2022 Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Race Report

Author: Shawn Clark

Ironman 70.3 World Championship finishers medal!

View of the Sand Hollow Lake on the day we arrived

This was my 2nd year in a row racing the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St George. I was familiar with the course, even though they vary it up a little every year, particularly the run course.

I had a bad bike crash just 6 week prior so I was happy to arrive ready to race without any underlying injuries!

They split this race up into two days, so the women raced on Friday, Oct 28th, and the men raced on Saturday. The weather looked to be pretty cold in the mornings leading up to the race so everyone was worried about getting too cold on the bike.

We arrived on the Thursday before the race and went right to the Sand Hollow Reservoir lake for a practice swim. It was so cold and windy out, it felt terrible! I walked down to the lake, which had lots of chop and white caps from the wind! I looked at it and was like, no way I'm going to swim today, the conditions are terrible!

I walked back to the car thinking, well maybe I'll just bike, but then Gina was like hey there are some people swimming over there, you should go swim with them. In my head, I was like ugh do I have to, haha. So I figured what the heck, I've never regretted a pre-race swim in the actual swim venue before, no matter how bad the conditions. I got in, froze my butt off, and took several waves to the face, but otherwise felt ok. I then got dressed and rode my bike around the reservoir area. The wind was so bad it made sand dunes across the road, which almost took me out on the bike, like driving over snow!

I finished my bike workout and we went to athlete check-in down in St. George. For some reason, I was put as VIP, but that is a whole other story. I got everything I needed and we were already running late so we had to quickly go check into the hotel. The wind and temperatures were so cold that night, I was starting to really have some reservations about what the race morning was going to feel like. I kept having visions of my hands freezing where I couldn't hit the brakes, which caused me to crash haha.

The next morning, Friday, when we went outside it was still cold, but felt better. I had brought a cycling jacket, cycling hat, etc, but I then started to think how much time I would lose if I overkilled the warmth on the bike! We went to the store and Gina had the perfect idea to use a shower curtain liner under my tri-suit! I got one of those nice shower curtains that feel almost like cloth and that worked perfectly. That way I didn't have to wear a heavy jacket. I had arm warmers already so I figured based on other cold rides I've done, if working harder, I should be fine. I also got some cheap garden gloves and a winter hat I could wear to keep warm before the race.

Me checking my bike into transition 1, the day before the race!

Nice pro triathlete transition area!

View of the swim exit as I checked in my bike

Luckily, the night before the race I slept like a baby! We woke up at 3 am and got ready. I put on about 4 layers to stay as warm as possible haha. The shuttles to the lake were insanely busy and Gina had to wait by herself until 6 am to be allowed to go on since she was a spectator. I got on shortly after 4:30 am and arrived at the lake by 5 am to start getting set up. Right before I went to get my wetsuit on I realized my tri-suit was on backward, haha, I had to go down behind some cars in the dark to fix it, but I lost a lot of time there. I then got my wetsuit on and everything ready, but was still carrying my morning bag when they started lining up our 40-44 age group for the swim! I had to quickly hand off my bag to volunteer and by the time I lined up, I was more than halfway back in the crowd! I tried to move my way up asking people what they planned on swimming. Some guys were telling me they would swim it in 26 mins! So my unconfident self was thinking, geez these guys are animals this year, maybe I'm too far forward. Unfortunately, either those guys were overly optimistic or meant 36 mins instead of 26 mins?

Beautiful morning sunrise before the swim start!

My age group (40-44) all lined up and ready to go!

I got into the swim and felt great! The water temp felt perfect in a full wetsuit and I started passing tons of people at a relatively easy pace. I had no problem passing slower people, but one thing I noticed this time was I no longer tried to draft off anyone. I only tried to swim straight at the buoys and when I did I would get cut off by all the guys swimming diagonally. It happened over a dozen times, of which I'm sure I lost a lot of time because of it. I had to put in a few surges at times just to get through the big clumps of people, but the back half of the swim was relatively good. I finished the swim in a PR time of 31:45, which placed me 149th in my Age Group out of around 550 who finished. Some officials said there were originally 650 men in the 40-44 age group, but I'm sure many didn't start due to illness, injury, etc. Then some never finished. I heard the DNF rate was quite high, too.

I got through the transition relatively unscathed in 5:20, (48th in my AG) and did the flying mount that I'd practiced all summer. It saves some time, maybe 20 seconds, but it's just more convenient to have the shoes stay with the bike so I don't have to deal with those, too.

I started riding and felt good. I was only slightly chilly because it was cold, but my torso felt great with that piece of shower curtain taped to me, haha. I didn't feel anything where that was. I just settled in for a long ride and tried to hold around 230 - 240 average watts on the ride. I hit 23 miles in around 1 hour, which was right in line with last year, but with the course changes, I felt like I had to work harder to hit that time. Last year by the time I hit 23 miles in 1 hour I felt like I was still cruising, so some of the course changes and conditions definitely made things slightly harder. By the time I reached the Snow Canyon climb I was feeling it a little in my legs. so I had to bike more conservatively to survive the run. There were bike marshalls out all over, constantly timing people so I must have put in at least a dozen 300+ watt surges for 30-60 seconds to make sure I passed everyone in the peloton out there so I wouldn't get a drafting penalty. It got thinner the further I went, but some areas of the bike course had clumps of a dozen or more men all riding together. I thought that was illegal, but whatever. I also noticed quite a few men blocking, whether intentionally or unintentionally and started having flashbacks of what happened in Malibu. I survived the bike and finished in 2:26:20 (32 in AG) which was 3 mins slower than last year, but I put in around 10 more average watts so it's hard to tell if that is better or worse than how I rode last year.

Me hitting the bike hard right out of Sand Hollow

View of the bike start from Sand Hollow Reservoir

Me on the right, having to pass many bike draft packs along the way!

going up Snow Canyon with my tongue out haha

A view looking down on the race course

I was feeling it coming into transition 2. I ripped off my shower curtain without any issues and threw it in the garbage. I got my bag and put on my shoes, sunglasses, and race belt. I also run with bottles full of calories so I grabbed those as well. I finished T2 in 2:24 (171st in AG) which was probably too slow for me considering I did the flying dismount as well, but I did feel like I was taking a little too much time.

Coming out of T2 onto the run!

Me running out of T2 as bikes are coming in

I started the run and my legs felt sore, but did not cramp or feel like they were going to cramp, which was a plus! I drank around 300 calories the first few miles as we ran uphill to the golf course. I didn't realize the golf course was going to be as hard as it was, all things considered. Lots of tight turns and punchy little climbs. Once you get through that area it's nice and downhill. As I was coming back into the town, I heard everyone screaming so loud, it was crazy! I actually thought I made a mistake and was going toward the finish line or something. I started to slow down for a while just in case but realized I wasn't yet at the circle where you turn off towards the park. Crisis averted because that would have been embarrassing, haha.

By the time I started going uphill on lap 2 I was starting to get fatigued and my legs were getting so tired. I kept thinking I just want to get this run over with, and I was also thinking why do I do this to myself, haha. After the 2nd lap through the golf course, I was really feeling it and couldn't even get a good turnover on the downhills back to town. I got to the park area (about a mile from the finish) and I was hurting so bad. At one point I wasn't even sure if my legs would hold up. I just kept running, I was stuck in one gear, like 3rd gear of a 6-speed and it wasn't going any faster, haha. I made it to the finish carpet and felt so relieved! My legs were literally buckling under me as I crossed the line, but I finished the run in a time of 1:35:03 (189th in AG). I believe I had to burn too many matches on the bike ride with surges over threshold and that ate into my run. I should have run closer to 1:32 based on how my run form has been.

Running through the golf course, so many turns!

About to cross the finish line!

I finished in an overall time of 4:40:49, 65th in my age group, and 674th overall out of I think around 4000. So not bad for a 42-year-old! I was hoping to beat my Coeur d'Alene time, which was 4:38:39, but at least I was close! I'm super happy with my swimming, which I know will only continue to improve. I put a lot of focus on the swim this past year and it's really paid off!

Crossing the finish line, so happy to be done!

All things considered I really love this race course! I first raced this St George course in May 2021 (was my 3rd 70.3 race) and with Geoff’s help I was able to go sub 5 hours (4:51) which was quite an accomplishment at the time! I wanted to go sub 5 hours on an honest course, one that was tough and would let me know I earned it!

Not really knowing much about triathlon, let alone knowing how to swim, Geoff helped to coach me and make me a more well rounded triathlete! Although this course has changed, it is mostly the same, lots of hills!! The spectators and people in the town of St George are great, they really add to the atmosphere! I’ve never been to a place where the kids are so friendly and have such a great work ethic, especially at the volunteer stands!

I think I will race here again eventually, but having completed 3 races in St George over the past couple years I think it would be good to branch out! Plus Gina is a little burnt out on going there now too haha. I’d really love to come back to St George and sub 4:30 on this course, which I believe is possible with enough training!

For now, I plan on racing Ironman Lake Placid 2023, so I’ve now got my eyes set on trying to crush that race and hopefully myself next year! Now to enjoy the holidays with family and friends! Until next time, keep on keeping on everyone!

Celebrating with Geoff in the finish area!