Ironman 70.3 World Championships

I have put together a string of races since last September 10th that have been unbelievable for me. Last years 3rd overall at 106 West 70.3 was epic, followed by the overall win at Oktoberfest Sprint in Longmont. Fast forward to 2017 to 5th place podiums at St. George 70.3 and Boulder Ironman where I punched my ticket for both World Championships. Last weekend was the first of the Championship swing, I am so grateful for the wife for letting me go and chase and accomplish my dreams. The only thing I wished would of been different is that if they could of been there.

20 years of Friendship

The 70.3 World Champs have blew on by and we are a touch over 4 weeks out from Kona and the Ironman World Championships. My goals and objectives for 70.3 WC was to have fun, not get further injured, and check another World Championship of my bucket list. I will say that I successfully accomplished all three. I was so lucky to even get to go that results didn't matter and the experience is all I wanted, huge thanks to Crystal for letting me be gone for four days. The prep leading into Chattanooga was not smooth at all. I felt I recovered from Boulder fairly well and had a couple solid week builds then before I knew it I was in the Emergency room 3 weeks before the race. My back locked up and I couldn't even walk, I was doing some heat prep training in my pain cave/basement. 3 hour trainer ride with no fan and heavy shirt...I got severely dehydrated and the next day my back muscles were fatigued and with being dry as a bone my muscles locked up and I couldn't even stand up.

Built a Deck!!!

This set me back a solid week of zero training and then for the next several weeks building up to Chatty I felt extremely fragile and like I could break at any moment. I did not feel like my normal self and was worried that the hard effort it would take to race strong would put me back at square one. I decided to race as conservatively as possible and if I felt any kind of weird pain besides the normal amount of suffering I would check my ego and walk it in if I had to.

I flew out to Knoxville to stay and visit my best mate from middle school and high school Pat, it was great seeing him and felt like we were back in middle school reminiscing about all the crazy stuff we did growing up it was awesome and I miss that guy. He leads a pretty crazy life traveling all over the world doing mission work and helping others. We hung out in Knoxville Thursday and headed down to Chattanooga Friday morning so I could get my race stuff, check in, snag Walter White and take a dip in the Tennessee River. I got to see a ton of my tri buddies and Wattie teammates. A cool thing about this race was the amount of foreigners that were there and all the different languages we heard just walking around a very cool vibe for a race in the US.

Chaos 

Pat and I headed back to Knoxville to relax and get some grub. When we got back to his house I noticed that my race kit was a little off, instead of the Aero Race Jersey it was a cycling jersey with no collar...I was bummed because the Wattie Ink Championship Race Kits are so sick. Not that big of a deal but still bummer, we went to bed early and the next morning watched and tracked the Women's race, it was super cool to have the women on sat and the men on Sunday. We then headed back to Chatty to drop of my run and bike bag, and bike in transition. We stopped by the Wattie both to grab some water bottles and some custom stickers that Heather Jackson and Wattie himself had made for team members who have qualified. I talked to my bro from Fort Collins Shannon Price who is the main man that works for Wattie and is the guy you want to reach out to for any custom kit needs. He got me dialed in with at speed suit that is more appropriate for racing.

the future

Pat and I made it to the Air BnB that was ghetto af but at least close to the swim start and a bed to crash in. Instead of cooking the day before the race we went out to eat...big mistake on my part...We went to this nice Italian place lots of athletes were out and about. Pat and I started noticing how many guys were wearing their timing chip around their ankles over 12 hours before the race!!! It was hilarious and I think I counted over 10. After eating to much we went back to the apartment to crash, sleep sucked ass and the neighbor downstairs was playing extremely loud music until 2 am...4 am came and it was up breakfast and the normal pre race routines.

The energy of the pre race was awesome and I felt surprisingly pretty good with lack of sleep. The swim start was badass and they lined up the divisions in a weird order but I was set to go off at 8:22 about an hour after the pros. As I approached the corral I ran into a good buddy James O'Sullivan and we lined up way to close to the front and where the 3rd wave to go in...screw it we thought...the swim start was to dive off a dock and start swimming across the river, about 200-300 meters in we would turn east and start swimming 800 meters up the Tennessee river, the back across and down stream until the finish stairs.

30-34 AG...Gnarly dudes.

 Swim

I dove in with the plan to not lose my goggles and try to draft as much as possible saving energy when I could. It felt as though I immediately got passed by everyone in my division. I hate that feeling when it feels like you are the last guy out there swimming...I was able to find some feet for the majority of the swim. I got kicked in the face once and punched twice so not to bad...The swim seemed to take forever and I was scared to look at my watch, as I exited the water I glanced and saw 31:30...so not horrible but not my best. T1 was more like an Ironman then a 70.3 I got my wet-suite ripped off by the wet suite strippers. grabbed my bike bag: helmet on strapped and ran to Walter White. For 70.3 races I don't wear socks on the bike and have my shoes clipped in. I passed James on the way to the mount line and jumped on my stead to start cranking!

T1

Bike

I started cranking smooth and fast, I knew the first 5 miles are flat then you start the climb, I wanted to make sure my legs woke up in time to grind. I went back and forth with this guy that had a film crew with him. I assumed he must be some famous middle eastern guy...he eventually passed me while on the climb and said "come on captain america...you can do it." turns out that the guy is Nasser a member of the Bahraini Royal Family and the commander of Bahrain's Royal Guard. The climb wasn't insane but for a race it was definitely going to test the legs. Once you got to the main summit the bike leg only continued to be unrelenting with super steep rollers up and down until about mile 23 then came the much needed decent. I stretched my legs took in some nutrition and tried to let my heart rate plummet. At about mile 30 the bike was relatively flat with some rollers.

T2

This is were the packs of age groupers rolled through like a peleton. I counted 3 large groups of 20+ dudes just drafting like crazy...I didn't see any of them receive a penalty and the penalty tents were always empty when I rolled by. I kept repeating the mantra "Be Patient" in my head and didn't want to override the first climbs and struggle to recover. For the most part I felt I kept myself in check and rode conservative to try to have some running legs. As I approached T2 I was disappointed in my bike split...I was thinking I would be off in 2:25 not 2:31 and knew I rode to easy in some spots...oh well time to run!!

Run

Suffering!!!

T2 was awesome getting to hand your bike to a volunteer like a pro is always sweet!!! I ripped my helmet off, grabbed my run back, socks, shoes on and carried the rest of my gear as I headed out of transition. I like putting on my shades, hat, and number belt as I am running out to try to save time. I started the run super conservative and tried to ease my way into a good pace. I was scared my left glut issue would start right away if I pushed from the start. As I clicked off the miles I had no pain and began feeling stronger and stronger. I got though the first loop and was right around 7:00-7:10 pace avg. I started picking up my pace and staying relaxed the hills and heat where no joke but I felt good and was definitely going to negative split as I approached mile 8 my stomach wanted to join the party and felt as if I need to empty some weight...I fought on and thought it would go away but by mile 9 I had to do what I have never done and hit a portapotty and drop the Cosby kids off...it cost me 2-3 mins and I was back on the run and put together some decent miles. This the direct result of eating out all week and not sticking to my healthy food, this is on me and no excuses...SHIT happens...As I came across the last bridge to the finish with about 2K to go James runs up to me and said "I have never beat you before." My ego immediately said "race isn't over bro." We kept pace stride for stride for awhile are pace quickened and I was red lining...I loved it..I thought the finish was just around the corner so I tried to surge and the finish line was no where in site...bummer my load was blown and he hammered passed and I said "where is the fucking finish line!!!" I ended up 12 seconds behind him, Good on ya mate for making it hurt at the end...fun times. My ego was a little banged up but in the scheme of things it is all good and doesn't matter.

Overall the race was badass and I am very lucky I got to race in another World Championship atmosphere and really enjoyed Chattanooga racing with the best dudes in the world. If I was to go back before the race start I would of been a little more brave and pushed the bike harder, and started running a bit faster instead of starting so conservative but high end sight is 20/20. I really didn't want to hurt myself before Kona so I can go out and enjoy the lava field suffering. I don't feel as sore as I was after St. George so I know I left some out there but it is all good and my life couldn't be any better. This was the first race in over a year where I felt as I didn't have my best performance. I think the little niggle injuries of my back and left glut where def on my mind. The takeaway is that I am still healthy and hungry for Kona, the next couple weeks will be hard and I am ready to top off this season in Hawaii with my family.

Huge thanks to Pat for being my Sherpa and waiting around all weekend for me to race, Mark Rise and his team at Muscle Restoration for getting me healthy enough to train and race pain free. If you are in Fort Collins you absolutely need to go see Mark for any kind of injury big or small. Tori at Mountain Elevation Massage Therapy for keeping my body worked out. Bryan VanMeveren for the beat down long runs, Brandon Wells for another great run and we are going to get after it the next several weeks bro! Eric Neilsen for the tips and tricks and always bring fire to FAST Masters!!! My little brother Ian Brannan for flying out to watch little dude so Crystal could work while I was gone. Shannon Price for being such a badass human and all you do for Wattie, great chatting with you at the airport. Lastly my wife, I can not express what you mean to me. Without you and Bodhi triathlon would be meaningless, thank you for all your support, keeping the house a home, being an incredible mommy to my little dude. I love you more than words can say. Thank you for everything and I am truly the luckiest dude in the world. I am so incredibly grateful to wake up every morning take a big breath into my lungs and attack anything that comes my way!!! Stay Hard!!!

Little Dude.

Sponsor links:

Triathlon and lifestyle apparel – Wattie Ink

Nutrition for Endurance Athletes – 24 Hour Athlete by Herbalife

Bicycles – Cannondale

Composites/Race Wheels – Knight Composites

Power meters – Pioneer

Bike saddles – ISM

Hydration Systems – Speedfil

Wetsuits – BlueSeventy

Helmets and Sunglasses – Rudy Project NA
Water-Eternal Water