A big Congratulations to our lane mate Cole Sims and his spouse Ashley on their FIRST EVER Ironman, and our other training mate and seasoned IM’er Brian Combs, all of whom recently participated in the IronMan 70.3 Michigan in Frankfort back on September 20th. Click link and see their split details!
With water temperatures in the low 60s, strong winds, white water chop, and wetsuit issues for some participants, the swim was a challenging slog with lots of Backstroke and Breaststroke!
Here is Cole’s summary of his first event of this distance: “My wife and I raced as a 40th birthday celebration for both of us. It was great fun! I should have spent more time in my rental wetsuit, because it rode up my neck in the water causing me to feel choked. The swim time was disappointing, but it was largely breast and back due to the wetsuit issue. The bike ride was a beautiful ride along the Lake Michigan coast and was a blast. Fortunately the temp was still nice for the run, too. We wanted to finish under 6 hours. Mission accomplished!”
Brian reports an equally challenging swim environment, and having competed in roughly 25 triathlons with half being Ironman events, he knows!
Brian negative split his ride with his final 22 miles averaging 24 mph! Some cramping on the run impeded comfort, still finishing top 8% overall!
Event averages:
Cole: Swim 2:02/ 100meter average, Bike 18.6 mph, run 9:03 /mile.
Brian: Swim 1:53/ 100meter average, Bike 23.1 mph, run 8:13 /mile.
Congratulations and well done Ironmen and IronWoman !
