“What really matters when facing a challenge? What matters is learning. You want to test yourself, throw yourself into something outside your comfort zone and see what you’re capable of. Your true goal is not to conquer fifty feet of inanimate rock, but to expand your abilities through learning.”
~Arno Hintjens
Earlier this year I set a challenge of racing two 70.3 races one week apart. I completed Ironman 70.3 Des Moines on Sunday, June 11 in 6:11:01 and I completed Milkman “70.3” (it was actually 71.3…but who’s keeping track 😜) on Sunday, June 18 in 6:29:19.
Ironman 70.3 Des Moines
The weather was in the mid 60s, cloudy, and very breezy. I was tapered and ready to race!
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Nope, I’m not a pro, but I’ll take this pro number! ⚡️
Swim 41:16 for 1.2 miles (2:08/100 m pace): 20/57 AG, 149/371 Female, 606/1255 Overall
The water temp was measured at 75.something, so it was wetsuit legal. When given the option to wear a wetsuit and it is borderIine wetsuit optional, I need to remember to not wear it as my body prefers the cooler temps, BUT…I wore it. I lined up around the other athletes planning to swim 37 minutes because I know on a good day I have that in me for 1.2 miles. This swim was 3x left hand turns followed by 2x right hand turns. I thought I wouldn’t like this swim design very much, but I actually loved it! It broke the swim up so much. I took off and immediately had to pull the neck of my wetsuit down to let cooler water in as I was very warm. I settled into my pace and had very little contact throughout the swim, making it pretty uneventful. I waved at Tim (who was kayak support) at turn buoy #2 and then shortly after turned to breathe and saw multiple athletes walking in the water. I almost choked because I started laughing. They were swimming farther away from the buoy line (closer to shore) where it must have been pretty shallow. I just kept swimming making my way from one buoy to the next and adding water into my wetsuit periodically until I was eventually to the swim exit.
T1 3:18
I did a quick transition to the bike and was rollin’.
Bike 3:10:08 for 56 miles (average speed = 17.76 mph): 23/57 AG, 136/371 Female, 692/1255 Overall
There had been rain in the early morning hours, so there were places in the first 5 miles where the pavement was still wet, so I was super cautious around turns as I saw a few athletes take the turns too sharp on wet pavement resulting in some road rash for the rest of the race and I really didn’t want to have that fate. This course was completely closed to cars…yes, you read that correctly. The only vehicles we saw on the bike course were motos and Ironman staff vehicles, which were few and far between. There was about 2300 feet of elevation gain and the road surfaces were nearly perfect with the exception of a few places. I anticipated this to be a slow bike course because of the rolling terrain and the 6 u-turns on the bike course, but it wasn’t as slow as I thought it would be. It was so fun to see other athletes on the out-and-back sections and the u-turns really broke up the headwinds that we had to periodically fight. It was a really great course!
T2 4:33
Apparently I made a pizza in transition as this was a much longer transition time than what it should have been. 😜
Run 2:11:48 for 13.1 miles (10:01/mile average pace): 20/57 AG, 155/371 Female, 706/1255 Overall
The run at IM 70.3 DSM is pancake flat. The first 3ish miles were pretty quiet, but there was a hopping aid station at mile 3 thanks to Diamond Bikes. Then from miles 3.5 to 9 ish (which was a loop done twice), there were lots of spectators and people cheering. The last 3 miles of the run were relatively quiet again, but there was a party downtown waiting for us when we crossed that finish line!
Overall: 6:11:01 for 70.3 miles: 20/57 AG, 131/371 Female, 629/1255 Overall
It was so fun to meet some Coeur Sports teammates IRL, catch up with others I’ve known for years, and see one of my former students finish his first ever triathlon…who does a 70.3 as their first triathlon?! This kid!! ⬇️
Milkman 71.3
Milkman 71.3 was much more challenging after having done a 70.3 the week before. I think the week between races went exceptionally well with a reverse kind of taper + focusing on getting good sleep, fueling well, and listening to my body to know when to step it up just a bit at a time. Race day we experienced temps in the upper 80s, full sun, and windy AF! Spoiler alert: my pro number didn’t bring me a pro finish, but hey…you can’t win them all! 
Swim 41:10 for 1.2 miles (2:08/100 m pace): 10/17 AG, 67/145 Female, 239/454 Overall
The water temp was measured at 71 ish, so it was wetsuit legal and much cooler than the week before in Des Moines. This swim was a wave start with the women in the 45-49 AG starting at 7:18 am. I knew this would be a slower swim when I saw the pros go off and they could basically walk the first 100 m because the water was so shallow. A few of them tried to dolphin dive and ended up standing up and walking a few steps before trying again. When the horn blew for us to start the swim, I took a few steps and then just started swimming with a really short arm stroke and small kick. As I turned to breathe, I could see many women in my AG walking out as far as they could before starting. I immediately fell in line with the swim buoys and dialed in to my race pace. This course was about 8 yellow buoys out with a left hand turn, swimming across to the orange buoys another left hand turn and taking the 8 orange buoys back to the boat ramp. The wind started to pick up while we were out swimming, but didn’t create too much chop on the water. I just kept swimming; making my way from one buoy to the next, occasionally passing people from the waves in front of me until I was eventually to the swim exit.
T1 3:38
It was a bit of a jog from the boat ramp to transition. Despite having a pro number, I didn’t have prime real estate in transition…guess you can’t win them all. I quickly transitioned from the swim to the bike, ran Moxie all the way through transition, and was off!
Bike 3:25:22 for 57 miles (average speed = 16.66 mph ): 11/17 AG, 69/145 Female, 292/454 Overall
The first 5 ish miles of the ride was on a trail and it was open to the public, so there were people walking, families riding bikes, and others to dodge keeping me on high alert, which was a good way to ease into the bike and not go out too hard. When we finally got to the roads, I was ready to settle into my race effort. This course had about 3400 feet of elevation gain on the bike, mostly shitty road surfaces, open roads with many cars, 57 mile bike (instead of the standard 56 miles…hence the 71.3 total), loose chip seal on the biggest climb + descent of the bike course, and had me REALLY struggling to keep my mental focus on the joy + fun factor. At about mile 15, I saw my Coeur Sports teammate + pro triathlete, Jess, crushing it as she was returning to transition. I knew my tri sister, Steena, would be coming up on me eventually as she started a couple of waves behind me and is SO strong on the bike! She finally caught me, we chatted a bit, and she was off! The rough surfaces made me question why I was out there doing this, but I knew the faster I rode, the sooner I’d be done, so I kept my head down and powered on.
T2 2:13
Tim was at the dismount line volunteering when I arrived back to T2. I gave him an idea of how the bike went (see the caption below) and then proceeded on. Having the less than prime real estate in transition meant I had to run my bike back through the entire transition area.
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This is what I told Tim when I came back to transition. 🤣
Run 2:16:58 for 13.1 miles (average pace = 10:25/mile): 7/17 AG, 54/145 Female, 217/454 Overall
That wind felt GOOOOD on the run! In the first mile ish, I looked over and noticed that I was running “with” Steena. We were going in the same direction, but on two different sides of the creek. I was heading to mile 1 and she was heading to mile 2. I yelled her name, we laughed, and continued on our way. After mile 2, it was REALLY HOT + DESOLATE for a couple of miles and there was NO aid station between mile 1.75 and almost 4. When it is that hot, people need water! At mile 4 ish, I took in all the water and a gel since I was supposed to have taken it in at mile 3. As I carried on, I eventually saw Jess screaming back to the finish in 2nd place overall. I gave her a quick cheer and plugged away. I made sure to walk through the aid stations on this run to give myself plenty of time to get in as much water as possible. I was carrying Skratch hydration (which I continuously sipped on) and gels (which I took in every 2-3 miles). Near the turn around, between miles 8 and 9, I saw Steena again, gave her some cheers and trudged on. I was very disappointed that only one aid station had ice on the entire run course. Thankfully we went past this aid station twice, but this was a HUGE oversight by the race directors on such a hot day! Oh…and as I was approaching the aid station near mile 10.5, I heard a volunteer yell at me “there’s a car behind you!” WHAT?! SERIOUSLY?! There is a car driving on the run course?! I didn’t even move. I kept my line and ran as if I hadn’t heard her since the aid station was in the middle of the road with athletes running on either side of it. Doesn’t the safety of the athletes come first?! I continued to do what I had done for the entire run by putting one foot in front of the other until I saw the final climb to the finish shoot (yes, you have to climb to the finish).
Overall: 6:29:19 for 71.3 miles: 8/77 AG, 55/145 Female, 241/454 Overall
I was surprised at how well I felt after having completed Ironman 70.3 Des Moines 7 days prior. I raced from a place of heart & grit without expectations. I was committed to showing up and giving my best effort. That required digging DEEP, but man was it worth it! I am SO DAMN proud of accomplishing something I’ve never done before, not giving in to discomfort, and learning SO MUCH more about myself in the process! 
Overall thoughts on this challenge:
Based on the differences in temperature, sun exposure, bike distances, bike elevation, and quality of road surfaces, I am certain that if I would have had repeat weather conditions on the same course as IM 70.3 DSM for Milkman, I would have had a similar or faster finish time for the second race. This is HUGE and something I am SO DAMN PROUD of!
PushMyLimits 
Two 70.3s in a row- that’s a lot! Congratulations! I had a sprint tri in Pensacola that was too shallow to swim like that, I had to kinda high-step it until I almost out to where the buoy was to turn and swim parallel to shore. I wondered if they didn’t take high tide/low tide into consideration when they chose the date.
I never understand why they don’t have someone do the swim before they decide if it’s a good course or not…I’d be happy to swim them in advance of race day for them and I’m sure there are others who would also.