The 24’ season started November 20th, 2023.

In late November I invited John over to my newly built sauna for a 30 min sweat (pictured), and little did he know what I was about to ask him. “John,” I said, “How would you feel about coaching me this year?” With a slight pause, and a building gleam in his eye, “Yeah man, I’m in, let’s go!” To get you up to speed, John has been my main training/study partner for the last 4 years. This certainly wasn’t an out of the blue type of ask from me. This was a well thought out decision that made sense. He had already been helping me write workouts and I knew that his passion and knowledge of the science behind endurance training were at a high level. We chatted about goals and expectations for far too long before the sauna heat about took our lives and finished with a ‘let’s take on the world’ bash-brothers embrace. We were off and running.

“Hey bro. Again, thank you. Now, let’s get to work”

— Training Peaks Note from me on 11/27/2023

Why Coach John?

I have been asked why I wouldn’t seek out a professional coach with higher stature or a greater athlete success rate. After all, John had zero ‘elite’ athlete experience. It’s a fair question and I have many reasons why John was the better pick for me. A few to share is that he's my best friend and knows me very well. This type of friendship/relationship takes many years to develop. We’ve talked at length about my past and present successes and failures, and are both obsessed students of the sport. John is also very analytical and data driven, a trait found in successful elite coaches. He tests my way of thinking and pushes me out of my comfort zone often. A winning combo for me. Something else I admire about John is that he has zero ego or pride when it comes to this sport (or in life for that matter). He just wants to learn, get better, and try. He’s one of the few who champions me to be better and goes to great lengths to ensure I have the best chances to be successful in this sport.

First time setting up Buoy Night!

Both in the same boat, amateur move (it turns out), but more fun!

We started with 3 buoys and now we’re up to 8!

Probably heading out on a 100 mile ride into a headwind.... our preference.

Buoy Night setup in the rain.

Helping John with a 5k TT.

Cross training, Bozeman-style

The Mission

The mission starts with understanding my sporting goals. We then take a look at where my swim, bike, and run abilities and compare to the best athletes in the world. I’m a believer that comparison is the thief of joy, but as a competitor wanting to compete with the best, you need to know where you stack up against them. Once you know, forget about em’ and get to work with the fitness you have. The joy is safe with me.

Here’s some examples of what it takes to win against the best in the world.

World Class 70.3 & 140.6 paces/outputs

70.3 Swim 1’04 per 100 yard || 140.6 Swim 1’04-1’06 per 100 yard

70.3 Bike 4.56 watts/kg || 140.6 Bike 4.0 watts/kg

70.3 Run 5’11 mile pace || 140.6 Run 5’50 mile pace

We started project “Build Dylan’s LT1 To Insane”. The goal was to rebuild my engine from the ground up, with blood, sweat, tears, and science! Taking on this project we knew we’d risk the possibility of taking a couple short-term steps back in performance this year, but in the long run, we believe it will pay massive dividends. We also took a deeper dive into my body-mechanics and technique/form in all 3 disciplines. We did a big overhaul this year - from head to big toe (literally)! All of it part of our multi-year plan to world domination :).

Now that you know a little bit more of what was happening behind the scenes, let’s do some quick dives into my racing and training this season!

First couple miles into Ironman Lake Placid

Season-Opening 70.3s

With all the hype of turning me into a world class athlete and cracking into the top 100 in the world, I had a lot of challenges to navigate in the initial build. My wife and I had our first child (Highly Recommend) that seemed to lead me to constantly getting sick and staying sick. But, race season waits for no one, so we plotted some early season 70.3s and planned for an Ironman or two later in the season. We didn’t get too stuck on the race plan, as life happens, as we’ll come to find out.

Ironman 70.3 Oceanside

I turned up to Ironman 70.3 Oceanside with a lot of interruptions in my training program (understatement). I surprised myself with a 12th place finish, Half Marathon PR, and ranked 12th in the Ironman Pro Series. I beat some Olympians and this year's 3x Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange, nothing to sneeze at. I felt encouraged by the result but knew we had to get back to stringing good workouts together for the next race.

RACE STATS:

Swim - 23:34 (1’07 per 100 yard pace)
Bike - 2:11:58 (334 np - 318 avg) 4.23 watts/kg
Run - 1:18:24 (5’58 min mile pace)
Total - 3:58:40

John, Anna, and Me

Some of my favorite peeps. Should I bring the beard back?!

Sending it!!

Peace Dog.

Get Some! ;)

Post-race Stoke!

Ironman 70.3 St George

I got sick again (!!!) a week after Oceanside with a brief 3-week turnaround between races. Felt like our backs were against the wall, which is a frustrating place to be in. When we were driving to St George I had a sore throat and couldn’t take a deep breath without hacking. I didn’t talk about it, I didn’t want to talk about it. I was pretty tired of telling people close to me that I was sick again. Optimistic, I turned up to see what I could do. Typically the night before a race I am nervous and can’t get to sleep, but this one I fell deep asleep before 9pm without a nervous bone in my body. The gun went off early the next morning and I had little fight in me. I exited the water, got on my bike, went as hard as I could, caught the front chase group but then 15k into the ride I shot off the back and it was all I could do to soft pedal into T2. I finished the run and felt pretty defeated.

RACE STATS:

Swim - 24:02 (1’08 100 yard pace)
Bike - 2:16:19 (296 np - 280 avg) 3.75 watts/kg
Run - 1:22:29 (6’17 min mile pace)
Total - 4:05:47

Post-race with my family and friends. I’ll do better next time! Thank you for your support!

On to Flagstaff Training Camp Camp Camp!

The next race on my schedule was Ironman Lake Placid. It was time to build some hurtin’ bombs. May 23rd my wife Kendra, 8-month old son, John, and I drove 18 hours to Flagstaff, AZ for a 3 week altitude camp at 7,000ft. Training went amazing and I was down to a lean, mean 171lbs. I wasn’t sick and I was feeling like a monster.

Last long run!

Coach John said I was getting too skinny. You better believe I ate/drank it all!

Funny guys…

Okay, I did burn the spatula...

On to the Team Mach Relay, Adding a Little Spice

9 days after returning home from Flagstaff was the Team Mach race in Coeur d’Alene, ID. I remember feeling amazing. I did a swim workout at their local pool the day before the race and I was swimming like a shark. 64” 100 yard repeats felt like a walk in the park. A couple days later I ran in a 70.3 relay with a couple of my Mach teammates and friends. I finished a 1:14:06 half marathon, which was a new open half PR for me. In no way were we targeting this race, yet I logged a PR off of Ironman-specific training. It was a fun surprise! #HolyMachamole

RACE STATS:

Run 1:14:06 (5’39 min mile) (174avg hr 186max hr) (Cadence 172)

My First Ironman Double

Take 1: Ironman Lake Placid

4 weeks after the team relay was my next big race of the year, Ironman Lake Placid. We now know we missed our ‘peak performance’ mark by a week or so post-altitude camp. I did a brick workout July 6th which was a week after the team relay and I felt like an absolute monster. I was wishing that it was race day. Lessons learned for our next ‘A’ race post-altitude camp.

I had a lot of things going on in my life that were stressful heading into LP and felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. When race day came around I felt terrible! Mentally, I wasn’t where I wanted to be. Physically, my legs hurt/ached the second I put my feet on the pedals! Despite it all, I had a huge foundation of fitness to lean on and I ended up pushing my best ironman power, at that time. The run was going amazing until mile 20. I was on pace for a 2’54 marathon (6’40 mile pace) until my quads said “you’re done running fast.” I hobbled the last 4-6 miles averaging a 9:35 min mile, never wanting to do an ironman again, haha. That’s how Ironman goes sometimes.

RACE STATS:

Swim 50:04
Bike 4:36:21 (278avg - 293np) 3.71 watts/kg
Run 3:09:25
Total - 8:41:05

Take 2: Ironman Frankfurt (Going Deeper)

4 weeks after Lake Placid I headed to Ironman Frankfurt to get the result I had been training for and my KQ (Kona Qualifier). I felt confident knowing I was very fit and strong. I was really looking forward to executing a strong Ironman, start -> finish.

The swim

Race day was rainy and overcast. I didn’t bring a rain jacket so my down coat was soaked. I finished setting up my transition area and had to drop my clothes bag before heading to the swim. I didn’t have anyone supporting me so standing in the rain in a swimskin led to me shivering. They let us get a warm up swim 10 min before the gun which helped me stop shivering and warm up a bit. There was a big pro men's field of 50+ and a very small starting coral. I got lined up in the second row and…BANG! We’re off and I immediately got shot off the back. I wasn’t aggressive enough, noted. The level of euro swimming is insane. I was 4 min down out of the swim. The last few races my hips have been getting really tight in the swim and it becomes debilitating. My theory is a stress reaction from life going into this race haha, do we carry stress in our hips? If so, that was it! It was out of the water and into T1. Reset.

RACE STATS:

Swim 50:05 (1’11 per 100y pace)

The Bike

The bike was EPIC! Rain, big watts, riding fast, helicopter, guys crashing, and blood everywhere! I felt like I was in a war zone minus a machine gun or two. I settled in the main chase pack with the likes of Patrick Lange and other world class athletes. I was happy to be riding strong and felt focused. The miles were clicking by, but at mile 57 into the bike I ended up crashing solo on a wet/slippery turn. I lost contact with the main group and had to push 360+ watts for 9 min to catch back on. My thinking was if I could just get back to the group I’d be able to ride into T2 with them. When I caught them I was relieved because I had a good group to work with. When I stepped off my bike coming into T2 I was reminded that I had crashed super hard on my hip. I was SO bummed and also worried if I could even finish the race. Reset.

RACE STATS:

Bike 4:06:39 287avg - 309np (3.92 watts/kg)

Highly recommend Ironman Frankfurt! This was one of the cobble stone sections.

The Run

I sat in T2 for a minute stretching out while trying everything to loosen up. I gingerly started the marathon by hobbling, I mean, walking and jogging while pulling over every couple minutes to stretch. It never came around. I limped that entire damn marathon. To pour more salt in the wound, Ironman Frankfurt is a 4 loop run course with crowded streets of people cheering. Usually people cheering is the best “go-juice” an athlete could ask for, but not while you’re hobbling along. There’s not much more to report other than I was determined to finish what I had started. I was thinking of my son and how I want to lead by example for him in life. He has no idea what Dad does yet, but he will know someday and I want to instill that grit in him like my parents did for me.

RACE STATS:

Run 3:37:58 (8:17min mile pace)
Total - 8:41:21

What’s Next? The Tail End of 2024…

I took 2 weeks completely off after Ironman Frankfurt and started training again September 2nd for my last race of the season, Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells La Quinta, on December 8th. Training has been going well, life stressors are low, and I’m looking forward to putting a number on and racing strong. I want to finish this season on a high and be proud of a good race that will set me up for a baller 2025.

Looking forward to recapping that race later this year!!

Thank you so much for reading and following along!!!