Steelhead 70.3 2010

By Mike Gogel

I signed up for Steelhead 70.3 right after I did Kansas 70.3 this year because I wasn’t happy with my performance there. Prior to these two half Ironman races I did my first in Kansas two years ago where they ended the race two miles short of 70.3 because of bad weather. I had a rough time at both Kansas half’s. Each time I crossed the finish line, the first words out of my mouth were ” I will never do another half Ironman again”. The second Kansas half was much better than the first but still it wasn’t good enough.  I had P.R.s at Trizou and Kansas City Triathlon this year so I knew I could do better.

My family was planning on making a trip to Benton Harbor, MI part of our vacation but that didn’t work out so I went with Mike Sutherland, a CMC member who started swimming with our YMCA group earlier this year. Mike had a rough race at Steelhead but he kept a great attitude and still had a P.R. by more than 20 minutes. The trip to Benton Harbor, MI was smooth and it took us a little under 8 hours to get there.

We checked-in to the hotel and went to pick up our packets and drop off our bikes at transition. Then we checked out the beach where the swim was taking place. We couldn’t get over how clear and calm the water was but I’ve heard this isn’t always the case. We wanted to swim but it was getting late so we ate dinner and went to bed early to make up for the hour time difference.

We woke up at 04:30 which was 03:30 here but I felt great. We ate our pre-race meal, got our gear ready and headed to the transition area. As soon as we parked it started raining but I had a great attitude and figured it would stop at any minute. Unfortunately, it kept raining and then it started to come down harder. I wasn’t sure if I should set up my transition or wait until the rain stopped. I decided to set everything up inside my transition bag in hopes that my stuff would stay dry. I grabbed my wetsuit, swim cap and goggles and found a dry spot in a hallway between the bathrooms.

There were about 30-50 people crammed into this hallway. For all these people it was very quiet. I’m sure most people were thinking the same thing I was thinking: are we going to race? If we are it’s going to be miserable race if it rains like this all day. They started the race on time at 7  in the rain.

I have a friend, Rich, from the Marines who used to be my roommate here in Jeff City before he moved back to his hometown in Michigan. I called him after I signed up for Steelhead to let him know I was coming to Benton Harbor. He told me he’d come to the race but we weren’t sure how we would find each other. As I was walking to the start of the swim he was coming in the opposite direction and we ran right into each other. This guy is one of my best friends and I haven’t seen him in over 11 years. It was awesome seeing him at the race! We could only talk for a little bit because I had to get to the swim start which was 1.2 miles down the beach.

The swim at Steelhead goes either south to north or north to south,  based on the current and you swim along the beach. Supposedly the water was only 12 ft at the deepest part of the swim. I got to the swim start and I warmed up for about 10 minutes. As I got in line with my swim wave you could tell that the sun was going to come out and it was going to clear up but it was still raining.

I lined up on the right side of the wave and I had my eyes set on that first buoy. The gun or horn went off and I went straight for the first buoy. There were at least 200 men in my wave but I made it to the first buoy virtually untouched. I made a right at the buoy and I tried to relax and settle in at a comfortable pace. My sighting was dead on. I swam right along the buoys and I hit 3 or 4 buoys with my right arm. The water was very calm and so clear that you could see obstacles (breast stokers, people floating on their backs) and I could easily avoid them. I was hoping to feel the current pulling me along but it wasn’t very strong. I rounded the last buoy and headed for the swim finish feeling strong. I swam as far as I could. When I jumped up out of the water there was my buddy yelling “Go Mike” and “Semper Fi”. It was motivating having him there! This race was different then most of the other races I’ve done because there wasn’t any family or a CMC cheering section present. My buddy did a great job filling that void.

This transition area was as long as a football field, maybe even longer. My bike rack was one of the first racks on the “Swim In” and “Bike In” side of the transition area. I knew there was no way I was going to run in my cycling shoes for that distance to the “Bike Out”, so my plan was to carry my cycling shoes and at the end of the transition area I would lean my bike against the first rack and put my shoes on.  This worked great. I was off on the bike and feeling great!  It also stopped raining and the sun was hidden behind the clouds for most of the bike, which kept the temperature in the the mid 70’s. 

I got some great advice from Dianna and Rod Adkison a few weeks prior to my race, “…take it easy on the up-hills and hammer it on the down-hills”. Most people during triathlons enter the Red zone climbing hills and after they crest the hill they coast down. I really took it easy on the up hills and watched lots of people pass me but I would pass these same people on the down hills and never see them again. I felt like I pushed it on the bike but kept out of the Red zone. The bike course was fast.

We rode mostly on the shoulders and they were in mint condition. In past half Ironmans I didn’t have my nutrition worked out but I had a better plan for this race. I brought 4 Gu gels with caffeine and a pack of Cliff Shot Rocks. I started using the caffeine gels because I was told since I don’t use much caffeine these would give me an extra kick. They sure did! Besides the whole pack of Shot Rocks and the gels, I ate a whole banana and drank about 50oz. of endurance Gatorade. 

During the the bike I was having a blast! I’m not sure if it was the caffeine gels or the venue but I was on fire. I was shouting out encouraging things to Team in Training people, I was shouting back to crowds and I was thanking every volunteer that I came in contact with. At the end of the bike course you ride in a chute for a couple hundred yards or so. It slowed things down a little but it was OK, because  it was time to prepare my body for the run. This was really cool for the spectators because it put them so close to all the triathletes. I heard my Marine buddy before I saw him. Again, this motivated the crap out of me! I got off my bike, dropped it on my rack, put on my running shoes and was off on the run still feeling pretty good.

For the last 10-15 miles of the bike course I had to go to the bathroom. I tried to go on the bike but I couldn’t do it. How do you do that? There weren’t any port a-johns in transition (which I couldn’t believe) but I heard a volunteer shouting that the port a-johns were about a mile into the run. After a mile there were tons of people behind trees and vehicles because there were no port a-johns in sight. By this point, I had to go BAD so I found a tree and watered it. This worked out well because at mile 1 1/2 there was only two port a-johns.

This run course was fun! There was a long hill that got you up out of transition and then you ran a 5 mile loop with a steep hill twice.  There were tons of people walking already. My goal was to pace myself on the run but keep running. This is where I’ve fallen apart in each of my previous half Ironmans but I felt like I paced myself well on the bike and I took in plenty of nutrition. I didn’t wear my watch during the race because I wanted to really listen to my body and not get too excited about my time. I found a good pace and I stuck with it the whole run, only walking through the aide stations. I had a gel with caffeine at every third aide station and I drank Gatorade and got a cup of ice at every aide station. The volunteers on the run course were out of control!

There were these two teenage girls that were screaming the heads off. They actually spit on me while screaming at me, telling me… “you can do it”, “ you’re doing great”. I passed these girls at least 3, maybe 4 times. I couldn’t help but laugh each time I saw them. I knocked off the miles pretty quickly. When I passed mile12 I started to get really excited. I was thinking I only have one mile left. I did it. I’m finally having the half Ironman I knew I could have. I wasn’t sure what my time was but I knew I was doing much better than my last two half Ironmans. I started to get all tingly.

I entered the finish chute, which ran the length of the transition area, feeling all kinds of emotions. There were people everywhere. The sun was shining. It turned out to be an awesome day. The one prevalent emotion was that I was thankful that I didn’t quit trying this distance. The only sad thought I had was that my family wasn’t there. Then I remembered I was wearing my daughter’s two favorite bracelets that she had given me for good luck. I gave them a kiss.

I finally saw the finish clock about ¾ of way down the finish chute. I couldn’t believe my time. The clock was at 6:17 and I started an hour after the pros. That’s when I got really pumped up. My buddy Rich was there at the finish line cheering me on. I finished in 5:18:20 beating my last half Ironman time by 26 minutes. The first words out of my mouth after this race were “When is the next half Ironman” and “Maybe I’ll try a full Ironman next year”. This last statement may have been the caffeine talking.

I want to thank my wife Lisa and my daughter Aubrey for being so supportive of my participation in triathlons. Also, I want to thank Rod and Dianna Adkison for all their support and encouragement and I want to thank Becky Lynn and Brad Suthoff for letting me feed off their excitement and enthusiasm for this sport. Finally, I want to thank Rich Martin for being my personal cheerleader. You did a great job Marine!