The Bridges were at it again. This time Katie and Kevin tackled the IronMan Steelhead 70.3!
Katie
the beach was unbelievably gorgeous.
Sunday morning we headed over to Benton Harbor (4:30am) to set up transition and be ready for a 7am start. One thing I staged, along with my food, shoes and shades was my red flower from Fellow Flowers. The red color stands for Strength, and I would need some to get through my Declare It Day goal. Declare It Day is a Fellow Flowers thing, too, where I made this promise to myself in February for a goal race. Back then it was easy to say I could be ready for a Half IM, when I didn’t know I’d get injured running early in the spring. I’ve had to plan and re-plan a few different times, but I stuck to this goal. At some point I was sure I couldn’t do the race as I’d planned, but I’d settle for doing the race just as it unfolds.
I started in wave 4, and we went out at 7:12. I was glad to get an early start. The water was the best it had ever been for Steelhead. The RD said it was 74 degrees, and there was very little wave action. The water was so clear I could see the sand far below at times. The swim is where I had a hard time adjusting to the crowd, especially at first. I’m used to finding a patch of water and going at my own pace. But with waves of swimmers coming up behind me, it was a constant battle for space. I learned a lot from this, just keeping it together and focused on swimming forward.
The bike course was great, and I took the opportunity to have some fun and push the speed a little. I had been advised to practice my hydration and nutrition plan during training rides, and I know this advise helped me immensely because I felt good and my ride was fast. I was able to average 18.2mph on the bike. The course wove through orchards and farm country, with gently rolling hills. As I rolled back into the park, my son took my picture and it was time to run. I tied my running shoes and threw on the visor with the red flower.
Running is no longer my favorite part of these races, I’ve been injured and recovering for a while, and I can run but not as fast as I’d like to be. However, I found satisfaction in the fact that I could run without pain. At least the former injury was not painful, but I had plenty of fatigue and aches and pains settling in by mile 6 or 7. This is where the big-scale race took over for me. There were fans, volunteers and spectators everywhere! They cheered for me and yelled my name (it was printed on the bibs!). I noticed so many runners had flowers and lots of people recognized my flower. As one orange-flowered runner passed me, we said hello and offered encouraging words, a guy asked us about them. Then, a few miles later, another guy had an orange flower on his singlet. I thought it was so cool and I knew he had a story there, too. I know the reassurance and connections helped me push through those last 5 miles. Somewhere in there Kevin also passed me and it was good to chat with him a second before he took off.
Finishing this race was like nothing I’d ever done before. It was huge. The people were all cheering and yelling for the finishers. Probably hundreds of people, and it was so hard for me not to break down in that moment. I got to finish that big race on IM carpet with photographers everywhere. It was a long way from setting a goal on a wintery day. I finished in 6:34:55.
Kevin
This was my 3rd time racing Steelhead, I raced it in 2012 and 2013, and it’s my favorite 70.3. The swim course was changed this year from a point to point along the beach to a triangle swim starting near the swim exit. I was skeptical of the change but it was nice not having to walk down the beach to the start. The weather was perfect with calm winds and overcast skies.
On the swim I was kicked in the head and had my goggles knocked off my face, I’ve had this happen before but not this hard. I couldn’t see well out of my right eye for half of the bike. The rest of the swim went well I finished with a 42-minute swim time, not my best swim. I have not been working on this discipline lately, so it’s not a big surprise.
The bike course has not changed although it seemed there were more potholes than in the past, it is Michigan. I started in the second to last wave, so I was passing people the full 56 miles. I was able to get a slight draft off each rider as I passed, a nice bonus to starting at the back. I was able to average 21.1 mph on the bike, my best bike split ever at 2:39. I have been working on this discipline and it more than made up for the slip in time on the swim.
The run at Steelhead is great a fairly flat route through the Whirlpool headquarters campus. They always have lots of fan support; Red Bull was even there blasting music from an old converted fire truck. I wasn’t sure how the run was going to go as I had PR’d a marathon two weeks earlier. But I felt great on the run getting fuel at every aid station finishing with a 1:54 run spilt, my overall time of 5:25:54 was a PR by 9 minutes.