By Tim Holland
This past weekend I took a break from the off-road scene to compete in the Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3. It is always a blast to go back to my racing roots and put some saddle time in on the road. Mountain biking is so much fun, but I love to push my body during those long consistent efforts that define road triathlons.
The weekend started on Friday when Jo drove up to Seattle while I was at work to pick up some rental wheels for the race. I used to ride Zipp wheels when I raced at school and LOVE the sound and feel of riding them, especially the full disk. Some new bar tape too and I was ready to go.
After a quick ride and run in the morning on Saturday we drove up to the race hotel for the required race brief and to get my race packet. I was a little worried about not getting there early but then found out that the transition area was individually marked, and I later found out that it wasn’t just by number but they actually put my name right where I was supposed to go 
That took a bit of stress out of the race knowing I didn’t have to fight the 1,499 other people doing the race for a spot in transition. After I dropped my bike off Jo and I drove the bike course real quick to get an idea of what was in store.
The course is absolutely beautiful and after driving it I couldn’t wait for the race to start so I could get out on my bike on those roads. I have noticed recently that I get that way about races, a little nervous the week before but once I get to the race site I am so excited and can’t wait for it to start. I think this has helped me a lot because instead of dreading the start and worrying about how I will do I am excited to be there and can’t wait for it to start. Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long because the race kicked off at 0630 the next morning! Some blueberry pancakes that night and I was out to get some sleep.
It was a really cool feeling being in transition well before the sun came up that day. Some people brought headlamps –write that down for next time- so they could see their stuff. I couldn’t help but laugh when thinking that since it was Sunday most people in the area probably wouldn’t be up for another 3-4 hours and all us crazy triathletes would have been out on the course for a long time by that point.
For my pre-race warm up I went for a run a little ways on one of the legs of the run course which followed the lake and was flat for a bit. Luckily as I was out there I came across a lone porta-potty with no line. Having seen the massive lines for the few that were near the race start I was pretty excited I didn’t have to deal with that wait. By this point things just felt good and I was even more excited to get started.
The race was broken down by all the different age groups and had 14 different waves going off every four minutes. I was in the 29 and under wave and there were more people in that wave than in most races that I have done! The male 25-29 age group alone had close to 100 people!! My Profile Design Goldcell was incredible in the water and even though it was really warm I was happy to have it on. A decent swim of 32 minutes set me up pretty good for the bike.
Photo courtesy of Brightroom.com
The first few miles of the bike I settled in, ate a Gu Roctane to get some fuel and tried to get into a good rhythm. I flew by a couple people early on which really helped boost my confidence. Up until the day before the race I was pretty nervous about the bike because I had just put my aero bars on a week before. My coach did a great job of helping me to come into form in perfect time for the race. I wish I had my Cycleops Powertap with me on the ride so I could have monitored my power and so I could have seen how fast I was going for parts of the race. From all the climbing I have been doing over the past month, first training for the Mountain Championships and then spending about 10 days in California between work and a pseudo vacation, I felt really confident on the climbs and had a ton of energy for the downhill sections. The Zipp Wheels lived up to the brands motto of Speed Weaponry. A solid 2:34 for the 56 mile bike put me in good position for the run.
Photo courtesy of Brightroom.com
Ever since I got my Avia Bolts I have been really excited about doing road triathlons. Those shoes kick butt!! They are so comfortable and extraordinarily light. My legs were a little tired coming off the bike but not too bad. I had to force myself only to think of the first few miles because thinking of running 13 after the bike seems like it would take forever. I tried to take the first half a little easier so I could negative split the second half. The run course was set up in a really fun way, a two lap course that came back to the start/finish area each lap, which meant running by that area a total of 5 times. There were a ton of people there cheering all the racers on which was really cool. Jo had bought an Ironman cowbell and before the race said she would be out there with it so any time I heard the cowbell I thought it was her which helped keep me motivated to keeping pushing. Even though it was getting pretty hot I was still able to run a 1:26 which gave me a total time of 4:36. Whatever my time was I felt like I had put together a good race and was stoked about it.
Photo courtesy of Brightroom.com
Photo courtesy of Brightroom.com
After the race and after some Gu Recovery Brew I went to check the results and found that my time was good enough for 2nd in my age group which gave me a slot to go to Clearwater Florida for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in November. Considering it was my second race, 13th amateur overall and 2nd in my age group was really sweet. And to top it off Mel won the women’s race. Overall I think a good day for Melrad racing!
Top 4 Male 25-29
Mel Takes the Womens Race!
I still owe everyone a race report from the Mountain Championships so check back soon for that!