Back Where I Belong
IRONMAN 70.3 MUNCIE RACE REPORT
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.
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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!
Thanks for making it all the way here.
Great to meet you finally! You showed up and won:) nice work 💪👑