IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan

It’s been awhile since writing one of these! It’s been an exciting season with ups and downs, but it all culminated at IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan on September 15^th. I’d heard that this was the perfect race for me. It’s also considered one of the best courses on the North American circuit! It was at the right time of the season and in a region I wanted to visit, so I decided to take the leap.

This was my second half-Ironman distance race of the year (the first being IRONMAN 70.3 Happy Valley in June) and I wanted to improve on my performance. My training into Happy Valley wasn’t what I’d call on point, and I struggled with the run there. I adjusted accordingly and approached IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan with a very different mindset and training approach. This included more interval training, more and longer run sessions, and a different taper than I have used in the past.

I wasn’t the only RCT Athlete at this race! Aaron and Kevin were also signed up, as well as several athletes who I coached in swimming. Not everyone made it to the starting line in one piece. A vehicle pulled out in front of Kevin while he was driving, leading to a concussion which would ultimately keep him out of the race. Don’t worry folks – he’ll be back in action soon as the doctor gives the okay!

We arrived at the Airbnb on Friday and headed to the IRONMAN Village on Saturday morning. Everything went well there – I forgot how nice it is to have a single transition area at a race! After all the other pre-race festivities, including spending too much money at the IRONMAN Store and attending the ever-important athlete briefing, we loaded up on carbs and went to bed!

Race Day

Race start was at 8:10am for age group athletes, so Aaron and I suited up and headed to the venue to arrive by 6:15. It wouldn’t be race morning without a surprise, and this time around it was me nearly forgetting 1L of fuel for the bike leg! Crisis averted, I setup my gear in transition and spent some time getting mentally prepared. This was a wetsuit swim, and as with all wetsuit swims, when you get into your suit is crucial. Start too early and you’ll be standing around in a hot, restrictive bodysuit for a long time. Start too late, and you’ll be desperately trying to get your arm into the sleeves while the line creeps ever closer to the water entry! I nailed my timing here and didn’t have to spend too long cooking in mine.

One reason for the later-than-usual 8:10am start time was the pro race. Pro men hit the water at 7:50am and pro women at 8:00am. Watching the pros do their thing is always exciting! IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan featured a strong field with Jackson Laundry, Ben Kanute, and Justin Riele on the men’s side and Summer Rappaport competing in her first 70.3 for the women.

Swim

The swim course was well-laid out in a “martini glass” shape, which made for easy sighting. There were two points that could have lead to people turning off course, both at the “stem” of the glass, and IRONMAN setup large arches at each spot to make for easier sighting (and no course-cutting). The biggest challenge was the top of the glass, which had us swimming into the sun. Sighting became difficult there but I was able to stay on course. I wanted to break 30min for this swim, and I’m happy to say I hit that goal!

Bike

The bike course was, in a word, excellent. It was a bit less exciting than Happy Valley, with much less climbing and no Amish fans. What it did feature was no traffic, beautiful views of the lakes, and a long stretch on the Scenic Highway through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore that made for a gorgeous ride through northern Michigan.

Officiating

Depending on who you ask, there has been a lot made of IRONMAN’s officiating in the past year. Some feel there are too many penalties and some feel there aren’t enough. Personally I never actually encountered an official outside of seeing them ride past on their motorbikes to other parts of the course. And no wonder – with 1800 athletes to check on, they have a very difficult and busy job! For the first time on this ride, I saw them actually hand out penalties to riders for breaking the rules.

Around two-thirds of the way through the course, I encountered a large group of around six riders clearly working together. For those unfamiliar, drafting is prohibited in IRONMAN triathlons. A group of riders can use drafting to ride faster for less effort. If you’ve ever watched the Tour de France or similar road cycling races, this is why the riders in those events stay in such a closely-packed “peloton”.

At first I attempted to pass this group, but they quickly overcame the distance I attempted to put between us. I decided to hang back, not wanting to spend the energy on another big surge. I also didn’t want to be in the middle of them should an official come along! Sure enough, a couple miles later a motorbike passed us going the opposite direction and saw what was going on. The official quickly came back and handed out blue cards to multiple riders in that group, which quickly dispersed.

Fair Competition

It was great to see the officials enforcing the rules fairly. There are certainly situations in these races where riders bunch up unintentionally. Handing out blue cards to every age grouper would make races both messier and less fun. At the same time, for those looking to race at the middle or front of the pack, it’s important that the rules are enforced so we can compete with the knowledge that others aren’t getting an unfair advantage!

Bike Strategy

My strategy on the bike changed a bit for this race. My goal was to run better off the bike. To facilitate that, I planned to ride slightly easier than but take significantly more nutrition than in past races. I picked up a few :PREMIUM Fructose Fuel packets from Infinit Nutrition 120g carbohydrate drink mix packets to test on my longer rides and brick sessions.

Thanks to Infinit for being a supporter of RCT Athletics! If you are an RCT Athlete, you can get a 15% discount on their products.

If that sounds like a lot of carbs to you, then you’re right! Taking on too much fuel can lead to “G.I. issues” (read: urgent porta-potty stops) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It seems that I can handle that level of fueling! All of my test sessions went well and I made the decision to go for it at the race.

I went with a between-the-arms aero bottle and two bottles behind my seat. One of the behind-the-seat bottles had the high-carb drink mix in it. The plan was to drink up everything else during the first 40-45 miles of the bike leg, then use the high-carb drink for the remainder so I would start the run with lots of fuel in the tank.

Run

The run in any triathlon is a true test of resilience. It comes at the end, when you are the most tired. The weather is hotter than any other leg of the race. Running has more impact forces acting on the body (not counting being pummeled by other athletes during the swim). I’ve struggled on the run before. Would it happen again?

I’m happy to report that my strategy on the bike paid off on the run!

I got off the bike feeling very good, with a lot of energy. That’s pretty normal for me though – it’s not until around two miles in that I’ll know what kind of run I’m going to have. I set out at a brisk pace, reining in my effort to settle in to a steady rhythm.

The aid stations were excellent. Well-spaced, with tons of volunteers including one saint who was filling up sandwich bags with ice! I ran with that bag for three miles. The volunteers really do make everything happen at a race. Be sure to thank them whenever you can!

Executing the Plan

The run course at IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan was pretty much ideal in my opinion. Flat, with lots of space (most of the time) whichever direction you were going, lots of aid stations with just the right amount of space between them – I could go on! The breeze off the bay felt amazing and kept me relatively cool despite the warmer-than-average September day.

As we turned around for the second loop, I was still hovering on or slightly faster than my goal pace. The back half is always harder, and as I’ve been reminded many times, “it’s not how fast you can go, it’s how little you slow down”! I stayed in my own head for most of the second half. As “race brain” takes over it becomes very tempting to depart from the plan that got you this far.

Following on from the bike, my plan was to continue taking more fuel on the run. Gels definitely look a lot less appealing by the time you hit lap two! I kept the legs turning over and the fuel going in all the way to the finish line.

Results

I hit every target I had for this race. My goals going in were a sub-30min swim, a conservative 2:45 bike split, and a 1:45 run split. Not only did I hit all of those, I broke five hours for my total time!

My age group (M30-34) was crowded, the largest men’s age group at the race, so my expectations for place were pretty conservative. One of my friends suggesting that I go to the awards ceremony anyways. I figured why not? It will be cool to see the pros and all the podium finishers.

Seeing the pros at the awards ceremony was very cool. They’re just regular, every day, super fast people! After handing out the trophies, they began allocation and roll-down of the World Championships slots. IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan had 45 total slots to hand out, plus some additional women’s slots (information on how championship qualification works for IRONMAN can be found HERE) to distribute. Since my age group was large, it would get four slots.

The first slot for M30-34 wasn’t claimed until 18^th place. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but most often it’s because either athletes are already qualified or they are not present to claim it. As they continued to call out names, I began to wonder just how far this could go. To make a long story short, they did call my name and I accepted a slot for World Championships next year in Marbella, Spain!

RCT Athletics at IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan

RCT Athletics TriClub had a good showing at IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan! While Kevin wasn’t able to race, Aaron completed his second 70.3. Aaron really brought the heat, dropping 17 minutes from his time at Muncie last year!

And with that, we have both the end of the 2024 race season and the beginning of a tremendous journey for the 2025 season. Let’s go!