2021 Ironman World Championship - St. George

On May 7, 2022 I had the opportunity to compete in the 2021 Ironman World Championship in St. George, Utah. This was the first time the world championship was held outside of Hawaii and was taking the place of the cancelled (due to COVID-19) championship that was supposed to held in Kona, October 2021.

Race Summary:

Just the numbers for the race...

SWIM: 2.4 miles in 1:15:53
T1: 9:04
BIKE: 112 miles in 6:13:40
T2: 6:52
RUN: dropped at mile 14
Result: DNF

This was the first DNF in a race for me. I was super bummed out, but I think I did all I could on the day, and was simply unable to execute the run (I have an idea what went wrong though, see below).

Pre-Race:

My family and I made the trip to St. George on Wednesday of race week. It was about 6 hours to drive to our hotel. Once there, I did a quick shakeout bike ride, followed by 15 minutes of running. I rode up Dixie Drive to get a look at a few miles of the run course, including the steepest hill leading back to Bluff Street. My run was just a quick out and back from the hotel.

Thursday, I had my athlete check-in, after which I did a one hour ride out on the Veyo loop. I got a look at the road leading up to Gunlock and a couple of the smaller climbs on the loop. I stopped just before the Veyo Wall (but we drove over it so I could get a look at it). I saw that the climbs were formidable, but nothing I couldn't handle. The pavement was new, but was actually quite bumpy and poorly done in many parts. And, as St. George is famous for... very little shade. 

Friday, I headed out to one of the biking/running trails just down the street from our hotel for a 20 minute run. I wasn't alone. There were many other triathletes down there. I was just cruising Z1 effort, which was about 8:45/mile pace. Every few seconds, someone would pass me, doing what looked like 5:00/mile pace or so. Just flying. I'm not sure how beneficial that is (even the pros won't go anywhere near that fast in the race, but hey, it's World's). After dropping off run and bike bags, we had an early dinner with my sister and her fiancé. I did my best to get to bed really early, since I had to catch a shuttle at 4:25am to get to the swim/T1 (they had specific shuttle times based on your start wave, so we HAD to be there on time). I had absolute crap for sleep, and was finally out of bed to get race ready at 3:30am.

Race Morning:

My hotel didn't offer a shuttle bus to Town Square, so I had to get my wife to drive me there to catch the Swim/T1 shuttle. We had no issues getting close to the buses for an easy drop off. I just felt bad that my wife, daughter (and even my dog) had to wake up so early to get me dropped off. I was on my shuttle bus just a few minutes later, and headed out to Sand Hollow Park. Getting my bike prepped only took a few minutes. So I found a quiet corner where I could sit down, sip my drink, and keep nibbling on food to keep my hydration and calories up (I had almost 2 hours to wait for my wave). The pro men and women went off at 6:15, 6:20am, and I didn't go until 7:20am. I finally went to use the bathroom and get my wetsuit on, drop off morning clothes bag, etc. One weird thing: I was having allergy attacks left and right. Sneezing like crazy and very itchy/watering eyes. The only thing that causes this for me is pollen, and I've been having problems with pollen for the past several weeks. I was worried this would make my breathing feel labored during the swim. We finally got called for Wave 8 (M50-54) and made our way to the swim start.

My daughter and I checking out the swim venue after bike check-in. A beautiful lake with stunning backdrops. Swim conditions were excellent.

Swim:

The wave took off at the exact correct time. Though instead of letting all of us go at once (we had about 400 people, maybe more) we had small groups leave every 5 seconds. My turn finally came up, and I was off. We didn't get to do a warmup, so the first time I got to touch the water was here as I entered it to start swimming. It definitely felt cold, but not shockingly so. I was able to take a few awkward steps down the ramp and do a small dive to start swimming. Despite the way they spread us all out, it was crowded right away. There was an even mix of people so slow that I was swimming over them, and people so fast that I was in their way. It took about 100 yards before I was able to start swimming my own rhythm. The sun was rising, and we were swimming directly towards it, but it wasn't in my eyes at all. Visibility was perfect. Yellow buoys every 100 yards for the first half, orange for the second half, with big red buoys at each turn. The only problem I had came at about 1000 yards in. A very fast swimmer from one of the waves after me was passing me on my right, and I caught him with my elbow as I was doing my catch. He must have thought I hit him on purpose, because he took the time to grab my shoulder with one hand, and punch me straight in the face with the other! (NOTE: the orbital bone area on my right eye was still sore two days after the race). I was completely shocked. Had this occurred on dry land, and not during a race, I probably would have proceeded to stomp this guy out, and would still be sitting in a St. George jail today. But, I had absolutely no reaction and the guy swam off (quite quickly, I might add - he was fast). I checked my goggles to make sure they weren't cracked or anything (they seemed fine) and I went right back to swimming, thinking to myself "Wow! World's is really intense!" After the first right turn, we had the sun to our left, which made visibility even better (I breathe mostly on my right). There was occasionally contact when groups of swimmers would cluster together, but otherwise it was easy going. A couple of times, I got caught in the wake of the lifeguards and media folks who were buzzing all over the place in small boats and jet skis. This would make things very rough for a few seconds, but wasn't that hard to deal with. On the back side of the L shaped loop, I was worried about having the sun directly in my eyes for about 1500 yards or so, so I had planned to switch breathing to the left for this segment, but when I got there, the sun wasn't that intense (my goggles were great) so I just kept the same stroke/breathing pattern. The last turn is a left, which sends us back towards shore, and the swim exit. It seemed like it took awhile to get there, and contact with other swimmers got progressively worse, especially the last 200 yards or so. But we finally got to the exit ramp. I was hoping to go 1:10 or faster (to beat my best IM swim from Texas 2018) but I ended up with a 1:15. Nothing amazing, but still decent, and within the range I was hoping for. I felt great, and was excited to get started on an epic bike ride. (btw, water temp was reported as 58-59 degrees all week, but was magically 64 degrees on race morning. I don't believe it was that warm, but it wasn't bad either).

Racked and ready to go! I found it strange that most pros used a disc wheel, but I was one of only a handful of Age Groupers who did. I think they are a big advantage, especially with big crosswinds and descents in St. George.

T1:

There was just a short jog to the wetsuit strippers (yes, we had them, even at world's). Unlike at Oceanside a few weeks ago, I was able to find an available volunteer and my wetsuit was off in a matter of seconds. We had a LOT of running to the changing tent. It looked more like a maze leading us back and forth from the exit to the tent three times. I have no idea why they set the exit up that way (is there a prescribed long distance they need to have before we change?). Once in the tent, I made my way quickly to rack D to get my transition bag. I mounted my shoes on the bike already, so all I had to do was put my helmet on, stuff my wetsuit, goggles, and cap back into the bag and hand it off, pee real quick (way faster than Oceanside, btw) and head to my bike. On the way to my bike rack, I saw the volunteers doing sunblock so I was sure to visit them. The bike course is completely void of shade, so I felt this was an imperative step. However, this ended up taking way too long. The volunteers weren't ready for a group of three of us who showed up at the same time. And when they finally got to me, I realized they couldn't fully apply the sunblock (yay, Covid protocol) but just squirt some on your arms, legs, and neck. As I was spreading the sunblock around, and repeatedly asking for more, I was trying to figure out how to get it off of my hands. No paper towels or anything around. So I ended up wiping my hands off on the strip of carpet we were running on, so I could mount my bike without slipping off of the base bars. I finally got to my bike, ran quite a distance to the mount line, and got going. What looked like a blazing transition at first, ended up taking 9 minutes. And I was seriously trying to go fast, unlike my last race at Oceanside where I was pretty leisurely in transition. Oh well, time to ride. I've been looking forward to this bike course for months! 

Bike:

I was quickly able to settle into my power and rhythm. There are a couple of small climbs right away, followed by a fairly quick descent. After that, we do a u-turn and retrace the route back to the reservoir and then head out to do a big chunk of the original 70.3 course as you head away from Sand Hollow, out of Hurricane and work you way towards St. George. The winds were very mild so far, which was nice. But as we all knew it would be, the course was nothing but up and down. Hill after hill, after hill. I focused on keeping my power at the low end of my range, while allowing it to creep up a bit on the climbs. Despite the amount of uphill, I was able to spend a fair amount of time in my aero position. The first 40 miles seemed to go by quickly. And I knew that by mile 60, the real tough climbs would appear. I just rinsed and repeated what I had been doing, while taking every opportunity that I could to take in fluids and calories. One problem that kept happening: at the aid stations, the volunteers at the beginning of the station were having trouble keeping up with the crowds, making it very difficult to get water bottles. At many of the stations, I was unable to get water and ended up with Gatorade instead. I really needed water to dilute my high-calorie bottles, but had to make due. At least everything they handed out was cold. The wind really started to pick up after about 45 miles, and got worse throughout the entire day. By the time we started the Veyo Loop (mile 60 or so) we had some decently strong winds. And, in true St. George fashion, they always seemed to be headwinds on the climbs and crosswinds on the descents. Even though the wind made things noticeably harder, I felt like it was manageable and that I was passing more people in the windy sections, especially on downhill sections. Along with the wind, the heat was also getting worse. It was scorching by the time we got to Gunlock Reservoir and the three short but steep climbs back there. The Veyo Wall and Snow Canyon get all the credit, but one of the climbs in Gunlock (I hear they call it "Nemisis") was actually the steepest climb on the course. I used my easiest gear there (39x32) even though I don't think I really needed to. I was trying to be as conservative as I could on the tougher hills. We finally reached the infamous Wall, which peaked out at about 9%. I've done plenty of way more difficult climbs leading into this race, so I had no trouble here. But its at this point where the course messes with your mind. Once we reached Veyo and made the right turn onto Hwy 18, everyone was expecting a fast descent back to St. George. Nope. More climbing, followed by a very long false flat, and then finally some downhill, with... headwinds! The downhill section ended up being relatively slow (200W of power, in aero position, was getting me about 17mph for a lot of it). But once we got to the Snow Canyon turn-off, the headwind became a crosswind, and I was able to get my speed up above 35mph for most of it. I passed droves of people here. Many people were unable to stay aero, or even remain pedaling as the crosswinds hit us. At the bottom of this descent, we made a right back onto Snow Canyon Parkway for the 'second loop' which is where we finally tackled Snow Canyon. By this time, it was very hot. I was later told that in both Gunlock and Snow Canyon, temperatures hit 100 degrees, even though the high in St. George was reported at 94. I was eager to get through this climb, but also tried to remain patient and make sure I metered out my power according to plan. The winds picked up on the second half of the climb, and the temperature seemed to drop a little bit as well. Soon enough, I was at the ranger station at the top, and was ready to head back to town. And again, I had a field day on the second trip down Hwy 18 from the canyon, passing many people. Stiff crosswinds were at play, but having been in them all day, I was ready for it. Once in town, it is a very slight downhill, parallel to the run course all the way back to T2. I saw my family just as I was getting my feet out of my shoes for the dismount. I was able to wave to them and still managed a good dismount, stopped my computer, and handed the bike off to a volunteer. I was hoping to maybe dip under 6 hours on this course, but the wind and heat was even worse than most were expecting. As it was, I ended up with a 6:13. But I 100% nailed my power goals, and my Variability Index (normalized power divided by average power) was 1.15. On this course, I think anything under 1.2 is awesome. I don't think I could have paced this course any better. As I ran to the change tent, my legs felt a little wobbly, but not bad. Overall, I think I crushed this bike ride.

Finishing up a great bike leg. Unfortunately, I over-did it on my nutrition, which didn't hit me until the run.

T2:

I once again ended up with a slow transition time (6 minutes). But again, the only thing I know I wasted time on was applying sunblock. No volunteers were doing it this time, but I had to backtrack inside of the tent to find one of the big jugs of sunscreen they had for us. I wasn't super fast getting my socks and shoes on, but I didn't think I was terribly slow either. I put my hat, glasses, and bib on as I was running out of the tent. After two quick left turns, we headed down a long straightaway to the run start.

The run course was every bit as difficult as was claimed, though it fell short on the scenery you come to expect from St. George.

Run:

I always worry about how I will feel during the first minute or two of the run. It is usually very telling as to whether or not I'll have good legs. Today, I was happy to find that I felt great as I started running. I saw my family again, maybe 100 yards into it, and ran over to give a few high fives as they cheered me on. From there, I settled into what felt like an ideal pace and got ready for the first 5k of uphill running. I got to the mile 1 marker in 9:10, still feeling good. So I maintained the same effort to the top of Diagonal St. The section from Bluff St. to Snow Canyon Parkway seemed to take a bit longer than I had expected, but I wound up getting to mile 3 in 27:50, so I had been running pretty even splits. Then finally, I made the left turn onto Snow Canyon Pkwy to experience the first major downhill (and also get an idea of the steep hill I would have to run up twice). I didn't feel very smooth coming down the steepest part, but I was able to speed up with a longer controlled stride, and was able to lower my HR as I descended. I was starting to feel a little bit of abdominal pain, almost like a cramp. As it turned out, it was a bit of bloating/gas. I was hoping it was temporary, but as the hill leveled out, the pain got progressively worse. I continued the same effort until the turn around area at about mile 6.5 (holding 9:10-9:20 mile pace on the hills, and 8:40ish pace on downhills). My stomach at this point was getting pretty bad. I don't want to go into details here, but from this point until mile 14 (where I ended my day), I had to make a couple critical bathroom stops, and began vomiting. The vomiting continued until about an hour after I DNF'd and was in the medical tent for awhile. For about 7.5 miles of hot and hilly running, I wasn't able to take down any nutrition or fluids. I knew it was just a matter of time before the lack of fuel, electrolytes, and fluid would cause me some serious issues, so despite how badly I wanted to race, I stopped at the mile 14 aid station and sought medical help, and officially DNF'd. The medics gave me a couple doses of some sort of antiemetic medication (I can't recall what it was, but I think it started with a 'K'). The first dose didn't seem to help much, but after a second dose (and about an hour after I stopped running) I was finally able to sip a little bit of water without immediately throwing it back up. So, that's how the day ended, but for the sake of documentation, I'll talk about the run course a bit, since I did manage to complete a full lap, and in fact saw every step of the course... so going back to mile 6.5, the turn around is actually in a public park that has plenty of trees. This is the only place on the entire course where there is any decent shade from the sun. I'd say there was a solid 3 minutes of running in the park where it is nice and cool. Then, you exit the park back onto the streets and right back into the sun. From there, its a grind, heading gradually back uphill for almost 3 miles. There are a couple of miles on busy streets, and some stretches through residential areas. Unlike the swim and bike (which had breathtakingly beautiful courses) the run course is not much to look at. The park near the turnaround, and the nature trail that you are on for a little bit are the nicest parts of the run. But what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in difficulty. The whole course, except for the area in the park, a short stretch through a church parking lot, and a 1/2 mile out and back stretch just before the finish, is either up or downhill. The only really steep part is where you exit the residential area and head back up Snow Canyon Parkway to Bluff Street. It ramps up to about 8-10% grade there, for maybe 1/3 of a mile. And remember you hit that hill twice. By itself, or in a 5 or 10K race, it wouldn't be so bad. But after grinding up a long hill before you even get to it, it seemed tough. I managed it pretty well on lap 1, even though I was in a bad state by then. But I could tell it was going to be a pain in the ass to get up that thing on the second lap. After cresting the 'big' hill, there is a bit of rolling hills before you start a gradual downhill back toward the finish. On the second lap, that puts you at about mile 22. The last 3 miles of the course is pretty much slight downhill to a flat final mile. I was really looking forward to racing that stretch to the red carpet. But, sadly, it wasn't my day. Instead, I heard all the cheering and Mike Reilly's voice from the med tent. And let me tell you: that sucked!

Notes:

-Nutrition

--Pre-race: Upon waking, I ate two packets of instant oatmeal (Quaker), one banana, and two Pop-Tarts. I usually have coffee, but our hotel didn't set up the coffee station in the morning like they told us they would. Our in-room coffee was atrocious, so I just stuck with my Raspberry (caffeinated) Tailwind. I had to be on the shuttle by 4:25am even though my wave start wasn't until 7:20am, so I took extra calories and fluids with me for the 2 hour wait after I was done prepping my bike. I ended up having another bottle of raspberry Tailwind, a bottle of water, about 300 calories worth of Fig Newtons, and a Spring Energy gel before I headed off for the swim. All in all, about 60-64 ounces of fluid, and a little over 1000 calories.

--Bike: I carried about 2 hours worth of solid calories (600 calories, made up of 1 GU waffle, 2 packets of Cliff Bloks, and 3 GU gels). I also had another 5 hours of calories in liquid form. My BTA was normal concentration (300 calories, 1g of sodium from orange Tailwind) while I had two other bottles at double concentration (600 calories, 2g of sodium in each bottle). The plan was to drink the first BTA bottle in the first hour, then refill it half way from the double concentration bottles, and top it off with aid station water. This worked pretty well, except for times where I was unable to get water bottles from the volunteers (and instead got Gatorade Endurance bottles). I never passed through an aid station without getting some form of liquids. But in many cases, I ended up mixing Gatorade with my Tailwind + sodium citrate mixture, which bumped my carb/calorie/sodium numbers up a bit. I thought this might be a good thing, but as I found out on the run, it wasn't. At any rate, I continued with this plan, and took opportunities during slower parts of the course (where I wasn't worried about safely passing people) to eat the solids. I took the waffle first, then the cliff bloks, and the gels last. I managed to finish all of my calories. I had brought enough for a 7 hour ride, but finished in just over 6 hours. So, again, this was a bit higher than I needed, but at the time I thought that would be beneficial since I didn't seem to be having any issues with the heat or the level of effort I was putting out. The total amount of fluids was very high as well. I estimate it was about the equivalent of 9 full bottles. Even though I know exactly how much Tailwind I drank, I'm not sure what the percentages were between aid station water and Gatorade.

--Run: The plan was to alternate between taking Gatorade at aid stations with taking gel + water for the first lap, then switch to just Gatorade on the 2nd lap, and then finally toward the end, switch to coke or red bull for a final kick to get over that last steep hill. I was able to stick to this plan for about 10K before I noticed GI issues (I'll spare the details, it was not pleasant). From 10K to about 10 miles, I tried to just sip a little bit of water (and use the rest, plus ice, just to pour over myself to cool down). After that point, my stomach was completely shut down. I made it another 4 miles before I knew I had to call it a day.

-Gear

--Overall: I did the entire race in a DeSoto Forza Flisuit (I had a new custom one made with a 7mm chamois for the full bike distance). Great fit, very comfortable, and absolutely no chafing anywhere. The fly is nice for pee stops. But when I had 'urgent' GI issues, it was more difficult to get the top down for toilet access. I used my Garmin Fenix 5X for bike and run data. I also wore my WHOOP 4.0 wrist band for HR and a bunch of other metrics (though I didn't view HR at all during the race).

--Swim: I used my Roka Maverick X full-sleeved wetsuit. It is the first time I've done a full IM swim with sleeves. No issues with that at all. I used Roka R1 goggles (mirrored amber tint). St. George is famous for the swim start being right into a beautiful sunrise over the reservoir, so good tinted lenses are a must. There was no warmup allowed for age groupers, so I wasn't able to get wet or get any water into my goggle lenses, so I just used spit. However, vision for the entire swim was perfect. I kept my trisuit top down, tucked onto the small of my back under the wetsuit, which worked fine. I had the sleeves on before I got to the wetsuit strippers. Aside from the jerk who sucker punched me near the first turn, no issues at all in the swim.

--Bike: I rode my Felt IA16, gearing was 53/39 chainrings with a 11-32t cassette. I got the 32 especially for this race. I'd say I never needed it per se, but on the sections that got over 10% grade (there were a handful of them) I chose to use it to make sure I was being very conservative with my power and energy. Wheels: I used my HED Jet+ Black setup (60mm front, and disc wheel on the rear). I think using the disc wheel was a major advantage. In the heavier crosswinds on the second half of the ride, I was able to stay aero and keep pedaling even on the fastest parts of the course. Those around me could not. Part of that is practice (I climb/descend a lot, and ride in crosswinds a lot) but part of it was that I was way more stable, thanks to the disc. I ran my usual tire setup (Conti GP5000 with latex tubes, 23mm front, 25mm rear). Despite the heat, I used my Giro Aerohead helmet. It hit 100 degrees on two parts of the course, but I didn't feel like the helmet was causing any heat problems for me, and was definitely worth it during the tougher wind conditions. My bottle/BTA setup: X-Lab Torpedo BTA, with a 24 oz insulated bottle mounted underneath the aero extensions, plus two X-Lab Gorilla cages behind the saddle. I only carried one bottle behind the saddle, and as I emptied them on the ride, I would rotate them so only the empties were behind me. I intended to use the empty cage to carry aid station bottles, but the new bottles are too loose to stay in a standard cage (even a Gorilla cage) and would easily bounce out unless they were empty.

--Run: I ran in the Asics MetaSpeed Sky shoes, with Drymax medium-cushion socks. Just like at Oceanside, they were perfect. I only made it 14 miles in them today, but I have no doubt they would have been fine for the entire marathon. I wore a full hat (Nike Dryfit ballcap) to keep the sun off of my head, and my Oakley Prizm sunglasses. When the sun was at my back, I rotated the bill of the hat to cover my neck. It worked okay. Between my hat, helmet, and the sunblock that I spent several minutes applying, I had very little in the way of sunburn (just a couple streaks I missed on my hands/wrists, and at the edges of sleeves where things slide up and down throughout the day). In contrast, I saw MANY people after the race who were absolutely torched from the sun exposure.

-Logistics

--Lodging and Travel: we drove to St. George in our mini-van. Drive time was a bit over 6 hours, due to construction on I-15 just before you get to the Virgin River Gorge. We stayed at a newer hotel: TRU by Hilton, which is on the other side of I-15 from Town Square. At first, I didn't like the location, but when I needed to head out for shakeout rides and runs, I realized it was a pretty decent area. I had quick access to the extensive trail system in St. George, and was close to the convention center (race HQ, briefing, and banquet were all held there). On race morning, I needed a ride from my wife to catch swim/T1 shuttles, but it was only a 5 or 6 minute ride to get dropped off. The hotel itself didn't offer any extra amenities to make it more triathlete friendly or anything, but it was still a decent place. And despite being pretty full, it was quiet at night, which I really appreciate. 

--Food: If you are a foodie of any sort, you won't appreciate the food scene in St. George. But still, they have some good stuff. Out near our hotel, recommended places include Rib and Chop House, and there is a Cracker Barrel near there if you like homestyle comfort food type stuff. My favorite meal for the night before the race is usually either pasta or rice with chicken. St. George has a Peruvian chicken place called Viva Chicken that is my current favorite. And for post race, every time I've raced in St. George, I went straight to Iceberg for a burger and a huge shake. If you're in an AirBnB house and have a kitchen, plenty of markets are around to do your own shopping and cooking as well.

-Improvements for Next Time:

--Transitions: If I need sunscreen before the bike or run, I need to just keep some in my transition bags. Relying on the volunteers was a mistake on my part. After talking to a lot of other racers (even pros) many said they skip sunscreen on race day, because it hinders their ability to let the skin breathe. I'm not particularly worried about that, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Aside from that, I didn't make any mistakes in transition. The slow times were mostly due to the sheer size and long paths needed to get to the exits.

--Swim: I don't see anything to improve on for the swim, other than just training harder and developing an even better stroke so that I can straight up swim faster. Given my fitness and ability, I was perfectly happy with how I executed the swim here. I will experiment with keeping the trisuit sleeves on underneath the wetsuit, though that will only save 3 or 4 seconds, if that, in transition.

--Bike: my bike ride itself was great. My fitness for the climbing and heat were as good as I could have hoped. The bike and all of my gear worked out without any problems, so I see no improvements to be made there. However, I clearly made some nutritional mistakes, which manifested themselves on the run. Despite the work I put in to determine caloric, sodium, and fluid needs, I managed to overdo things in the extreme heat, and cause my stomach to basically shutdown about 10K into the marathon. I need a bit more experience to learn how my body responds to the extreme heat, to better understand how to adjust my nutrition. As it turns out, I couldn't absorb carbs nearly as well as I was used to in training.

--Run: Despite the run being the place were I had to DNF, I don't feel like I have much to improve on. The issues that caused the wheels to fall off took place on the bike. My legs, cardio, and my stride all felt very good, and on the first 6.5 miles of the run, I was positive that I was on my way to an excellent marathon. If I had to pick on one thing, I'd say that I still have room to improve on the downhills. But my ability to pace, and my climbing were awesome.

Conclusion:

Well, things certainly didn't play out the way I intended. Despite great swim and bike legs, nutritional mistakes led me to not being able to execute on the run. I'm extremely disappointed, as this no way reflects what I was capable of that day. But at the same time, I'm still glad I did the race, and all the prep leading up to it. Over the months leading up to this race, I achieved the best level of fitness that I've had since my Army Ranger days, and I went through some great changes to my overall health in the process. I also proved to myself that I'm capable of competing with top performers in my age group. Despite this being the World Championship (and me not earning my slot through qualifying at another race) I was pretty high up in my age group. Had I been able to finish off the run at the pace I was holding early on, I would have been somewhere between 11:40 and 12 hours flat, which would have had me in the top 60 in my age group. I've done much worse at 'regular' full IMs and 70.3s. So, I think that shows that regardless of how I got there, I deserved to be in that race. As a result, I realize I haven't been missing out on races like Kona as much as I think. I expected the field at Worlds to be full of super fast people, and even though there were plenty of those (the M50-54 winner went 9:36 on this course, for example) I feel like I was just as much in the mix as anywhere else I have raced when I was in good shape. This was easily the hardest course I have raced on, and I hope someday I have a chance to come back here and get redemption with a good finish. But for now, I'll focus on my upcoming races and just apply what I've learned.

Next Races:

-Ironman California (Sacramento) - October 2022: this is sort of a homecoming race for me, as it takes place around where I grew up as a kid. I know the trail system where the run course is, and some of the roads of the bike course. If weather permits, it has potential to be a fast course. But rather than focusing on a PR overall time, my biggest goal here will be executing a great run. I have yet to run a decent marathon in an IM. Even with decent easy swim/bike efforts, I think I can get a big PR with a good run. So that's what I'll aim for here.

-IM70.3 Indian Wells - December 2022: I've done this race once, and really liked it. Super cold lake swim, flat bike course, with just a bit of climbing in the last 4 miles, and then a great run course with a super hilly golf course section. Its a very honest course, which I'd love to PR on, maybe go sub-5 hours here. The run will make it tough to get a super fast time, but I think it is possible.