Dogwood Canyon Trail Runs 2018

Part 1 to this blog can be found here

On November 9th I drove 3.5 hours to southern Missouri. The rolling hills scenery was completely new to me. Luckily, I'd watched the show “Ozarks” so I knew there would be a lake, lots of trees, and to always be on the lookout for black Escalades with tinted windows. The Dogwood Canyon Trail Races took place at Dogwood Canyon Nature Park and were organized by Bass Pro Shops. I'd signed up for the 15k/50k challenge which detailed racing a 15k (about 9 miles) trail race on Saturday followed by a 50k (about 31 miles) trail race on Sunday. The challenge of racing back to back days was appealing to me. I’m a glutton for punishment like that. My main goal was that I didn’t want to hold back in either race. I wanted to put myself in a new, challenging situation and see how I would react/suffer. Because that’s how I learn.

I drove out to Dogwood on Friday afternoon to pick up my packet. When I arrived, the park immediately reminded me of Jurassic Park. The logo appeared similar (both logos contain animals). Inside the park, there were a number of Jeeps driving on small paths, lots of trees, and a meandering stream. And just like in Jurassic Park, it was all surrounded by a very large electric fence. Kidding. There were no visible signs of dinosaurs, either. The trails in the park were all double track. Basically, Jeep trails. The general terrain in the area was very, very hilly. While the trails were less technical, you couldn’t zone out while running. There were lots of rocks, tree roots, and off-camber sections. If you imagine a Jeep lover’s fantasy trail system, that’s Dogwood.

After picking up my packet, I drove the 15 minutes to a cheap hotel. What about camping, Steve?! Turns out camping wasn’t actually available at Dogwood, and winter came last week. Temperatures were in the 20’s and 30’s. Staying warm while camping in those temperatures requires a lot of energy (and gear). Aren’t you from Minnesota?! Yes, but I’ve gotten soft over the last few years. I made the executive decision that staying in a cheap hotel would be the best option if I wanted to actually have the physical and mental capacity to race. Besides, I could bring my own food (proud to say I purchased zero food over the weekend). Also, since there was a little prize money, pending a good performance I could cover the hotel costs. 

Saturday was the 15k. Race morning I woke up at 4:30 am for the 7:30 start. I made coffee and my breakfast of a toasted peanut butter banana sandwich with extra salt. I listened to an audio book to pass some time before heading to Dogwood. The thermometer said it was 19 degrees outside. Balmy. I made it to Dogwood with plenty of time before the race start. I was slightly paranoid about having warm, dry clothes accessible quickly after the race so I ended up dropping a duffel bag of clothes in the gear check area. As we all stood in line, shivering and waiting to be unleashed on the 15k course, Melissa (race director) had a few words for us. She reminded us to be grateful that we were able to run, be outside, and to enjoy the course. Amen. A little after 7:30, we took off. 

Immediately the pace felt slow. I’d put myself in the second line of people near some guys who looked like they knew what they were doing. The pace felt casual and it didn’t seem like anyone wanted to run hard. Still, I wasn’t sure if it simply felt easy because I was rested. After a few minutes, another guy and I started to pick up the pace. Drew and I chatted a little and he told me he’d been on the course before. I was grateful to have someone around that was familiar with the trails. Then came the first stream crossing. The path we were on weaved back and forth, crossing over a frigid stream several times. We ran right through it. I was prepared for a lot worse and was very happy with how my shoes drained. I was also thankful my socks didn’t freeze to ice. The temperature was still 20 degrees. 

The progression of loving it

1.5 miles in we came to our first hill. I ran up the hill at my own pace. At the top, I looked back and couldn’t see Drew. I carried on at my own pace, a little unsure what I was doing or if I was going too hard. I completed the small loop, bombing downhill around other runners heading uphill. As I ran back away from the lodge on another trail, I had a Jeep escort. They were "locked and loaded" to protect me should any dinosaurs get too curious. 

The course was fantastic. Lots of steep, challenging uphills, a few rolling sections, and more steep downhills. I felt good. I’d warmed up since the start and my body was ready to work. I knew that running in a canyon with lots of trees around would likely throw the GPS watch's “pace” reading off. Even if the reading had been accurate, I wouldn’t have cared. I wanted to race in the moment. I pushed off the thoughts of tomorrow’s race and focused on making it to the next opening in the trail. Though I know I usually look like I’m about to run through a brick wall, my stride felt smooth. The course provided a wide variety of views. Most of the ground, including where we ran, was covered in leaves that had already fallen. At first it was a little scary running hard and not being completely confident in my foot placement. After a few miles, I learned that there wasn’t all that much variation under the leaves. There were smaller rocks that made for uneven footing, but, for the most part, I was safe looking further ahead for any larger obstacles and adjusting accordingly. 

Because it was a shorter race, I tried to run all the tangents, taking the shortest route possible no matter how steep a section was. By about 5 miles in, I had committed. I’d thrown caution to the wind and was pushing hard. After a steep downhill or two, I knew perfect legs for the next day were not in the cards. I let loose on all the downhills and charged uphill. When things got steep heading uphill, I upped my cadence and mentally imagined breathing air into my leg muscles. It felt really good to run uphill hard and not hold back. This summer I’d had some achilles issues that had taken a few months to improve. All the strength work I’d been doing had paid off and I was no longer guarding the achilles from uphill stress. (Thank you, Nathan!) 

I was running with only 1 handheld water bottle. I paced myself drinking and finished the bottle about 8 miles into the race going up the last hill. I knew the race would be about 9 miles long but I didn’t know an exact distance. I crested the hill, then had several more slow turns before a screaming downhill section. I could hear the finish line music welcoming me back. A few minutes later I crossed the line. 

Strava file here

 After the race, I stood around for a while, meeting new people and thanking the race director. I eventually got my gear check bag and changed into dry clothes and shoes. There was warm oatmeal with good topping options, fruit, and some protein balls. I’m a simple guy, and I was pumped about oatmeal. I made some new friends while eating my oatmeal and I asked for suggestions on afternoon activities in the area. It was only about 10am and I didn’t want to spend the entire day in the hotel room. After making some mental notes, I went back to the hotel. I ate some oatmeal I’d brought from home (overnight oats FTW!), ate some peanut butter toast, drank way too much coffee, packed some snacks, and headed out to explore. 

On recommendations, I drove to Lakeside Forest Wildnerness Area in Branson. It was free. There was good hiking and views. While my legs felt OK, I knew I should try not to spend a lot of time on my feet. I walked very, very slowly down a trail for 30 minutes. The Wilderness Area had a few Civil War era buildings on the land with some plaques and pictures explaining their stories. Though I will admit to falling asleep in high school history (who didn't?), it was interesting to see the buildings in person and consider how people lived nearly 100 years ago. I spent a few hours walking very, very slowly and sitting on a ridge that provided a good view. Eventually, I got my snacks from the car, ate more oatmeal (I did say I liked oatmeal…) at a picnic table in the park, then headed back to the hotel. For the rest of the evening I read or listened to an audio book and ate. I had a dehydrated meal leftover from camping, and I also made more peanut butter toast. Yes, I brought a toaster. By 7:30pm, it was plenty dark (thank you, daylight savings) and I was plenty tired. I had little trouble falling asleep by 8:30. 

I was tempted...

 

The Sunday morning wake-up and breakfast routine played out the same as the day before. I spent a few minutes loading the car up with everything from the hotel room so I could check out on my way to the race start. The frigid temps from the day before had skyrocketed to a temperature of 35 degrees. Thus, a wardrobe change was required. After a few minutes of shivering at the starting line, we were off. 

The pace immediately felt more challenging than the day before. I wasn’t sure if it was because of new people in the race, or if my legs were showing their fatigue. A few guys who I didn’t recognize from the day before started off quickly. A number of them had jackets on preventing me from seeing their bibs. I stuck with them even though I had a feeling they were all in the 25k race. 

The route was similar to the previous day. Not until about 13 miles into the race would those running the 50k go a different direction. Knowing this, I was aware that if I committed to racing someone doing the 25k to the 13 mile mark only to have them turn towards the finish, things could get ugly really quick. Once again, the first climb split things up. Me and one other guy (Mike) had made a big gap on the first hill loop. As we returned to a flat section, Mike started running hard. Much harder than I felt comfortable running for 30 more miles. I wanted to push myself but still be smart. I backed off but kept Mike in sight. After a few miles, Mike had pulled away a little more. Every time we’d arrive at a hill, I’d catch up a little and could see him in the distance. After a few more minutes of running behind Mike, I concluded that he was most likely running the 25k race. Mike was running in regular road shoes and wasn’t carrying any hydration or food that I could see. Still, I wasn’t certain, so I tried to keep him within site. If needed, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to catch him the second half of the race. 

I was able to start taking calories in much earlier than yesterday. I took this as a good sign. I started taking gels every 20-25 minutes. I’d mentally broken the race up into 3 x 10 mile sections. The first 10 miles I wanted to focus on being conservative. Especially if I felt good. I’d learned from my experiences at Twin Cities and Blue Sky, that in longer races I really need to build into my effort. While it may feel good to run hard for a few miles early on in the race, the price paid in the later miles is not worth it. A minute or two gained on the front end can turn into many more minutes lost on the back end. Trust me, I’ve been there.

With that said, it took a lot of discipline to hold back and not try running back up to Mike. As we neared 10 miles, I could see his stride had changed and appeared to be a little more labored. I caged the instinct to chase, concentrated on my own race, and focused on the confidence I’d gained from running strong the second half at Blue Sky. I wanted that feeling again. 

A good portion of Sunday's course was the same from the day before. My legs felt OK. I couldn’t push nearly as hard on the flats. Whenever I tried to extend my stride, my quads protested. Instead, I focused on taking short, efficient strides, and made sure I was regularly eating and drinking. There were a number of new hills that somehow seemed even steeper. My legs had loosened up since the start but I resisted letting go completely on the downhills. Eventually, we approached the aid station at 13 miles runners split off into different directions. As I reached the aid station, I filled up my bottles again, and asked the volunteers if Mike had turned for the finish. He had. I started out alone on a short loop all 50k runners would complete before heading back the way we'd come.

Locked and Loaded

The loop was beautiful. If Dogwood, with the Jeeps and lush trees reminded me of Jurassic Park, this loop reminded me of a safari. Again, there were Jeeps and double track trails, but instead of trees there were wide open fields with rolling hills. The grass was long and there was an occasional tree off the side of the trail. I tried to relax and focus on running “strong” the second third of the race. I concentrated on finding a rhythm running through the grass and submitted to the fact that I’d probably be alone for a while. I’d say I imagined myself as a gazelle out on the safari, but everyone knows, I am far from a gazelle. Zero lions, or people, were spotted the entire loop. I’d been doing a very good job eating and finished an entire sleeve of shot bloks during the loop. As I arrived back to the aid station, a few others had started to trickle in. I unloaded my bag drop which had my preferred nutrition and headed back the way I’d come. 

I was 18 miles in. I’d only felt weak a few times and usually was able to bounce back by taking in more calories or sipping from my bottles. As I started running again, more and more people passed going the other way. I had been looking forward to seeing other runners. We cheered each other on. I recognized a number of people and did my best to look them in the eye, give them energy, and avoid falling on my face. The combination of picking up a new set of bottles with my hydration mix and getting good energy from people had motivated me. I was able to start running a little harder. I let loose on the downhills and carried the momentum on the flats. Surprisingly, I was still feeling strong on the uphill segments. I even welcomed the inclines to give my quads a bit of a break. 

The day before, I looked at an elevation profile and counted 5 climbs after about 20 miles. Once I’d reached 20 miles, I started counting down the inclines remaining. Running on the flats I started to feel the fatigue and focused on tightening my core to stabilize my upper body. For 10 seconds I was a gazelle. I reached the final aid station, filled up one of my bottles, fist-bumped a volunteer, then headed out for the last 4 miles. I knew it was mostly downhill or flat to the finish. Only once I had made it to the dirt road did I take a look at my watch. I guessed I had somewhere between 2 and 3 miles left. We weren’t supposed to do the 1.5 mile loop that we had at the beginning so it was a straight shot to the finish. The locked and loaded Jeep rejoined me, and escorted me through the water crossings to the finish. Once I passed the start of the climb we’d done at the beginning of the race, I knew there was only 1.5 miles left. My watch said 3:25. “Holy crap!” I thought, “I could go sub 3:40!” I finished off my liquids and focused on my turnover. Finally, the lodge came into view, and I ran across the line.

Strava file here

Overall, the entire weekend was a blast. The trails were fun and the event was well organized. 

Up next for me is some recovery and planning for 2019. This winter and spring, I’m planning to focus on improving speed and durability. No, I’m not switching to running. I’ve gotten a lot of encouragement from people to step up in distance on these trail races. While that is appealing, and I plan to eventually, I still believe that I can improve my speed and durability in biking and running. Swimming, well, it is what it is. By no means do I have 15 years mapped out, but I know trail running is a long game and you can still be competitive in your late 30s and into your 40s. Variety and consistency is my style of training. If I specialize in something too much, or only do super long stuff, I will burn out and lose interest. I want to improve my Ironman marathon and open marathon as I feel I have not reached my potential in those areas. I still plan to keep one foot in trail racing but probably won't do anything longer than 50k, for now. The training required for anything longer would require more focus (and recovery time after the race) than I’m willing to give right now. 

As far as a race schedule goes, I’m planning to do some “shake and bake” action with Ernie at a few triathlons in the spring. The other races that get me excited are Pikes Peak Marathon and Ironman Wisconsin. All of this is tentative as my engineering career is my priority. If anyone has any recommendations for trail races within a day’s drive of KC, Minneapolis, Denver, or Salt Lake City please let me know. In case you can’t tell I like courses with lots of elevation change :)

Big thank you to my family and close friends. You know who you are. Life has been a ride the past the few months.  Thank you for supporting me and guiding me in the right direction.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Twin Cities and Blue Sky Marathons 2018

Part 1 of a 2-part blog: 

Before I go into more detail about competing in two trail races in southern Missouri this past weekend (part 2), a life update is needed. A few months ago, around the end of August, a relationship that meant a lot to me came to an end. I don’t want to write about exactly what happened because it’s personal. I want to keep this blog focused on my training and racing endeavors. The fallout, and the lessons I’m learning, shaped my approach to this fall. I’m happy to report I only broke down once on the phone, and I successfully restrained myself from buying a puppy. With the help of my family and a few close friends, I have been working to learn from my experiences and focus on doing things that give me purpose. I’ve spent a lot of time reading (for enjoyment), training with friends, and competing in races I haven’t experienced before. 

Some day...

I planned an ambitious (for me!) fall race schedule focusing on running and trail races. In the span of five weeks, I raced the Twin Cities Marathon, Blue Sky Trail Marathon in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Dogwood Canyon 15k + 50k Trail Races. 

Twin Cities Marathon

The Twin Cities Marathon had been on my radar for a few years. I have enjoyed being able to work out of Burns and McDonnell’s Minneapolis office a few times since August which has allowed me to scout the course and spend quality time with my parents. 

Scouting out the TC Marathon Course with Mom

If you don’t know my parents, they’re awesome. They both have their Ph.Ds and work very hard. They bike. A lot. Their house is filled with lots of books and postcards from their travels. Recently, they started taking spin and body pump classes at the gym. Like I said, they’re pretty cool. The TC Marathon course is awesome. The first half of the race winds around several iconic lakes (which are very beautiful in October) before going along the Mississippi river. I have rather painful associations with the last few miles of the course, so I will let the first picture below explain. 

Strava file here

This is Dave Katz. We used to play hockey together. He signed up for Twin Cities less than one month before. Much respect, dude!

I’d never raced an “open” marathon. For 10 days, my legs were wrecked. Adding to the immediate pain, six hours after the race I had to catch a flight for field work in the state where owning a lifted truck is a requirement; Texas. It was a rough week, but life is all about overcoming setbacks. When I almost fell down the stairs on a daily basis the hotel in Texas, and I was reminded that I had to (got to, Steve, got to) run another marathon in two weeks, I forced myself to find confidence that my legs would recover and function once again. 

Blue Sky Trail Marathon 

I originally needed to travel out to Colorado for personal reasons and decided to make the most of my time in/near the mountains. I was very grateful to reconnect with a place, and the people there, that had been center of my world for 6.5 years in college. 

Horsetooth Reservoir from the "A" #happyplace

I hiked the “A” twice, read a book at Horsetooth Reservoir, swam with the local masters group, and caught up with good friends who I hadn’t seen in far too long of a long time. A few easy days leading into Blue Sky left my legs feeling decent. I decided I needed to treat the event like a long training run. Dogwood Canyon was a more important goal to me. My legs, not to mention my traumatized mind, were still reeling from 26 miles of pounding pavement just 13 days prior. 

Strava link here

The race was a blast. I slowly built my effort, ate and drank consistently, and felt strong the last 10 miles despite hills and technical trails. Most importantly, I enjoyed myself. I took in the mountain views and conversed with the other runners around me. I got lost thinking about nothing but where I needed step next to avoid falling on my face. 

Recovery from Blue Sky progressed much faster than Twin Cities. I was able to run “easy” two days afterwards without much soreness. Another positive was that I had the luxury of two full weekends before the Dogwood Canyon races. 

Because I was planning to camp at Dogwood, I wanted to test out my camping gear. My first full weekend, after a long ride on my gravel bike, I drove the 40 minutes out to a state park at Clinton Lake in Lawrence, Kansas to camp for a night. The park had an awesome system of trails. After setting up camp the evening I arrived, I went for a walk to get a sense for the trails. At some point I stopped and ended up enjoying a long, peaceful moment in the woods. I have a lot of good memories from growing up, camping with my family, going on backpacking trips with friends, and just being generally IN nature. It was nice to slow down and appreciate everything around me. Then the sun went down and I got hungry. 

I slept for almost 11 hours. I woke the next morning, drank some coffee, crushed a Clif bar and a spoonful of peanut butter, then headed out on the trails. I had come to test my camping gear, but I also ended up getting a great run in. 

Part 2 about the Dogwood Canyon trail races will be ready in a few days. More pictures are needed!

IM Boulder 2018

Another year, another Ironman Boulder experience!

In an effort to keep this blog shorter and focused on the actual race itself, I’m going to keep the lead up simple. If there are questions about my training in the lead up to this race, I am always happy to answer or via text/social media! 

My preparation for IM Boulder consisted of 9 weeks of triathlon-specific training. Before that, I didn’t have much of a set training schedule. Over the winter, I joined a men’s hockey league in KC, bought a gravel bike and began running… a lot. I was interested in a variety of events and I didn’t want to limit myself to focusing strictly on swim/bike/run. In this time, I raced 2 trail 50ks, my first 100 mile gravel race, and a handful of different road running races ranging from a very hilly and snowy marathon to one of KC’s most competitive 4 mile races.

KC has a really awesome running community with lots of fast local races 

During the 9 specific weeks, Rachael was preparing for Ironman Santa Rosa which helped me a lot as we were both on the same page with our free time and priorities. I focused on making the most of the time I had available around work to train and placed importance on getting as much sleep as I could. Typically we would take one day during the week to have no AM workout and ‘sleep in’ (6:30AM). We also tried to sleep in as late as possible on Sunday mornings before our sessions (Although sometimes this pushed our longer workouts into pretty late in the day) I only did about 3 rides that were 4 hours or longer - two of which were on gravel and totally kicked my butt (One was my 100 mi gravel race).

Tired but happy after a long gravel ride 

As much as I could, I focused on myself and not what others were doing to prepare as it is easy to feel inferior when you see that someone you will compete against has put in twice the amount of training time as you. Focusing on myself allowed me to feel confident in the work that I was putting in and go into the race in a good headspace. I am very thankful for the people in my life who helped to give me balance through this process.

Friday morning we drove 9 hours through the scenic lands of Kansas to Boulder. After checking in, we did a short shakeout run. It left me seriously rethinking my choice to race. The heat and altitude made my short run feel terrible. While I was calling in to rent a portable oxygen tank for the race, I realized that in addition to the long car ride and altitude, there was a lot of dust and pollen in the air where we were running. Crisis averted. Less dust and plants on the race course. Saturday I did a quick ride and run and felt much better. It had been a hot minute since my last triathlon, let alone an Ironman, so getting all my gear and nutrition together took some time. I had my last meal - rice with some avocado - and was in bed ready to sleep by 9pm. 

Race morning, I was up at 3:05 for my 6:05 start time. I ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal, almonds, and banana. After assembling my gear, Rachael, Kelsey and I drove to the reservoir where the race would start. I quickly dropped off my bike, run, and special needs bags before racking my bike and pumping up my tires. 

Race morning with Rachael 

One last snack

A quick run, a kiss bye to Rachael, and few trips to the bathroom later, I was walking down to the swim start. I was a little apprehensive about swimming in my wetsuit as this was the first time I would be doing this in over a year. Luckily, we were able to warm up for 10 minutes before the race start, so I got a feel for how I felt and appreciated, again, the shoulder flexibility that my Maverick X provides. There were about 25 pro men lined up in the water. We were given a countdown then told to “go” kind of simultaneously and kind of staggered with an air horn…. and cannon. 

SWIM (about 2.4 mile / 54:40)

My first coach, Jonathan Mason, drilled into my head that for an Ironman, the name of the game is pacing and nutrition. Because of this, I was very cautious and conservative with my swim start. I knew the combination of being at altitude and the race being a 9 hour ordeal meant pacing would be crucial. Going past threshold for extended amounts of time in the swim would burn a lot of my matches too early in the race. I eased into my ‘all-day’ swimming pace. The first third of the swim went by very slow. I’d worked my way up to the front of the second pack and was swimming next to Chris Leiferman. We were part of 10 or so guys. Most of the swim, we were organized well into two lines. The pace felt comfortable and I trusted that our effort was appropriate. 

After a while, I drifted back trying to tuck in to get a draft and got whacked a few times. I got bored in different positions of the pack and ended up shifting between the back of a line and swimming/sighting on my own. Though we were forecasted for some very high temperatures later in the day, I was really enjoying the early morning cloud cover that allowed for easy sighting of swim buoys. Throughout the rest of the swim, I focused on the mechanics of each stroke and conserving as much energy as possible. As we neared the exit, I moved to the outside to put myself in a better position to exit the swim and started kicking more to get my legs ready for action. Though I was happy the swim was over and excited to get out on the bike, I knew I still needed to be patient. Out of the water, we were greeted with a ton of cheers. I got chills as all of the attention of the crowd was on our swim group. I couldn’t help smiling as I picked out familiar faces. I noticed a few big hitters in our swim group and was pleased with my swim. For only swimming 3 days a week, the swim had felt relatively comfortable and put me in a good position for the rest of the day. 

There was a noticeable sense of urgency as we all rushed through the change tent getting our wetsuits stripped off. Though I have been exposed to the adrenaline rush and urgency of T1 for draft legal racing and pro 70.3 racing, I was not expecting a similar dynamic for a full Ironman race. There is a major benefit to being in a group on the bike. In addition to having others around you to carry you mentally through low points, there is a significant energy savings you get by being a legal distance behind another rider. I’d run through the situation a little in my head before the race and had decided I wanted to race my own race as much as possible, not getting caught up in pack dynamics. I wanted to focus on my own pacing and nutrition as I knew it would be hot and that falling subjective to other’s race strategies could come back to bite me.

Heading towards the bike after changing

I sat down on a chair in transition and had the volunteers strip my wetsuit off my legs. I snapped on my helmet, stuffed my gels securely in my back pockets, and started running towards my bike. Running barefoot on the pavement was painful. After reaching my bike, I put on my cycling shoes, awkwardly ran towards the mount line, mounted and clipped in. 

BIKE (about 110 mile / 4:33:39)

Nutrition:

2 x concentrated bottles of Infinit nutrition with BCAAs and extra BASE Salt. About 500 cal each. (1000 cal)

80% of an RX bar (160 cal)

6 Clif bloks (150 cal)

3 gel (300 cal)

1 date with peanut butter (70 cal)

Total = 1680 cal

Immediately onto the bike course, I was presented with an important choice to make: chase or not chase. I’d come out of transition one of the last people in our second pack swim group and could see two groups were quickly forming out of our second pack. One had several very strong riders in it including Chris Leiferman and Kennett Peterson. The second group had a little less firepower, but was still a group and could be better than riding solo. Another guy came by me and encouraged me to work with him to bridge up. My heart rate was in the 160s (I wanted to keep my heart rate below 160 for as much of the ride as possible) but I felt good so I agreed to help. In my head, I had agreed to chase for 30 minutes but no more. 45 minutes later, I was still chasing. 

Strava link here

During those 45 minutes, I was very cautious with my effort. I rode strong, thinking that the guys from our swim group had immediately slipped into their IM pace and were cruising. I thought, no reason to burn a bunch of matches killing myself to bridge up. I’d ride strong, ride aero, and if the bridge happened, it happened. Looking back, those guys are experienced racers and most definitely did not immediately settle into their IM effort. They wanted to thin out the group that could hang so they rode strong from the start. Even more so because they wanted to catch the guys in the first swim pack who had gotten away. I had not trained to blitz the first part of the bike to catch on, recover, and continue riding strong. Do I think I could have chased on to that group? Maybe…. but it would have taken an unknown time of very hard riding and would yield an unknown result.. Success? Epic blow-up? 

After 45 minutes of half-hearted chasing, I backed off and tried to make my heart rate settle. Though I train (mostly indoors) with power, I had opted to race using heart rate. I didn’t want to hold myself a slave to a power number (for good or bad) for 5 hours on the bike and felt like giving myself heart rate ranges would be a better goal for me. Despite a 3 second average being shown on my garmin, if I’m in my power range and I’m 5 watts high I think “oh no, I’m going to blow up” and if I’m 5 watts low I think “oh no, I’m not going hard enough”. That costs me a lot of mental energy. For me, it was more important to focus on riding smooth and having a good grasp on my perceived effort relative to my heart rate. 

Luckily, during those 45 minutes of chasing, I was diligent about my nutrition. In addition to taking sips from my concentrated bottle, I ate several pieces of an RX bar. Two hours into the ride, my legs felt good. My heart rate was 5-10 beats higher than I wanted even with me backing off every couple minutes to keep it below 160. I’d caught a group and was riding with a couple others including Trevor Deslaut and Chris Schroeder. 

Two hours into the ride, my stomach shut down. In hindsight, I had been taking in too many solid calories at too high of a heart rate. This has happened to me before in 70.3s when I thought I should race at olympic-distance effort while simultaneously eating home-made rice cakes. When my stomach ‘shuts down’ it feels like a combination of being bloated and having a side stitch. It makes for an uncomfortable ride and it made for a painful run. I was immediately upset for putting myself into such a position because I could only imagine, at the time, how painful a marathon would be to run like this. I was only halfway done with the ride and could only imagine the suffering the next several hours were going to bring. 

Quitting was not an option in my head so I started troubleshooting. I knew I had too many calories that I couldn’t digest in my stomach so I started drinking more water. I’d already been taking in about 2.5 bottles per hour of plain water, so this made me have to pee even more. The combination of needing to pee and feeling bloated sucks. Despite all of the practice in the weeks leading up, I just couldn't pee while riding. I’d done rough calculations and knew that in the big scheme of overall time, not much time would be lost by stopping to pee while grabbing my special needs bag. 

Finally, I reached special needs. I picked up my second concentrated bottle of Infinit, peed while straddling my bike and was on my way again. Chris and Trevor had gone by me at special needs, but they were back within my sights in a few minutes. As I completed lap 1, I noted my time put me on pace to ride about 4:30 although my stomach was still locked up. After estimating how many calories I’d taken in, I decided I had enough leeway and gave myself 15 minutes of riding while only sipping water. During those 15 minutes, I focused on enjoying the views and noticed all of the people out on the course cheering for us as we went riding by. After 15 minutes, my stomach felt a little better. From history, I knew that I was stuck with these issues for the rest of the race and it would take several hours at a low heart rate without food, for my stomach to relax again. The best I could do for the rest of the day would be to manage the issues.

Photo from 303 Triathlon

Some time early in the second loop my bike started making a weird noise. Whenever I pedaled, a clicking noise came from my bottom bracket. I couldn’t feel any vibrations from the noise, but I knew something wasn’t quite right. Though a bike mechanical in a race is one of my worst nightmares, I stayed positive and hoped it would be nothing more than an annoying noise for the rest of my ride. On each of the three slow, grinding climbs heading west, I became very self-conscious about my noisey bike as I was passing other athletes. To my defense, it did provide a good warning that I was approaching from behind… My legs still felt good. I felt strong riding up the hills. I wanted to push more on the second half of the ride, but with the rising temperature and a heart rate cap of 160, I tried to stay conservative. The rest of the ride was uneventful. I saw Rachael’s sister and her friends several times which provided some good energy. As I was heading back to the reservoir, a black car pulled up besides me. After realizing the two girls screaming their heads off inside the car were Rachael and Kelsey, I smiled, gave them a thumbs up and started preparing for the run. I’d been watching the temperature steadily climb from 54 degrees to almost 85 degrees on my garmin. Though my stomach was still locked up and I was in pain, it hadn’t gotten any worse and I’d managed to average my goal of about 350 cal/hr while drinking a good amount of water. 

RUN (26.4-ish miles / 3:04:52)

I passed off my bike to the volunteers and ran into the changing tent. The volunteers were fantastic. All of my stuff was quickly dumped out and organized. Socks, shoes and hat on, I ran out of the tent. Straight through a cloud of sunscreen, and straight to the bathroom. My stomach was still in pain and I hoped emptying my bladder would help a bit. 

I began the very exposed 6 mile journey to the Boulder creek path under a blazing sun. My legs felt pretty darn good - all things considered. I relaxed and worked on getting my posture under control. I went through my checklist from head to toe. Head up, shoulders relaxed, elbows in, hips under shoulders, and pulling with my hamstrings. I’d been crunched up in aero for most of the bike and it felt good to be upright again. I reminded myself: pacing and nutrition. I knew it was hot out and the quality of the last half of the marathon is the true test of both of these skills. 

Just out of the reservoir, I saw my brother. I told him it was hot, in case he hadn’t noticed. Ernie told me to slow down so he could get a picture and remarked that several other pros looked in rough shape up ahead. I held onto hope that if I was patient the first few miles, my stomach would settle and I could turn some screws. I glanced down at my watch- staying between 6:45 and 7/mile pace felt easy. I took some sips from my water bottle, which I’d filled with BCAAs and salt. Unfortunately after filling all of my bottles the night before, I’d run out of BASE salt and didn’t have any to carry in an additional vial. BASE had a tent set up at mile 6 or 7 so that was my first goal: get to salt. That first section was rough. Other than the aid stations, it was very exposed. One of the aid stations gave me a sock full of ice which I placed around my neck in my tri suit. I praised the volunteers. There were very few people out cheering on the first section. 

I started to burp a little which was helping relieve some of the pressure on my stomach, but I didn’t take in any calories as my stomach still hurt. I found myself needing to slow down a number of times when I glanced at my watch and saw 6:25/mile. I took this as a good sign and just hoped the energy would still be there at the end of the run. I finally reached the creek path and picked up a vial of salt from the BASE tent. I finally cracked a smile when I saw them all dancing to music and vowed, to myself, to enjoy the run as best I could. I headed uphill where I would finally get to see the other competitors ahead of me. I’d passed one guy on the run so far but wasn’t sure how close others were or how they were feeling. Shortly after the central aid station, aka the flux capacitor, I saw Chris Leiferman leading the race. I was stoked to see him so far ahead. We had been at CSU together and I watched Chris go through several years of injuries so it was good to see him having a solid race. Miles 8-15 went by quickly. The crowds were spaced out but had a lot of enthusiasm. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces on the course. I smiled every time I recognized the groups of people cheering for me. It had been too long since I’d seen many of them. Go Rams! 

Rachael telling me to manage my pain...

Though everyone was saying it was 95 degrees out, I was noticing the pain from my stomach more than the heat. Any time I wanted to push, my stomach would tighten up more and I’d have to back off. I’d finished my water bottle so I stopped for a refill. The vial of salt had not lasted me very long and I was already looking forward to stocking up again. Finally, around mile 16, my stomach seemed to let up a little bit. I slammed a cup of coke and it seemed to take well. Other than the gel I’d forced down at mile 9, these were the first calories I’d taken in during the marathon. For the rest of the run, I kept taking 1-2 cups of coke at aid stations and drinking from my water bottle. Several times, I came to a complete stop at aid stations in order to refill my bottles and get all of the fluids and ice I wanted. 

Strava run here. There is definitely some slowing down in the back half of the run for me but not nearly as bad as I was expecting based on how I felt.

When I finished the bike, I’d mentally prepared to walk half of the marathon as I wasn’t sure if my stomach could digest anything, but somehow I was getting through this marathon. I’d caught one more guy in front of me and started seeing other racers out on the course. As I passed through mile 22, I got more coke and knew I’d be able to finish. I felt strong running uphill and my quads were still holding up well. The aid stations felt very far apart. I didn’t measure on my watch but it felt like they were over a mile apart. As I ran up the last cruel hill about 0.5 miles from the finish, I tried to take in all of the feelings. I doubled back for the last time. Running through the final aid station, I ditched my empty ice sock, turned my hat around and put my sunglasses on my head. Miranda (Rachael’s sister) gave me the sign to drop the hammer. Laughing, I kicked some extra pep into my step towards the finish. All the emotions came to me running down the finishing shoot. I was happy, proud, and, more than anything, so grateful to be able to do this insane race with the people I love.

On the creek path

That finish line feeling

15 minutes later...wrecked

Total: 8:40:11 / 8th

TAKEAWAYS

- My biggest takeaway is how important it is to feel confident in yourself and your training. No one can do that for you. “Comparison is the thief of joy”. It was hard for me, at first, to feel confident in my training when I saw others who were able to put in so much more. But, eventually, I found the more I focused on myself, and the more I focused on balancing the daily stresses of work, training, and other life commitments, the more confidence I gained that what I was doing was the best for me. While key workouts and races help to affirm this confidence for me, I found that believing in what I was doing each day was important. 

- Swimming 3 times a week has been OK for me. It is not nearly as much as I used to swim, but the sessions I do have good volume and are focused (4-6k each). I felt comfortable and strong throughout the entire Ironman swim. Even as my race goals change as we head into the rest of the summer and fall, I plan to keep swimming regularly as I feel it’s a good fitness booster with very little potential for injury.

- Decent bike fitness comes back fairly quickly for me. I found the 8 weeks or so of focused work allowed me to perform fairly well. I will probably never be able to ride as fast as the top-level guys and that’s OK. Biking at their level takes a lot of dedicated time. Due to the variety and focused time spent on the trainer during my training for this race, I arrived to the start line not burned out and was able to focus throughout the entire 4+ hours on the bike during the race. In the future, I may add in some high intensity work at the beginning of workouts before settling in to try to simulate the chasing likely to happen at the start of a race.

- Another take away: Keep nutrition simple. I practiced my nutrition regularly when riding. I trained my gut to accept 350-400 cal/hr. Running after these simulation rides felt awesome. However, during the race I became concerned with trying to get solid foods in early on. Unfortunately, my effort was too high for my stomach to process these foods in combination with the heat. This was disappointing as I felt my nutrition had been dialed in well this go around. My stomach locked up and I was in pain for the rest of the race. In the future, I plan to keep all calories between liquids and gels especially on hot days. If my heart rate gets low enough (like on an extended downhill or if the temperature is cool) then I may take in more solid food.

- The running potential is there. I’ve always loved to run. Run hard and run long. My 3:04 marathon time was not the fastest. Yet relative to those who I finished around, I gained confidence knowing that my run can be strong even if my stomach and the weather are making the experience challenging. Guys who had similar, or slower, run splits to me, have shown they can run mid to low 2:50’s in an Ironman marathon. After some lifestyle changes, I think running has become a strength again and I’d really like to test myself with another full at some point.

- I love what I’m doing. Working full-time as an engineer is challenging and rewarding. Every day is different. I’m very thankful for my education and I’m happy to be applying myself towards a career that is supporting the stable lifestyle I wish to live while providing benefits like healthcare, retirement, unlimited coffee, and dates with Rachael. I love having triathlon in my life, too. The training provides stress release from work and connects me with other people who are balancing a full-time career and extra-curricular goals. While many see the pro triathlete mindset as needing to be completely focused or, to take a Matt Dixon term, “unapologetically dedicated to world-class racing”, I’m OK with not checking that box. To me the benefits of my lifestyle outweigh the sacrifices the top pros make. I can’t focus on triathlon all day every day. But, I think a few times each year, I can focus and be competitive among them at certain races. The long distance racing has always been appealing to me so I’m sure I’ll be back at another Ironman-distance start line in the future. Nothing is locked in right now and that’s just the way I like it!

Thank you to Rachael for being there for me every day in so many different ways. The preparation would not have been possible without you.

Thank you to my parents and family. I will always appreciate the upbringing and support over the years.

Thank you to the people at Burns and McDonnell. Especially the lunch run crew.

Thank you to Roka for the new tri suit and casual sunglasses. The tri suit was extremely comfortable and the cooling capabilities were incredible. The sunglasses worked perfect for the run.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out and followed along the past few months. It was great to see tons of people cheering out on the course.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!