more Hells Kitchen and 1hr in the Normatecs level 2. Heart Rate 7day avg was a 40. This is 2-3BPM higher that I attribute to sleeping at 3,800′ which is 1,100′ higher than home.

Race Day – Up and no poo. Good, its out of my system and did good the day before. I ate a muffin, banana, redbull, and 2 immodium. Wished my housemate good luck, John Meyerle who went 5:19 in M50-54 and 240/427 A/G. I drove to town and walked to the buses. I had another redbull and 2 apple sauces with 2hr30ish to start time. I walked to my bike in the dark and one of the early ones since I was 4th wave in M35-39. Checked the tires, 2 cliff shot bloks (400cal) in bento box, 1 coke (280cal), 1 LMNT (1G salt), 1 Gatorade (250 cal). Turned on Wahoo Bolt. Sat down on the cold floor in 45F and should have brought a hoodie under jacket but happy with the sweatpants! Hit the loo #2 good, ready. I ran 1mile since that worked well at IMAZ’18 when I went 9:34. I ran at 8:55/mile and saw Eric Lagerstrom TTL. Another pee, then decided to do another mile run at 8:17/mile since this was a half. Body Glide on forearms, legs, and neck. Roka wetsuit over Plush Tri Top and Zoot Tri shorts. Cap, TYR goggles, and GU Birthday Cake in hand that I ate with 20min to go. Into the corrals heading to the swim, getting fired up! I was ready. Saw the Pros come out cheering on Ben Kanute and Sam Long who looked over wigh huge smile and was having fun, that was cool. I lined up inside of 5 lanes, closer to the bouys and after 7seconds from the guy in front of me, I pressed start, and took off.

Swim 1.2 mile: 29:13, 1:31/100m, 1:23/100yard, 74th A/G, 468 Overall, top 16%.

I have been working on my technique with higher head position and quicker turnover. With no open swims in 3 months, I didnt know what the wetsuit would translate since I do ALL of my swimming with pull bouy for better body position. Having gone mostly 1:35-1:37, improving by 4-6sec is huge. I worked really hard and pushed myself. I was passing a ton of ppl, knowing that I was going quite well. Having not looked at my watch once, emerging out of the water with sub30 was absolutely brilliant. This is my 2nd fastest 70.3 swim ever after Geelong 70.3 Australia when I went 27:33 but believe the course was short or I was able to run out far into the shallow water. Thanks again to Fiona for being the one I owe the big step I took in my swimming after learning sculling which was absolutely critical to move me from a 32-35 to a 29-30 swimmer.

T1: 6:12.

I ran up the steep boat ramp and slowly took off my cap, goggles, and top of wetsuit. I dont use strippers anymore to avoid HR spikes. I took watch off, put in mouth, arm out, watch back on. I grabbed my bag, sat down. Helmet on first then wiped myself off with my towel. I then put on the 70.3WC wind vest that sold out on Day 1 for obvious reasons. Then I put on socks and put shoes on since putting them on while cycling in this cold was far riskier. I ran out with new windproof and waterproof gloves on that took me till i got to my bike to put on. I got my Argon18 for her last World Championship and ran in cleates to mount line.

Bike 56 miles: 2:27, 86th A/G, 541 overall (WTF? swim is my best leg now???), 22.9mph, 271avg/290NP, 83%IF, 1.07IF, 3,300′ ascend, 3.3 w/kg, 86 cadence, avg 49F, 90min power 288, bronze for the year after Mt Lemmon and Zwift Ventoux but behind Oceanside 70.3 at 291watts 4.5yrs ago, 60min power 299watts after above and Picaccho TT of 302watts but ahead of Oceanside by 3 watts.

I started passing people quickly and at a pace of 25-29mph like they were sleeping. I stayed down, super aero, on the nice segment round the lake. I was confused about passing to the left since we were going the opposite way on the hgwy and asked 2 ppl if I was correct. I hit the first hill with goal of pushing hard. Mission accomplished: 5:11 at FTP 353watts taking off 1:10 now in the bank from 2018. 308/13,099 strava overall.

And although a PB heading North, it was only 5sec with 40more watts. And another segment 30watts higher but 4s slower.

Clearly the wind was favourable in 2018 because I am the same weight, more powerful, and same setup. Till this point, being in the World Championshio was obvious; athletes everywhere, big egos, a bit of drafting, no one wanting to give an inch, and I saw no refs all day long. I wasnt cold and was happy I had the gloves and wind jacket, totally worth the $40+$130, (I was dredding wearing race gear during the race though, a major pet-peeve). I was drinking and fueling and sweating slightly. Being in this competitive a field is far different than most 70.3s.. I was surging A LOT. Like up to 500/600 watts to make passes at 35mph+. This pacing is the only issue I had on the day and was glad it wasnt a full because I would have been shattered from it. (6min over 371 watts in total!).

Again, the conditions without tailwind played a mindjob on me today. On the 2nd big climb, again held 323watts 92%FTP yet went 15s slower than ’18. On the positive side, I am exactly tied with Pro Linsey Corbin, Legend.

Around 20miles into it, you’d get the uber cyclist pass every so often but it started going back and forth with several guys of similar abilities. Everyone was dead quiet. Some peoples bikes sounded like shit I thought. Around 25miles I looked down to my XLAB bottle with C02s and kit… OH SHIT!!! WHERE THE FUCK IS IT!!! I didnt know where it was but thought I put it on the bike yesterday. Fuck no. It was in my backpack at home. Fuck. Ok, Please Jesus, Keep my head up and dont let me get a flat, thank you Baby Jesus!!!

Power was Good, I wanted it higher but the nonstop up and downs made it tough to hold goal power of 315 watts for long segments while riding at speeds of up to 45mph. I am on a 11-55 but will be going to a 10-56 on my next bike.

I continued to lose time with power 15% higher than ’18… Maybe it was my CDA with the jacket, certainly that would have slowed me down but not that much, damn jacket. But at least I wasn’t cold!

Midway, there was an updated course. This added 125′ ascend.

There was another segment with slight climb at .2% grade that shows me the jacket impacts. 2 watts higher with 1s improvement. Yea, damn jacket.

Heading into Center St, I started to ease off slightly to prepare for Snow Canyon. I didnt want to be fully zapped going into that. I prob missed some quality time here but speeds were high as well and I needed a bigger gear.

So the real test was Snow Canyon at 42miles in. Climb 865′ at a 4.2%avg grade with pieces up to high single digits. I put out 339 watts 1 week ago for 17:05. Today, I went 306 watts for 18:41. This put me round 348 overall on the day. This was the biggest effort of the day and the first time sweat poured from helmet to sunnies. At the top I was at 2:08 with 10 miles to go..I knew I would be hitting some serious speed and while I hit 45mph several times, I couldn’t do the math of how long it was taking to do 1 mile. (1:20)… I knew sub 2:25 was out of the question but I knew I really worked hard. The views, this place, Epic. Down Diagonal St into T2, so excited to see all the cheering faces. I grabbed 1 bottle of Gatorade and 1 gel that I didnt have from one aid station rolling through the other 2. Only a gulp from the one bottle. At the top of Snow Canyon I felt the mind going a bit so drank more LMNT which definitely worked. I had about 900 calories which was 367 calories per hour which was adequate but only had 2.5 bottles which probably isnt enough although I did pee in T2 and needed to pee on Run.

So I had an all time best avg power of 271 watts for a 70.3 and all time best 290NP as well. I was 52s slower than 2018 on a harder course with less favourable non-existent wind. Avg HR was 132 (IM pace). 83% IF was ok but I would have liked to be closer to 90%… but. you race the way you train.

T2: 3:19 – I left cleates on bike, grabbed bag, and went into change tent. I did a full change into my Arizona top and shorts since I dont run in tri tops and I am self conscious of my fat stomach… not even joking. I peed while sitting and getting naked but at least didnt shit myself like I saw one of the Pro females do yesterday! Yikes! I left the same socks on since I. didnt pee myself on the bike aand put on my Altra Escalante’s. I put on my camelpack with LMNT 1G salt on the waist (one of the very very few to do this. but need more salt from past experiences!) I ran out, feeling good and ready to see what I could do.

Run 13.1miles: 1:40:58, 351 a/g as expected my worst leg, 7:42/mile, 133HR/avg (IM Goal), 174 cadence, 814′ ascend, 2nd fastest of the year after a 1:31:55 inside of my 3:07 Mesa Marathon.

2 more immodium around 1M in. Need to put in Costco fizz bottle next time! The crowd support was massive, the best of any course I have ever done. I started the 3M climb to the top of the golf course and barely even noticed the hill running 7:58, 8:05, 8:03. There were some steep sharp hills in the stunning historic golf course and I was absolutely loving it. Incredibly grateful. Running down the Fairway was a highlight and great on my foot that suffered a stress fracture and a recovery path since IMWC StG in May. The pain on that 2nd half was a 9 of 10 pain but today was around a 3/4. I got Gatorade at most aid stations, no gels, no coke hitting a 7:17 and 7:15 on the first decent. 2nd loop was mostly RedBull and I drank half of my LMNT bottle. Carrying the extra weight didnt seem to bother me and I was happy to have the extra salt. After the first loop I was averaging 7:42 and knew by the way I felt if I maintained similar pace uphill and pushed a bit harder on the decent, I should be able to maintain, which I did, spot on to the second pace per mile but on a much higher HR. 131avg vs 135. The 2nd loop was absolutely packed looking up at some of the 3,000male athletes but so much fun. I got to see Becca twice getting videos and a fellow Tucsonian wearing the same kit as me that I saw at 70.3 Arizona. I heard Ben Kanute cross the line, saw Jason West who I got a photo with at Chase Watkins Glen and stayed tough. Most of the run I thought about cadence via my watch, keeping moving forward, that I am strong, was doing great, and I was having a great day. With faster back to back 7:14 splits at mile 11-12.

Crossing the finish line, name called, I took it in, super stoked. I sat at the end watching people cross and emotional with happy tears. I got medal, shirt, hat, amazing towel, and good food with amazing chicken terriyaki. I saw Miguel from YouTube and then took 10min to find my car.

The banquet was great and I caught up with Becca who tied F30-34 from 2-4 within 1 second. She was 3rd by 0.2 sec and missed out on 2nd by 0.1sec, Legend. I caught up with my buddy Elliott, Beccas wife who just did Kona again which was great.

End

A triathlete since June 2010. What a journey! Now its all focus onto IMAZ with some strong goals so stay tuned. 3 weeks to go!