Ironman Texas - TriathlonFull Ironman

I was pretty nervous about the swim. I knew I could handle the distance, but I wasn't sure how crazy the mass start would be. I was punched, and swam over several times. A couple times it felt like someone grabbed my shoulder and pushed off of me. I know it wasn't intentional, just a result of swimming with that many people. I'm actually surprised with how well I handled the chaos. I didn't panic and I did a decent job of holding my ground.
I was surrounded by people until about the 1500m point where we started to head north. There were just a few people to my right and I was able to stay one someone's feet for most of the way back north. Things got a little cramped in the canal, but it was fun. I really enjoyed the swim.

My swim training was very inconsistent so I'm not really surprised with this result. I was hoping for 1:30, but I came out of the water unscathed and feeling fresh, so I am happy with that result.

Wow, 8:55? Sure didn't feel like that long. Looking back on it, I'm not surprised. I forgot to put a towel in my bag and I had to put on a long sleeve shirt while wet. I also made sure I applied chamois cream liberally. I ran to the changing tent and with my bike to the mount line.

If I need to put on a top, pack a towel! My long sleeve skin cooler top took a couple minutes to get on.

Wow. This was my fifth time to ride the course and my best result. Given my experience on the training rides, I was hoping for a 6:15 to 6:45 split, mostly depending on how strong the south wind was. The forecast for the time I would be on the bike was a SSE wind at 11-13 mph. I was excited about this, considering I road the course twice with 20+mph winds from the south.

I almost executed this ride perfectly. The one mistake I made was being overly aggressive with my nutrition. I ate 2 paydays, having 1/3 of a bar every 30 minutes and a sip of my 1500 cal infinit mixture every 15 minutes. I planned to skip the infinit when I had a bite of my payday, which is what I did on my training rides. But, somehow I managed to forget to do that. At the two hour point, my stomach was starting to feel weird. I pulled my nutrition bottle from the cage and saw that it was half empty! I ate half of my nutrition in the first third of the ride. This made me nervous, so I only took in water for the next hour, and my stomach finally settled down. At the aid stations I would replace my water bottle and grab a second one to dump all over myself. The shower I took at each aid station felt amazing. I knew the run was going to be hot and humid, so I made sure to be well hydrated going into it. I used the restroom at mile 40, 65, 90, and 105 so I think I was extremely hydrated.

When I was approaching 1486 to make the turn to head south, I was getting myself mentally prepared to drop to the small ring and grind through the wind. I was absolutely shocked, it seemed like there was no head wind. The two training rides on the course I did with 20+mph S winds really paid off. At about the 3/4 point, I started to get really excited that I was absolutely nailing my execution.

Be a little more careful with my nutrition. Other than that, nothing!

Got off my bike and ran into transition, handed my bike off to the awesome volunteer. I grabbed my bag and took a spot outside of the tent. I thought it would be crazy hot inside the tent so I took a seat in the grass outside of the tent. I lathered my feet in vaseline, put my socks shoes and visor on and was headed out to start the marathon.

I need to plan out what I do in transitions. I spent way too much time in both transition.

I had no idea what to expect going into this run. My longest run going into this race was 13.5 miles. My run training focused more on frequency instead of distance.

I followed my plan of walking the aid stations. The first lap felt good. Looking back on it, I should have slowed down some, my HR while running was too high, about 145. Walking the aid stations brought my average down, so I thought I would be okay holding that effort. I saw my wife at mile 7 and stopped to give her a kiss. At the end of the first lap, I ran some numbers and saw that I was on pace for a sub 13 finish, well below my goal of sub 14. At each aid station I took a swig of gu from my gel flask, some cups of water to drink and dump on myself, and several sponges. I stuffed the sponges down the front and back of my shirt and put one under my visor against my forehead. Also, all the signs directed to Brent were from my parents. They gave me a huge lift every time I saw them.

The second lap was when I started to feel the pain. I saw my in-laws around mile 9 and it made me really happy to have them cheer me on. By mile 10, I realized I wasn't going to be able to hold my pace. My splits for the second lap averaged from 11:30 to 12:30. By mile 13 my hamstrings and hip flexors were starting to get tight and hurt. But I was able to somewhat maintain my running form. At about mile 14.5 I saw my wife, parents and brother on the other side of the waterway. I ran by them at mile 16. My brother yelled at me to hurry up because the world was suppose to be ending soon, which made me laugh. I also noticed that my Aunt was there too! I continued with my aid stations ritual, but at the halfway point I stopped taking gu and nothing sounded or tasted good. The coke tasted okay, but made my stomach feel a little odd. I got my nutrition from perform and continued to cover myself with sponges.

Lap 3 was were I realized could handle a new level of pain. I was hurting until mile 20, were I started to learn the true definition of pain. My hip flexors, hamstrings, quads, calf up to the back of my knees and the muscle on my shins were on fire. I was no longer running, I was doing the Ironman Shuffle. I also added in a 30s walk break about halfway between each aid station. The pain that shot through my muscles when I started to shuffle again was insane. I kept telling myself that not many people could do what I was doing and to enjoy the experience. I saw my support group again at mile 23. They were on north side of the waterway and I pointed towards the finish line trying to tell them that they better go get a spot now and not wait for me to shuffle by them on the north side. It was also at this point were I started to think that I wasn't going to make my goal time. The last 5k was a massive struggle. My pace had dropped to 14+ with my slowest at mile 25, 14:54. I made the turn to the last aid station, walked through it and through special needs. I was gathering my strength to make one last shuffling effort through market street. It felt unbelievable making the left hand turn into the finishing shoot. I had the shoot to myself and I saw my family along the right side after the turn. My HR at this point was higher than any other portion of my run. It was awesome hearing Mike Reilly call me an Ironman.

Not really sure. Given my fitness, I think I executed to the best of my ability.

Got a massage that felt amazing. Forced down a burrito and stretched while talking to my family.


Amazing. I see registration for 2012 is open. Thinking about signing up for it, or trying to get into a different one, either Coeur d'Alene, Florida, or Arizona. Keep the hills to a minimum :)