Steelhead 70.3...or more like 69.1

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report
Aug 14, 2011


First of all, I have to apoligize for my lack of blogging lately.  It is more laziness than anything else!  I have two races to report about so here goes the first one.

Before heading down to Benton Harbor, MI, I had a chance to do another time trial in Parry Sound.  This time I was outfitted with my aerohelmet and my race wheels, including the disc.  Don't know if the leg massacre weekend got me that much stronger or the wheels and the helmet made that much of a difference or the combination of the two, but I shattered my previous best time!!!  I went almost two minutes faster and did the 16.3km ride in 27:55 which comes to a speed of 35.2km/hr!!!!  My average cadence was 93rpm!  Too bad I do not have a powermeter on my race wheels as it would have been interesting to see the numbers.  I was pretty stoked about that!!!  The run was ok! Not a PB but still under a 5min/km pace.  So with this, I was looking forward to Steelhead!

We arrived on the Friday evening and took care of registration and groceries.  Saturday morning I did a quick bike and run before we went to bike check in and the pre race meeting.  All was good until the pre race meeting when all of a sudden a storm hit.  The clouds were covering the sky like a blanket and it was moving very quickly.  Here are some pics but they really do not do it justice:

As we took cover all I can think about was poor Limey on the bike rack.  I figured she had no chance at all at staying on the rack and there were reports that the bikes were blown off and were in a pile.  But by race morning she was racked in her spot and appeared unhurt! lol!!!!

Race morning: woke up, showered, had a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, and a cup of coffee.  Arrived at the race site only to see huge waves out in Lake Michigan.  I was hoping the swim would still be on but as I got closer to the water it was pretty evident that this was likely not going to happen.  The winds were really strong and the water looked really rough.  Shortly after we got body marked and entered transition the announcement was made that the swim was cancelled due to 7ft waves and riptides and the race was now going to be a duathlon.  Guess it was my time for this to happen.  In all the races I have done (and I have done LOTS!) this is the first cancelled swim for me.  So now this was going to be a bike-run only in a time trial start going by our race numbers.

With the wind I was getting pretty cold waiting around for the start.  Thankfully, Lynsey lent me her vest so I can race with it on the bike and provide some extra warmth for my core.  I also started to worry a bit about racing with the disc.  This would be my third time riding with the disc and I was not sure how the wind would affect the handling.  However, since I had no other wheel to switch with I just removed that thought from my mind and would deal with whatever I was faced with!  As it turned out, the disc was no issue.  We had quite a bit of wind out there but I had no problems handling the bike.

Finally it was my turn to go!  I took this start just like the time trials in Parry Sound so I was very comfortable with this format.  I took a Redbull shot right before my start and then I was off.  Since only women at this point started in front of me I was doing A LOT of passing!  I pretty much stayed in the passing lane for a good chunk of the 90km ride.  I was pushing the pace but felt very comfortable for most of the ride.  It wasn't until near the end that I wanted the ride to be over.  I did manage to PB this distance for me! Yay!  I rode a 2:45:46 for an average of 32.7km.hr, avg HR 150bpm, and avg cadence 87rpm.  There was also quite a bit of drafting as draft packs were passing me.  I am proud to say I rode an extremely clean race as I slowed down to allow those packs to pass.  Frustrating though!!!  Not much else to report for the bike.

Started the run and just tried to settle in a decent pace.  My goal was to try to run as close to a 2hr half as I could.  So I aimed to stay under a 6min pace when I started.  I was feeling pretty good and made sure I took in nutrition at every aid station.  As the km ticked away I tried to run faster.  Well, at least I tried to run stronger.  I just tried to push myself throughout and slowly I was picking people off on the second loop.  I did not run under 2hrs but I did run my fastest half IM run ever! yay!  Another PB!  I ran 2:03:31 for a 5:48min/km!  Avg HR was 167bpm.  I was very happy with that!

I completed this race in 4:52:13.  I figured if I had a bad swim I could have still come in under 5:30 including transition time!!!!  This could have been an awesome PB for me!!!  I biked about 9min faster than last year and I ran 5min faster!  If I swam exactly the same that would have been about 14min faster and well under 5:30 (I completed this race in 5:41 last year).  Ah well!  I was still pretty happy with my performance!!!!  I placed 32/104 in my age group.

Afterwards, we decided to play in the waves in the water we were not allowed to swim in that morning!  It was pretty rough out there and I was glad we did not have to contend with the water.  And this means a lot from me!  Swimming is my strongest event and I am pretty comfortable in rough waters.  But this was more than rough and I cannot imagine trying to send out more than 2000 people out there.  It was a good call.