Ironman Texas Race Report

First big race of the year is done!  It was a great time.  We have several friends in Houston and from around the country that were there so it was a great opportunity to catch up with some that we have not seen in a long time.  We were also testing out our new ‘home’ for the first time.  Don left early and drove the trailer down-stopping to win an XTerra race on the way!-so when I flew in on Wednesday our little home was already all set up in a very nice RV park.

Race prep for an Ironman always takes longer than you think it should—with 2 full days before the race—it was pretty much all getting ready:  eating, packet pickup, eating, checking out the bike, eating, race briefings, eating, getting the gear ready, eating, checking gear in the day before and more eating.  Do you see a trend here---lots of food—my coach lays out a pretty detailed eating plan for the 2 days leading up to the race and it feels like all you do is eat!—but it seems to work so I just stick to the plan—including my favorite part:  BIG breakfast!  Met up with a few friends to do the traditional BIG breakfast and had a great time catching up.  Friday afternoon was quiet time after getting the bike and gear all checked in—then off to bed by 9.

4:15 was wake up time race morning.  First up—breakfast of champions—applesauce and a banana!   We were pretty close to the race site so it was only about a 10 min drive—Don dropped me off and went to park the car while I put my nutrition on my bike and pump my tires.  We easily found each other and then walked over to the swim start-close to a mile away.  The weather brought the swim conditions I most didn’t want—it hadn’t warmed up enough to make it a no wetsuit swim (my wish) but enough to make the water warmer than I like for a wetsuit (73F)—I was going to have to be very aware of overheating. 

The rolling swim start was very uneventful—I seeded myself in the 1:00-1:10 group and just shuffled forward until it was our turn.  There were definitely people that did not seed themselves correctly as I spent a lot of time at the beginning passing people and I always start off quite slowly to make sure I don’t trigger any asthma issues.  Anyhow, after the normal ‘this sucks’ 400m I typically have at the beginning of a race where no in the water warm up is allowed I settled in and everything was going fine---until the first turn buoy—and I feel my swimcap slide off my head.  Most women know that no swim cap is a disaster---you can’t sight anymore—or at least you can’t see anything other than your hair over your goggles when you try to sight.  Adapt and overcome—sight a bit less and hope you are swimming sort of straight, lose a ton of time every time you do sight getting a view through the hair.  Once we got into the narrow canal it was a little better because I could get a glimpse of the side of the canal on some breaths.  Boy that water was gross!   Happy to get to the end just so I could see where I was going again.  Swim time 1:09:43

The bike plan was pretty simple—get on the bike and ride to a certain power—with it being a flat course the goal was to stick as close to that as possible, building slightly throughout the ride.  The beginning of the bike has a ton of turns but I seemed to be moving along quite well and it was a pleasant morning.  The majority of the ride is on the Hardy Toll road – a big highway that they shut down in one direction for us—2 out and backs for about 80 miles—not very scenic but closed to traffic.  Heads down and just stick to the power numbers – worked fine until about 2/3 through the first lap---then the packs started coming---you could either get sucked up and cheat or slow and let them go by and continue on riding your clean race—which was my choice.  There were no draft marshalls on the course—which should not make it ok to draft—apparently the DOT would not let them on the course because it would interfere with the emergency vehicles.  Still no excuse—people were not even trying to not draft.  What it actually let to is the most accidents I have ever seen on an IM bike course.  Many triathletes do not know how to ride in a pack and in a race it just spells disaster.  I know I rode and honest 5:21—an IM PR bike ride for me.  Many others set a PR—but did they really?  I could not live with myself.  Can you tell this bugs me??  Anyhow—legs were feeling really good at the end of the ride.

Off the bike to the hard part of the race—I know it was not a super hot day in Texas standards but any time you have to run a marathon when the temp is 85 its no fun—getting off the bike just before 2 pm means that my entire marathon is right through the heat of the day.  Due to the heat the run plan required a little more thinking – I know what my target HR is for a cool Portland day but with the swim and bike behind me and the heat—how much HR drift was ok? - -Chris gave me 7-8 bpm.  After the first 2 miles I settled in to a pace at a HR I thought would be ok—though knew it was definitely on the high end, turned my watch to HR only and went.  This run is a 3 lap run—quite pretty and amazing crowd support on the entire loop.  Things went reasonably well for the first loop.  On the second loop things were not as great—started not wanting to take in Gatorade anymore—switched to water and salt tabs.  Got into a pretty dark place between miles 15 and 18 but just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  At mile 18 I pulled out the big guns---started into the Coke—I’ve found in the past that coke really helps perk me up but it also seems to have a limited span for me—and this day was no different—it perked me up from mile 18-22—then I just had to dig deeper and gut it out the last 4 miles—since these are along the canal there are tons of very rowdy spectators which is always helpful.  I tried to vow not to stop for any walk breaks after mile 24 but couldn’t quite make it—short break on a stretch along the canal and then one last one as I went through the last aid station at just over 25 miles.

Ironman finish line is awesome—lots of cheering—I always make sure I enjoy the whole thing and celebrate for the last 100m.  I crossed the line at 11:23:52.  Not quite as fast as I wanted to be—but I was happy that I executed the race that my body had in it.  Good enough to get me onto the podium for the first time at the Ironman distance.  Not good enough to get to Kona.  Am I disappointed—a little—but I took a care of what I could control and raced to my ability on the day. 

As many of you know, my winter/spring has not been without a lot of stress---stepping into the role of CIO at DTNA, selling my house in prep for retirement and having to push my retirement date out twice.  None are excuses—just things adding to why I am happy with the result I had on Saturday.

It really takes a team to put together a good Ironman performance.  I have to thank my amazing coach Chris Bagg—he definitely had to put up with a lot since I got my surprise new job in late January.  Brad Farra at Evolution Healthcare and Fitness kept my body together every time something hurt (we dealt with foot, adductor and shoulder over the last few months).  DJ DeAustria for kept all the kinks out of my muscles and Stephen Merz for the most amazing bike fit in the world.  On the home front my room-mate Carmen was a life saver in getting the house ready for sale and not letting me forget how to prioritize.  The biggest thanks goes to Don for being the best friend, Sherpa, bike mechanic, and every other role that I need to chase my dreams.

Heading to Mont Tremblant in  August to take one more crack at this Kona thing.