2014 Ironman 70.3 St. George Utah

Ironman 70.3 distance triathlons are fun…..I mean really fun.  They are long enough to make them tough, but at the same time you can really push it knowing you won’t be out all day like an Ironman.  Two  weekends ago I competed in my 8^th Half Ironman.  This was the hilliest half ironman course I have raced.   St. George puts on a great race.  First of all, the course is awesome.  Second there are are so many awesome volunteers that make the whole experience what it is.  Last you get to finish in a cool little small town center.  Not to mention that part of Utah is breathtakingly beautiful.

It all began  when we departed San Diego after work on Wednesday.  We didn’t hit a lot of traffic and arrived in Vegas at 11PM.  Went straight to sleep to wake up early and run the strip.  Packed up and hit the road for St. George.   After cruising the 4 corners area and the beautiful Virgin River Gorge we arrived in St. George around noon.  It had already gotten quite hot and the winds were blowing.  I love the dry desert breezes.   After checking into our hotel room we headed over to St. George town square to register for the race and check out the expo.  St. George has an awesome town square where T2 occurs and the race ends.   There are water parks for the kids and plenty of places to chill and watch the race.  As usual, Ironman puts on a well-run show.  Registration was usual.  ID checked, waivers signed, bags filled, timing chips checked, and we were off to shop.  Got my usual work shirt and pint glass.  Expo was cool but it was getting hot and we wanted to explore St. George.    

St. George is a small town located at the south end of Utah.  We had stayed here before but only as a place to crash on the way to either SLC or Colorado.   There is a lot of hills and mountains and little trees in the area which make for some great views.   Later in the day we met up with my buddy, Jeff Lyles.  This was his first triathlon ever.  Man did he pick a tough one for a first race.

Kasia and I had planned on having a chill day before the race to go for a cruise on the bikes and a swim in the lake.  We woke up to a perfectly beautiful Utah morning with little winds so I left my arm warmers at the hotel and headed out toward Snow Canyon where the toughest climb of the race is located.  Ended up right at the base of the big climb but decided to leave it for race day.  We headed back to the hotel to change and grab our wetsuits and then headed out to Sandy Hollow Lake Reservoir for a little practice swim.  The lake is located about 15 miles outside of town.  We would have to head out to the lake later that day to drop our bikes off at T1.  The lake has these cool little islands that you have to swim around during the race.  For the practice swim we swam out to a couple of the islands and got out on them to explore the lake.  The water was clear so you could see the rock disappearing into the depths. 

After a little fun we headed back into town to get Jeff registered.  The expo had a little more people than the previous day.  Listened to the last pre-race briefing at 3PM then got our bikes and headed back out to the lake to drop them off.  Ate an early dinner, packed up all of gear bags, and headed to bed. 

Alarm went off shortly after 3 AM.  Got our breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and headed down to T2 to catch the buses out to the lake.  The bus driver had some country music on as we headed out to the lake in the pre-dawn darkness.  I managed to catch a little shut eye on the 20 minute ride out to the lake.  Got our tires pumped up and our bikes ready then headed over the lake to watch the pros and waves start.  There was a cool quad copter hovering above everything all day filming the race.  Hopefully they release some of the footage.    They had wave starts so the swim was absolutely awesome and gave each wave three minutes to get out to the red buoys (start line).    Overall, my swim was great. 

Swim split – 32:57

Got on my bike stoked.  Now it was early morning, wind was calm, and I felt good. 

The road circles around the lake to the first big climb.  The roads are a bit rougher in Utah but then again they have real winters with snow.  My plan was ride and fuel.  I loaded up with Cytomax, Cytomax drops, salt tabs, Barnanas, and some vanilla wafers. This bike course is by no means flat.  Utah is pretty and this bike course is awesome.  I loved it………especially when I got into town and things started to become familiar.  Before I knew it I was on the same part of the road I was riding the day before during my pre-ride.  The toughest most beautiful part of the course was yet to come and I was ready to take it on.  I was hydrated and fueled and pushing it as much as I could.  As I entered Snow Canyon I was stoked with seeing the awesome cliff wall and white mountains in the back ground.  This part of the course is super sic.  The views inspired me to continue the tough climb.  

It is a continuous tough climb but I knew at the top it would be all downhill to T2.  I crested the top of the climb I shifted down to my heaviest gear and started to let gravity do its job.  The descent felt great.  It was a welcome break after the tough climb up Snow Canyon.   T2 came before I knew it. 

Run time.  Bike Split – 2:43 Averaged 20.61 MPH  (Not bad for 4K of climbing)

Now it was time to run.  I ran in my Hokas due to a lingering foot injury.  Training for the Tahoe 100 this July has its side effects.  Good news is my foot felt great due to some R.I.C.E.  and love from my Hokas.  The run was also hilly but not as tough as the trails I have been training on.  The run went by a lookout place Kasia and I checked out the first night we got into town (Big Rock with Dixie painted on it).  The road is right above town along a ridge line.  The same quad copter that was at the start was out filming here too which made for some fun sightseeing.    I decided to take a hand bottle along for the run and kept filling it with ice and water at each aid station.  That was a good move and I was glad I did since it was heating up by then.  As I was headed back into town I saw Kasia.  She stopped and gave me a kiss.  I am lucky to be able to share in the experience with her.  She continues to amaze me.  She always has a good run and always seems to be in a good mood.  I was happy to see her running.  I knew she would do great.  Now I needed to push it and finish this thing up.  With 4 miles to go and mostly downhill l really started to push it.  To the point of making myself sick.  But I love it.  There is something about this racing thing that has me hooked.  I enjoy suffering in a weird way but then again, so did the other 2000 or so people racing with me. 

When I got into town I knew I would not break 5 hours but I was close.  My best time on this distance is 4:58 at Oceanside.  I would not beat that time but I knew I raced a better race.  This was by far my best effort at this distance on the toughest half ironman course I have ever raced.  Good times. 

Run Split – 1:43:11

It took a few minutes sitting down on a bench to get my bearings straight after finishing.  Felt good to be done.   The park was packed with people and kids.  The warmth felt good.  Took a quick splash in the water park and sat on a bench for a bit and took in the moment.  It was starting to get hot.  I wondered where Kasia and Jeff were and how they were doing.  One of my teammates on the Nytro Men’s team, Cassio Debiasi,  crushed it and went 4:37.  Way to go Cassio!!

My total time  - 5:06

All in all we loved Ironman St. George.  It is an awesome course and is very beautiful.   I would definitely do this race again. For now I am going to focus on ultras for the next couple months.  This past weekend Kasia and I both ran the PCT50 east of San Diego.  This was  our second time racing that distance.   I ran it on my own and crushed it.   Look for another race report on that one shortly. 

BTW:  On the way home we hit up Bachi Burger in Las Vegas to refuel and were not disappointed.  They make killer burgers and had Sierra Torpedo IPA on tap.