St. George

After my short trip to California, I spent a week in St. George, Utah, doing some course recon before the Ironman race in May. I was very fortunate to have family friends to stay with in the historic area of St. George, and our house was one of the very oldest in town, built in 1862 by a Swiss family. I had great training partners with my coach making the trip down from Montana, and good friend Jesse joining for a great session.

I swung through Vegas on my drive back from California, picking up Jesse at the local YMCA where he was getting in the day's training. After learning that he had won a few hundred dollars in his night out on the strip, I didn't feel bad about having him fill the gas tank. We finished the drive up to St. George, set up at the home base, and stocked up on food. During the shoulder seasons when temps haven't soared into the 115 degree range, St. George is an outdoor paradise. Tons of beautiful trail winding through red sandstone hoodoo spires, snowcapped peaks in the distance, Bryce and Zion in striking distance, and even the remnants of an ancient lava flow near town are some of the highlights. Our mission was to get a feel for what may be the hardest North American Ironman course, so we focused on knowing every inch of the bike and run courses, since the reservoir water temperature is currently 49 degrees.

The first day was just about getting my legs back after the weekend race, but then we went full-gas for the week, riding big miles, hitting the track, trail, and course for runs, and swimming every day at the Sand Hollow aquatic center. We lucked out with great weather, only facing a couple of days with high winds. Highlights were finding some great singletrack for our long run, and riding to Zion in high winds with a solid run off.

We happened upon a local sprint triathlon on Saturday, based out of the aquatic center, so we decided to jump in and see how the body responded after a big week. I haven't been doing much super fast stuff, so it was fun to max out for 50 minutes. Unfortunately, the weather was very cool in the morning when we raced (high 30's), so exiting the pool and going fast on the bike led to frozen limbs. I literally had to sit down in the second transition trying to get my shoe on my block of wood feet, eventually giving up on the racing flat to put on a normal lace up running shoe. It wasn't pretty, but I came away with the victory, and it was a fun event with a solid turnout.

The Ironman course is going to be a real test of the strongest man on race day. It really doesn't let up on the bike or run at any point, and if it's windy and hot, it will be a long day for everyone. With a little more Ironman training, a trip to Montana for a short race, and then New Orleans 70.3, I should be ready for the big day. Looking forward to an honest race in a month...