Steelhead 70.3 Race Highlights

Didn’t see any post about the race, but…

Heather Jackson crushes, like she does.

Starky with the win! Monster bike, as usual, but then comes back with a 1:18 run to hold off Matt Hanson’s monster 1:10 half marathon.

And the men’s amateur race: Stubleski and Giuliano duel in a prequel to Chattanooga and Kona worlds.

I think Starky is the story of the year after that horrendous near-death crash. Very impressive run - similar to his win at Eagleman a few years ago.

Those run splits by Dan and Ryan are flat out insane - they’re running faster than most pros! Will look forward to watching them crush it in TN a month from now.

Didn’t see any post about the race, but…

Heather Jackson crushes, like she does.

Starky with the win! Monster bike, as usual, but then comes back with a 1:18 run to hold off Matt Hanson’s monster 1:10 half marathon.

And the men’s amateur race: Stubleski and Giuliano duel in a prequel to Chattanooga and Kona worlds.

Some mighty fine racing indeed. Probably the name everyone needs to become familiar with though is Doehla. First Year pro, won age-group nationals last year. Has some swim background as kid, 2:32 marathon, monster engine, tiny in size. Had the pleasure to train with her a bit this winter. She still doesn’t know about bike equipment though. I might guess her power was higher than Heathers at the same size but I don’t know for sure. Regardless someone to watch out for. Talent level is off the charts.

How the hell does Starky run that fast? He’s got to be pushing close to 200lbs. He had a long layoff from running and was still run/walking in April. Very impressive. I would love to see his run workouts. He’s got to be close toeing the edge of injury.

Pretty sure he weights 185.

The rolling start was nice! Made it for a clean race not a lot of traffic to deal with. Might not know exactly what place you are in, just got as hard as you can and live with it.

I liked the start too. It was my first rolling start. But I didn’t appreciate you passing my like I was standing still on the bike! Side note, did you think the swim was slower than should have been? Thought I was going to come in around 27ish based off how I was passing people and ended up just under 29.

HJ is America’s sweetheart and newcomer Christine Cross is a personal friend and inspiration, but Starky… He is absolutely my HERO. Incredible what he’s pulled off. (This as I’m lying here in bed, feeling sorry for myself after having a single level cervical spine fusion… bad, but NOTHING in comparison to what he’s been through.) I had qualified for Chatty and for Kona, but have had to walk away due to recovery. Numerous people are telling me to “forget about” my triathlon “thing”. THANK YOU STARKY for giving me hope!!!

Kelly

“There’s no telling how many miles you’ll have to run while chasing a dream.”

I liked the start too. It was my first rolling start. But I didn’t appreciate you passing my like I was standing still on the bike! Side note, did you think the swim was slower than should have been? Thought I was going to come in around 27ish based off how I was passing people and ended up just under 29.

x2 on the swim. I did Madison 70.3 as well, I think it will be widely accepted by most next year.

I was also expecting a bit faster swim for the same reasons. However, was surprised a bit. I think part of it was with the rolling waves, it was hard to really catch and pull some solid water. Per my Garmin I swim pretty straight and was almost on each buoy, but on the back end of the swim I could barely see the buoys over the water. Maybe that was part of the cause? My Garmin measured 2183 yards for the swim, so spot on.

The bike was wide open for the most part toward the front end of the race. Only saw one draft pack of about 5-7 that seemed very content just staying together when they had plenty of space to break up. Was unfortunate to see, especially given that the female was most likely leading her AG or very close to at that point in the race.

I’m fairly confident that Odd Thomas can see the future. Is he the only one out there (besides myself…) who see’s Alissa Doehla quickly becoming the top American female in 70.3 and eventually full IM? 3 podiums in her last 3 races…she’s hungry for a win and I would bet $$ that she will get it/them in 2017.

Also, did anyone listen to the ‘Lost in Transition’ podcast that featured her and the other Jesse Thomas First Year Pro scholarship recipients? She’s not been working her run at all. A 2:32 marathoner who has not been working her run at all…after some asking around I was told that she’s been running under 30 miles a week this entire year. In her peak marathon shape she was doing 130 miles/week. When she puts out a 1:15-1:16 half split next year at Worlds, you’d better reach out to Thomas for your powerball picks. He’ll be too nice to say ‘I told you so…’, so please go click on some of his links so that he can get a little $$ for his swami skills.

Looking at pictures of her bike setup… is she really that upright? Does she really run round bottles on her Speed Concept? At least it looks like she’s running GP4000s… Still, I see a lot of low-hanging fruit on her setup. I don’t know why but it seems like female pros tend to have sloppier bike setups than male pros.

Looking at pictures of her bike setup… is she really that upright? Does she really run round bottles on her Speed Concept? At least it looks like she’s running GP4000s… Still, I see a lot of low-hanging fruit on her setup. I don’t know why but it seems like female pros tend to have sloppier bike setups than male pros.

If you’re looking at old pictures…maybe? If you’re looking at old pictures…maybe? After checking out her recent social media posts it looks like she’s been working with the 51speedshop crew and I doubt they’d let her sit upright and it doesn’t look like she’s run a round bottle in the last few races where she’s been on the podium…and she definitely looks a lot more aero than you do with what looks to be the exact same bike setup (whammy).

Take it easy on the rookie and the lady pro’s…they probably wouldn’t take too kindly to your ‘sloppier than males’ bike setup comment. Picking on girls is no bueno.

Looking at pictures of her bike setup… is she really that upright? Does she really run round bottles on her Speed Concept? At least it looks like she’s running GP4000s… Still, I see a lot of low-hanging fruit on her setup. I don’t know why but it seems like female pros tend to have sloppier bike setups than male pros.

Believe me I started talking to her about a few things at Eagleman. She isn’t running latex either. The reality is that even the elite coaches I have met don’t put too much stock into equipment. I think it started at the top way back with Brett. Many coaches might know something about physiology but not equipment. I don’t really know David Tilbury that well but it seems like he does keep up to date on equipment though.

I’m fairly confident that Odd Thomas can see the future. Is he the only one out there (besides myself…) who see’s Alissa Doehla quickly becoming the top American female in 70.3 and eventually full IM? 3 podiums in her last 3 races…she’s hungry for a win and I would bet $$ that she will get it/them in 2017.

Also, did anyone listen to the ‘Lost in Transition’ podcast that featured her and the other Jesse Thomas First Year Pro scholarship recipients? She’s not been working her run at all. A 2:32 marathoner who has not been working her run at all…after some asking around I was told that she’s been running under 30 miles a week this entire year. In her peak marathon shape she was doing 130 miles/week. When she puts out a 1:15-1:16 half split next year at Worlds, you’d better reach out to Thomas for your powerball picks. He’ll be too nice to say ‘I told you so…’, so please go click on some of his links so that he can get a little $$ for his swami skills.

She doesn’t even use latex :wink:

I think her real advantage though is her small size. She has the opportunity to run very well. Some of the other better girls on the bike are tanks, and they just can’t run because they can’t shed heat. She reminds of a rinny but potential to be much better on the bike and swim.

I was about to say “she was probably running butyl tubes” too.

A female pro I befriended last year (that you know, Clermont local) had a similar setup (also a Speed Concept). Round bottles on the down tube and seat tube for races and training (“where else would I put them?”), Aeolus 9 front (good for her!), and an Aeolus 9 rear. When I asked her why she wasn’t running a disc she responded with something like “my coach said a disc would weight me down”… or maybe it was “my coach said I couldn’t handle a disc in the cross winds.” It was one of the old cliches. She was running Gatorskins too. I asked her if she raced on those and her reply was “yeah my mechanic said they were the least likely to flat”. I asked her what helmet she raced with and it turned out she raced with the Giro Aeon that she trained in. She said she was worried she would overheat in an aero helmet. I gave her my P-09 to try at her next race and… surprise… she didn’t overheat and really liked the helmet.

The point of all of that is that there seems to be a trend of females either getting different/bad advice from their coaches and mechanics regarding bike setup and/or not seeking out the best solutions themselves.

Looking at pictures of her bike setup… is she really that upright? Does she really run round bottles on her Speed Concept? At least it looks like she’s running GP4000s… Still, I see a lot of low-hanging fruit on her setup. I don’t know why but it seems like female pros tend to have sloppier bike setups than male pros.

If you’re looking at old pictures…maybe? If you’re looking at old pictures…maybe? After checking out her recent social media posts it looks like she’s been working with the 51speedshop crew and I doubt they’d let her sit upright and it doesn’t look like she’s run a round bottle in the last few races where she’s been on the podium…and she definitely looks a lot more aero than you do with what looks to be the exact same bike setup (whammy).

Take it easy on the rookie and the lady pro’s…they probably wouldn’t take too kindly to your ‘sloppier than males’ bike setup comment. Picking on girls is no bueno.

Ah good. Those guys know what they’re doing. HJ’s new fit looks worlds better so I trust they’ll get Doehla squared away. Just found photos of Steelhead and Eagleman. At Eagleman that round bottle is in about the worst position possible. Her position on the bike at Steelhead looks much better and the round bottle is gone but she needs to work on her head position.

It’s not a knock on her or any female pro. I wouldn’t expect anyone just getting into the sport to know what they’re doing with equipment or bike setup. If you remove yourself from ST and take the mile-high view, there’s a ton of marketing BS to overcome. What bothers me is that it seems like females consistently get bad/different advice from their coaches and mechanics (see my reply to TG above).

If she had my long-course cda (.210) and speedy tires+tubes (I’m assuming she weighs 50kg and has an FTP of ~4.5w/kg) her bike split at Steelhead would have been ~2:15:xx which would have been enough of an improvement for her to win by ~2:00.

I was about to say “she was probably running butyl tubes” too.

A female pro I befriended last year (that you know, Clermont local) had a similar setup (also a Speed Concept). Round bottles on the down tube and seat tube for races and training (“where else would I put them?”), Aeolus 9 front (good for her!), and an Aeolus 9 rear. When I asked her why she wasn’t running a disc she responded with something like “my coach said a disc would weight me down”… or maybe it was “my coach said I couldn’t handle a disc in the cross winds.” It was one of the old cliches. She was running Gatorskins too. I asked her if she raced on those and her reply was “yeah my mechanic said they were the least likely to flat”. I asked her what helmet she raced with and it turned out she raced with the Giro Aeon that she trained in. She said she was worried she would overheat in an aero helmet. I gave her my P-09 to try at her next race and… surprise… she didn’t overheat and really liked the helmet.

The point of all of that is that there seems to be a trend of females either getting different/bad advice from their coaches and mechanics regarding bike setup and/or not seeking out the best solutions themselves.

I am not surprised at all. That pro women is pretty talented as well. If I were to generalize the reason this works to some extent is a lot of the women’s fields are not deep so you can still do reasonably well by giving up 5 minutes of free speed on the bike. The men’s race are much deeper at this point with much smaller gaps between say 1-6, 1-8, or 1-10. Nobody can afford to give up 5 minutes of speed on the bike when we are already giving 5-10 to Starky straight-up.

Was Steelhead wetsuit legal for age groupers this year? I was just reading the Augusta 70.3 thread, and it appears that it will be non wetsuit for the 2nd year in a row. Last year Steelhead & Augusta were non wetsuit for the first time in history (I believe).

It was wet suit legal this year.

Damn, the one year I do the race, no wetsuit!!!

Was it even close this year?

ETA: I don’t need a wetsuit…I’ve done IM Lou 2x & Raleigh 70.3 2x no wetsuits.