Training, work, and life have been a bit busy lately so let’s get all caught it.

In my last blog I took some time off running for a piriformis/sciatic nerve issue I was dealing with. It hasn’t gone away, but it’s become more manageable to deal with. I don’t think it will fully be fixed until after California when I give my body some proper rest. But overall, we’re back running again—40 miles in the first week back, 58 last week, and this week should finish around 35-40 with my 70.3 race tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow I’m back on the start line at IRONMAN 70.3 Wisconsin. I’ve done this race a handful of times and I don’t think the course has ever been the same from 1 year to the next. I’ve been fortunate to win it twice (2019 and 2021), but this year will be a tough test coming off IRONMAN blocks and with some strong competition.

I’m excited to get in one last race before California. I felt like my transitions and race prep for Rockford and Muncie were a bit sloppy, so I’m using tomorrow as a good run through for the sub-8 attempt. Every minute there counts. The goal at California is to keep total transition time around 8 minutes (5 min T1 and 3 min T2). Madison also offers a longer T1 transition like California so it should be similar times to what I should expect in a few weeks.

Goal for the day is go out and race it! I kept telling myself I was going to swim and bike like a 70.3 and then run at IRONMAN effort, but if you know me, that probably won’t happen. We’ll see how the cards play out on race day, but should be a fun one! You can track tomorrow on the IRONMAN app. Bib #443 and a 8am EST/7am CST start time.

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway last week! We had 2 winners, Nick Powell and Andrew Carlos. Appreciate all the support from those who entered and the sponsors/partners who contributed to it.

Speaking of sponsors and partners, nows a great time to reveal my sub-8 kit for California. I posted it to Instagram this week, but will share it here as well!

Big shoutout to Wyn for helping with the kit this year. I’ve been racing in the Wyn kit since 2022 and love it. It’s been great to work with Luke, Beth, and their team. $8 subscribers have access to a family/friends discount code if you’re looking to get anything from the Wyn store.

Another shoutout to one of my main sponsors, LifeStyle Staffing. I’ve known John for almost 10 years now and he’s been a huge supporter of mine.

I’m part of the Madison Multisport club, owned by Steve Brandes and Cindi Bannink. Steve and I have worked together on and off since 2021 to get me racing at my highest level. Currently he’s my chief advisor for my Sub-8 build (along with my buddy Claude). If you’re looking for a coach in the Madison area (or a remote coach), check out Madison Multisport.

Other sponsors and partners who’ve supplied me with gear, discounts and support include Intake Breathing (yes, the thing on my nose), EZ Gains, Best Bike Split, and of course, The Feed. I’m back with the Feed after a few year hiatus.

LAST WEEK’S TRAINING LOG

SWIM

Not much to report on in the swim these days. Still putting in the work. Mostly 3 days per week with the speed, endurance and strength structure. I’ve been able to get a few additional OWS sessions in over the last 2.5 weeks, which is definitely needed heading into California. Translating my pool speed to open water has been a frustrating experience, but the only way to improve it is to swim open water more.

Swim totals:

Week 6

• 3 hours 21 minutes

• 14,350 yards

Week 7

• 2 hours 7 minutes

• 9,296 yards

BIKE

The bike is coming along great. It’s my strongest discipline and I continue to have sessions where I’m dialing in my IRONMAN goal power and feeling great. I did an outdoor session on the Wisconsin 70.3 course 2 weeks ago that felt great. The workout was:

• 10 min IM effort

• 10 min 70.3 effort

• 20 min IM effort

• 10 min 70.3 effort

• 30 min IM effort

• 10 min 70.3 effort

• 60 min IM effort

• 10 min 70.3 effort

I averaged just above 280w for the IM efforts and just north of 305w for the 70.3 efforts. A strong 80+ mile ride that day.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing long blocks at IM goal power 45-60 minute efforts with some IM goal pace runs off the bike.

Week 6 Bike Totals:

• 11 hours 3 minutes

• 93 miles outdoors (rest on Zwift)

Week 7 Bike Totals:

• 12 hours 30 minutes

• 301 miles indoors on Zwift

RUN

As I mentioned, we’re back to running. 40 miles of mostly easy endurance in the first week back, before adding some speed and longer runs the last 2 weeks. There’s definitely still some tightness and soreness during and after each run, but I’ve taken the calculated risk to keep pushing through and hoping it holds up over the next 5 weeks. I’ve been doing more stretching and PT exercises that Sarah gave me.

Goals for the next 5 weeks are to build durability through longer runs with fast finishes, a few double run days, and run-specific strength work.

Week 6 Run totals:

• 4 hours 36 minutes

• 40 miles total

Week 7 Run totals:

• 6 hours 25 minutes

• 58 miles total

THE OTHER STUFF

I’ve been getting to the sauna when I can, but it’s not enough to make any impact in my fitness or training. After the race this weekend, I’ll share my heat plan for the final 5 weeks leading up to California. Back to strength work as well. 2x per week for 30-35 minutes mostly on lower body, stability, and plyometrics.

Week 6 Other

• 30 minutes strength

• 30 minutes sauna

Week 7 Other

• 0 minutes strength (oops)

• 28 minutes sauna

RECAP

I’m feeling good heading into the race tomorrow, definitely excited to race back in my “hometown.” I’m not putting too much into the results though. Whatever happens, its a great training stimulus for IRONMAN training. I’m trying to avoid doing the math (I’m sure others will) breaking down my race times tomorrow and computing them into California estimates.

I still feel confident I can break 8 hours. These next 5 weeks (actually more like 3 weeks and then taper), will be crucial in my final prep.

Week 6 Totals:

• 20 hours

Week 7 Totals

• 21 hours 30 minutes

Here’s where I always transition over to the paying subscribers only.

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Better late than never. There’s been a lot going on this week, so I finally had some downtime to recap last week’s training. Plus, I have a race announcement. Yes, I’m doing another race before IRONMAN California. I’ll share that next week, but the $8 crew gets it at the bottom of this post.

Unfortunately, I hit the first little snag of this training block. For most of this year, I’ve been dealing with a nagging hamstring from a 2023 soccer injury. Yeah, I’m old. Up until now, it’s mostly been manageable and more annoying than anything.

Last week, though, I started experiencing some bad discomfort in my glute on that same side. After Tuesday’s speed workout, I knew something was off. At first I thought it might just be soreness from adding strength back into the routine, but I don’t think that was it.

So yes, this week’s title is literal. Pain in the ass. Not metaphorical. Actual ass-adjacent nerve nonsense.

I tried to “test it out” the next day and it was painful even running easy recovery pace on the treadmill. That’s usually my sign that I need to stop pretending everything is fine.

Luckily, I have a doctor at my house. My girlfriend Sarah is a PT and she was able to check it out (yes, she saw my butt), and gave me some dry needling.

I took the rest of the week off of running. We had an idea of what it might be since it was similar pain I was having in my hamstring. The culprit, my sciatic nerve—which was causing piriformis syndrome.

I googled piriformis syndrome and this is what I got:

“Piriformis syndrome is a painful neuromuscular condition that happens when the piriformis muscle in the buttock compresses or irritates the sciatic nerve.”

The best remedy for it is rest, along with strengthening exercises and stretching. Sarah gave me multiple exercises I’ve been doing a few times each day.

Thankfully, after a few days of rest, I’ve tested out a few runs. Some discomfort and tightness, but not the severe pain I was experiencing.

Including this week, I still have 8 weeks to go until race day, so there was plenty of time to take a step back in the run department for a week.

The silver lining? I got to put more time into the bike (and swim, I guess).

Check out the full recap below.

HOT TAKE OF THE WEEK

Today’s hot take isn’t really a hot take. It’s common sense. Get off your phone while driving. My Instagram feed is full of “influencers” filming hot takes, sing-alongs, daily updates, and whatever else while they’re behind the wheel. It’s one thing if a camera is just recording. It’s another when you’re repeatedly taking your eyes off the road to talk to your followers.

People already get hit by cars because of inattentive drivers. We don’t need to add “updating 50K followers on breakfast” to the list of hazards.

GET OFF YOUR PHONE. Park the car. Then post.

My friend Noel just did a reel about this. Here’s his take:

LAST WEEK’S TRAINING LOG

SWIM

Knowing I would be taking a step back in the run this week, I was able to get 4 swim sessions in, including my first OWS since Muncie 70.3 in early July.

Swim sessions this week included:

Monday: Endurance Swim (5200m)

Wednesday: Speed Swim with 300’s fast (4500m)

Friday: Strength Swim (4150m)

Friday Bonus Swim: OWS in Marl Lake in Waupaca.

We drove up to Waupaca after work on Friday and I did an easy OWS in the aqua blue lake. Definitely want to go back and swim there more!

Swim totals:

• 4hrs 6 minutes

• 17147 yards

BIKE

As I mentioned, the silver lining of the run injury was being able to spend more time on the bike. I already feel like my bike is in great shape for California, but you can never be too fit or strong on the bike. It’s what sets you up for the run.

I logged 9 sessions over the 7 days, broken down as:

• 4 easy rides at Z1

• 2 tempo/threshold rides

• 2 IM specific rides

• 1 quality outdoor ride (5+ hours)

It was definitely nice to get outside for a long ride. I got to ride with a local training buddy, Tyler, who’s been prepping for 70.3 Wisconsin + 70.3 Michigan next month. He’s a strong athlete with lots of experience, but this was actually his first century ride. We need to convince him to do an IRONMAN.

Bike Totals:

• 15hrs 30 minutes

• 116 miles outdoors (rest on Zwift)

RUN

As I mentioned, on Tuesday I did a speed run (9 miles) with some 3’ and 1’ efforts. Wednesday, I tried to do an easy run, but was feeling a lot of pain.

On Sunday, I tested out the glute during a very easy run on the treadmill. It felt surprisingly good, so I ran easy while watching some tv.

Run totals:

• 2hrs 24 minutes

• 21 miles total

THE OTHER STUFF

I’ve added in strength work and now I’m starting to ease back in some heat prep for California. I don’t think California will be “hot” by any means, but coming from Wisconsin (where who knows what temps will be like this fall), I want to make sure I don’t take any chances. Also, heat prep has other great benefits on it’s own. I’ll share my heat prep plan in upcoming weeks.

Tomorrow is also my birthday, my last year in the 35-39 age group. Next year it’s the big 4-0 and a brand new age group! 70.3 Worlds in Chattanooga actually takes place on my 40th birthday (Aug 29th, 2027).

RECAP

Overall, this small setback is just that. A setback. It’s not a blow to my chances to go sub 8. I’ll continue to monitor it and back off when needed. The run is definitely more about durability and holding up over 26.2 miles instead of needing to run fast and hard. Right now, easy volume is my friend.

Since it’s already Friday, I’m almost through next week already. So far the glute/hip has been good. Just lots of easy running. More to share next week.

Here’s where I always transition over to the paying subscribers only. Full TrainingPeaks breakdown, Whoop data, and more behind the scenes that I don’t share with the rest of the world. Also, paid subscribers get access to discount codes (below) and the first to hear about all new sponsorships, race announcements, etc

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The first “recovery week” of the IRONMAN California block. I put recovery in quotations, because in reality, I still managed to train 20 hours with some pretty good intensity on the back half of the week.

(Also, for the paying supporters—I have some big news on the sponsorship front. I made about 10 outreaches to brands over the last few weeks and we’ve got 5 on board for the Sub8 project! More discount codes coming as well. Check out the full details in the paid section. If you’re curious and want to get a preview before I announce (or see how I made these outreaches, become a paying supporter. You can even cancel next month if you don’t find the benefit.)

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RECOVERY WEEK

The goal of this week was to take the first 3 days easy. In the past, I often just kept pushing through training, often skipping recovery weeks all together. Here’s a chart from 2024—you can see my fitness progress and very few (if any dips) in it as I trained for IRONMAN Texas. I was doing 20+ hours a week for 16 straight weeks and honesty, I don’t think I had a recovery week in there at all.

Fast forward to 2026 Eric. New and improved. Or just older, I guess and need to take my recovery more seriously. Yes, I’m turning 40 next August.

On a normal week, Monday and Tuesday are usually super hard days (threshold bike, threshold run, etc).

For recovery week, I decided to start off the week by sleeping in and skipping my swim (don’t worry, I still swam the next day).

I use TrainingPeaks to monitor my form score, or TSB they call it. For me lower than -30 is pretty decent fatigue. Heading into recovery week my score was -50. So definitely needed a break.

For a recovery week, I like the keep the volume up and reduce the intensity. This is actually the opposite of what I do for taper. During lead up to a race, I like to keep the intensity up, as to not get flat on race day, but reduce the overall volume.

After 3 days easy, my TrainingPeaks form (TSB) was back down to -16. This was just what I wanted. Get my fatigue into a more manageable spot early in the week, and get back after it in the second half of the week.

Scroll down for a breakdown of the second half of the week.

HOT TAKE OF THE WEEK

I’m a little bit annoyed of IRONMAN choosing to enforce certain rules for some athletes, but not for others (particularly “influencers”).

Some of you may know, most of you probably don’t, but I was the first (and probably only) athlete to be disqualified by IRONMAN for putting an empty plastic water bottle in the front of my kit because it wouldn’t stay in my bike cage. The 4th place athlete (I took 3rd that day before my DQ) complained to the IRONMAN officials who “investigated” the issue and later issued me a DQ. Looking back I should have just littered and no one would have noticed. I dropped the empty bottle (which was giving me NO aero advantage) at the next aid station.

Anyways, back to my hot take.

IRONMAN has a rule (or a few rules) about finish lines. The first being “Obey laws and local ordinances and avoid any type of demonstration of political, religious, or racial propaganda. Failure to obey laws or local ordinances and/or failure to refrain from demonstration will result in disqualification”

Yet, back at IRONMAN Jacksonville, IRONMAN shared a video of athlete Hannah Roy crossing the finish line with a “Jesus is King” flag. This wasn’t the first time Hannah did this, but it was more so the fact that IRONMAN used this for promotion. A clear violation of rules.

Another rule states that you can’t receive outside assistance. Aka, someone cannot hand you anything during the race (outside of volunteers at aid stations). Hannah claims she had the flag with her during the race.

Other athletes, like this one below are clearing shown grabbing a flag and dancing towards the finish line. Dude is pumped. Good for him! But, let’s enforce the rules or get rid of the rules.

Another “influencer” seen here brings her phone with her throughout the race, clearly documenting her day—including her finish line. Another clear violation of an IRONMAN rule.

So where do we draw the line? Do we only enforce rules when it’s deemed there is a performance advantage? Does IRONMAN get to pick and choose which rules they enforce?

My issue isn’t with the individual athletes. It’s with having rules that seem to matter only when someone complains or when enforcing them is convenient.

What do you think?

LAST WEEK’S TRAINING LOG

SWIM

As I mentioned, I skipped Monday’s swim, but got it done on Tuesday. 3 swims again this week—same format as usual.

• Tuesday: Endurance swim (4800m)

• Wednesday: Speed Swim (4150m)

• Friday: Strength Swim (3000m)

Last week’s swim totals:

• 3hrs 3 minutes

• 13,0369 yds

BIKE

I usually start the week with a threshold ride on Monday. Instead, I did a 2 hour easy Z1/Z2 ride. I actually ended up doing 5 zone 1 rides during recovery week, the goal of keeping the legs moving and flushing out the fatigue.

The big ride of the week was on Saturday. After an easy first half of the week, I wanted to test out my race day power and see how my body responded.

The workout was 4x40’ at race effort on 10’ easy. My heart rate was a touch higher than I wanted it to be to start but settled down on the last 2 efforts. My goal is around 150-153bpm. The power felt great though, my cadence hung around 82rpm for the workout.

Bike totals for the week

• 10hrs and 56 minutes

• All on Zwift

RUN

After running 58 miles last week, I started the week off with some easy miles on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both runs were kept in zone 2: a 10 miler on Tuesday on the treadmill and a 6 miler outside on Wednesday.

That brought us to long run Thursday. After 3 days easy, I was ready to get back at some intensity.

The long run this week consisted of:

• 12 mile build to race effort

• 1 mile easy

• 10K at race effort

• 1 mile easy

• 19 miles total

The 2nd quality run this week was Saturday after my 4x40’ ride. I did 3x2 miles at race effort. Similar to last week, race effort felt a bit challenging and my heart rate was a higher than I would have liked. Can I hold this pace for 26.2 miles after a 1.2 mile swim and 112 mile bike? I really don’t know. That’s the fun part.

Run totals this week:

• 5hrs 52 minutes

• 53 miles total

THE OTHER STUFF

Recovery week meant getting a massage. In Madison, I used to have a great massage therapist (shout out to Brianna), but here in Appleton all the good therapists have full schedules so I find myself going to Massage Envy. The massages are okay, but not as great as some of the other local massage therapists I’ve worked with.

The main focus with a my glutes, quads and hamstrings. I’ve been dealing with a nagging hamstring (maybe sciatic nerve?) for the duration of my training this year.

Wednesday, Sarah and I got out for date night with some friends. Shrimp tacos again. 3 beers definitely had me feeling it on Thursday morning before starting my long run. My whoop data showed it as well with a 57% yellow recovery score (still worth it).

The weekend was pretty low key, Sarah got food poisoning which took her down hard. I some how managed to escape despite eating the same meals (we think it was the sour cream on our Totchos—because sour cream is gross and I didn’t put any on mine).

New Blogs Coming:

I floated the “Cost of Success” last week and I’m still working on it! I also have a complete list of all the products, gear, and tools I use in training and racing. This will be dropping soon.

This first round will be my “pre-optimized” setup before I really start dialing in the exact products, nutrition, and gear for my Sub8 attempt in October.

I have some new sponsors on board to help out with that.

You’re saying “Yeah, yeah, announce the sponsors already.” I will. Just need to put a proper post together.

Paying subscribers get access today to the preview of these new sponsors and will get discount codes to most of them! Your $8/month will be made up in product savings if you take advantage of them!

RECAP

Overall, I’m feeling good. The run is still the one discipline that I’m really not sure of yet. It’s going to be a fun challenge for the next 9 weeks to get there! I’m glad to have you all along for the ride!

Here’s where I transition over to the paying subscribers only. Full TrainingPeaks breakdown, Whoop data, and yes—a preview of my sponsor announcements.

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I made it to my first recovery week.

The first three weeks of the Sub-8 IRONMAN California build are checked off, and it’s been a solid opening block with both total duration and TSS building each week:

Week 1: 20 hours and 1,285 TSS
Week 2: 21 hours and 15 minutes and 1,363 TSS
Week 3: 22 hours and 14 minutes and 1,432 TSS

That’s a lot of TSS for one week, let alone three in a row. But I’ve been able to recover on easy days and still hit most of the key workouts as planned.

During block 1, my fitness graphs, according to TrainingPeaks, have made progress.

After Rockford, my training kind of stalled a bit, but now I’m back, focused and I’ve seen a nice increase over the last 28 days.

This week ahead is a recovery week.

My fatigue levels are a bit high due to the high TSS over the last 3 weeks, so the goal is to bring those down to more manageable levels. For me this means, backing off the intensity a bit (not completely), while trying to keep a bit of volume.

I always struggle during recovery weeks with wanting to do too much.

Even yesterday I found myself stir crazy after work, so I went out and mowed our lawn. And then the neighbors.

Hot Take of the Week

The Hot Take of the Week comes from AI. I’ll share a full blog on how I’m utilizing AI to help with my Sub-8 goal, but for today I’ll just share a basic question I asked it.

“Give it to me straight. Based on my training to date, what are my realistic chances of breaking 8 hours at IRONMAN California"

AI: “You have a 55% chance. The engine is there. What's still open is durability — whether the run holds up under full race fatigue, not whether you’re fit enough”.

I asked for a further break down of each of the disciplines:

• Swim: 85%. 38-42 min is realistic even in a mediocre current year

• Bike: 85%. Your strongest leg. FTP is trending up. 4:15-4:23 is earned, not hoped for.

• Run: 45-55% — this is where your goal lives or dies. You have zero clean data yet showing you can hold anything close to goal pace for a full marathon off full Ironman fatigue.

• Transitions: 90%+. Not a real variable. Don’t mess this up.

Pretty spot on if you ask me. If you said there was a 55% chance it would rain tomorrow, I’d pack a rain jacket.

Still have 10 more weeks to push that probability up higher.

What do YOU think my odds are? Vote below

Keep reading below how I’m actually feeling for each discipline.

Last Week’s Training Log

The Swim

Like the AI bot said, the swim I have a pretty good chance of executing. The biggest missing piece right now for me is open water swimming. I just haven’t been doing it. I know I can swim the distance in a fast time, but my issues have always come from being able to relax, avoid anxious moments and/or panic attacks. More time in open water has alway helped alleviate this.

Races with swim warm ups usually go much better for me as well. Since it’s a river swim, there will be no swim warm up.

This is my reminder to get outside and find a lake.

Last week’s swim volume:

• 3hrs 23 minutes

• 14,709 yds

I’m still continuing my 3x per week swim cadence, but thinking of adding a 4th day come September.

The Bike

This is where I feel the most confident of all 3 disciplines. I’ve had some very promising workouts over the last 3 weeks—including this past Saturday.

I had 5 hours on tap, with hard 10 min intervals out of the gate. During the first one, I gave up and decided on plan B: to ride at IRONMAN power instead. My goals was to do 5x40’ at IM power goal.

I struggled through the first 40’, just felt like I was grinding the whole time.

After some contemplation with myself and AI, I decided to drop the watts down and just ride 3 hours steady in zone 2.

After about 30 minutes, the body started coming around. I pushed the power up 10 watts. Then 10 watts more. Before the end of the 3 hour interval was I pushing 15 watts HIGHER than my goal IRONMAN power.

This is just another reminder to not judge a workout by the first part of it. Always try to finish it out, even if it means reducing the intensity.

Same goes on race day. Things can change quickly. Feeling good goes to feeling bad, just as quickly as feeling bad can go to feeling good.

Total bike volume for the week:

• 11:26 mins

• All indoors on Zwift

I’m feeling confident in my power goals for IRONMAN California. However, there are always factors out of my control, like wind and race-day weather.

With that said, I’ve got a fun analysis I’ll share next week on how I’ve been using Best Bike Split over the last 5 years to predict, plan, and execute my bike leg during my races. Stay tuned (And yes, paid subscribers of Sub8Stack get a discount code to try it out)

The Run

This is where I feel very aligned with what AI had to say about the probability of running ~2:50ish off the bike at IRONMAN California.

It’s right, I’ve never run that fast before and my pace at Muncie 70.3 was at or slower than the pace I’m planning to run at California.

However, I don’t take the 45-55% chance as a blow to my confidence, I take it as a challenge.

I’ve been running very well over the last 3 weeks during block 1. My long runs are up to 18.5 miles with last week’s run having 13 miles at or faster than goal pace

The long run I did was:

• 2 mi easy

• 1mi on

• .5 easy

• 2mi on

• .5 easy

• 4mi on

• .5 easy

• 6 mi on

• .5 easy

• 1 mile cool down

Total time was 1:54:45 for 18.5 miles (6:12 avg pace)

That’s the kind of run durability I need: not just speed, but speed when the legs are already carrying three weeks of load.

The workout that is the biggest predictor of my success (or failure) this week was the brick run on Saturday after my “Plan C” ride.

After 4hrs 45 min of riding, I did 8 miles at goal pace and 1.5 miles cool down. The route I took was a bit rolling, and it was already heating up in the afternoon.

My heart rate was 5-10 bpm higher than where I want it to be on race day, but given the amount of fatigue I was carrying (and being untapered), I called it a success.

Just need to do that ~3X in a row (plus add in a swim).

Run totals for the week:

• 6hrs 21 mins

• 58 total miles

The Other Stuff

I’m continuing to work on my strength training, but only 1 session this week. Primary focus is still my glute strength, hamstring flexibility, and over durability for the run.

I had my 20 year high school reunion on Saturday. Man, I’m now sure where those 20 years went, but they went by fast. It was fun to see some old friends and faces, but I definitely paid for the beers on Sunday when I woke up.

New Blog Coming: The Cost of Success

I’ll be launching a new blog soon, talking through how much it actually costs to compete on high-level across a full triathlon season.

I’ll share all the costs from: race entries, nutrition, bike upgrades, travel, and more!

How much do you think it costs to race one 70.3 race? You’d be surprised how much goes into besides the race entry.

Recap

The work is there. The fitness is moving. Now the challenge is absorbing it.

That’s the part I’m usually worst at, which probably makes this recovery week just as important as any 22-hour build week.

That’s it for the free side of this week’s recap.

Paid subscribers get the full data report: TrainingPeaks load, WHOOP scores, workout details, fueling notes, sponsor discount codes, and the inside info I didn’t share above.

This week also includes a Best Bike Split discount code and an early look at what’s coming with my IRONMAN California kit sponsor.

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Last week started off pretty crazy here in little Appleton, WI.

In my 38 (almost 39 later this month), I’ve experienced plenty of severe weather, including tornado warnings (and sirens).

On Monday, we were alerted on our phones to seek shelter for a severe thunderstorm warning. About 30 minutes later, that thunderstorm warning turned into a tornado warning, with the sirens going off.

I hunkered down in the basement with our 2 dogs and watched out the window as the trees were blowing sideways and garbage cans were thrown across the lawns.

After about an hour, the weather cleared up and the sun came out.

I didn’t think much of it, until I started seeing all the photos from social media. Less than 5 miles away from our house, a tornado came through and did severe damage to Appleton and Menasha communities.

Fortunately, there were no deaths, but it’s just a reminder that life can change very quickly and to try to stay in the moment—appreciate what you have.

Anyways, back to training. A solid week in the books with 21.25 hours in for week 2 of 13 leading up to California.

Hot Take of the Week

Durability beats hero workouts.

Everyone loves the workout where you smash the numbers. But the bigger skill is knowing when to adjust so you can still hit the sessions that actually matter.

Monday’s bike was ugly. I cut it short. Wednesday became easier than planned. Then Saturday turned into the best ride of the week.

That’s not a failed week. That’s a durable one.

Last Week Training Log

The Swim

14,572 yds for the week over 3 sessions (up about 400yds from last week).

I was hoping to get an open water swim in over the weekend in Madison, but the rain changed my plans.

Key sessions this week were

• Monday’s session was a long endurance swim, what I call my weekly “long run.”

• Wednesday was a speed swim with 15x100, building every 5 100’s.

• Friday is my strength day, where I did a progressive distance ladder set.

My focus in the pool right now is just to maintain good fitness, feel for the water, and keep up my speed/strength.

The Bike

The week didn’t start off so great on the bike. Monday is traditionally my threshold day on the bike.

I started my threshold workout (5x10’ at 94% of FTP on 4 minutes easy) in the afternoon.

On the first interval, I was already struggling. I took a short break to refocus and tried to get back after it.

I continued to struggle throughout the workout and ended up doing 4 of the 5 intervals.

I didn’t get too down about this workout, given the fatigue in the legs, coming off a big week of riding and 50+ miles of running.

I made an adjustment to my Wednesday ride and decreased the IM efforts to a zone 2 effort ride to help shed some fatigue before the weekend.

This worked well, as I crushed a big workout on Saturday.

Saturday’s ride was a 5hr indoor ride with a 272 NP average.

All in all, I did 11.5 hours on the bike, 30 mins more than last week.

Key sessions included:

• Monday Threshold ride

• Wednesday Z2 ride

• Saturday long ride

• Plus a handful of Z1 or easy rides

The Run

The run is the biggest question mark or challenge heading in to California. I want to train my body to be able to run fast and efficiently with fatigue in the legs.

My key run sessions of the week were:

• Tuesday threshold run with 5x1.5 miles on 2’ easy

• Thursday long run with 17 total miles including 4x2.5miles faster than goal marathon pace

• Sunday easy outdoor miles - I do lots of running indoors, so want to continue to get outside and put miles on the legs. Did 10 miles Sunday to close out the week.

Run totals for the week were 5hrs and 56 mins with 54 miles (2.5 more miles than last weeks total).

The “Other Stuff”

I was able to get my first strength session of the block in this week. Strength is going to be key for me because I have a few limiters in the strength department.

My girlfriend Sarah, a PT, often gives me crap on how inflexible I am for being such a high volume athlete.

I’m working to correct this over the next 11 weeks.

My limiters right now include:

• Limited hamstring flexibility

• Limited gluteus medius strength

• Limited hip flexor strength

Outside of training, Sarah and I were able to get out for a date night on Wednesday—getting shrimps tacos and a beer.

On Friday and Saturday we hit up the Mile of Music with friends in downtown Appleton. Mile of Music is a massive annual event held along a one-mile stretch featuring hundreds of up-and-coming independent bands/artists.

I had 3 beers on Saturday and stayed out until midnight (very rare)—my Whoop data on Sunday morning reminded me I’m getting older and can’t handle lack of sleep and alcohol like I used to.

On Sunday, we have a tradition of getting donuts from the local donut shop. Event the dogs get their doggy donuts. This week’s flavor of the week was Lemon Poppyseed.

This Week

This week is the final week of my first 3 week durability build. It will be structure almost identical to last week.

• Monday: Endurance swim, threshold ride, and easy run

• Tuesday: Threshold run and easy bike

• Wednesday: Speed swim, endurance bike, and easy run

• Thursday: Long run and easy bike

• Friday: Strength swim

• Saturday: Long ride and brick run

• Sunday: Outdoor easy run and easy ride

After this week, I’ll take a few days to freshen up the legs before starting the next training block.

That’s it for you free subscribers on this post.

But, paid subscribers ($8/month) get the full data report from last week. The TrainingPeaks breakdown, WHOOP scores, full workout details, fueling notes, and inside information I didn’t share above.

I’ve also added 2 new discount codes for paying subscribers: including Intake Breathing and AltRed.

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I fully understood that when I made this Sub-8 attempt a “public spectacle” with teasers and self-hype, I’d probably get a lot of haters and doubters along the way.

Especially when I posted my first blog to the Slowtwitch forum, which, funny enough, has now been flagged as spam and taken down.

The core demographic of Slowtwitch is white old men in their 60’s who yell at clouds and kids to get off their lawn.

Anyways, back to the elephant. Let’s eat.

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Historical Reference

My best IRONMAN to date came at IRONMAN Arizona 2021, where I went 8:38: 56 swim, 4:35 bike, and 3:00 run.

So where do I plan to make up that 38 minutes plus? Am I even fit enough 5 years later after taking 18 months off?

My most recent IRONMANs haven’t been too pretty either - a 9:41 at IRONMAN Texas in 2024 (where I walked the second half of the run) and 9:18 at the 2024 IRONMAN World Championships in Kona. The race that “retired” me.

Now, eyes forward to California.

The fastest times from IRONMAN California over the last 3 years (was never a professional field):

2025:

• 8:16 - Scott Coombs

• 8:17 - Bryce Morrison

• 8:18 - Bryan Mooney

2024:

• 8:15 - Luke Creger

• 8:33 - Craig Taylor

• 8:35 - Michael Taylor

2023:

• 7:56 - Dan Plews

• 8:19 - Raynard Picard

• 8:21 - Donald Woodbury

So over the last 3 years, only 1 athlete (arguably one of the best amateur triathletes ever and current AG Kona course record holder) has gone sub-8 on this course.

Looking at the times, 2023 definitely had the best river current, but also had some rain throughout the day.

So the stage is set.

My best time: 8:38.

Course best time 7:56.

How do I make up the 38+ minutes to go Sub-8 and prove these Slowtwitch haters wrong, while proving myself right?

The Swim

There’s no hiding why I picked California for my Sub-8 attempt. The downstream swim makes the attempt a little more feasible.

IRONMAN describes the course as: “a downriver swim with athletes starting in the American River near Township 9 Park. The 2.4 mile swim course is a point to point into the Sacramento River and exiting near the famous Tower Bridge.”

The key with the swim is how strong the current will be. The race starts with 2000m in the American River, where last year it seemed the current was non-existent, and then joins the Sacramento River, where the current kicks up.

The current is often dictated by the water levels in reservoirs and the flow is dictated by operators.

Who do I have to pay to get a heavy flow on race day?

My goal for the swim to go sub-40 minutes (obviously current dictated). In Dan Plews’ 7:56 course record, he swam 36 minutes. My 40 min swim, knocks 16 minutes off my Arizona swim time. Leaving a gap of 22 minutes to make up on the bike and run.

The Transitions

Never forget about transitions. At California we have to navigate out of the river and run up to the transition area, so T1 is usually a bit longer than most races. Average times among the top finishers are in the 5-7 minute range.

Let’s go with 5 min for me, since I’m usually pretty quick.

Skipping ahead to T2, this one is pretty quick. Drop the bike, grab the shoes and go. Average times are usually 3-4 minutes here.

Let’s take the lower number and plan on 3 minutes.

That’s a total of 8 minutes just in transition.

So now I have a ~40 min swim + 8 minutes of transitions. Can we bike and run under 7:12?

The Bike

The California bike as described by IRONMAN: “a flat and fast, two-loop tour of the beautiful farm and wine country. Athletes will be able to test their fitness and break their best on this flat bike course.”

Testing my fitness and breaking my best will definitely be needed on the day.

My fastest IRONMAN bike split has hovered around 4:35 (IRONMAN Texas, IRONMAN Arizona, and IRONMAN World Champs 2022).

My recent 70.3 bike times this year are 2:09 and 2:06 from Rockford and Muncie. You might think, how are you going to ride double the distance at basically the same speed?

The California course offers the flattest course I’ve even completed. The Strava map on the site puts the course at 340ft of total elevation gain. I’ve seen athlete’s actual files that range above this, but let’s just go with what they have.

My goal for the bike is to bike as close or under 4:20 as possible.

Over the last 3 years, the top bike splits include:

• 4:16 - Mihai Vigariu (2025)

• 4:19 - Jacob Downey (2025)

• 4:21 - Arto Sorvoja (2024)

• 4:22 - Lee Mount (2023)

• 4:23 - Dan Plews (2023)

So, in order to lay down a sub 4:20 bike, I’ll have to crack into the top 5 overall performances on that course.

Wind is always a factor, but you can’t control that (or worry about it till race day).

With my power goals and projections from Best Bike Split (future blog), I’m projecting to ride in the 4:18-4:22 range for the 112 miles.

That puts us at :40 min swim, 8 min transitions, and a 4:20 bike for 5:08 total.

Now we have to do the marathon in 2:52 or less.

The Run

Let’s be a little more practical here and say there’s a slower current or a bit of wind on the bike - put our overall time a 5:10 for the day. Now we need to run a sub 2:50 marathon.

What does that take? And how do my pervious times compare?

My best stand-alone marathon to date was actually this year, I ran a ~2:43ish on a day where I thought I could run ~2:38. There were some decent hills, but nonetheless, 2:43 is my PR.

My best run off the full 112 mile bike is 2:58 from back in 2019 at IRONMAN Louisville (cancelled swim).

So we’ve got a good challenge on our hands. Let’s knock off another 8+ minutes of our marathon after having our fastest swim, fastest bike, and some speedy transitions.

A 2:50 marathon is 6:29 min/mile (4:02/km) pace for the full 26.2 miles. The California course has actually shown to be a bit longer from race files. Plus, the course map on the site shows 26.6 miles.

With the added .4 miles, it puts our needed pace to be below 6:23 min/mil (3:58/km).

IRONMAN describes the run course as “a flat, fast two-loop run course. This course not only offers the opportunity for the Athlete to PR, but it also offers excellent opportunities for spectators to watch their athletes throughout the course and take in all of the sites, foods, and entertainment Sacramento has to offer.”

As mentioned the course is flat. A great opportunity to run fast—only if you’ve controlled yourself on the bike.

The goal for the day will to be go out at a controlled pace and hold it all day long. No negative (or positive) splitting, just clicking off miles around 6:20-6:25 min/mile (~4:00/km) pace.

My recent runs from Rockford (1:18) and Muncie (1:23), don’t seem on paper to project I’m able to run a sub 2:50 marathon off the bike, but again that’s where I want to prove people wrong.

One of the biggest focuses of my training blocks will be building my run durability—being able to hold a fast pace for long duration off hard bikes.

That’s the real challenge. Not just being fit enough to run fast. Being durable enough to still run fast after the fastest swim and bike I’ve ever attempted.

That’s the block. That’s the bet.

The paying subscribers will be able to see the full 12-week training block breakdown below, the rest of you can stick around for the ride and get the weekly updates of what I’ve been up to each week.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram (@eric.r.engel) or give me a follow on Strava.

Thanks,
Eric

Paying subscribers - keep scrolling to check out the 12-week training block ahead.

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12 more to go.

84 days if you’re counting.

I came out of the gates hot with 20 hours (yes 20 exact, I’m THAT guy). The last few months, I’ve been averaging closer to 15-17 hours per week while doing some 70.3 races.

After Muncie 70.3 on July 11th, I did a recovery week (but to be honest, I just took 3 days easy and got right back into it).

So this is my first full week of Sub8 training. Week 1 of 13.

Hot Take of the Week

Before we jump into training, I want to start each week with a hot take.

This week: IRONMAN swims.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably already seen me rant about people complaining when swims get canceled or shortened. I get it. You trained for a triathlon. You paid a lot of money. You wanted the full race. You wanted your PR to count.

But some of the reactions lately are insane.

There have been a lot of 70.3 swim changes recently because of wind, water conditions, safety concerns, and race-day variables. And every time it happens, people act like IRONMAN and the race director are teaming up in some backroom conspiracy to ruin their day.

They’re not.

Right now, the only national press IRONMAN is getting is about athlete deaths. Triathlete just wrote about it, too. So yes, I believe IRONMAN is going to be cautious. And honestly, they should be.

Also, please stop comparing swim conditions to wind on the bike or heat on the run. They are not the same thing.

On the bike, you can slow down.
On the run, you can walk.
In open water, things can go bad fast.

And just because conditions “don’t look that bad” from shore does not mean they’re safe. Wind, chop, current, visibility, water temp, congestion, panic, and rescue access all matter. The race director and swim safety team are the ones who have to make that call, not someone watching a shaky Instagram video from the beach.

A lot of races rely on lifeguards, kayakers, paddle boarders, volunteers, and safety boats. If those people can’t safely hold position, navigate the course, or reach athletes quickly, the swim can’t happen as planned. It’s that simple.

Put yourself in the race director’s shoes.

Cancel the swim and people complain.
Let it happen and someone dies, and that is on your conscience forever.

No thanks.

And yes, many swim deaths aren’t caused by waves alone. Sometimes there’s an underlying medical issue. But if rough conditions increase the risk, or make rescue harder, then changing the swim is still the right call.

Does it suck if your swim gets canceled? Yes.
Does your PR maybe get an asterisk? Also yes.
Is that more important than people getting home alive? No.

It’s a sport. You’re alive. The volunteers are safe. The safety crew is safe.

Get over it.

Okay back to training now. Here’s the weekly breakdown

Last Week Training Log

The Swim

Just over 3 hours with 14,300 yds for week.

Traditionally, I used to swim 4 or 5 days a week (15-20K yards).

At times that was 6 or 7 times per week. Back in 2021 or 2022 I did Swim-February where I swam every day for a month.

But this time around, I’m sticking to 3 days per week for now. With the downstream swim at California, there’s less emphasis needed on the swim.

However, swimming is a great recovery tool that keeps you injury-free and healthy to put in the other training volume.

My weekly swim breakdown is

• 1 Endurance Swim (usually 4-5K yds)

• 1 Speed Swim

• 1 Strength swim (paddles and pull buoy)

I’ll keep this structure the same for most the training block, but I’ll be adding a few more open water swims in on the weekend when I have the option. This is my biggest limiter right now in the swim—converting my pool speed to the open water and not having such bad anxiety. More on that in a later blog.

The Bike

11 hours on the bike as:

• 4 recovery or Zone 1 rides

• 1 Threshold Ride

• 1 Z2/IRONMAN Specific Ride

• 1 Long Ride

I did 100% of my riding indoors on Zwift. For me, training indoors is much more efficient (and effective). I’m able to push myself harder than I would be able to outside, without having to stop at traffic lights and worry about any mechanical issues.

As the race gets closer, I’ll start to do my weekend riding outdoors, but for now, Zwift it is.

The Run

51.5 miles for the week and just shy of 6 hours. My run volume since Rockford has been much lower than I’ve wanted it.

Leading up to the Eau Claire Marathon in May, I peaked at 69 miles (yes, again intentional) with 3 total weeks being 60 or more miles.

For triathlon training, I don’t necessarily need that volume I did during marathon training, but being 13 weeks out still, I can use this volume to build my durability on the run.

What’s Missing

You can see I have 0 hours of strength work. I just finalized my strength plan and will be adding this week.

To be honest, strength has always been one thing I’ve struggled to maintain. I get bored easily. Also, you don’t see the direct results you do like swimming, biking and running.

But strength is so important, especially for long distance endurance sports when the body (and form) starts to break down.

I’ll share my strength plan in an upcoming blog (paying subscribers will get the full workout by workout plan).

Highlights of the Week

• Hardest session: My long ride was challenging this week ( 4x50 min as 10 above 70.3 effort into 40 minutes at IRONMAN effort)

• Favorite session: Monday’s threshold ride I felt super strong and gave me good confidence starting the new training block (3x15 min as 12 min at 90%, 3 min at 97% FTP)

• Longest session: 4.5 hour bike, followed by 40 min brick run

The Balancing Act

Despite putting 20 hours of training in, I’m still able to balance my full-time job working for Outside (most of you may know Triathlete Magazine or Outside Magazine), where I manage our Email Newsletter and Syndication platforms.

On top of work and training, I’m making an effort to make sure other relationships don’t fall short or get neglected—with my girlfriend, dogs, friends, and family.

Going for dog walks, weekly date night, keeping weekends open for social activities, etc is all part of trying to find a balance. I’ll admit (and Sarah can tell you), I’m not perfect at it. I’m adjusting as I go. There’s much bigger things in life than this Sub-8 project, and I won’t let this sport define me like it once did. I have so much outside of the sport to be thankful for.

Also, I still think its crazy how some athletes can have full-time jobs AND kids, and still kick ass in the sport. Big shoutout to all the parents out there. Superheroes.

This Week

This week is already off and running. 12 weeks to go. I give a full breakdown of this upcoming week in the paid section below.

I’m committing to doing 2 blogs per week. One blog, recap style on how training is going on Tuesdays and then 1 blog covering a specific topic on Fridays.

This Friday, I’m going to talk about how I plan to “eat the elephant.” How I’m tackling the plan, training breakdown, and goals for the Sub-8 attempt.

Other upcoming blogs will feature

• The gear I’m using and WHY - including any testing

• My history in the sport of triathlon and advice I have someone getting started (or anyone feeling burned out)

• Dealing with mental health issues during triathlon training

• Sponsorship search - how I’m reaching out and if I can even get a sponsor for this challenge.

• The small things that make a big difference (or no difference)

• And more!

If you have ideas, please shoot them my way!

That’s it for you free subscribers on this post.

But, paid subscribers ($8/month) get the full data report from last week. The TrainingPeaks breakdown, WHOOP readiness, full workout details, fueling notes, and inside information I didn’t share above.

Also, if you haven’t followed me on Instagram yet, give me a follow

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Here We Go

Before this year started, I had a goal in mind.

The marathon in May, Rockford 70.3 in June, and Muncie 70.3 in July were all stepping stones toward something bigger.

Something a little scary.

Something a little stupid.

Something that makes me excited enough to wake up early, stare at tire pressure charts, question my saddle height by 3 millimeters, and willingly sit in a sauna until I look like a rotisserie chicken.

On October 18, I’m racing IRONMAN California.

The goal?

Sub 8 hours.

Not “have a good day.”

Not “see what happens.”

Not “age group podium if the stars align and everyone else forgets their bike shoes.”

Sub 8.

Eight hours is one of those numbers in long-course triathlon that feels simple until you start doing the math. Then it starts getting rude.

A rough version looks something like this:

• Swim fast

• Bike really fast

• Run a marathon really, really fast

• Don’t overheat

• Don’t underfuel

• Don’t flat

• Don’t bonk

• Don’t panic

• Don’t drop your nutrition

• Don’t make 47 bad decisions in the first two hours because you’re feeling amazing and Taylor Swift was playing in the car that morning

Easy enough.

Quick pause here. Subscribe below so I’m not talking into the void for the next 3 months.

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Why Sub 8?

A few years ago, Dan Plews went under 8 hours at IRONMAN California.

I learned a lot from Dan over the years. Training. Pacing. Fueling. Heat. Coaching. All the stuff that sounds boring until you realize it’s the difference between flying and walking through an aid station wondering why your hands are tingling.

Watching him do it planted a seed.

At first, it was just one of those quiet thoughts you don’t say out loud.

“Could I do that?”

Then it got a little louder.

Then I took 18 months off racing because I was burnt out and needed to remember why I liked this sport in the first place.

I moved back home.

Fell in love.

The motivation started to come back.

I ran a marathon in May.

I raced Rockford 70.3.

Then I won Muncie.

And somewhere along the way, the thought stopped being a whisper.

It became the thing.

Age Group Records

There’s an age group world record number out there.

Sub 8 is a number that very few human beings on the planet have ever achieved — pros included.

7:49.

Set by Frederik Wester from Denmark at IRONMAN Copenhagen in 2025.

That is absurd.

That is spicy.

That is the kind of number you look at and immediately start bargaining with your bike fit, shoe choice, nutrition plan, and whatever gods control wind direction.

But that’s not the goal.

It’s a number to chase, sure. It’s a rabbit on the horizon. But I’m not building this around a record.

I’m building this around Sub 8.

As far as I know, no American age grouper has gone under 8 hours.

That’s the line.

That’s the mountain.

That’s the big dumb beautiful thing I want to try to climb.

Why Share Everything?

Because I don’t want this to just be a race report that shows up after the fact and says:

“Training went well, race day happened, here are my splits, please clap.”

That’s not the interesting part.

The interesting part is everything that happens before the cannon goes off.

The spreadsheets.

The good workouts.

The bad workouts.

The AI I use.

The days where I feel like an absolute weapon.

The days where my legs feel like someone filled them with mulch.

The gear choices.

The nutrition testing.

The heat training.

The mental side.

The financial cost.

The full-time job balance.

The recovery.

The mistakes.

The weird little details that probably matter more than people think.

This is going to be a behind-the-scenes look at everything it takes to try to do something very few people have done.

Not the polished version.

The real version.

The “I spent 30 minutes deciding if my front tire should be 60 or 61 PSI” version.

The “I moved my aero bars 5 degrees and now I think I invented speed” version.

The “why am I eating another bowl of rice at 8:30 PM?” version.

The “my WHOOP says I’m recovered but my soul disagrees” version.

What I’ll Be Writing About

The plan is to blog at least weekly from now through race day.

Some of the topics I’ll cover:

• How I’m building the training plan

• Key workouts and race simulations

• Swim, bike, and run benchmarks

• Heat training with CORE

• Fueling and sodium strategy

• Supplements, caffeine, bicarb, ketones, and all the expensive little powders that make endurance athletes financially suspicious

• Bike fit and aerodynamics

• Gear choices

• Shoe testing

• Recovery

• Mental health and training

• Balancing work, life, relationships, and the pursuit of a completely unnecessary but deeply meaningful athletic goal

• The actual cost of trying to do this

• What goes right

• What goes sideways

• What I’d do differently

Basically, if it touches the Sub 8 attempt, I’ll probably write about it.

If I test it, I’ll share it.

If I mess it up, I’ll definitely share it.

Those are usually the more entertaining posts anyway.

The Paid Stuff

I’m also going to offer a paid subscriber option for $8/month. Because this sport is F%&$ING expensive.

The $8 Dollar Dreamers.

Because of course it had to be $8.

Paid subscribers will get the full nerd drawer.

The stuff I usually keep tucked away in TrainingPeaks, Strava, WHOOP, and notes-app chaos.

That includes:

• Exact weekly training plan

• Full workout details

• Power numbers

• Discount codes I can share

• Run pace targets

• Bike files

• Race simulations

• WHOOP data

• TrainingPeaks fitness, fatigue, and form

• Full Strava details

• Fueling plans

• Gear costs

• Supplements and testing

• What I’m buying, what I regret buying, and what I’m pretending was a smart financial decision

• Honest notes on how I’m feeling physically and mentally

Free subscribers will still get the main story.

Paid subscribers get the garage door opened all the way.

The watts. The numbers. The receipts. The sausage being made.

It will probably smell like Maurten and anxiety.

Why This Matters To Me

I’ve done a lot in this sport over 18 years.

I’ve raced Kona.

I’ve won an Age Group World Title.

I’ve lost. A lot.

I’ve had days where I felt unstoppable and days where I wondered why I ever thought swimming in a crowd of adults at sunrise was a good hobby.

But this feels different.

After stepping away, I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel this pull again.

I wasn’t sure I’d want to chase something big.

Not because I couldn’t train hard. I’ve always been able to do that.

But because I wasn’t sure if I could care in the right way again.

Not obsession.

Not fear.

Not trying to prove I’m still the guy I used to be.

Something better.

Joy.

Curiosity.

Hunger.

The kind of goal that makes you nervous, but in a way that feels alive.

Happiness beats fitness any day of the week.

But if you can have happiness and fitness?

Now we’re cooking.

The Goal

October 18.

IRONMAN California.

Sub 8.

That’s the project.

That’s the story.

That’s the thing I’m going to chase.

I don’t know exactly how it’s going to go. Nobody does. That’s the fun and terrible part.

Maybe everything clicks.

Maybe I get humbled.

Maybe I’m 6 hours into the race, trying to convince myself that drinking another bottle of carbs is a personality trait.

But I’m going to give it everything I have.

And I’m going to bring you behind the scenes for all of it.

Welcome to the Sub8Stack

Let’s get weird.

How We Got Here

This is a story for a blog of it’s own, but long story short. I was burnt out 2 years ago and needed a break. After 18 months off racing, I did a spring marathon in May and Rockford 70.3 in June. The journey back hasn’t been easy, but its been filled with joy and a new outlook. Happiness beats fitness any day of the week. Will share more about the journey back in the coming weeks.

While I’ve got your attention, subscribe below to get more updates

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Race Week

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic for me. Between being short-handed at work, traveling to Arizona (aka hell’s sauna) and a trip “up north” (a beloved state of mind and a geographic region of Wisconsin) to my cabin.

With that said, I started race week with a lot of stress. External stress usually equates to poor race day performance, so I know I needed to find time during race week to de-stress and find some mental clarity.

A 6.5 hour drive can do that for you! With a Saturday AM race, I wanted to get to Muncie on Thursday to be able to check-in, get my bearings, and relax on Friday.

I was able to get checked-in (bib #315) in record time (about 7 minutes from door to door). After 18 years of doing IRONMAN expos (and 1 year of being a carnie/vendor myself), I’ve learned to put my blinders on and ignore the hoopla. Get my bib/wristband and get out.

After check-in, I made to my hotel and decided to skip that day’s shakeout run. A 30-min run isn’t going to build any fitness. Chipotle was much more important.

The day before the race is always pretty standard for me. Here’s a few things that I ALWAYS do the day before the race

• 30-min bike - full race setup, check out the gearing, etc. Add in a few little bursts (this time 4x2min on 2min easy)

• 10-min shakeout run - race shoes, nice and slow with 4x30” pickups on 90 sec easy

• Bike drop off - always scout of my racking position, make sure I know where I’m entering and exiting transition. Take some air out of my tires.

• Olive Garden - this is the most important pre-race ritual. If there’s an OG, I’m there. I’m family.

I also was able to get a short open water swim in at the race site. Which usually isn’t very memorable, but for this race it was. The water temp on Friday was 84 degrees F. Yes, the water. Not the air. This is the highest temperature I’ve ever seen at a race. Obviously, there would be no wetsuits allowed. I even looked up the rules to if they would cancel or shorten a race for extreme temperatures. Mostly just rules around differences in air and water temps when the air is colder.

I did 500 yds easy with a few pickups and boy was it warm. Even just wearing a swim cap my head felt hot after those 500 yds. After the swim I started to think through some cooling strategies for race day (more to come).

After the swim, I got checked into an AirBnb. I moved from the hotel to the airbnb to stay with some friends.

I try to eat dinner early the day before the race, so when 4:30 rolled around I was off to Olive Garden (conveniently only 2 mins down the road from the AirBnb).

After a full stomach of soup, salad, and breadsticks (plus raspberry lemonade), I went back home to organize my gear, wind down, and get a good nights sleep.

Race Morning

3:00am alarm goes off. Routine is always to eat breakfast at least 3 hours before race start. Today’s race start was at 6:20am (or so I thought).

Breakfast consisted of a poppyseed muffin, banana, and some oatmeal. Don’t need to get overstuffed, but a good hearty breakfast. Sipping water and a sports drink throughout the morning.

Race officials updated the water temp as 85+ degerees. Yes, again that’s water temp not the air temp.

I gathered my gear and made the drive over to the race venue (a quick 15-min drive). Car jams consisted of my pre-race playlist filled with some light listens, Taylor Swift and progressing into some classic 2000’s rap.

They had us park in empty grass fields right near transition. The earlier you got there, the better your spot. I was there at 4:30, right when transition opened.

Got to my bike and did the usual set up. Pumped the tires, checked my gearing, filled the bottles, set up the bike computer, laid out the run transition area, and then clipped my shoes in with rubber bands.

After setup I went for a 10-min jog to warm-up. Looking back I probably didn’t need this with how warm the water was going to be, but oh well, it’s just part of my routine.

Shoes off, put into place for easy on in T2.

I headed down to the swim just before 6:00am. Swim warm up (unusual for a 70.3 or IRONMAN event) was from 6:00-6:15. There was a tiny little area you could warm up in, which made it more like frogger trying to dodge other swim caps and athletes coming at you head on.

Right at the end of my swim warm up, I tried to simulate some heavier breathier and get the body ready to be in race mode. As I let out a big exhale underwater, I suddenly inhaled and my lungs filled with water. I stood up (in 3 ft of water), but couldn’t breathe. The helpless feeling trying to cough it out or gain some sort of breath lasted about 30 seconds (felt like a few minutes). I came out onto the beach with heart race racing and nerves amped to the roof.

I couldn’t end my warm up like that, I needed a positive experience before the race started, so I went back in the water and swam another 1-2min easy.

Part of my cooling strategy was to put crushed ice cubes in my swim cap and take a cold shower before the race started.

As the announcer started telling people to line up for race start in the starting corral, I headed to the showers. It was about 6:10 and the race would start in 10 minutes. As I removed my goggles to shower, the nose bridge snapped. I panicked for a second.

I knew I had a spare pair of goggles in my car (thankfully I was early and had a good parking spot). I hopped a fence and bolted to the car, grabbed the goggles, and rushed back to the swim start. There was a long line of spectators and athletes trying to get down to the beach area. I hopped another fence and ran my way to the starting corral. I made it. 6:18am I was ready to go, heart rate racing, and adrenaline pumping.

A minute later, I find out the race wasn’t scheduled to start until 6:30am. A sigh of relief and 10 mins of time I could relax and get my thoughts in order.

I threw on the swim cap with the crushed ice and instant brain freeze. That was going to work. I dumped the ice out, but left some cold water in there for the start.

I lined up about 6th or 7th in line to start after the gun went off.

Swim

30:17

1:27 min/100yd | 2nd AG, 16th Overall

The first few athletes ran into the water and I watched as how far the shallow water went. I knew I could do a few dolphin dives to open up and get some good momentum.

The 3 beeps came and I ran into the water, executing 2 dolphin dives, before finding my stroke. There was a turn buoy about 100yds into the race. Made the turn and then set off on the front stretch (or 6 yellow buoys - yes, I always count).

For those who know me personally, I’ve dealt with some pretty bad swim anxiety at times. I’d describe myself as a pretty good pool swimmer, but have been unable to translate that speed into the open water.

The next 300yds I started having some of those racing thoughts and panicky-feelings. Not good when its already 85 degrees in the water.

I was able to work through it, and start finding my rhythm. My goal for the swim was just not to overheat. Stay steady and come out of the water with minimal energy expended.

I swam the backstretch with another athlete. I tried to stay on this feet, but he was swimming all nimbly bimbly off line.

I swam the 7 orange buoys, made the final turn and was back on land.

My swim put me 3:54 back of the overall leader. 2nd in my age group and 16th overall.

T1

3:17

The last 10 years of racing, I’ve prided myself on how quick and efficient my transitions have been. The last 2 races, not so much.

I came out of the water and reached for the zipper on my swim skin. I was able to drop the zipper down, but I couldn’t get it to unzip. While I was running up the hill in transition, I stopped and asked to have someone unzip it.

I made the decision pre-race to have my race kit, pulled down to give me shoulders more mobility and to stay cooler during the swim. With that comes the challenge of getting your (wet) kit pulled back up over your shoulders and zipped up.

As I finished the long run into T1, I was able to get the kit up over both shoulders. However, it’s hard to zip without fulling coming to a stop.

I stopped, zipped up and grabbed my bike.

Just before I got to the mount line, my zipper came all the way undone again. I knew it would be almost impossible to zip up while on the bike, so I made the decision to stop, lean my bike against the fencing, and zip up the kit.

All zipped, I did a flying mount and I was off. You can see below I’m still not in my shoes yet in this picture.

Bike

2:06:57

26.55 mph avg | 1st AG, 1st Overall

My goal to start this ride was to keep my heart rate and power down the first 5 miles. I went out HOT at Rockford. My heart rate was 180+ to start the race for the first 10+ miles and my power was way above the my goal watts.

To help manage my power output, I had my bike computer lap every 5 miles. This way I wouldn’t be chasing average power later in the race if I started easier.

The first 7 miles of the race winded a bit from the resevoir out to the main highway where we would spend most of the day. I passed a few athletes right out of transition and a a handful more during this first stretch.

First 5 miles, power was 280NP, about 20w below my goal for the day. Heart rate was a bit high, but considering the swim was 85 degrees, it was manageable at 169 bpm.

As I hit the main highway (we would do an ~11 mile out and back twice), I didn’t know what overall positon I was in, but I could see an athlete up the road. I figured I was in the top 5 based on my swim, quick-ish transition and how sporadic the athletes up front were.

I starting the out-and-back stretch, I could see another athlete in the distance. I was pushing good power and making pretty good gains on him. Every couple miles I would pick a reference point he passed and then see how long it took me to get there. At first it was :40 seconds, then :30, and then :15. By this time we were approaching the turn around.

I could see a lead vehicle coming towards me so I knew the leader was close. As I crossed paths with him, I noted which mailbox we were at and then looked at my bike computer for the time.

I approached the turn around, just behind the athlete in front of me (he was in 2nd place), which made me 3rd out on the course.

I got to the mailbox and checked my computer, I was about 3:50 down from the lead athlete. Honestly, I was expected a little further back.

At one of the aid stations, I slowed to grab a water bottle and was passed back by the other athlete chasing with me. I don’t like getting passed, so at first I was a little annoyed and passed him right back.

About halfway to the end of the first loop, he passed me again, this time I asked if he wanted to work together (legally of course) to make gains into the leader. It’s always easier riding hard when there’s a carrot within sight. The leader was out of sight, so it was nice to work with someone.

We swapped turns a few times and then made the turn around for loop 2. By this time there was a lot of other athletes on the road. Lap 1 was clear and easy to navigate. This time around, it was chaotic and lots of yelling “on your left.”

The course was only 1 lane wide each way and at times some athletes were riding 2 or 3 wide, which made it super dangerous to pass with oncoming bikers in the opposite lane.

After making the last turn around to head back home (around mile 42), I had no idea where the leader was because of all the bike traffic on course. I assume we had put some decent time into him in the last lap.

At this point, I decided to not crush the last 15 miles of the bike and back off a bit. I had some intel from another athlete that the lead guy had recently run 3:30ish at his last IRONMAN and was a super strong swim/biker. I knew if I was within a few minutes of him off the bike, I could make it a competitive race on the run.

I made the turn off the highway and headed back for the last 7ish miles of twisting and turning. One of my goals this race was to make sure that I pee’d on the bike. At Rockford, I didn’t, so I knew I wanted to hydrate better in Muncie.

With about 3 miles to go, I slowed up so I could force out a pee. It’s definitely a learned skill to be able to ride and pee (while still pedaling).

The 3rd place guy came around me and I followed him back to transition.

T2

1:44

I came flying (dismount) into T2. I was surprised how easily this skill came back after not racing for 18 months, but it’s always fun to fly into transition with speed and dismount right on the line.

I ran to my transition area and racked my bike.

I threw on my run shoes and grabbed my bag of goodies.

I was out of transition in 3rd place, right behind 2nd place.

Run

1:23:07

6:21 min/mi avg | 1st AG, 4th Overall;

Right outside of transitions, I saw my friend (and coached athlete), Aly. She shouted that we were 1:50 back from first place. This was great to hear that we put another 2 minutes into the lead on the 2nd half of the bike.

I juggled my bag of goodies the first few 100 yards. Grabbing my omnius headband, race belt, and sunglasses. It was overcast so definitely shouldn’t have packed the glasses.

Leftover in my bag was a banana and a shot of Ketone IQ. Not wanting these at the moment, I tried put the bag underneath my kit, behind my shoulder blades. As I was running at the same time, the bag instantly dropped down to my butt.

I was wearing a one-piece kit so I knew this would take some work to get the bag out from my ass. I worked the bag around towards the front, where they was a small gap in the tri suit. I was able to pull out the bag and banana and toss it at the first aid station.

Definitely a rusty start to the run, but just another learning experience getting back to racing.

I was running right off the shoulder of the 2nd place athlete through the first aid station. Once I got myself situated, I decided it was go time. I put in some effort and made the pass into 2nd place. I could see first place ahead of my making a turn, I glanced and my watch to grab a split once I made the same turn.

The gap was down around 1 minute by mile 2. The 3rd place athlete behind was still hanging on, probably only about 20-30 seconds back.

I took splits over the next 3-4 miles, each time gaining 5-10 second per mile. I knew that pass would come somewhere around the turn around point (6.5 mile out and back course).

The volunteers at the aid stations were great! Plenty of water, ice, and coke was available at each one. I grabbed a banana a few times which always seems to give me a bit of a boost.

By mile 6, I was less than 10 seconds down, I knew when I passed the first place athlete, I’d want to make it stick. Right after the turn-around was an aid station. I put in another effort and made the pass here, putting some distance into him right away in the first quarter mile.

My pace at this point wasn’t remarkable, but it was efficient for the day. After making the pass, I knew if I was able to hang around 6:15-6:20 minute miles, I would be able to run away with the win.

As the miles ticked off on the way home, I had a chatty companion with me. The lead cyclist was a few meters back and was asking me questions like I was just out for a jog. And first my name and where I was from, then asking if I knew his coach.

I didn’t mind the conversation at that point, because I had a lead, but if I was digging any harder, I probably wouldn’t have been so friendly and responsive.

With about 5K to go, I knew I just needed to get to the line. I turned around on the long downhill stretch and didn’t see anyone behind me. Knowing this, I was able to let off the gas a bit and not dig any deeper than I needed to.

I don’t really chase “times” at IRONMAN or 70.3 events. My goal every race is just to be the fastest athlete out there. If I didn’t have to burn extra matches and crush my legs, then that was a small victory as well.

The Finish

4:05:23

1st AG, 1st Overall

The last mile, I was able to start high-fiving athletes just starting out on their run. It always gives me joy and motivation when I’m able to give it back to other people.

Coming over the last hill is when the emotions finally started to hit.

Taking a long break, working my ass off over the last 8+ months to get back to the place I feel like I belong, the finish line.

I made the turn off the road and into the finishing chute.

Being World Cup season, I was going to go with the Ronaldo “Siuuuu” celebration or the Norwegian “Roooo”.

I slapped a few high fives with the crowd and started doing the “Roooo”. Luckily for me the crowd joined in! It would have been a little awkward if I had to do it alone.

I grabbed the tape, held it over my head. I did it. I was back.

I ended up winning by just under 3 minutes, taking the fastest bike of the day and the 4th fastest run.

Post-Race

Man it was good to be back on top again. Working so hard for something, visualizing finish lines, and managing all the ups and downs—it’s never guaranteed to go your way. I was never sure I was going to win a race again.

And let’s be clear here, I know it wasn’t the strongest field ever assembled in Muncie, but you can only race against the guys who show up. Had some of the previous winners been there, the dynamics of the race could have been completely different. I may have still won or I may have lost by 7 minutes again (like Rockford). Who knows.

It doesn’t matter though. On this day, I was the best.

I stayed for Awards, because I was chasing a spot to next years 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga. The race falls on my 40th birthday. What a better way to celebrate getting old and turning 40, then to try and run down some guys younger than me!

The joy was a little short-lived when I saw how much the 70.3 World Championships race registrations cost. It was $994. Yes, a half-IRONMAN was $1K. Back in 2017 at the very same venue, the 2017 70.3 World Championships cost around $650. But hey, they gave me a free moonpie.

IRONMAN has a monopoly on the market and I paid to play. I signed up and I’m on the start list next August 29th, 2027.

A brand new age group, 40-44.

After awards, I hopped in the car, drove 6.5 hours straight home and was welcomed by my girlfriend and dogs with a great celebration.

Exciting Announcement

Before this year started, I had a goal in mind that I wanted to achieve. My May marathon, Rockford 70.3, and Muncie 70.3 have all just been stepping stones on the way to this bigger goal.

Subscribe to this channel or follow me on Instagram to check out what I have coming up next.

Announcement is on Friday July 24th!

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