Scott Liston's 70.3 Steelhead Race Report
2018 Ironman 70.3 Steelhead (Benton Harbor, MI) Race Report – Scott Liston
Hi team. Race report #2 in two weeks (check out my Ironman 70.3 Ohio report too!)
If you want to learn more about my season and training refer back to the Ohio report from two weeks ago. Key takeaways?
· Get on Zwift to improve your bike
· Get on Strava to painlessly get an idea of the work others are putting in and encourage them!
So I built up my season to include five weeks of ~16.5 hr/1060 avg. TSS weeks from June 11th to July 9th. Then I raced two half Ironmans two weeks apart.
This was a key race for the Endurance Nation team so we had a lunch on Saturday and it was great to meet so many teammates. This area of West Michigan is beautiful too if you haven’t been, so I recommend this race!
The Race
Race day conditions were not as good as Ohio. Average temp on the run was 81, dew point of 67.5 so the Schoen Heat Index was 84 vs. 77 for Ohio and we had lots of bright sunshine for radiant heat. But the star of the show was the swim – some good chop, 2-3 ft. swells and lots of rollers! Unfortunately, I think many of my teammates were really affected by the swim. We had to leave so I didn’t get to hear the ‘war stories.’ I’m sure there were some crazy stories.
I had a small Naked Juice (290 cal.) about 12:30am and then a 650-calorie breakfast of coffee, two hard boiled eggs and peanut butter and jelly on wheat bread.
Swim: It was a no wetsuit swim just like Ohio, but I put myself in the :33-35 group anyway since that is what I swim with a wetsuit. I got in 8:41 seconds after the initial start. It was tough going out there to the first turn buoy against the waves and current. I had to sight on the top of the swells. Nothing to see when you are in the bottom 😊. Across the back of the swim is when we got the rolling action. Enough to almost make me nauseated but I kept powering through. The turn back for home became fast especially at the end as the waves pushed us in. My wife was there at the finish to tell me that everyone’s times were slow. She heard a coach say the pros were 5-6 minutes slower than usual. That makes sense. At Ohio I did 41:13 and this was 46:06, 23rd in my AG.
I had a quick 4:02 transition including a long run up the beach in the sand which moved me up to 14th. No speed suit meant little to do so off I went.
Bike: I felt good on the bike with a plan to average 184-185 W the whole way. I set my watch to 3-mile segments and manage each segment to that target. I continue to find this approach effective to understand my performance but then stay focused on what’s next. Here’s what I do for nutrition on the bike in case it helps someone else - I fill a front bottle (Profile Design FC25) with water to start the race. In my bento box I have a Clif bar cut into six pieces, six Clif Bloks, and four SCap pills. I get a Gatorade Endurance bottle at each of the first two stops. I eat one piece of Clif Bar or Blok every three miles (when my Garmin 920 records the segment) and take an SCap about every 4 segments (12 miles). That gets me 250 cals/hr. and about 940 mg of sodium/hr. I stopped at the portos at mile 28. But then, wait for it, I peed on the bike! Yep, on a descent ironically right before the Mile 45 aid station so I expect I picked up a minute or two there. First time in a race. I’m so proud 😊. And thoroughly washed everything when I got home. My wife will never know. She thinks it is so gross!
Bike Goal: 2:38, 184-5 NP Actual: 2:41:44 184 NP, 1.03 VI, average HR 138, 163 TSS, 13th AG.
T2: 1:52 - Executed the super-secret EN T2 transition by only putting on running shoes and then grabbing a Ziploc with everything else in it; stopped at the porto before going out on the run. I was 10th after T2.
The Steelhead run is challenging. It starts with an uphill and then has a portion on a corporate walking trail next to a pond that is in bad shape. They said there are plans to fix it next year. It also has one big hill you do twice. It was hot out there and on a heat-adjusted basis my run was very similar to Ohio where I broke 2 hours for the first time (1:58). The work I put in this year on the bike, especially on Zwift, is translating to speed on the run.
Run Goal: 2:07 (9:43/mi.) Actual: 2:04:31, (9:32/mi.) Avg. HR 150, 173 TSS, 14th in AG
Total: 5:39:52, 10th out of 102 who entered, 74 who finished in M55-59.
So, a top 10 finish is new for me! It is pretty motivating to continue to find ways to improve and plan 2019 to push myself. I’ll lay out a plan, have a debrief call with Patrick, and we’ll see where it goes!
It was fun to do these two half ironman races two weeks apart. That’s not a lot of time to maintain fitness but I had it already so why not use it?
Thanks for reading and great racing out there. I look forward to following many of you during what is left of the race season!
Scott
Comments
Your fitness is looking really good and what a great way to test it with two races so close. What is your plan from here?
@Derrek Sanks, thanks for the congrats. Hope to the back of you on Zwift this winter