According to others, St George 70.3 Ironman is one of the hardest in North America.  Why I had a mental lapse/senior moment and did not realize this before I signed up I will never know.  I am very much into looking at all the courses and understanding the difficulties before committing since I am a slower old guy.  I must have been in such a hurry to replace the canceled Wildflower race, that I bypassed my normal data intense scrutiny.  Sometimes mistakes can be good though.  Silly Putty was a mistake and that was a good thing!

Upon arrival in St George we immediately hit the road to check out the 56.2 mile bike route and what was billed as 3,536 feet of climbing.  I had ridden the first 20 miles virtually on my trainer using HD Video from Rouvy so I had an idea of at least the first half.  As we rolled along it was pretty much true to the trainer experience, but it was much more breathtaking as far as the scenic views.

As we continued on, the route was confirming my theory that I should push hard early and take advantage of the flats and downhills to gain time before I would get to the big climb.  Additionally, the downhills appeared to be much more advantageous than I had anticipated.  This gave me more hope that the early push strategy would be a positive endeavor.

Finally, we came to Snow Canyon where the rumored big climb through the red rocks would make many succumb to the walk-a-bike syndrome.  I was pleased to see that the climb was nothing terribly harder than what I ride every weekend in the mountains surrounding Escondido.  I was even more pleased to experience the 10 mile downhill after the summit that led all the way to the finish line.  This gave me the confidence that I could leave it all out on the flats and downhills for the first 40  miles, take it easy going up to Snow Canyon and then bomb it downhill while I recover before the run.

As they say, the plan looked good on paper.  However, I have never climbed that much before during a race and beat the cutoff times that are in place whether there is elevation or not.  There was hope though.  Nothing was that scary and I can bomb it if I need to on the downhills.  Even an old slow guy can coast down a hill fast.

Then we drove the run.  This route was not as encouraging.  Out of transition, it was uphill.  Then, it was uphill.  And after that, it was uphill.  In total, the first climb was about 4.5 miles long with little relief.  Once you crest, you continue to run through terrain that did not include any shade or wind protection and there were even more hills.  In total, it was billed as having 1,267 feet of climbing.

As it was supposed to be 87 delightful degrees by the time I would get to the run, I was not seeing much that was going to be joyful about this half marathon experience.  It was going to be a hot grind and once I head back down that 4.5 miles to the finish it would also be putting a strain on my hamstrings that usually cramp at that point from the force of running downhill.  Nothing like my inner self giving me a pep talk!

Needless to say, my uplifting attitude from seeing the bike course was diminished quickly after driving the run course.  At least I knew what I was up against and could plan accordingly.

I had no other choice than to eat pasta all day long and build up those glycogen stores.  Our first stop for lunch the next day was after we checked in.  There were only a few restaurants in downtown St George and we found a little place called Cappelletti’s.  My choice was simple spaghetti and a 4oz meatball.  No wine or beer because they don’t serve that here in this part of the world.  It was great!  And a very reasonable price as well.

Later for dinner, the pasta bag was again in my face.  This time a simple dish of pesto and rigatoni from another little place downtown called TwentyFive Main.  Again, very affordable and wonderful.  I could sleep well carbed and happy!

Race Day!  Up at 3:30am people!  Why?  Because the breakfast lady at the Fairfield Inn the day before said that they would be opening up the breakfast three hours early at 3:00am for we athletes!  Nice folk in St George!  All the oatmeal, honey and bananas I wanted at that hour.

My wife got me to the first shuttle out to the lake at 4:30am just after I dropped off my nutrition in my run bag in transition 2.  She is a saint.  I met a guy on the shuttle from Boise who chose this as his first race ever.  I told him the good news is that all other races after this one will seem easy!

Setting up out at the lake was pretty uneventful.  I am getting better at this and have little anxiety now.  I also took the time to get a warm up in and some serious stretching.  This is something I have never done before a race but has seemed to be beneficial in my training rehearsals.  I then went through my typical ritual of getting my wetsuit on and taking it half off a few times to relieve myself from the nervous bladder friend that I have.  However, again my stress level was much lower as I now know that after the first people hit the water my slower swim group won’t get in there until about an hour later.  I actually don’t even get in line until I watch the pros finish in about a half hour or less.

My expectation of the swim was that it was going to be cold (water temp was 62 degrees) and I was going to muddle through it like I usually do.  My expectation was easily met.  56 minutes which is about my usual.  Nothing to see here people so we will move straight on to the bike.

Ok, time to get in the game.  Usually, I try to eat about 500 calories after I get out of the swim to lay down a base in my stomach, replace what I just used up, and get a little ahead of the calorie game.  I tried a new tactic today where I packed those bars in my little aero food bag on the bike and ate them while I rode up to the first incline over about 4 miles to save some time.  In all my other races I ate them while I was changing from my wetsuit into my bike gear.  This seemed to save some precious time and it was one less thing to worry about in transition.  I will retain that change in future races.

Following getting my feed on and getting that first little climb out of the way, I kicked it into the big gears and started working on my early and hard strategy.  If nothing else I was flying past my slow swimming compadres so my fragile ego felt good at a minimum.  I didn’t let up.  I just kept hammering it and passing except for the occasional potty stop at the aid stations.

Another change I made on this race was to grab a water bottle at each aid station and suck it down.  I watched Daniela Ryf live in the North American Ironman Championship the week before and saw her do that.  Seemed like a good way for me to get a little extra hydration fast to set me up for success later in the day as the temps continued to climb into the upper 80’s.

All went as planned on the flats, bombing the downhills, and passing more competitors which put me shockingly about 45 minutes ahead of my expected schedule as I turned up into Snow Canyon.  I kept with my strategy and took it easy heading up Snow Canyon.  I also took the time to take in the amazing scenery of the red rocks, petrified dunes, and more.  Once again, my fragile ego got a boost from the many competitors who had to result to hike-a-bike, take a break, or tap out (yes, there was a truck picking people up).  The side of the road was definitely busy with a variety of tough decisions that people were having to make who had spent a lot of time and money preparing for this day.

As I crested the summit my confidence was well in hand.  I was very excited for the next 10 miles of d-o-w-n!!!  Fortunately, the road was in great shape on the major downhill sections.  Only the final mile or so into the center of town was bumpy.

As usual, my supportive wife was right there at the end of the bike.  She always tells me that as she is waiting for me at the end of the bike route she witnesses countless people who literally come up to the dismount line and just fall over without unclipping from their pedals.  Sure enough, I saw my wife and there was a guy about 25 feet in front of me who stopped and just fell over onto the pavement!

I toddled into transition 2 and started to go from bike boy to running man.  A new transition feature I tried this time was to use my race nutrition belt complete with two 10oz bottles filled with my Infinit solution.  In practice a few weeks ago I tried freezing the bottles and solution the night before so it would be cold once I got to the transition where it would be stored in a little foam cooler.  It worked a bit too well as it was still mostly frozen.

I thought I would try it again for this race, but the little fridge in the hotel room required me to put them on their side which could have potentially damaged the lids.  So, I just put them in the cooler cold this time.  That didn’t work at all.  Note to self for next time that there was no benefit in having to zip open that cooler and waste precious seconds.

Out of transition, I ran with great support from my wife and onto that 4.5-mile climb.  However, let us remember the effort I put into the bike earlier.  It was barking at me now as I trudged up the asphalt like a stop-animation monster.  Within a half mile, I was already walking.  During that little stroll, my mind regained some brain cells and reminded me that in my race nutrition belt I had thought ahead and stashed some ibuprofen just in case.  I argued that this was a good case to get on the doping regimen and quick.  It took a while, but at about the 4.5-mile summit it had kicked in.  I went from mostly walking and some horrible 12+ minute miles to starting to see sub 11-minute miles before I needed to walk for a while.

It continued to get better.  In fact, I started to get into the 9-minute mile zone around mile 6 before retreating to a walk here and there.  In fact, one of the volunteers out there on her bike kept running into me calling me Mr. High Knees.  I couldn’t keep it up for a long time, but when I was running it was good.  I also had plenty of gas which meant I nailed my nutrition pretty darn right on as well as hydration.  My legs were just spent from the ride and I also didn’t want to run down the steep grades as I knew that I had the potential for injury or cramps if I did.  Since I was way ahead of where I thought I would be, I took it all in stride and relaxed.

At mile 10 all of a sudden, I saw this woman ahead of me waving at me and it was my wife!  She had climbed all the way up to the route to catch a few photos of me!  Again, her sainthood is pretty much locked in at this point.

After that, it was all downhill.  Much of it at 9%+ where I walked until it leveled out a little more.  No one is paying me to do this.  I’m not going to podium.  So, I’m not getting injured if I don’t have to.  Plus, I knew I could make up some ground once the decline was reasonable which is exactly what I did.

Turning onto Main Street, I only had about a quarter mile to go.  At this point, I had not cramped.  In every race so far, I have cramped.  Could this be the one?  Nope, literally about 150 yards away…twang!  Fortunately, there was a traffic circle between me and the finish line so no one could see me limping along.  I got it loosened up and started down the Ironman carpeted finish.  However, there was some guy in front of me running kind of my same pace which I knew would make my wife unhappy for that final video/photo at the finish.  I rose to the occasion and left him behind with carpet fibers flying off my shoes I suppose.

Beep.  That was the sound of me pushing my Garmin watch to see my estimated final time.  What?  That can’t be right.  I have messed up my watch before in practice and in my first half Ironman in Austin.  This time I was quite sure I hadn’t though.  Sure enough, I looked up at the official clock across the finish and took off some time for when I got in the water and it must be right!  7:24:44!

This is an amazing time as far as I am considered.  My times for my other 70.3 Ironman distance races are as follows:

Austin – 7:18

CVC Chula Vista – 7:41

Indian Wells – 7:22

What is different about this time was that there was so much elevation.  4,350 feet overall for the day!  2X as much as Chula Vista, 3X Austin, and 4X Indian Wells!  The fact that I came in only a few minutes slower makes me a very happy multi-sport boy!  In fact, other than my full 140.6 Ironman in Santa Rosa I believe this was my best triathlon performance to date!

And with that performance comes my treat right?  Off to Cracker Barrel we went with no limits on intake.  Meatloaf, lima beans, hashbrown casserole, corn, biscuits and cornbread muffins!  Yum, yum.

In fact, the next day I talked to myself and we agreed that treat #2 was appropriate.  On the way back home I realized my regular treat had gone unrealized.  Thus, in Victorville, a mandatory stop was required at In N Out.  Fact:  I only ate one of those.

Finally, back home it was time to hang the medal and stick the sticker to complete the post-race traditions.