Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells

Background

There’s a cliche that the biggest victory of a triathlon is just getting to the start line. Whatever challenges you might face on race day pale in comparison to the weeks leading into getting ready. I’ll be honest, I didn’t quite believe it until this race.

Getting to the start of Indian Wells was as challenging as anything I’ve faced in my race career.

A couple of weeks before the race, the shit hit the fan with Tri-Bike Transport basically going insolvent overnight. I had planned to use them to get my bike from Tennessee to California.

I needed a new travel plan. Since we were flying from Nashville, and I don’t own a bike case, there weren’t a lot of attractive last-minute options. What we ended up doing sounds a bit crazy.

Arkadelphia, Arkansas is precisely halfway between Nashville and Austin. Katy and I drove seven hours west, where we met Tiffany and Caitlin for dinner. Then, they took my bike back home to Austin where it eventually made the final stretch to California with them.

I’m flying out to Austin for work at the end of January. Between now and then, a bike case will be delivered to the Saunders’ home. When I fly back to Nashville, my bike will accompany me on the flight. Like I said, crazy.

Race Week

Unfortunately, the drama leading into the race wasn’t over yet.

One of my great fears is that I’ll get sick during race week. It’s so front of mind that my brain will often play tricks on me. I’ll actually feel like I’m getting a sore throat or a headache when I’m not. It’s a terrifying thought to put in all the work to complete a training plan only to have it undone by getting sick at the worst possible time.

For Indian Wells, that terrifying thought became reality. I had a nasty head cold the entire week leading into the race. The worst days were the Monday and Tuesday before our flight to California on Wednesday.

I told myself that as long as I never tested positive for COVID, I was racing. So when I tickled my brain on Wednesday morning and only saw one line on the test, we were off to the airport!

Even before I got sick, I was already worried about the cold. The water temperature would be in the upper 50s. The air temperature at the start of the race would be in the low to mid-40s. There was only one sensible thing to do.

I put on my wetsuit and jumped into the pool at the Saunders’ Airbnb.

I didn’t notice the dead mouse on the bottom of the pool until after I got out. You can see it at the bottom of those images above.

This cannonball was actually one of the most important things I did to prepare for the race. The water was freaking freezing! But I got the reassurance that I would eventually acclimate to the cold after a few minutes.

The logistics for this race are rather complex. The bike course doesn’t start and end in the same place. We also had to sanitize our wetsuits before the swim. Not only that, it was a clean transition (meaning our gear bags and bikes would be stored in two different places.) It took several hours to drive around and get everything set where it needed to be.

While complicated, it was equally picturesque with these giant mountains (at least by my definition as a Nashville resident) and lines of palm trees overlooking us at both transitions.

With everything dropped off, there was just one final thing to tend to: shaving my legs. Whether it has any actual impact, I can’t say for certain. But I played baseball for many years. If something works, you don’t toy with the universe and ask why. You just keep doing it. 

I’ve never had a bad race with shaved legs.

This is such a wildly embarrassing photo in so many ways. Sorry, Katy. 😆

Race Morning

It’s a bit of a dated reference, but one of the more famous moments in NBA history was Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals. Michael Jordan had flu-like symptoms, but he played through it, scoring 38 points, including a game-winning 3-pointer with under a minute to go. 25+ years later, there’s an entire episode in The Last Dance about what’s known as The MJ Flu Game.

As race week led to race day, it became clear I wouldn’t be fully healthy. I had no idea what to expect from myself, but I knew I’d forever refer to this day as my MJ Flu Race.

Swim

I was nervous. I felt uneasy about my overall stamina. I knew I wasn’t 100 percent, but where was I? Rather than try to guess, I decided to race like I wasn’t sick. If I flame out along the way, so be it. Michael Jordan didn’t hold anything back in Game 5. If this is my MJ Flu Race, I need to act like it!

This wasn’t a pleasant swim. I felt I had seeded myself correctly, but the lake was very crowded. Maybe they were starting too many athletes at the same time. But I constantly had people bumping into me or kicking me. The most frustrating aspect was that people seemed to have trouble sighting (or they just didn’t know how to do it.) People would stop entirely, look around, find the next buoy, and then resume swimming. With the course already crowded, it felt like stop & go traffic.

I’m a bit disappointed with my time. I know the situation was hardly ideal, but I like to think I’m capable of always doing the 70.3 swim in under 40 minutes. However, I’m happy I got through my weakest discipline with only a couple of bruises from being kicked. I’ll take it!

Transition 1

Given the temperatures, Caitlin had mentioned she planned to take her time in T1 so that she could dry off as best she could. I’m glad she put that thought in my head. On a warm day, it’s great to hop on the bike wet and let the breeze cool you off. This was not a day for that.

I’d put some tube socks with the ends cut off into my transition bag. After thoroughly drying off, I slid a sock onto each arm. I knew it would warm up as the day went on, but I wanted a little extra warmth to start the ride.

Bike

I was excited about this bike ride. This would be the flattest 70.3 course I’ve ever been on. There wouldn’t be a lot of shifting. I’d just be able to get into a groove and let it rip.

My tube socks turned arm sleeves were perfect. I had expected to rip them off and toss them in the trash at one of the aid stations along the course, but I actually rode in them all 56 miles. It wasn’t until I started the run that I felt warm.

Overall, this was a pretty uneventful ride. The pavement was a bit bumpy out in the desert, but nothing that wasn’t manageable.

Around mile 40, we got to ride a loop on The Thermal Club’s private race track. Not only was the pavement suddenly pristine, but taking some of those corners was so much fun.

As I left the race track, I started feeling the fatigue from being sick. Thankfully, it wasn’t like I hit a wall and suddenly had no energy. However, I noticed that my watts were slowly decreasing despite feeling like I was putting in more effort now than earlier in the race.

When I rolled into T2, I felt rough. I had started to get some side stitches over the final few miles. Looking at my metrics, my speed didn’t drop all that much, but it was a big effort - both physically and mentally - to get through the last few miles. I was ready to finish the bike and move on to my best discipline.

Transition 2

When we dropped off our run bags before the race, Florida State hadn’t yet played in the ACC Championship game.

Since I wouldn’t see my run bag again until during the race, I put two different hats in. I usually wear a Braves hat during the run. But today, I had also tossed in a Florida State hat. If we ended up winning the ACC, I would don the Noles.

I’ve never been happier not to wear a Braves hat.

Run

It’s so odd. Of the three disciplines, the run is the one I enjoy the least. But if you go by age group rankings, it’s the one I am best at.

I was so relieved to be off the bike. However, I also felt far more fatigue than usual at this point in the day. As I set off on the run, I had to remind myself of a couple of things. Sure, I feel shitty, and I’m tired, but I’m just 13.1 miles away from wrapping up a truly incredible 2023 race season.

I’m not sure how this happened, but according to Strava, this run is my second fastest half marathon ever, including standalone runs.

Much like on the bike, I felt like I was fading as the miles ticked by. The second lap was HARD. It felt like I was working so much harder on the final miles than the first few – but the metrics tell a different story. I basically ran the exact same pace over the entire 13.1 miles.

Those dramatic but short dips in pace are from walking for a few seconds at each aid station. Maybe someday I’ll learn how to drink, eat, and run simultaneously. Whenever I try to, I just end up covering myself in Gatorade.

One of my big worries coming into the day would be that I’d have a coughing fit during the run. My nose can run all day long (and it did 🫠), but that’s something I can race through. Having trouble breathing is a different beast. But thankfully, that wasn’t an issue!

Post Race

I’ll never have another race season like 2023. Somehow, I have set a PR for that respective distance in every single triathlon throughout the entire year. That streak includes this race. Despite being sick, I did this 70.3 about two minutes faster than at Worlds.

When I finished, I had a bit of a coughing fit for a few minutes. It was kind of gross, but I was just relieved this happened after I finished! Lesson learned: getting sick the week leading into a race is not a good idea. Let’s never do this again!

Before the race, while pumping my tires, I came up with a great idea for a post-race medal photo. Surely, the CFP committee would put undefeated 13-0 conference champion Florida State into the playoff at the Rose Bowl. After the race, I would buy some roses and surround my medal with them.

WELP, THOSE MONSTERS.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the 2022 season, my fastest 70.3 time was 6:30:30. Coming into 2023, I hoped to find a way to finish one of these in under six hours. That meant taking a half hour off my best 70.3 time. Cutting 30 minutes from your race is not easy! If I found a way to hit 5:59:59 just once, I would have considered the season a smashing success.

I was never close to 5:59:59.

Chattanooga: 5:24:09
Worlds/Finland: 5:19:49
Indian Wells: 5:18:03

Year over year, I’m 72 minutes faster. I got to race at the 70.3 World Championship. Next season, I’ll have All World Athlete status. It’s all surreal.

But when I think back on 2023, while I’m proud of my race times, they are not among my fondest memories I’ll reminisce about forever.

It’ll be that I got to swim in the pool under Lahti’s ski jumps.

Or shaving my legs for the first time on Instagram Live.

Or the award ceremony in Chattanooga.

Or having a true Jim Valvano day by doing what he said: having my emotions moved to tears.

What’s the one thing all of these moments have in common? None of them actually happened during a race.

I love this sport. Four years in, I think I’ve gotten moderately talented at it. But what keeps me coming back isn’t the swimming, biking, and running – it’s everything else.

I don’t know what I’m doing in 2024 yet - but I can’t wait.

(One more thing: I have to give a final shout out to Katy. She not only tolerates this weird hobby, but supports everything from the training plan to the stinky hamper to the husband who occasionally has shaved legs. Even after all that, she gets up early with us on race day. She’s the best.)