Ironman 70.3 Iowa

Background

Doing this race made no sense.

This was my third 70.3 in the span of five weeks. I signed up for this event two weeks before race day. That’s all pretty stupid!

But hey, I have no regrets and I’m so glad I came to Iowa.

One of my goals for the 2024 race season was to qualify again for Ironman’s 70.3 World Championship. This year’s race is in New Zealand. That’s been a dream destination for Katy for as long as I can remember. It gave me extra motivation to want to try to qualify.

In both St. George and in Chattanooga last month, the rolldown for snagging a qualification was painful to sit through. If I were 30-34 years old, or 40-44, I’d have qualified. But unfortunately, I’m 39 years old. And my 35-39 age group was far more competitive.

A year ago, Tiffany and I qualified in Chattanooga, but Caitlin missed by just a few minutes. I couldn’t help but think back about that. Caitlin didn’t wallow in sadness. She just turned around, signed up for Ironman 70.3 Boulder, and grabbed a slot there to join us in Lahti.

The cutoff for qualifying was the end of June. So it left me five weekends to find a race. Between my work schedule and driving time from Nashville, it was pretty obvious that the best choice would be driving up to Iowa for Ironman 70.3 Des Moines.

Doing three different Ironman 70.3s in five weeks is pretty silly. (There are probably other words too that aren’t quite as kind. 🫠) I knew going into Des Moines that I would certainly not be racing at 100%. But ultimately, I decided it was still worth making the trip because I wouldn’t be left wondering what might have happened. If I didn’t race, I’d never know what might have happened here.

Race Week

The problem with these pesky full-time jobs most of us have is that they don’t always make triathlon easy! I had burned a bunch of PTO on our trips out to Ironman 70.3 St. George and Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga.

If I wanted to do Ironman 70.3 Des Moines, I really couldn’t afford to take any additional time off from work.

It’s a 10-hour drive from Nashville to Des Moines, with St. Louis roughly halfway in between. After work on Wednesday, Katy and I drove to St. Louis, where we checked into a hotel around midnight. We both worked from the hotel all day on Thursday.

With a late checkout thanks to a credit card we have, we were able to stay until around 4 pm. Then it was another five hours in the car to arrive at an Airbnb in Des Moines that night.

On Friday, I did a quick shakeout ride before work. On my lunch break, I popped over to the Ironman athlete village to get my registration stuff done, and then it was back to the Airbnb to wrap up the workday.

It was a lot. Usually on the Fridays of race weekends, I’m full of a lot of excitement. But for this one, I just felt tired. I’d probably burned a couple of matches just to get here.

But thankfully, when I woke up on Saturday, it finally felt like race weekend. The only thing I had to do today was drop my bike off at transition…and shave my legs. 🙄

When I first thought about coming to Iowa, I had assumed this was going to be a solo trip. I certainly didn’t want to drag Katy. But she told me that if I was racing, she was coming. She said she still regrets that she missed Ironman 70.3 Augusta back in 2022. (She didn’t miss much. That was a lousy race for me!) But either way, I don’t deserve her.

Not only that, Tiffany and Caitlin drove all the way from Austin to Des Moines to support me as well. I don’t deserve them either! Especially since part of Saturday those two Gator fans had to watch this Seminole celebrate Florida State punching our ticket to the College World Series. 😆

I knew that in a lot of ways, tomorrow was going to set the path for what the rest of 2024 would look like for me. No pressure, right? But all I had on my mind was how lucky I was to have three wonderful people who came all the way to Iowa to support me.

I know what it feels like to qualify for Worlds and how special that is. Not to sound cheesy, but having three people collectively traveled 60 total hours to support me at a race? That’s even more special.

As I went to sleep on Saturday night, I made sure to pause and reflect on this. Whatever happened tomorrow, Worlds or not, the headline of this race is not the slot. It’s that I am so lucky to have people like the three of them in my life.

Race Morning

Ironman always is trying to sell people on something called the Nirvana package. Basically if you fork over a crap ton of money, somebody else will manage stuff like your hotel room, parking, getting your bike tuned up, and other stuff throughout the weekend.

I’ve never purchased it. After experiencing what it’s like to have three sherpas on a race weekend, I never will. Because THIS is living the true race day luxury experience.

I almost felt guilty. They collectively all kept asking me if I needed anything. They carried my gear. The day before, Caitlin and Tiffany even decided to clean my bike chain.

My bike had gotten damaged three weeks ago at Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga, but everything was fixed and ready to go today. This was the best kind of race morning. I set up everything at transition in about 10 minutes without any unexpected issues. Then it was just hurry up and wait for the sun to come up.

There are some races where my mind is just racing with thoughts as we slowly progress to the swim start. But today, I just felt at peace. There really weren’t any nerves. Just hope and optimism!

Swim

This course was a bit technical. We had five different turns to make as we swam up, down, left, and right across Grays Lake. The water felt great, and it was nice to be able to wear the wetsuit for a race in June!

It did feel a little bit crowded at times, especially after Chattanooga, where the river is huge, and we have all the space we could possibly want. About halfway through the race, somebody accidentally kicked me in the kidney. It hurt, but it didn’t last long. It was more that I was just frustrated by the crowding, especially around each of the turn buoys.

I won’t ever claim to be a fast swimmer (because I’m not!), but I do get annoyed by how many athletes seem to struggle with sighting. Regardless of your pace, everyone should be able to do this. But time and again, I’d have somebody in front of me completely stop their forward progress to look around and, I guess, ensure they were still heading in the correct direction. Maybe it was because we spent a good portion of the swim with the sun in our eyes? But either way, it felt like it was throwing off my momentum to have to suddenly swim around them.

My only real concern about this race was the overall fatigue from doing three of these in the span of five weeks. How would I feel? The early returns were good! I was turning in a perfectly average swim time, right on my usual pace.

Honestly, if there was any fatigue, it was more up in my head. I remember thinking during the first 500 yards or so something along the lines of “ugh, this is going to be a long five hours before I can rest again.”

A year ago at Worlds, I did the swim sub-40. But in my last three lake swims, including here today, it took me a couple of minutes longer. Today was 42:37, which is meh.

But also yay! I’m done with my weakest discipline, and it’s onto the bike!

Transition 1

It’s always hard to compare transition times across races because every location has a different setup. But today really felt efficient for me. Out of the lake, onto the bike, and on my way.

It’s rare that I’d ever add a photo to a transition section, much less two. But since I had three Sherpas, it meant I had two different angles of me starting the bike ride. You can see Katy and Caitlin in each other’s photos!

Bike

Des Moines seems like a nice little town. But there was one thing I kept noticing as we drove around town over the weekend. Their roads are not in the best shape. I guess it’s from their snowy winters?

That said, I was relieved when we drove the bike course yesterday that the course was in great shape. Whether it was Ironman picking good quality roads or the city ensuring the course has fresh pavement, the course was a mix of smooth asphalt or concrete.

It’s a generally rolling course with a handful of longer climbs early on. When I studied the course ahead of time, I was relieved that most of the climbing was early. Once you get to mile 27, you’re really past the worst of it. 56 miles can feel like a long way, but getting to 27 miles? That’s not so scary!

The biggest climb at mile 27 is part of an out and back. You get to ride down the hill before climbing back up it. The course never felt crowded to me except on the hill, ironically in both directions. I was a little frustrated with how cautiously people were approaching the downhill portion. There was more weaving around athletes than I would have preferred. After the U-turn, it was the same deal going back up, but at least at slower speeds, it’s a bit easier.

Once I reached the top and passed mile 27, I knew the course was easier from here on out. Physically I felt pretty good, but mentally that fatigue was creeping back in again. Maybe I should have approached it differently? The problem with focusing on getting to mile 27 was there were still 29 miles to go!

By the time I was coming to the end of the course, I was REALLY itching to get off the bike. Physically and nutritionally things were still good, but man. It takes a lot of focus to swim, bike, and run. Then two weeks later to swim, bike, and run again. Then three weeks later, to swim and be biking again.

Outside of Ironman Chattanooga, I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier to hit that dismount line.

Transition 2

I was so happy to rack that bike. So. Happy.

Run

Sometimes those first steps of the run feel just awful. Not today. I came out of transition feeling great.

I knew I was (just?) 13 miles away from getting to take a break. There wasn’t another race looming in a couple of weeks. This was it. So I wanted to leave everything I had out here.

It was sunny and a tad warm, but honestly, I never thought about the weather. That usually means it’s not a factor! It was such a boost that I never went more than a couple of miles before seeing some combination of Katy, Tiffany, or Caitlin. It felt like they were as frequent as the aid stations on the course.

Outside of slowing down at those aid stations, I ran the first 10 miles or so at just under an 8-minute mile pace. The course is two laps around the lake area before you divert towards downtown a little past mile 10.

I was able to get down to around a 7-minute pace for those final miles. Three 70.3s in five weeks and I just needed to eke out a couple more miles with whatever I had left!

It was fun running through downtown. There were a lot of spectators, which always gives me a boost. The only thing I didn’t like was that I couldn’t see the finish line off in the distance. It’s because there are a couple of turns just before you finish. So as I was sprinting through town, emptying out the tank, my watch said I was close, but my brain kept screaming WHERE IS IT?!

Once you make that final left turn, you’re on the red carpet before you know it.

Post-Race

While I’d have to wait until 4pm to find out about Worlds, I knew right as I crossed the finish line that I’d set a PR for the second time in as many races. My time from Chattanooga sat as my PR for only three weeks!

It had gotten warm during the run, almost hot by the end. I pounded a couple of bottles of water, ate a little food, and then waited for a bus to take us back to transition. That’s the one downside of this race: you’re either walking a few miles or waiting for a bus full of other smelly athletes.

The afternoon felt like it dragged on forever waiting for rolldowns. It was a strange limbo land knowing the race was done, but I didn’t know the outcome. This was all still new to me. It wasn’t until very recently that race days also included attending the award ceremony.

All weekend long, Katy, Tif, and Cait had been recording video on their phones so that Tiffany could make an episode on their YouTube channel about this weekend. While we killed time before awards, Tiffany had me recap my day.

It was easy to go through the swimming, biking, and running. But I got teary eyed and struggled to find the words to describe what it felt like for the three of them to come all the way to Iowa for no reason other than to support me.

The thought was on my mind at the beginning of the day and I still felt it here as the sun was starting to dip: whether I got a slot to Worlds or not, what I wanted to always remember first and foremost about this day was the support from the three of them. I hope I never take it for granted.

Award Ceremony

I won’t be annoying and bury the headline: I didn’t qualify for Worlds.

Whether it’s triathlon, baseball, football, or any other competition, if I’m going to lose or fail, it’s almost easier to accept if you get blown out than for it to be close. Lose a football game 35-3 or lose a baseball game 12-2? That sucks, but it’s less likely to have regrets if you’re soundly defeated.

Unfortunately, today was VERY close.

I missed qualifying for Worlds by just one athlete or by about three minutes.

Tiffany took this photo of the three of us waiting as they called out names during the 35-39 rolldowns. My heart rate was probably higher sitting in that chair than it was at any point during the actual race.

If there is any solace, I can’t think of anything in particular that I wish I had done differently. I can’t point to one thing and say “that’s it. THIS RIGHT HERE cost me New Zealand.”

I had even set a 70.3 PR. I don’t know what else I could have done differently.

Unfortunately, we had to go straight from the disappointment of roll downs right to the car, where we had a five-hour drive to St. Louis ahead of us. I had work in the morning, and we were essentially repeating the same travel plan in reverse to return home. It was a quiet and somber drive.

One thing I’m glad I can say is that I don’t have any regrets. I won’t be wondering “what if?” There’s nothing I would have done differently during the race. It just didn’t work out.

I’d be lying if I wrote that I wasn’t bitterly disappointed. Missing by three minutes here. Knowing if I was a year older, I would have qualified with time to spare in St. George and Chattanooga. It’s three bitter pills to swallow.

However, I hope in the months and years to come, I will look back fondly on this race. 5:10 is nothing to be ashamed of. A PR is something to be celebrated.

But most importantly, I hope I don’t remember this as the day I failed to qualify for Worlds. Instead, I should see it as a day where three people showed how much they care and support me. Having people like that in my life is far more special and harder to achieve than any World Championship slot.