1 Kings 19:10-14
I must admit that for the past several weeks I have retreated to my cave. Not in the literal sense, as we have been extremely busy, but in the spiritual sense. I read somewhere recently that the challenge as a believer is not when you are in the midst of turmoil but rather when you are in the midst of serenity. This is true for me. When times are good, I find myself not relying on God's word and spirit to guide me, putting more emphasis on my own judgement. This action always seems to follow a major challenge in my journey and a time of ultimate peace in my life. A few hiccups here and there, topped with the stresses of jobs and personal issues and you find yourself back to yearning for God to hear your prayers. Thing is, the spirit is always there, what we lose is the sense of hearing God's voice.
I was sitting on the couch on Sunday, watching the live webcast of Houston's First Baptist Church when the computer died from a low battery. I got up, plugged it back in, and as I did, the pastor began telling the 1 Kings 19 story of Elijah's retreat to a cave on Mt. Horeb, in which he was so frustrated with the world that he retreated until he could again hear God's voice. Normally I would have listened and taken the lesson for what it was worth. This time was different. Not two days prior, I had read the same story in the daily devotional that I get in my email inbox. It's times like these when I find it very difficult to argue against my beliefs...against a God who speaks to us through events and scriptures. A God who brings us out of our caves with his voice and helps us to remember how fulfilling life is when we serve rather than receive. The tangible to my life was harboring stress and anger over the last few weeks, and hiding myself in a cave of self-doubt. It is very difficult to serve and encourage others when you are in this state. The way in which this action was broken for me, some would say a coincidental alignment of events, I believe was divine intervention.
My knee injury from Ironman Texas has healed to a point where I feel comfortable testing it out in a race setting. I am confident in my swimming and running, but am still living in the cave with my biking. This blog was founded on the premise that this sport saved my life, and once again, I feel like I am being called to march on, pressing forward to the next challenge, and sharing my story with others who are going through the same trials.
Proof that my dedication has paid off, I finally broke the 7min mile barrier for a distance longer than 5k:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/341476883#.UeB8CCSm73w.twitter
Tomorrow presents its own set of challenges as I race the Shadow Creek Ranch sprint. I am hopeful to break the hour mark and place within the top 10 of my age group. Whether this is achieved or not, I am thankful that I am putting myself out there again and not living in the cave.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Debunking the Myth: Men Over 40 Think Twice About Reading Bloomberg
I have finally had enough and am taking it to the street, that street being Bloomberg. Here is the poorly written, and even more importantly, poorly researched article written on June 21, 2013:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-20/men-over-40-should-think-twice-before-running-triathlons.html
Nice headline. "Running triathlons." Really? That is how you start the article? Let me guess, the writer has never "ran" a triathlon....
Don't get me wrong, there are a couple nuggets of truth in this article...athletes aged 40-49 and 50-59 make up two of the largest age groups competing in triathlon. True. The swim leg of the race is where the most fatalities occur. True. Competition changes are coming. Probably true. The rest of the article is basically a well-publicized and well-marketed warning label for those who compete in the sport, with very little data research and interpretation. Weird that a media behemoth would conjure fear in its audience for hits to its website...Now it's my (and probably all triathlete's) turn:
Let me preface this post by stating that my heart goes out to the families of those who have passed by competing in this sport that we all share the same passion for. It is a travesty and I truly believe that as participation increases, individual awareness and event coordinator controls will eventually increase (fortunately or unfortunately, save for another discussion...think wave swim starts). Now to the research/science behind what is going on. You can do a google search and find a plethora of published, reputable studies on SIPE risks among triathletes. At the end of the day, the 99.99% cause of death in triathletes is SIPE. The other .01% would be primarily reflective of accidents while on the bike course. As with any death due to disease or ailment, there are risk factors that can be tested for to determine causality.
Open this article and scroll to page 4: http://www.endurancetriathletes.com/AJEM_oct_2010.pdf This table illustrates a controlled study of 1,411 participants distributed among age-groups and gender, pairing with the actual USAT distribution of those same groups. The first thing you should note is that there were 31 deaths, or 2.2% of athletes. The next thing you should note is that the 3 largest groups based on # of participants have the highest rate of deaths, makes sense so far. The group with the largest number of deaths is 40-49, hence the title of the Bloomberg article. Interestingly enough, what does not correlate to the Bloomberg article is the fact that that 22 (65%) of the 31 total deaths in the study were women, not men. 24 of the 31 deaths had normal blood pressure (or no known abnormal blood pressure prior to racing). 30 of the 31 deaths were non-diabetics. So we can scratch off diabetes and abnormal blood pressure from causality.
Here are the nutritional risk factors:
Here are, in my opinion, the truly tangible risk factors:
After reviewing this study, along with additional research available in various medical journals, we can conclude that the vast majority of deaths in triathlon occur by individuals who are ill-prepared for the race they are competing in. Whether it is a hydration, nutrition or acclimation (water, wetsuit, venue, etc.) issue, athletes are more likely to perish if they forego the proper training for the event they are competing in. Reading that statement over again, it seems common sense. The most interesting data point to me is the fact that 70% of fatalities occurred in short-course events. I have to presume this is due to the fact that athletes who compete in long-course events are better prepared, perhaps out of fear, for the event they are competing in. It would be interesting to see a data point on how many events those who perished competed in prior to their death. Were they seasoned athletes or more casual about their racing and/or training?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-20/men-over-40-should-think-twice-before-running-triathlons.html
Nice headline. "Running triathlons." Really? That is how you start the article? Let me guess, the writer has never "ran" a triathlon....
Don't get me wrong, there are a couple nuggets of truth in this article...athletes aged 40-49 and 50-59 make up two of the largest age groups competing in triathlon. True. The swim leg of the race is where the most fatalities occur. True. Competition changes are coming. Probably true. The rest of the article is basically a well-publicized and well-marketed warning label for those who compete in the sport, with very little data research and interpretation. Weird that a media behemoth would conjure fear in its audience for hits to its website...Now it's my (and probably all triathlete's) turn:
Let me preface this post by stating that my heart goes out to the families of those who have passed by competing in this sport that we all share the same passion for. It is a travesty and I truly believe that as participation increases, individual awareness and event coordinator controls will eventually increase (fortunately or unfortunately, save for another discussion...think wave swim starts). Now to the research/science behind what is going on. You can do a google search and find a plethora of published, reputable studies on SIPE risks among triathletes. At the end of the day, the 99.99% cause of death in triathletes is SIPE. The other .01% would be primarily reflective of accidents while on the bike course. As with any death due to disease or ailment, there are risk factors that can be tested for to determine causality.
Open this article and scroll to page 4: http://www.endurancetriathletes.com/AJEM_oct_2010.pdf This table illustrates a controlled study of 1,411 participants distributed among age-groups and gender, pairing with the actual USAT distribution of those same groups. The first thing you should note is that there were 31 deaths, or 2.2% of athletes. The next thing you should note is that the 3 largest groups based on # of participants have the highest rate of deaths, makes sense so far. The group with the largest number of deaths is 40-49, hence the title of the Bloomberg article. Interestingly enough, what does not correlate to the Bloomberg article is the fact that that 22 (65%) of the 31 total deaths in the study were women, not men. 24 of the 31 deaths had normal blood pressure (or no known abnormal blood pressure prior to racing). 30 of the 31 deaths were non-diabetics. So we can scratch off diabetes and abnormal blood pressure from causality.
- 22 of the 31 (71%) deaths had low, or no, vitamin C concentration in their system during autopsy
- 27 of the 31 (87%) deaths had low, or no, vitamin E concentration in their system during autopsy
- 26 of 31 (84%) had low, or no, flax seed oil in their system during autopsy
- 23 of 31 (74%) athletes who perished were categorized by surviving family members and friends as “not strong” swimmers
- 26 of 31 (84%) athletes who perished did NOT participate in a pre-race warm-up swim
- 22 of 31 (71%) athletes who perished drank less than 1L of fluids prior to the swim
- 22 of 31 (71%) athletes who perished did so in an OWS, not a pool
- 18 of 31 (58%) athletes who perished did so wearing a wetsuit
- 21 of 31 (68%) athletes who perished did so on a SHORT course triathlon, that is, events less than 70.3 and 140.6
- 19 of 31 (61%) athletes who perished trained in lower heat index environments vs. hotter climates
- Women aged 40-60 are most susceptible to death from SIPE while competing in triathlon
- 90% of athletes who perished were in good health, as evidenced by normal blood pressure and non-diabetic characteristics
- Events that utilize an OWS and allow wetsuits are more likely to have fatalities
- Athletes who take the opportunity to do a warm-up swim before the gun are less likely to perish
- Athletes who are properly hydrated before the gun are less likely to perish
- Athletes who have properly supplemented their nutrition are less likely to perish
- Training in hotter climates reduces the risk of death in competition
- Athletes participating in short-course events are more likely to perish given the above risk factors
After reviewing this study, along with additional research available in various medical journals, we can conclude that the vast majority of deaths in triathlon occur by individuals who are ill-prepared for the race they are competing in. Whether it is a hydration, nutrition or acclimation (water, wetsuit, venue, etc.) issue, athletes are more likely to perish if they forego the proper training for the event they are competing in. Reading that statement over again, it seems common sense. The most interesting data point to me is the fact that 70% of fatalities occurred in short-course events. I have to presume this is due to the fact that athletes who compete in long-course events are better prepared, perhaps out of fear, for the event they are competing in. It would be interesting to see a data point on how many events those who perished competed in prior to their death. Were they seasoned athletes or more casual about their racing and/or training?
I did this research because the article
evoked a fear in me and I wanted some support for the theory. We will all eventually be in these age-groups! I love this sport and NEVER want to hear of, or know of,
anyone who passes while in competition. I pray to God that it never happens to me or anyone I know. That being said, I think we need more
definitive data than the blanket statement that the Bloomberg article made. I
hope this sheds some light on what is becoming quite a controversial topic in
our sport.
And remember, sometimes finishing the race = winning the race....Know your limitations before the gun and race your race accordingly.
And remember, sometimes finishing the race = winning the race....Know your limitations before the gun and race your race accordingly.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Relaxed, recharged and at peace
"No man is an island."
True statement. But after leaving St. John after a seven day hiatus from my existence in Houston, I am envious of the serenity and solitude that an island possesses. I made a commitment to rest, yes rest, a foreign concept to me, for the past thirty days following ironman which culminated with a trip to the virgin islands last week. Serene was the view from the beaches that we visited, and solitary was my life away from emails, conference calls and board meetings. Much overdue. Check out the view from the balcony of the villa we stayed in (apologies for the fedora, when in Rome...):
Although this was in theory a vacation, I still made a point to do something active each day. I was able to fit in some open water swimming, snorkeling without fins and even went for a jog. The jog was a disaster and my quads were destroyed for the rest of the week. Here's why:
Although the sea is accessible, we are not at sea level. Much to the contrary, the roads such as the above, disappear by cornering and falling straight down into a 200-300' descent. Not terrible on the way down, extremely difficult on the way back home. I got in approximately 2.2 miles which took an hour to achieve. In Houston, I can run 2.2 miles in under 15 minutes without elevating my heart rate. The views on the run were rewarding and the solitude was good therapy, and I felt a recharging of my body when I was finished. Damn those hills....
In my past life, vacation was something we did because I felt like it had to be done. I would go away for a few days, be stressed out the entire time and then come home more exhausted than I left. Not on this trip. I have put my body through so much turmoil (albeit enjoyable and rewarding) and my mind has been so busy at work that the island lifestyle was much appreciated. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to relax, to recharge and to find peace. I returned to Houston with energy and motivation to take on the next challenge. I cannot express how important it is to take a step back, relax and reassess.
Many thanks to my mother and father-in-law for setting up the trip and to Emily for making sure that I was on board to go. I have never seen such great snorkeling, eaten such great food and enjoyed the beach so much as I did on this trip....
True statement. But after leaving St. John after a seven day hiatus from my existence in Houston, I am envious of the serenity and solitude that an island possesses. I made a commitment to rest, yes rest, a foreign concept to me, for the past thirty days following ironman which culminated with a trip to the virgin islands last week. Serene was the view from the beaches that we visited, and solitary was my life away from emails, conference calls and board meetings. Much overdue. Check out the view from the balcony of the villa we stayed in (apologies for the fedora, when in Rome...):
Although this was in theory a vacation, I still made a point to do something active each day. I was able to fit in some open water swimming, snorkeling without fins and even went for a jog. The jog was a disaster and my quads were destroyed for the rest of the week. Here's why:
Although the sea is accessible, we are not at sea level. Much to the contrary, the roads such as the above, disappear by cornering and falling straight down into a 200-300' descent. Not terrible on the way down, extremely difficult on the way back home. I got in approximately 2.2 miles which took an hour to achieve. In Houston, I can run 2.2 miles in under 15 minutes without elevating my heart rate. The views on the run were rewarding and the solitude was good therapy, and I felt a recharging of my body when I was finished. Damn those hills....
In my past life, vacation was something we did because I felt like it had to be done. I would go away for a few days, be stressed out the entire time and then come home more exhausted than I left. Not on this trip. I have put my body through so much turmoil (albeit enjoyable and rewarding) and my mind has been so busy at work that the island lifestyle was much appreciated. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to relax, to recharge and to find peace. I returned to Houston with energy and motivation to take on the next challenge. I cannot express how important it is to take a step back, relax and reassess.
Many thanks to my mother and father-in-law for setting up the trip and to Emily for making sure that I was on board to go. I have never seen such great snorkeling, eaten such great food and enjoyed the beach so much as I did on this trip....
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Ironman Texas race recap
What a journey this has been....It has taken me almost two weeks to come off of the ironman high and collect my thoughts enough to describe how poignant the entire experience was for me. I will attempt to succinctly describe my experience beginning the Wednesday before the race and ending the Sunday after the race. I will preface the post with an apology...just as the event was long and took stamina to finish, this blog post will probably feel the same way to an outside reader, but its important to me that I archive everything that we did on this journey, so feel free to skip around as I have chronologically labeled the entry.
WEDNESDAY
The fun began for me on the Wednesday before the race. Since Ironman Texas is forced (by The Woodlands township) to be on Saturday unlike the typical IM model of Sunday racing, I had made arrangements to have my bike tuned up at Bicycle World and ready for pick-up on Wednesday. The mechanics did a superb job of tuning the gears, truing the wheels and cleaning all of the hardware. After my short 45 min run that afternoon, I set out all of the gear I needed for the race and tried to organize it into piles according to the stages it would be used in. I used plastic baggies to separate pre-race, T1, bike, T2 and run nutrition and wrote on them with magic marker so that it would be easy to throw them into the appropriate bags. The bottom half of our house was entirely covered...
THURSDAY
I planned to work half a day on Thursday so that I could get to packet pick-up before the 4pm deadline. After the hike from downtown to The Woodlands, I met Jamie at the "Ironman arch" that opened up the expo area and packet tents. After walking through the chutes like cattle on the way to a slaughter, we finally got all of our gear bags, signed the medical release and made our way into the brand area where you can purchase everything from nutrition bars to fully setup bikes. I ended up getting out of there having only purchased a t-shirt, some socks and a handful of bonk breaker bars. Since it was getting late in the day, I decided to skip the athlete dinner and the briefing so that I could make the hour trip home and begin packing. I knew it was going to be a long night and that I needed to be on the road at 7am the next morning with all of my stuff to make the 8am morning swim session in Lake Woodlands. Having everything organized certainly made a difference and I would later credit my preparedness on race day with the work I put into making sure everything was in a designated pile. By 11pm, I had successfully tagged and bagged everything and hit the sack feeling confident that no matter how difficult the race was going to be, I was not going to forget anything. Here is the organized version:
Morning Clothes Bag (aka, bag you will need before after the race)
- flip flops
- gym shorts
- dri-fit shirt
- aspirin
- Recoverite and water bottle
- wetsuit
- goggles (and extra set)*
- race day swim cap*
- timing chip/strap*
- chamois gel
- Body Glide anti-chafe*
Bike Gear Bag
- bike shoes
- bike helmet
- sunglasses
- Electrosalts (20)
- Race Legs (20)
- Endurolytes (20)
- Hammer Gel (4)
- Bonk Breaker (1)
- Garmin watch and heart rate monitor
Run Gear Bag
- Newton's
- socks (don't normally wear them, but thank God I had them...)
- towel
- Electrosalts (20)
- Race Legs (20)
- Endurolytes (20)
- Hammer Gel (4)
- Bonk Breaker (1)
I weighed the pros and cons of packing my "special needs" bags and decided to go ahead and plan on using them on race day. Here is a brief synopsis of what I put into each bag:
Bike Special Needs
- pb&j sandwich
- aspirin
Run Special Needs
- pickles
- tonic water
- extra socks
FRIDAY
Up at 7am, truck loaded and was on the road to Jamie's to meet before the swim practice.
*I have to make a plug for Larabar nutrition....rewind 3 months when Jamie and I did our first long bike ride. It was 40 degrees out, windy and miserable and our hands were frozen the entire ride. We made it 60+ miles and got back to the trucks to start our run. I pulled out a cherry pie flavored Larabar that I bought at Kroger the night before and took a bite, amazed out how good it tasted and more amazed out how much it brightened my spirits. Jamie didn't believe me when I told him how closely it tasted like cherry pie, so he took a bite and immediately had a smile on his face. From that moment on when times got tough during training, we always went back to the cherry pie Larabar story and were able to push through the day. Long story made longer, when I arrived at his house on Friday before IMTX, there was a box of Larabars on the bed. Jamie had contacted them to tell them this same story and they took the time to send us 2 boxes of bars and 2 t-shirts, for free, with a hand written note telling us good luck on our race. Talk about customer service...I will forever be a Larabar fan and will always include them in my nutrition plan!*
Jamie and I ended up at the swim practice around 9am to swim the 1,000m course that was put together for the athletes. We followed up the swim with a 20min run through The Woodlands and before heading back to Jamie and Nikki's, we stopped by HEB and bought a couple pounds of sockeye salmon for dinner along with as much Gatorade and coconut water that we could carry. By tradition, we always have a Maui Brewing Co. coconut porter beer on the night before a race, so thank God I finally found it among the plethora of beer choices. All was well. After we headed back to Jamie's, I took the opportunity to ride my bike around the neighborhood to test the gears and tires and then rummaged through my bags one last time. Another quick plug for the great job that the crew at Bicycle World- West U. did in getting my bike race ready. The entire drive train was taken apart, cleaned and reassembled with tweaks that I specifically asked for. I was very impressed with their work.
I spent what seemed an eternity going through my checklist and double-checking to make sure I had everything. I finally overcame the nervousness by remembering that worrying solves nothing and that I was leaving this whole thing up to God and my only job was to have a good time, a theme that I would have to come back to multiple times throughout the weekend. We loaded up the trucks with our bikes and bags, and headed back up to the transition area. I cannot stress how well organized Ironman events are in comparison to other races...you are again funneled through a maze and the volunteers made the check-in process systematic, taking away the stress of not knowing where to put everything. Bike is racked, bike and run bags are placed in numerical order on their respective pathways, and then you are done. Just as quick as you started, you are out of the transition area and back on the street. The temperature was just north of 90 and I was sweating...I remember thinking at this point that it was going to feel the same tomorrow, only I'd be grinding away at around mile 70 of the bike, not standing around talking. Damn.
This area of The Woodlands was constructed with pedestrians in mind. There was an HEB across the street from the transition area (that had air conditioning) so we stepped inside and bought some Gatorade and coconut water to cool off. Instead of heading home and biting our nails, we decided to catch a movie to take our minds off of the challenge ahead. The obvious choice was to see Ironman 3, so we loaded up on salty, carbohydrate rich popcorn and sat down to relax and watch the movie. When the movie ended we were both pretty tired so we headed home to get dinner going and put our feet up. Big thanks to Nikki for preparing what tasted like the best meal I had ever had, even though I kept thinking to myself that this is how death row inmates probably feel the night before their final hour. Whatever they choose to eat, I am sure it is the best meal they have ever had. My nutrition plan the week prior to Ironman consisted solely of coconut water, Gatorade, fish/shrimp and brown rice, and yogurt with an apple. Everyday. All week.
After putting on our Tri Tats race numbers, we toasted our beers and talked strategy, watched some Tosh.0 and then it was bedtime at 9pm. I knew I was not going to sleep more than a couple of hours, so I plugged in my iPod and listened to The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack on a loop. I received multiple texts and emails from family and friends, all of which I am thankful for, but the best came from my friends Chris and Kevin who sent along inspirational quotes and scriptures that helped me to remember that this thing was conquerable. This motivation put things back into perspective for me, aiding my sleep, and before I knew it my alarm was going off. It was 3am on race day.
RACE DAY/SATURDAY
Ironman takes a full day of your life; from the time you are settled down enough to sleep the night before, until your head hits the pillow after the race, you have expended 24 hours.I woke up at 3am and immediately began my hydration plan. I slammed a coconut water, a 20oz Gatorade with amino acid powder, and my pre-emptive does of anti-cramp (6 Endurolytes, 6 SportsLegs and 6 ElectroSalt tablets). I also forced down 2 cans of Ensure and a Perpetuem drink. Luckily this took about 5min to accomplish, so I was able to lay back down for an hour before waking up for good. When the alarm went off at 4am, I felt like I had been sleeping for days. I immediately went back to my nutrition and hydration plan by taking down a 20oz Gatorade, a pb&j sandwich and an apple. I grabbed my last coconut water and took another pre-emptive dose anti-cramp pills. I felt full which is what I was going for. Lathered up with chamois cream and thew on the tri-kit. Another plug for Epix Gear...their tri-kits are the best I have ever worn. Hands down.
Jamie and I met downstairs, which Nikki had turned into a mini pep rally for us both. It took off some of the nerves to see all of the signs she made and to read the note that she left each of us. Even better was her march into the kitchen singing The Final Countdown, a song that we have joked about for the last 6 months. It never gets out of your head (I bet it is in yours now...)! We loaded up the truck with our morning clothes bag and off we went, knowing nothing about what lie ahead waiting for us, but feeling good about the journey that we had taken to get here. It was time.
After making last minute adjustments (adding nutrition) to our bikes, we made the mile long trek to the swim start which was a carnival of people all standing in line for the port-o-johns. I felt the same emotion as the first time I visited Manhattan...I am surrounded by so many people buzzing in so many different directions, but all somehow attempting to accomplish the same goal. My head didn't stop spinning until I heard Emily's voice. Somehow she and Nikki had managed to find us in the crowd of 3000+ people:
Before we could say hello and give a few hugs, we were being summoned to the water via a loud speaker, giving us 15 min before the gun. I turned in my morning clothes bag, strapped on my goggles and swim cap and made my way into the water with 2,500 other people. Treading water for 10+ minutes was difficult enough, made even more stressful by the constant elbowing and kicking of fellow athletes all anxious to begin the 140.6 mile voyage to the finish line. Bang. The last thought that went through my head was how quickly the 3 months of training had culminated and how it was almost sad to be over. This was very, very quickly erased by the fight or flight response. You only have two choices at this moment, taking me back to my first blog post, "get busy livin' or get busy dyin'."
SWIM
"The churning inside me never ceases; days of suffering confront me." - Job 30:27
This was an extremely difficult swim, from both a navigation and a physical viewpoint. Every moment I began to feel comfortable was immediately overtaken by a kick to the head or someone grabbing my ankles. My normally long, controlled strokes were reduced to choppy shallow strokes that used more energy to stay afloat. Sighting each buoy was met with kicking water and bodies all around me, in a panic, to get to the transition area. After rounding the turn buoy, I could see the bridge in the distance so my goal was to remain calm and keep moving forward. At the 2 mile marker, I approached a female athlete and maneuvered to pass her in the canal, only to have her swim directly into my down stroke. My hand caught her goggles and ripped them right off of her face. I stopped and looked back with my apology, but had to keep moving so I truly hope she made it out of the water and finished the race! I finally saw the red carpet and stood up, never more glad to get out of the water in my entire life. Now the real work began.... swim time: a sobering 1:38, personal worst
T1/BIKE
"Rejoice in your sufferings for suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope." - Romans 5:4
I don't know exactly what it was that I expected in the transition tent, but it definitely was not close to reality. It wasn't until I began to write this section of the post that I was able to reflect upon the tent...I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed into the white circus tent to find just that, a circus. People were everywhere, some naked, some clothed, some moving slowly and some moving as though the tent were on fire. None worrying about what any of the others were doing. I don't remember much of anything else, aside from just trying to take down all of my nutrition and make sure I had my bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I got out of there as quickly as possible and headed to the bike racks (thankfully with my clothes on).
The first 20 miles of the bike went by at the speed of a dream. Before I knew it, I was coasting through Hwy 105 and heading up through the hills to Richards. Jamie and I had done the route so many times that it was routine. I knew exactly how far out I was, when I needed nutrition and when the next milestone on the ride was. The half-way point came without error and had me feeling very good for having ridden for ~60 miles. I stopped for 2min to grab my special needs bag and treated myself to a pb&j sandwich with a coconut water picnic. As I was taking off to resume the ride, I saw a guy trash his $10k+ bike by ramming into the back of another athlete who stopped to grab a special needs bag. The hub on his front wheel was bent and he was done for the day....There are so many things that can go wrong on the bike and you take calculated risks each time you get in the saddle. Traffic, flats, holes in a tire, chain breaks, gear slips, etc. etc. I thank God every time I finish a ride because you never know when the unexpected becomes your reality...
As we approached miles 70-75, we were deep into the chip sealed roads headed back down to Hwy 105 and were taking on substantial head winds. Staying aero helped mitigate the wind but took a toll on the lower back jostling down the rough roads. The relief you feel by hitting the clean pavement is mentally and physically astounding, and is one of the "wins" you get on the course to keep you moving ahead. I tore through Jackson road and found myself on 1488 headed to the mile 85-95 stretch, and decided to stop at the water station to refill my Speedfill and grab some ice to put in my jersey as it was approx. 91 degrees at this point in the race. One of the volunteers told me her Accuweather's "feels like" temperature was 98 degrees when she included the 90% humidity...I hopped back on my bike to finish out the 1488 stretch to Tamina road and turned to corner heading to 2928/Woodlands Pkwy. As I shifted down to pick up speed, I felt a small snap in my left knee cap and noticed a pop on every revolution of the pedals. This was mile ~88 with 24 more to go, plus a 26.2 mile hump on foot...
I tried to ignore all of the possibilities that were going through my head and just focused on getting off of the bike and into the run. I found that I had little power from my leg and the pain was getting worse and worse as I drudged along. By mile 95, my average speed had dwindled down from 19mph to 16, to 15 where it felt comfortable to pedal and I was able to push myself across the chip timer and into the bike racks where I hopped off and noticed the bit of swelling that was coming on. Handed off my bike, shoes and helmet to my volunteer and jogged into the transition tent to take a seat. Damn...
bike time: 6:36 aka terrible...
T2/RUN
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30
In the transition tent, I noticed the type of folks I normally race with were not to be found, i.e., they were already running. I sat next to a guy who looked at me straight face and asked, "if I walk this whole f*ing thing, will I finish?" I looked down at my Garmin, did some elementary math, and politely said, "of course, just walk fast." Calculating my walking pace against the race deadline...a position I never thought I would be in...I slapped on my shoes, took down as much water as I could stomach and 500mg of salt, headed out of the tent and into the fiery abyss that was a May afternoon in Texas. I knew this was going to hurt, but I also knew there was nothing left to happen to me that was going to keep me from crossing that finish line, even if it was midnight.
My first mile felt OK, albeit wobbly, but I pulled out a 9min/mile pace and worked my way down the loop and into the swim start. As I rounded through North Shore park and onto The Woodlands trail, I noticed the pain was getting worse and I had no power coming off of my foot strike and into my stride. Rather than risking tearing something completely, I decided to run a mile and then walk for 60 seconds, then repeat. This plan worked for about 8 miles into the run, and got me through the first of three loops. Emily had posted up at the turn of the loops and I was amazed to see so many family members and friends in her group, along with Jamie's family/friends---again, it's the little "wins" that keep you going and seeing so many smiling faces all screaming words of encouragement was a refreshing break from the beating of a day it had become. My pace slowed to 12min/mile on loop two and by the time I made it back to the turn on the waterway, Emily was running in her flip flops along the route and yelling at me to keep going...she was running faster than I was! By the time I made it to the special needs area of the third loop, I was so very glad that I had made the decision to pack a run bag. I stopped, sat on the curb with 50 other people and enjoyed two pickles and a bottle of tonic water. It sounded good when I was packing and was even better when I was racing...again, the little "wins."
I saw a co-worker of mine on the turn through the woods at mile 20 which gave me enough steam to push the final stretch to the waterway. When I made my way down to the tunnel entering the waterway at mile 22 my body turned numb as I heard the cheering and yelling that was taking place along the route. Seeing Emily, Mom, Dad, Brother, Mother/Father-in-law as I paced up towards mile 23 was exhilarating and I wasn't thinking about my knee, my back, my quads, my calves or my feet, just finishing and a sense of accomplishment began to shoot adrenaline throughout my entire body. I turned the corner at mile 25 and began to sprint towards the finishing chute...
When you turn into the chute, you are greeted by hundreds upon hundreds of people you have never met, never will meet and will never share any other moment outside of this one. They are all yelling for you, screaming your name because it is printed on your race number. For that 60 seconds you are their hero, their inspiration, and the reason why they will train for months to compete in this event one day. It is very clear to me now why professional athletes find it so difficult to retire...the rush you get from people yelling your name and believing in you far surpasses the high from any other source and it is addicting. Hearing Mike Reilly scream your name into the microphone was worth the trip: "KELLY BELCHER FROM HOUSTON TEXAS, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" final time: 14:14
EPILOGUE
I was lucky to get into a great orthopedic surgeon on Monday after the race who confirmed the extent of my knee injury, made his diagnosis and then put me on a medication/stretching plan to heal the knee, no surgery needed. I have a trifecta of a small tendon tear, tendinitis and bursitis. Here is an image of my knee taken at 5am after the race:
The "knob" is the dead tissue just hanging out on top of my knee. The pain is from the tendinitis. All ligaments are perfectly fine and ready to run. Two weeks off from intense training...
What an incredible experience this was....when I signed up for that first sprint triathlon in August of 2011, Ironman wasn't even on my radar as something that I would think of doing, let alone actually completing. Now I am planning the next one. For me, Ironman was not simply an athletic event that I got a wild hair and signed up for, trained for and completed. It was much more complex than that. This was a spiritual journey for me, one in which I became a different (and better) person. Life is not as serious anymore and things that used to bring upon stress are little more than small bumps in the road. I know now that if I am given time, there are no problems that cannot be solved with determination, grit and hard work. I know now that the feeling spent in a dark place is minuscule when compared to the sense of accomplishment that you get when you fight your way out and back into the light.
I also know now why it is called Ironman...it's because you are recast into something indestructible after you go through the experience. You are physically, mentally and emotionally changed for the better. Iron is a very durable metal that is borne out of a perfect combination of extreme heat, carbon byproducts and oxygen. We as human beings are created with 2 of the 3 ingredients: carbon and oxygen. The extreme heat is all around us, whether it be a bad relationship, bad job, bad health or an overall bad disposition. Once you learn how to hone all of this heat into a fuel, you begin the slow and tedious process of recasting yourself with iron...
A list of things I could not do without in this experience (in order of importance to me):
- family, my training partner Jamie, and friends who came to support me
- coconut water
- Electrosalts
- socks
- Bonk Breaker pb&j
- pickles
- tonic water
- Larabar cherry pie
- chicken broth at the water stops
- ice at the water stops
Thank you for following me on this journey...I hope that you are inspired and that you will be turned into iron!
WEDNESDAY
The fun began for me on the Wednesday before the race. Since Ironman Texas is forced (by The Woodlands township) to be on Saturday unlike the typical IM model of Sunday racing, I had made arrangements to have my bike tuned up at Bicycle World and ready for pick-up on Wednesday. The mechanics did a superb job of tuning the gears, truing the wheels and cleaning all of the hardware. After my short 45 min run that afternoon, I set out all of the gear I needed for the race and tried to organize it into piles according to the stages it would be used in. I used plastic baggies to separate pre-race, T1, bike, T2 and run nutrition and wrote on them with magic marker so that it would be easy to throw them into the appropriate bags. The bottom half of our house was entirely covered...
THURSDAY
I planned to work half a day on Thursday so that I could get to packet pick-up before the 4pm deadline. After the hike from downtown to The Woodlands, I met Jamie at the "Ironman arch" that opened up the expo area and packet tents. After walking through the chutes like cattle on the way to a slaughter, we finally got all of our gear bags, signed the medical release and made our way into the brand area where you can purchase everything from nutrition bars to fully setup bikes. I ended up getting out of there having only purchased a t-shirt, some socks and a handful of bonk breaker bars. Since it was getting late in the day, I decided to skip the athlete dinner and the briefing so that I could make the hour trip home and begin packing. I knew it was going to be a long night and that I needed to be on the road at 7am the next morning with all of my stuff to make the 8am morning swim session in Lake Woodlands. Having everything organized certainly made a difference and I would later credit my preparedness on race day with the work I put into making sure everything was in a designated pile. By 11pm, I had successfully tagged and bagged everything and hit the sack feeling confident that no matter how difficult the race was going to be, I was not going to forget anything. Here is the organized version:
Morning Clothes Bag (aka, bag you will need before after the race)
- flip flops
- gym shorts
- dri-fit shirt
- aspirin
- Recoverite and water bottle
- wetsuit
- goggles (and extra set)*
- race day swim cap*
- timing chip/strap*
- chamois gel
- Body Glide anti-chafe*
Bike Gear Bag
- bike shoes
- bike helmet
- sunglasses
- Electrosalts (20)
- Race Legs (20)
- Endurolytes (20)
- Hammer Gel (4)
- Bonk Breaker (1)
- Garmin watch and heart rate monitor
Run Gear Bag
- Newton's
- socks (don't normally wear them, but thank God I had them...)
- towel
- Electrosalts (20)
- Race Legs (20)
- Endurolytes (20)
- Hammer Gel (4)
- Bonk Breaker (1)
I weighed the pros and cons of packing my "special needs" bags and decided to go ahead and plan on using them on race day. Here is a brief synopsis of what I put into each bag:
Bike Special Needs
- pb&j sandwich
- aspirin
Run Special Needs
- pickles
- tonic water
- extra socks
FRIDAY
Up at 7am, truck loaded and was on the road to Jamie's to meet before the swim practice.
*I have to make a plug for Larabar nutrition....rewind 3 months when Jamie and I did our first long bike ride. It was 40 degrees out, windy and miserable and our hands were frozen the entire ride. We made it 60+ miles and got back to the trucks to start our run. I pulled out a cherry pie flavored Larabar that I bought at Kroger the night before and took a bite, amazed out how good it tasted and more amazed out how much it brightened my spirits. Jamie didn't believe me when I told him how closely it tasted like cherry pie, so he took a bite and immediately had a smile on his face. From that moment on when times got tough during training, we always went back to the cherry pie Larabar story and were able to push through the day. Long story made longer, when I arrived at his house on Friday before IMTX, there was a box of Larabars on the bed. Jamie had contacted them to tell them this same story and they took the time to send us 2 boxes of bars and 2 t-shirts, for free, with a hand written note telling us good luck on our race. Talk about customer service...I will forever be a Larabar fan and will always include them in my nutrition plan!*
Jamie and I ended up at the swim practice around 9am to swim the 1,000m course that was put together for the athletes. We followed up the swim with a 20min run through The Woodlands and before heading back to Jamie and Nikki's, we stopped by HEB and bought a couple pounds of sockeye salmon for dinner along with as much Gatorade and coconut water that we could carry. By tradition, we always have a Maui Brewing Co. coconut porter beer on the night before a race, so thank God I finally found it among the plethora of beer choices. All was well. After we headed back to Jamie's, I took the opportunity to ride my bike around the neighborhood to test the gears and tires and then rummaged through my bags one last time. Another quick plug for the great job that the crew at Bicycle World- West U. did in getting my bike race ready. The entire drive train was taken apart, cleaned and reassembled with tweaks that I specifically asked for. I was very impressed with their work.
I spent what seemed an eternity going through my checklist and double-checking to make sure I had everything. I finally overcame the nervousness by remembering that worrying solves nothing and that I was leaving this whole thing up to God and my only job was to have a good time, a theme that I would have to come back to multiple times throughout the weekend. We loaded up the trucks with our bikes and bags, and headed back up to the transition area. I cannot stress how well organized Ironman events are in comparison to other races...you are again funneled through a maze and the volunteers made the check-in process systematic, taking away the stress of not knowing where to put everything. Bike is racked, bike and run bags are placed in numerical order on their respective pathways, and then you are done. Just as quick as you started, you are out of the transition area and back on the street. The temperature was just north of 90 and I was sweating...I remember thinking at this point that it was going to feel the same tomorrow, only I'd be grinding away at around mile 70 of the bike, not standing around talking. Damn.
This area of The Woodlands was constructed with pedestrians in mind. There was an HEB across the street from the transition area (that had air conditioning) so we stepped inside and bought some Gatorade and coconut water to cool off. Instead of heading home and biting our nails, we decided to catch a movie to take our minds off of the challenge ahead. The obvious choice was to see Ironman 3, so we loaded up on salty, carbohydrate rich popcorn and sat down to relax and watch the movie. When the movie ended we were both pretty tired so we headed home to get dinner going and put our feet up. Big thanks to Nikki for preparing what tasted like the best meal I had ever had, even though I kept thinking to myself that this is how death row inmates probably feel the night before their final hour. Whatever they choose to eat, I am sure it is the best meal they have ever had. My nutrition plan the week prior to Ironman consisted solely of coconut water, Gatorade, fish/shrimp and brown rice, and yogurt with an apple. Everyday. All week.
After putting on our Tri Tats race numbers, we toasted our beers and talked strategy, watched some Tosh.0 and then it was bedtime at 9pm. I knew I was not going to sleep more than a couple of hours, so I plugged in my iPod and listened to The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack on a loop. I received multiple texts and emails from family and friends, all of which I am thankful for, but the best came from my friends Chris and Kevin who sent along inspirational quotes and scriptures that helped me to remember that this thing was conquerable. This motivation put things back into perspective for me, aiding my sleep, and before I knew it my alarm was going off. It was 3am on race day.
RACE DAY/SATURDAY
Ironman takes a full day of your life; from the time you are settled down enough to sleep the night before, until your head hits the pillow after the race, you have expended 24 hours.I woke up at 3am and immediately began my hydration plan. I slammed a coconut water, a 20oz Gatorade with amino acid powder, and my pre-emptive does of anti-cramp (6 Endurolytes, 6 SportsLegs and 6 ElectroSalt tablets). I also forced down 2 cans of Ensure and a Perpetuem drink. Luckily this took about 5min to accomplish, so I was able to lay back down for an hour before waking up for good. When the alarm went off at 4am, I felt like I had been sleeping for days. I immediately went back to my nutrition and hydration plan by taking down a 20oz Gatorade, a pb&j sandwich and an apple. I grabbed my last coconut water and took another pre-emptive dose anti-cramp pills. I felt full which is what I was going for. Lathered up with chamois cream and thew on the tri-kit. Another plug for Epix Gear...their tri-kits are the best I have ever worn. Hands down.
Jamie and I met downstairs, which Nikki had turned into a mini pep rally for us both. It took off some of the nerves to see all of the signs she made and to read the note that she left each of us. Even better was her march into the kitchen singing The Final Countdown, a song that we have joked about for the last 6 months. It never gets out of your head (I bet it is in yours now...)! We loaded up the truck with our morning clothes bag and off we went, knowing nothing about what lie ahead waiting for us, but feeling good about the journey that we had taken to get here. It was time.
After making last minute adjustments (adding nutrition) to our bikes, we made the mile long trek to the swim start which was a carnival of people all standing in line for the port-o-johns. I felt the same emotion as the first time I visited Manhattan...I am surrounded by so many people buzzing in so many different directions, but all somehow attempting to accomplish the same goal. My head didn't stop spinning until I heard Emily's voice. Somehow she and Nikki had managed to find us in the crowd of 3000+ people:
Before we could say hello and give a few hugs, we were being summoned to the water via a loud speaker, giving us 15 min before the gun. I turned in my morning clothes bag, strapped on my goggles and swim cap and made my way into the water with 2,500 other people. Treading water for 10+ minutes was difficult enough, made even more stressful by the constant elbowing and kicking of fellow athletes all anxious to begin the 140.6 mile voyage to the finish line. Bang. The last thought that went through my head was how quickly the 3 months of training had culminated and how it was almost sad to be over. This was very, very quickly erased by the fight or flight response. You only have two choices at this moment, taking me back to my first blog post, "get busy livin' or get busy dyin'."
SWIM
"The churning inside me never ceases; days of suffering confront me." - Job 30:27
This was an extremely difficult swim, from both a navigation and a physical viewpoint. Every moment I began to feel comfortable was immediately overtaken by a kick to the head or someone grabbing my ankles. My normally long, controlled strokes were reduced to choppy shallow strokes that used more energy to stay afloat. Sighting each buoy was met with kicking water and bodies all around me, in a panic, to get to the transition area. After rounding the turn buoy, I could see the bridge in the distance so my goal was to remain calm and keep moving forward. At the 2 mile marker, I approached a female athlete and maneuvered to pass her in the canal, only to have her swim directly into my down stroke. My hand caught her goggles and ripped them right off of her face. I stopped and looked back with my apology, but had to keep moving so I truly hope she made it out of the water and finished the race! I finally saw the red carpet and stood up, never more glad to get out of the water in my entire life. Now the real work began.... swim time: a sobering 1:38, personal worst
T1/BIKE
"Rejoice in your sufferings for suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope." - Romans 5:4
I don't know exactly what it was that I expected in the transition tent, but it definitely was not close to reality. It wasn't until I began to write this section of the post that I was able to reflect upon the tent...I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed into the white circus tent to find just that, a circus. People were everywhere, some naked, some clothed, some moving slowly and some moving as though the tent were on fire. None worrying about what any of the others were doing. I don't remember much of anything else, aside from just trying to take down all of my nutrition and make sure I had my bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I got out of there as quickly as possible and headed to the bike racks (thankfully with my clothes on).
The first 20 miles of the bike went by at the speed of a dream. Before I knew it, I was coasting through Hwy 105 and heading up through the hills to Richards. Jamie and I had done the route so many times that it was routine. I knew exactly how far out I was, when I needed nutrition and when the next milestone on the ride was. The half-way point came without error and had me feeling very good for having ridden for ~60 miles. I stopped for 2min to grab my special needs bag and treated myself to a pb&j sandwich with a coconut water picnic. As I was taking off to resume the ride, I saw a guy trash his $10k+ bike by ramming into the back of another athlete who stopped to grab a special needs bag. The hub on his front wheel was bent and he was done for the day....There are so many things that can go wrong on the bike and you take calculated risks each time you get in the saddle. Traffic, flats, holes in a tire, chain breaks, gear slips, etc. etc. I thank God every time I finish a ride because you never know when the unexpected becomes your reality...
As we approached miles 70-75, we were deep into the chip sealed roads headed back down to Hwy 105 and were taking on substantial head winds. Staying aero helped mitigate the wind but took a toll on the lower back jostling down the rough roads. The relief you feel by hitting the clean pavement is mentally and physically astounding, and is one of the "wins" you get on the course to keep you moving ahead. I tore through Jackson road and found myself on 1488 headed to the mile 85-95 stretch, and decided to stop at the water station to refill my Speedfill and grab some ice to put in my jersey as it was approx. 91 degrees at this point in the race. One of the volunteers told me her Accuweather's "feels like" temperature was 98 degrees when she included the 90% humidity...I hopped back on my bike to finish out the 1488 stretch to Tamina road and turned to corner heading to 2928/Woodlands Pkwy. As I shifted down to pick up speed, I felt a small snap in my left knee cap and noticed a pop on every revolution of the pedals. This was mile ~88 with 24 more to go, plus a 26.2 mile hump on foot...
I tried to ignore all of the possibilities that were going through my head and just focused on getting off of the bike and into the run. I found that I had little power from my leg and the pain was getting worse and worse as I drudged along. By mile 95, my average speed had dwindled down from 19mph to 16, to 15 where it felt comfortable to pedal and I was able to push myself across the chip timer and into the bike racks where I hopped off and noticed the bit of swelling that was coming on. Handed off my bike, shoes and helmet to my volunteer and jogged into the transition tent to take a seat. Damn...
bike time: 6:36 aka terrible...
T2/RUN
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30
In the transition tent, I noticed the type of folks I normally race with were not to be found, i.e., they were already running. I sat next to a guy who looked at me straight face and asked, "if I walk this whole f*ing thing, will I finish?" I looked down at my Garmin, did some elementary math, and politely said, "of course, just walk fast." Calculating my walking pace against the race deadline...a position I never thought I would be in...I slapped on my shoes, took down as much water as I could stomach and 500mg of salt, headed out of the tent and into the fiery abyss that was a May afternoon in Texas. I knew this was going to hurt, but I also knew there was nothing left to happen to me that was going to keep me from crossing that finish line, even if it was midnight.
My first mile felt OK, albeit wobbly, but I pulled out a 9min/mile pace and worked my way down the loop and into the swim start. As I rounded through North Shore park and onto The Woodlands trail, I noticed the pain was getting worse and I had no power coming off of my foot strike and into my stride. Rather than risking tearing something completely, I decided to run a mile and then walk for 60 seconds, then repeat. This plan worked for about 8 miles into the run, and got me through the first of three loops. Emily had posted up at the turn of the loops and I was amazed to see so many family members and friends in her group, along with Jamie's family/friends---again, it's the little "wins" that keep you going and seeing so many smiling faces all screaming words of encouragement was a refreshing break from the beating of a day it had become. My pace slowed to 12min/mile on loop two and by the time I made it back to the turn on the waterway, Emily was running in her flip flops along the route and yelling at me to keep going...she was running faster than I was! By the time I made it to the special needs area of the third loop, I was so very glad that I had made the decision to pack a run bag. I stopped, sat on the curb with 50 other people and enjoyed two pickles and a bottle of tonic water. It sounded good when I was packing and was even better when I was racing...again, the little "wins."
I saw a co-worker of mine on the turn through the woods at mile 20 which gave me enough steam to push the final stretch to the waterway. When I made my way down to the tunnel entering the waterway at mile 22 my body turned numb as I heard the cheering and yelling that was taking place along the route. Seeing Emily, Mom, Dad, Brother, Mother/Father-in-law as I paced up towards mile 23 was exhilarating and I wasn't thinking about my knee, my back, my quads, my calves or my feet, just finishing and a sense of accomplishment began to shoot adrenaline throughout my entire body. I turned the corner at mile 25 and began to sprint towards the finishing chute...
When you turn into the chute, you are greeted by hundreds upon hundreds of people you have never met, never will meet and will never share any other moment outside of this one. They are all yelling for you, screaming your name because it is printed on your race number. For that 60 seconds you are their hero, their inspiration, and the reason why they will train for months to compete in this event one day. It is very clear to me now why professional athletes find it so difficult to retire...the rush you get from people yelling your name and believing in you far surpasses the high from any other source and it is addicting. Hearing Mike Reilly scream your name into the microphone was worth the trip: "KELLY BELCHER FROM HOUSTON TEXAS, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" final time: 14:14
EPILOGUE
I was lucky to get into a great orthopedic surgeon on Monday after the race who confirmed the extent of my knee injury, made his diagnosis and then put me on a medication/stretching plan to heal the knee, no surgery needed. I have a trifecta of a small tendon tear, tendinitis and bursitis. Here is an image of my knee taken at 5am after the race:
The "knob" is the dead tissue just hanging out on top of my knee. The pain is from the tendinitis. All ligaments are perfectly fine and ready to run. Two weeks off from intense training...
What an incredible experience this was....when I signed up for that first sprint triathlon in August of 2011, Ironman wasn't even on my radar as something that I would think of doing, let alone actually completing. Now I am planning the next one. For me, Ironman was not simply an athletic event that I got a wild hair and signed up for, trained for and completed. It was much more complex than that. This was a spiritual journey for me, one in which I became a different (and better) person. Life is not as serious anymore and things that used to bring upon stress are little more than small bumps in the road. I know now that if I am given time, there are no problems that cannot be solved with determination, grit and hard work. I know now that the feeling spent in a dark place is minuscule when compared to the sense of accomplishment that you get when you fight your way out and back into the light.
I also know now why it is called Ironman...it's because you are recast into something indestructible after you go through the experience. You are physically, mentally and emotionally changed for the better. Iron is a very durable metal that is borne out of a perfect combination of extreme heat, carbon byproducts and oxygen. We as human beings are created with 2 of the 3 ingredients: carbon and oxygen. The extreme heat is all around us, whether it be a bad relationship, bad job, bad health or an overall bad disposition. Once you learn how to hone all of this heat into a fuel, you begin the slow and tedious process of recasting yourself with iron...
A list of things I could not do without in this experience (in order of importance to me):
- family, my training partner Jamie, and friends who came to support me
- coconut water
- Electrosalts
- socks
- Bonk Breaker pb&j
- pickles
- tonic water
- Larabar cherry pie
- chicken broth at the water stops
- ice at the water stops
Thank you for following me on this journey...I hope that you are inspired and that you will be turned into iron!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Racing like you train
I am having a hard time controlling the butterflies in my stomach. According to Wikipedia, "butterflies in the stomach" is a phenomenon characterized by the physical sensation of a fluttery feeling in the stomach. This sensation can be a physical sensation related to the body's fight or flight response or it can be an ineffable experience related to the psychology of nervousness and excitement. Some believe that this is caused by the release of adrenaline when one is nervous, which pulls blood away from the stomach and sends it to the muscles. This reduced blood flow, in turn, causes the stomach to temporarily shut down." Adrenaline = good. Reduced blood flow in the stomach = bad. As much as I have complained about this week being extremely busy at work, it has kept the majority of this nervous sensation at bay. Unfortunately, I am leaving the office at noon today, so adrenaline will rapidly course my veins for the next 48 hours.
I had an epiphany yesterday on my morning walk with Winston (seen in his natural habitat below).
As Ironman Texas approaches, I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that there is no incremental training at this point that can provide any additional value to my race. However, the training to become a better person and serve a higher purpose never ceases. I guess my point is that in life, unlike Ironman, there is no 17 hour time limit. The finish line is much further away and takes much more discipline to reach. It takes training 7 days a week with no rest. I am glad I took part in the journey to race Ironman for many reasons, but the most impactful came to me yesterday when I saw this life parallel.
I spent the better part of yesterday evening organizing all of my "gear" and setting out all of the nutritional supplements that will be needed on the course. It's amazing to me what the event requires in terms of preparation. I have heard horror stories of folks who have gone out and raced with no plan, so maybe I am taking the opposing view and planning too much? In any event, the entire downstairs portion of my home is covered in hammer gels, electrolyte tabs and various articles of clothing and electronics all of which will guide me along the route. Every 10min on the bike requires liquids. Every hour of the race requires food and salt intake. Every discipline requires different clothing items. In the midst of it all, I have had to make sure to stay focused on having fun. Fun. Yes, this was all voluntary and in my opinion, voluntary should equate to fun.
Athletes are required to be in The Woodlands by 3pm today for packet pick-up and stay in the area until 8pm for a mandatory meeting. I'll then shoot down the Hardy toll road to get to my house for a final packing up of all of my stuff. 7am tomorrow I will be back on the road to The Woodlands for my last swim/run in the morning, and various check-ins throughout the day. In the middle of all of this, it will be important to remember to stay hydrated, calm and most importantly, in good spirits. My plan on race morning is to wake up initially at 3am to take in my first does of supplements and breakfast. I'll get up for good at 415am to hydrate and get all of my things together and be at the transition area by 530am. Gun time is 7am.
All I can hope for at this moment is to race like I have trained. It has been a rigorous journey with a few ups and downs, mostly ups. I have achieved many milestones over the last 6 months and I am in the best shape of my life. The flip side is the exhaustion and the aching body...my knees hurt and I am tired. But I can see the finish line and hear the people yelling. I can see the faces of my family members and friends, and that is what keeps me going. I don't want to think about Sunday and beyond, as I am living in the moment. I praise God for reminding me that life continues on after the race and that there is still much training and many races to be run.
Bib# 447
Ironman Texas
May 18, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Facing the Wind
Kemah is the Karankawan word for "facing the wind."
My relationship with Kemah began in last year's sprint race (my first ever open water race) in which I swam about 50m before taking a Big Gulp sized drink of brackish bay water and then proceeded to breast stroke for the remaining 450m. The bike was lackluster and my run pace averaged in the high 8's. Looking back, I am surprised that I continued to take part in this sport after that experience.
Needless to say, I was expecting the worst for this year's race. Jamie and I had signed up to break up the monotony of training for IMTX and to actually put some of our training into practice. If you have ever gone through the journey of Ironman training, you understand how important the little victories are. Kemah was going to be our little victory to keep us pushing toward the goal of finishing IMTX on May 18.
The days leading up to the race certainly had diminishing effects on my positivity for the weekend. We found out on Wednesday that the run from swim exit to transition was .56miles on pavement. We also learned that there was a 40% chance of rain on Sunday morning. Frustration ensuing, I kept telling myself to remain positive and to remember that the race was an extension of training, that I could toss a pair of "throw-away" shoes into the swim exit, that it was Texas and the weather is always changing...Packet pickup was crammed into a 12x12 room in the Holiday Inn, so we rushed through the line, grabbed our packets, bought a couple bonk breaker bars (pb&j is incredible) and got the hell out of there. In the spirit of last year's race, we ventured over to T Bone Tom's to wind down and have an early dinner, complete with a couple beers and fried pickles (for the sodium benefit of course). Then it was back to the hotel to put together all of the gear for race morning. Lights out around 930pm with a quick episode of Mythbusters (couldn't stay up for the usual SNL reruns).
330am I awake to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. Not good. 430am awake again, checking emails and receive the bike cancellation update. Aquathon, damn. On the bright side, it is much easier to carry all of your gear to transition without a bike, but for training purposes, we were leaving off an integral piece of work for the day. Didn't eat much for breakfast knowing that the extra calories would provide no added benefit, so a banana with some coffee and oatmeal was enough to fill the tank. We made the mile long trek to transition, sat out my shoes, running bib and a Hammer Gel with some Endurolytes, quick pee break and on the wetsuit went. After about 30mins in transition, we walked over to the boat launch and boarded the "Colonel" paddlewheel along with about 800 other brave souls who decided to stay around for the race. The taxi out of the harbor seemed to last forever and the body heat was rising with everyone standing around in their wetsuits, so I was somewhat concerned that dehydration would begin since there was no water to drink in the area. After an hour of sailing out and setting the anchors to the tide, the national anthem began as the pros filed down the galley. The gun went off and bodies were diving in every direction off of the side of the boat. Mass hysteria. Not five minutes after the gun, age-groupers were being called down and sectioned off to the side of the boat. A lady was screaming "Right, Left, Right, Left" and you basically had a one second window to plunge 3 feet into the water before someone jumped on your back.
I can remember the look on the guy's face in front of me, sheer terror, as he jumped in and immediately sunk into the brown water. Without hesitation, I held onto my goggles and jumped over him, and began swimming for my life. Forget comparing triathlon swims to a washing machine, this was a blender...I saw numerous people grabbing onto kayaks, screaming for help with their hands in the air. It would have been very easy and excusable to quit and I would find no fault in anyone doing so...the waves were 2-3' rollers, elevating you and dropping you seconds later, there was sea spray from the wind hitting my goggles and countless feet and arms to dodge on the way to the first buoy. Not to mention the water was frigid from the rain. But there is a rhythm you find with the water...anyone who is a swimmer knows this. Not to sound like some sort of hippie naturist, but you become one with the water, breathing when it allows you to take a breath, pulling through the crests and kicking through the troughs. You progress forward in a natural motion requiring very little energy and it is exhilarating. Before I knew it, my hand was dragging sand on my pulls and I was able to stand and run to the exit. 29min swim for a 1:57/100m pace. My personal best.
The run from swim exit to transition was .56 miles on paved roads. We made the decision not to leave a pair of shoes at the exit and just hump it to the transition area, which actually turned out to be a great strategy. I heard people had trouble finding their shoes and cost themselves valuable time by searching for them. I was making brilliant time running in my wetsuit, and got the to the transition area in 3:30. I stripped the right leg out of the suit, went for the left and couldn't get it around the damned timing chip. By the time I finally got out of my suit, threw on my shoes and slammed my Hammer gel and electrolytes, I had burned another 3 minutes. So much for making up time...7min T1.
I felt awesome coming out on the run. I had a good swim and was finally over the fact that T1 sucked. I took down water at the first stop and was pacing down to a 6:40 mile by the first mile marker. After mile 2, my right shoe started to loosen and the lace came undone...I had taken off the Yankz laces due to tendinitis in my feet and this was my payback. Quick stop to tie the lace and back to work. I made a point to drink only water through the next 3 miles and poured cold water over my head at each stop. At mile 5, I took in another Hammer gel to leg out the rest of the race. My pace was still in the 6:50-7/mile pace at this point. Around 5.5 miles in, I heard a familiar voice from behind me yelling "Man you're a hard guy to catch!" Jamie got me, again. He had put together a crazy run split to come from behind, averaging 6:30-6:40/mile but agreed to run out the rest of the race alongside me to the finish, both of us sort of understanding that this would not likely happen in the Ironman, so we better take advantage of it.
This was taken at the turn onto the last .25 miles of the race. We finished the run in 43 minutes averaging just at 7:00/mile.
Total race time was 1:20...at the finish line, we ranked 8th and 9th place in age group. To date, we have been dropped to 13th/14th...I'm assuming some folks finished without a timing chip and turned in their times after the fact?
All-in-all this was a great race on many levels. For one thing, we were not fatigued after the race and had plenty of fuel left in the tanks. Secondly, training has vastly improved our swim and run times and thresholds. Lastly and most importantly, we were able to complete another race without any major issues and were smiling at the finish line.
I feel abundantly blessed at this point in my life. Obstacles, both personally and athletically, are not near the hurdle they used to be. I have learned the art of letting go and rolling with the tides. I have learned to adapt to change and to keep moving forward even when I cannot see the destination. I have learned that frustration, stress, fear and sadness can be turned into a fuel that can be burned into happiness and peace of mind. I am blessed to have both a wife who supports my hobby and a very dear friend who shares the same passion as I do. The encouragement from Emily and the accountability gained from Jamie have pushed me to become who I am today. A completely different person than I was 5 years, 5 months and even 5 weeks ago.
I look forward to racing Ironman with my friend and I look forward to seeing my family at the finish line. Thanks to the little victories, I sit here today excited, not nervous or scared. I am ready and willing to face the wind.
My relationship with Kemah began in last year's sprint race (my first ever open water race) in which I swam about 50m before taking a Big Gulp sized drink of brackish bay water and then proceeded to breast stroke for the remaining 450m. The bike was lackluster and my run pace averaged in the high 8's. Looking back, I am surprised that I continued to take part in this sport after that experience.
Needless to say, I was expecting the worst for this year's race. Jamie and I had signed up to break up the monotony of training for IMTX and to actually put some of our training into practice. If you have ever gone through the journey of Ironman training, you understand how important the little victories are. Kemah was going to be our little victory to keep us pushing toward the goal of finishing IMTX on May 18.
The days leading up to the race certainly had diminishing effects on my positivity for the weekend. We found out on Wednesday that the run from swim exit to transition was .56miles on pavement. We also learned that there was a 40% chance of rain on Sunday morning. Frustration ensuing, I kept telling myself to remain positive and to remember that the race was an extension of training, that I could toss a pair of "throw-away" shoes into the swim exit, that it was Texas and the weather is always changing...Packet pickup was crammed into a 12x12 room in the Holiday Inn, so we rushed through the line, grabbed our packets, bought a couple bonk breaker bars (pb&j is incredible) and got the hell out of there. In the spirit of last year's race, we ventured over to T Bone Tom's to wind down and have an early dinner, complete with a couple beers and fried pickles (for the sodium benefit of course). Then it was back to the hotel to put together all of the gear for race morning. Lights out around 930pm with a quick episode of Mythbusters (couldn't stay up for the usual SNL reruns).
330am I awake to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. Not good. 430am awake again, checking emails and receive the bike cancellation update. Aquathon, damn. On the bright side, it is much easier to carry all of your gear to transition without a bike, but for training purposes, we were leaving off an integral piece of work for the day. Didn't eat much for breakfast knowing that the extra calories would provide no added benefit, so a banana with some coffee and oatmeal was enough to fill the tank. We made the mile long trek to transition, sat out my shoes, running bib and a Hammer Gel with some Endurolytes, quick pee break and on the wetsuit went. After about 30mins in transition, we walked over to the boat launch and boarded the "Colonel" paddlewheel along with about 800 other brave souls who decided to stay around for the race. The taxi out of the harbor seemed to last forever and the body heat was rising with everyone standing around in their wetsuits, so I was somewhat concerned that dehydration would begin since there was no water to drink in the area. After an hour of sailing out and setting the anchors to the tide, the national anthem began as the pros filed down the galley. The gun went off and bodies were diving in every direction off of the side of the boat. Mass hysteria. Not five minutes after the gun, age-groupers were being called down and sectioned off to the side of the boat. A lady was screaming "Right, Left, Right, Left" and you basically had a one second window to plunge 3 feet into the water before someone jumped on your back.
I can remember the look on the guy's face in front of me, sheer terror, as he jumped in and immediately sunk into the brown water. Without hesitation, I held onto my goggles and jumped over him, and began swimming for my life. Forget comparing triathlon swims to a washing machine, this was a blender...I saw numerous people grabbing onto kayaks, screaming for help with their hands in the air. It would have been very easy and excusable to quit and I would find no fault in anyone doing so...the waves were 2-3' rollers, elevating you and dropping you seconds later, there was sea spray from the wind hitting my goggles and countless feet and arms to dodge on the way to the first buoy. Not to mention the water was frigid from the rain. But there is a rhythm you find with the water...anyone who is a swimmer knows this. Not to sound like some sort of hippie naturist, but you become one with the water, breathing when it allows you to take a breath, pulling through the crests and kicking through the troughs. You progress forward in a natural motion requiring very little energy and it is exhilarating. Before I knew it, my hand was dragging sand on my pulls and I was able to stand and run to the exit. 29min swim for a 1:57/100m pace. My personal best.
The run from swim exit to transition was .56 miles on paved roads. We made the decision not to leave a pair of shoes at the exit and just hump it to the transition area, which actually turned out to be a great strategy. I heard people had trouble finding their shoes and cost themselves valuable time by searching for them. I was making brilliant time running in my wetsuit, and got the to the transition area in 3:30. I stripped the right leg out of the suit, went for the left and couldn't get it around the damned timing chip. By the time I finally got out of my suit, threw on my shoes and slammed my Hammer gel and electrolytes, I had burned another 3 minutes. So much for making up time...7min T1.
I felt awesome coming out on the run. I had a good swim and was finally over the fact that T1 sucked. I took down water at the first stop and was pacing down to a 6:40 mile by the first mile marker. After mile 2, my right shoe started to loosen and the lace came undone...I had taken off the Yankz laces due to tendinitis in my feet and this was my payback. Quick stop to tie the lace and back to work. I made a point to drink only water through the next 3 miles and poured cold water over my head at each stop. At mile 5, I took in another Hammer gel to leg out the rest of the race. My pace was still in the 6:50-7/mile pace at this point. Around 5.5 miles in, I heard a familiar voice from behind me yelling "Man you're a hard guy to catch!" Jamie got me, again. He had put together a crazy run split to come from behind, averaging 6:30-6:40/mile but agreed to run out the rest of the race alongside me to the finish, both of us sort of understanding that this would not likely happen in the Ironman, so we better take advantage of it.
Total race time was 1:20...at the finish line, we ranked 8th and 9th place in age group. To date, we have been dropped to 13th/14th...I'm assuming some folks finished without a timing chip and turned in their times after the fact?
All-in-all this was a great race on many levels. For one thing, we were not fatigued after the race and had plenty of fuel left in the tanks. Secondly, training has vastly improved our swim and run times and thresholds. Lastly and most importantly, we were able to complete another race without any major issues and were smiling at the finish line.
I feel abundantly blessed at this point in my life. Obstacles, both personally and athletically, are not near the hurdle they used to be. I have learned the art of letting go and rolling with the tides. I have learned to adapt to change and to keep moving forward even when I cannot see the destination. I have learned that frustration, stress, fear and sadness can be turned into a fuel that can be burned into happiness and peace of mind. I am blessed to have both a wife who supports my hobby and a very dear friend who shares the same passion as I do. The encouragement from Emily and the accountability gained from Jamie have pushed me to become who I am today. A completely different person than I was 5 years, 5 months and even 5 weeks ago.
I look forward to racing Ironman with my friend and I look forward to seeing my family at the finish line. Thanks to the little victories, I sit here today excited, not nervous or scared. I am ready and willing to face the wind.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Ironman Texas 70.3 race report
What a ride this has been...
If you would have asked me five, three, even two years ago if I had any desire to compete in this sport I would have sprayed beer out of my nose in laughter. Last Sunday I raced a half-iron distance triathlon that we labeled a "tune-up" race for Ironman Texas. Tune-up. The definition of tune-up is 'to refine or adjust for better functioning.' The more I thought about that definition, the more I am reminded why I do this sport. It's the process of setting a goal, pushing your body to its limits to meet that goal and the feeling of release when you have achieved the goal. My takeaway from this achievement is that we should always be tuning-up...it's applicable to everything in life. There should always be a goal and hard work to get there. Most importantly, you must step back and enjoy crossing the finish line because that's what makes you set the next goal. That being said, I have made a list of things that I am going to accomplish in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and I know going into this exercise that it will be difficult to achieve the majority of these things but I will be a stronger and better person after trying.
Now to the race recap for IMTX 70.3:
We arrived in Galveston around 12:30pm on Saturday, just in time for packet pick-up and the mandatory athlete briefing (which by the way was not at all mandatory). On a side note, the swag that Ironman puts out is pretty incredible...they have become a full-on brand name, manufacturing everything from hats to shot glasses. Mandatory bike check-in was at 2pm, so we stickered and racked our bikes and kissed them goodnight, then headed out of the expo. We were very fortunate to have been able to stay at a dear friend's beach house in Galveston on Saturday night before the race, which happened to be along the seawall where the bike course passed. The wives stayed at the beach house and the athletes stayed in a hotel room which was much closer to the transition area. Late dinner, salt and carb loading, some SNL and then lights out around 10pm.
Alarm went off at 4:45am and I immediately grabbed my water bottle that was full of Perpetuem. Slammed that down, along with a banana and a hammer gel. Then grabbed my oatmeal and forced it down with 20oz of water. At this point the nerves are pretty high so eating is not a natural habit, but more of a chore. We left the hotel and arrived at transition around 5:40. I tried something new for this race: on the Friday before, I packed my nutrition for each stage of the race into sandwich bags and labeled them with magic marker. This proved to be extremely useful throughout the race and I was able to shave off time by not having to search/remember what I needed to ingest. Filled my speedfill with water, filled my aero-bar bottle with Gatorade and Perpetuem, greased up with shampoo and put on my wetsuit. The last thing I did in transition was pack my morning clothes bag (which was crucial in order to change clothes after the race). Time to swim.
We headed to the swim start just as transition was closing and saw the pros take off at 7am. Damn these guys can swim...They were around the first buoy before the next gun at 5min later. They announced our group and we dove off of the dock into the water at 710 and waited until our gun at 715. Bang! No time to think, be scared or quit, just have to move forward and do it quickly. The course was easy to navigate and the sun stayed out of view, which helped to sight the buoys. The water, however, was extremely salty and I was thirsty after about 15 minutes of swimming. I would figure out later that the salt was also a dehydrator and gave me calf cramps. I was able to rhythm fairly well until the half-way point at which time I caught up with the group ahead. The last half of the swim was a washing machine until I exited the ramp. Total swim time was 38min.
T1 was a disappointment. I struggled to get my heart rate monitor to sync to my Garmin and I was so thirsty from the salt that I made myself drink half a gallon of water to avoid late stage cramps. I also ate a hammer gel and took electrolyte tabs. I finally got out of T1 about 6 minutes later. This was 3-4 minutes too slow...For some reason a guy with a camera and a microphone was posted up behind me the whole time which made it worse. He then proceeded to attempt an interview after I unracked my bike and I politely reminded him that this was a race.
The bike course was a flat and fast 56 miles. I had preconceived notions that the wind was going to be atrocious and that my legs were going to be hamburger meat after reading the blogs from last year's participants. It could not have been further from the truth...I was flying. That is, until the half-gallon of water that I drank made a reappearance at mile 16. My first #3 ever in a race, and I felt like I handled it gracefully by holding it until I found a port-o-john. My average speed on the out was 21.7mph and on the back was 19.9mph. Not too shabby for the leg of the race that I struggle with the most. I was able to see Emily along the seawall at mile 13 and again at mile 40, which was a saving grace and helped me to refocus my energy on the race. I love my wife for many reasons, and one of those is her willingness to always support this crazy hobby and watch my events. The end of the bike leg takes you through an airstrip and down a runway and you really do feel like you are flying (I probably should not admit this, but I got a picture in my head from that scene in Top Gun when Tom Cruise rides motorcycle along the runway and jets are flying over his head). Then I remembered two things: I am not Tom Cruise and I now had to go run 13.1 miles. Bike time was 2:52.
T2 was successful for all intents and purposes. I was out in a couple of minutes and had sufficiently ingested all of my nutrition and grabbed my water bottle. Shoes tied and off we go.
The run course was 3 loops throughout Moody Gardens and was empty when I arrived, and by the time I finished, I was surrounded by athletes running for their lives. The support along the run was amazing and I laughed a few times along the way at characters who showed up to cheer. Think speedos, bikinis and some dudes drinking Guinness while listening to Gangham Style on a repeat loop. By mile 6, the heat was sweltering and there was no wind to cool us down. Thank God for the ice cold sponges (I found one after the race inside my shorts) and the ladies with squirt guns who were blasting people in the face. My pace was quick out of the gate, around 7:45/mi but slowed down to 8:50 by the last mile. The winding loops and hairpin turns helped to break up the run, which ended with a chute full of people screaming for you and giving out high fives. I felt like a professional athlete with the support that I received along the run. Run time was 1:54.
Special thanks to Julie and Dan for the beach house, Emily and Nikki for watching us and cheering us on in this journey and Chris and Cathy for making the trip down to watch the finish--I am lucky guy and so very thankful for the people that God has put into my life!
Official race time was 5:47 and change, an improvement of 20 minutes over my time in Oilman's back in November 2012. I loved this race and will be back in 2014! Lessons learned from this race are to work on T1, keep my nutrition plan as is (I never cramped, knocking on wood), NEVER drink that much water at one time, and most importantly, go out and treat everything in life as a tune-up!
If you would have asked me five, three, even two years ago if I had any desire to compete in this sport I would have sprayed beer out of my nose in laughter. Last Sunday I raced a half-iron distance triathlon that we labeled a "tune-up" race for Ironman Texas. Tune-up. The definition of tune-up is 'to refine or adjust for better functioning.' The more I thought about that definition, the more I am reminded why I do this sport. It's the process of setting a goal, pushing your body to its limits to meet that goal and the feeling of release when you have achieved the goal. My takeaway from this achievement is that we should always be tuning-up...it's applicable to everything in life. There should always be a goal and hard work to get there. Most importantly, you must step back and enjoy crossing the finish line because that's what makes you set the next goal. That being said, I have made a list of things that I am going to accomplish in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and I know going into this exercise that it will be difficult to achieve the majority of these things but I will be a stronger and better person after trying.
Now to the race recap for IMTX 70.3:
We arrived in Galveston around 12:30pm on Saturday, just in time for packet pick-up and the mandatory athlete briefing (which by the way was not at all mandatory). On a side note, the swag that Ironman puts out is pretty incredible...they have become a full-on brand name, manufacturing everything from hats to shot glasses. Mandatory bike check-in was at 2pm, so we stickered and racked our bikes and kissed them goodnight, then headed out of the expo. We were very fortunate to have been able to stay at a dear friend's beach house in Galveston on Saturday night before the race, which happened to be along the seawall where the bike course passed. The wives stayed at the beach house and the athletes stayed in a hotel room which was much closer to the transition area. Late dinner, salt and carb loading, some SNL and then lights out around 10pm.
Alarm went off at 4:45am and I immediately grabbed my water bottle that was full of Perpetuem. Slammed that down, along with a banana and a hammer gel. Then grabbed my oatmeal and forced it down with 20oz of water. At this point the nerves are pretty high so eating is not a natural habit, but more of a chore. We left the hotel and arrived at transition around 5:40. I tried something new for this race: on the Friday before, I packed my nutrition for each stage of the race into sandwich bags and labeled them with magic marker. This proved to be extremely useful throughout the race and I was able to shave off time by not having to search/remember what I needed to ingest. Filled my speedfill with water, filled my aero-bar bottle with Gatorade and Perpetuem, greased up with shampoo and put on my wetsuit. The last thing I did in transition was pack my morning clothes bag (which was crucial in order to change clothes after the race). Time to swim.
We headed to the swim start just as transition was closing and saw the pros take off at 7am. Damn these guys can swim...They were around the first buoy before the next gun at 5min later. They announced our group and we dove off of the dock into the water at 710 and waited until our gun at 715. Bang! No time to think, be scared or quit, just have to move forward and do it quickly. The course was easy to navigate and the sun stayed out of view, which helped to sight the buoys. The water, however, was extremely salty and I was thirsty after about 15 minutes of swimming. I would figure out later that the salt was also a dehydrator and gave me calf cramps. I was able to rhythm fairly well until the half-way point at which time I caught up with the group ahead. The last half of the swim was a washing machine until I exited the ramp. Total swim time was 38min.
T1 was a disappointment. I struggled to get my heart rate monitor to sync to my Garmin and I was so thirsty from the salt that I made myself drink half a gallon of water to avoid late stage cramps. I also ate a hammer gel and took electrolyte tabs. I finally got out of T1 about 6 minutes later. This was 3-4 minutes too slow...For some reason a guy with a camera and a microphone was posted up behind me the whole time which made it worse. He then proceeded to attempt an interview after I unracked my bike and I politely reminded him that this was a race.
The bike course was a flat and fast 56 miles. I had preconceived notions that the wind was going to be atrocious and that my legs were going to be hamburger meat after reading the blogs from last year's participants. It could not have been further from the truth...I was flying. That is, until the half-gallon of water that I drank made a reappearance at mile 16. My first #3 ever in a race, and I felt like I handled it gracefully by holding it until I found a port-o-john. My average speed on the out was 21.7mph and on the back was 19.9mph. Not too shabby for the leg of the race that I struggle with the most. I was able to see Emily along the seawall at mile 13 and again at mile 40, which was a saving grace and helped me to refocus my energy on the race. I love my wife for many reasons, and one of those is her willingness to always support this crazy hobby and watch my events. The end of the bike leg takes you through an airstrip and down a runway and you really do feel like you are flying (I probably should not admit this, but I got a picture in my head from that scene in Top Gun when Tom Cruise rides motorcycle along the runway and jets are flying over his head). Then I remembered two things: I am not Tom Cruise and I now had to go run 13.1 miles. Bike time was 2:52.
T2 was successful for all intents and purposes. I was out in a couple of minutes and had sufficiently ingested all of my nutrition and grabbed my water bottle. Shoes tied and off we go.
The run course was 3 loops throughout Moody Gardens and was empty when I arrived, and by the time I finished, I was surrounded by athletes running for their lives. The support along the run was amazing and I laughed a few times along the way at characters who showed up to cheer. Think speedos, bikinis and some dudes drinking Guinness while listening to Gangham Style on a repeat loop. By mile 6, the heat was sweltering and there was no wind to cool us down. Thank God for the ice cold sponges (I found one after the race inside my shorts) and the ladies with squirt guns who were blasting people in the face. My pace was quick out of the gate, around 7:45/mi but slowed down to 8:50 by the last mile. The winding loops and hairpin turns helped to break up the run, which ended with a chute full of people screaming for you and giving out high fives. I felt like a professional athlete with the support that I received along the run. Run time was 1:54.
Special thanks to Julie and Dan for the beach house, Emily and Nikki for watching us and cheering us on in this journey and Chris and Cathy for making the trip down to watch the finish--I am lucky guy and so very thankful for the people that God has put into my life!
Official race time was 5:47 and change, an improvement of 20 minutes over my time in Oilman's back in November 2012. I loved this race and will be back in 2014! Lessons learned from this race are to work on T1, keep my nutrition plan as is (I never cramped, knocking on wood), NEVER drink that much water at one time, and most importantly, go out and treat everything in life as a tune-up!
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