Steelhead Race Report

Whirlpool Ironman 70.3 Steelhead Triathlon presented by Pizza Hut

Planned: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Actual: 2.1 mile run, 55 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

I had planned to write this race report much earlier than this but never worked up the motivation until now. Perhaps it had something to do with my conflicted feelings about the outcome of this race.

The Wednesday before the race I drove down to Benton Harbor to settle into the house that I was staying in with some members of the Chicago Tri Club. They had rented 3 houses about 2 miles from the race course for the week before the race and had a couple of extra rooms available, so they posted them on the Slowtwitch forums which is where I found out about it. The cost was $200 regardless of whether I stayed the whole week or just the night before the race, so I opted to stay a few nights to enjoy the beach and get settled in so that I would be well rested and adjusted to the bed before the race. The accommodations were amazing, I had my own room in a house that overlooked a beach at Lake Michigan!!

Race morning came with my alarm going off too early for my liking at 5:00AM. I made my way down to transition and set everything up for the race, then I made my way over to the RV that some friends from the Ann Arbor Tri Club were staying in right by the transition area. Just as we were having our pictures taken before walking down to the swim start we heard an announcement that the swim had been canceled. Further inquiry revealed that there was a strong rip-tide and the wind and currents were making it difficult for the rescue kayaks to stay on course.

With the swim canceled the race director adjusted the course a little to allow for a 2.1 mile run to replace the swim leg. This delayed the race start by an hour because the transition area needed to be reopened and everyone had to switch from wetsuits to running shoes. It was pretty entertaining noticing how long the lines got for the porta-jons; it seems many people were planning on "warming up" their wetsuits in the water.

Once we had all changed, we walked down to the run start to prepare to start the race with our respective waves. The initial run went off without a hitch and I ran the 2.1 miles very comfortably in 13:35. T1 was smooth and fast, (especially since I didn't need to take my wetsuit off) and I was out on the bike in 1:14.

The bike course was fairly flat with a few rolling hills and no real climbs to mention. My bike seat was (still is) warped somehow which made it necessary for me to shift my position around to stay comfortable and avoid cramping in my right leg. I felt pretty strong on the bike and rode pretty hard without feeling like I was really hammering it. My race wheel setup was a rented ZIPP 808 clincher on the front, with a Vittoria Corsa Evo CX tire and my Mavic Open Pro PT rear with a wheelbuilder.com wheel cover (same tire as front). Unfortunately my excitement level was a little too high on the bike and I rode harder than I had planned, ending with an average power output of 168 watts, NP = 183w, TSS = 197.2. My average speed for that power output was 21 mph which brought me in with a time of 2:34:34. T2 went very smoothly as practiced and I was fairly fast despite "feeling" slow, I was out on the run in 1:12.

Within the first mile of the run I was mentally kicking myself for messing up my bike pacing so badly, running hurt and it was a struggle to not walk in the first mile. Knowing that there was decently large hill to run up in the first mile, I resolved not to walk until I got to the first aid station after that hill. Soon after passing the aid station I was passed by Tom Fitzsimmons which surprised me because I thought that he had passed me on the bike since he's so much faster than I am. His brother Mike was close behind him though I must have passed him at some point during the race because he had started before me. When he caught up Mike fell in step with me and said that I was running a good pace for him and that we would run together. I must have looked pretty awful because from the start Mike kept telling me that our only goal for the run was to not walk at all. Mike pulled me for the first 4 miles and allowed me to draft off of him when we had a head wind, then I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything in a while and I was getting hungry so I ate two caffinated Clif Bloks and immediately started feeling better. By mile 5 I was feeling much more comfortable and no longer needed to be pulled along as much. Around mile 8 Mike was beginning to tire out so I had him draft off of me going into the wind and began encouraging him to keep running. At mile 12 Mike told me that he was cramping up and was going to have to walk but that I should go ahead and finish the run without him, so I took off and ran my fastest mile of the day to finish strong. With my flying leap across the finish line I ended the run in 2:00:45 for a total race time of 4:51:20.

Here is the breakdown of my rankings:

Overall: 602/1890
Gender: 512/1379
20-24 Age Group: 54/96

For anyone interested here is the power file for the bike portion of the race:

Duration: 2:35:57
Work: 1574 kJ
TSS: 197.2 (intensity factor 0.872)
Norm Power: 183
VI: 1.09
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 54.428 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 580 168 watts
Cadence: 32 183 97 rpm
Speed: 0 33.3 21.0 mph
Pace 1:48 0:00 2:52 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 259 55 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 725 148 lb-in