Race Coverage

Photogenic Dismounts & Running For Both of Us...

Tuesday, 30 April 2019 23:10

By Dani Vsetecka (danivsetecka.com)

Ironman 70.3 Texas  Race Report - The lead up to this race was both uneventful and very eventful.  Training was pretty stable and consistent.  After a solid offseason and recovery at the end of last season, I started to pick it up at the beginning of January with Matt Hanson’s training camp in Clermont, FL.  We had a wonderful time getting outside on our bikes, putting in some base miles, and getting some sun. I also joined Matt Hanson’s Racing Team for the season and am pretty stoked being able to be part of the community and continued checking off my coach, Jen Harrison’s, workouts one by one.  

    The eventfulness came in my non-triathlon life. After months of loading up my bike, swim gear, running shoes, Normatecs, and basically my entire life in no less than 10 bags into my car every weekends to visit Ted in Minneapolis, I decided it was a good time to make a change. I was ready to move on in my career and on December 17th, I became a Clinical Research Program Manager for UnitedHealth Group’s Research and Development department.  I can’t say enough good things about this super fun and nerdy job so far (including a recent promotion to Associate Research Director!) and living in Minneapolis has been a dream....

   I love our apartment’s city views, having the best running trails around right out my front door, and wouldn’t trade carpooling every day with my favorite guy for the world. I miss my Rochester friends dearly, but it’s not too far away for visits! With all the changes of a new routine including a new pool and Masters swim group, the stability of training was a familiar comfort.

Travel/Pre-Race
     The week before the race, I had a less than stellar last long run where I felt slow, sore, and uninspired and I actually stopped in the middle of one race-pace interval to catch my breath and cry a little - ha! But I remembered, I ALWAYS have an awful workout the week before the race so at least it was out of the way.  And one workout doesn’t negate all the previous solid workouts, so I did my best to brush it off and get fired up about racing strong!

     We arrived in Galveston mid-day Thursday, jam packed our rental SUV with bikes and suitcases, hit up the expo and toured the run course, and got to bed early.  Saturday morning was the typical pre-race short bike+run and transition practice then a big brunch. The weather was foggy and cool, but better than hot! We all piled into Ted’s folks’ rented Suburban for a tour of the flat bike course and for me to ride over the San Luis Pass bridge.  The bridge is known for having nasty crosswinds, so I made sure to do a quick review to get a feel for it.   READ MORE