Y Freedom Tri

The only race I repeated in my two years of triathlon competition is the Y Freedom Tri in Pearland, Texas. So it is no surprise that I might consider doing this fun local race again this year. I watched the race website this year as the race registration stayed open longer than it had in past years. Meanwhile I was slowly but surely continuing my recovery from Ironman Texas. As the last weeks before the race were rolling around I became more certain that I might not be fully recovered from Ironman Texas but I still felt up to doing the race. At the same time I had been talking with Karen, a running friend of mine who had been considering attempting a triathlon. In the end we came upon what might have been the obvious match for us, which was to enter the triathlon as a relay team. After some coordination and explanation, we had a plan and went with it on fairly short notice.

We arrived early enough to meet, get checked in and set up the transition area with time to spare. Karen and I discussed how the race would progress and where we each needed to be and at what time. I was doing the swim and bike and Karen would be doing the run in our relay effort. As the race got near I lined up for the pool swim in my time-seeded location and waited for my turn to go. My swim went well and I finished on my plan schedule, I could have gone a bit faster, but being a pool swim there are certain difficulties in trying to pass the swimmer ahead of you and I was happy with my pace and still held a bit of effort in reserve. I exited the pool and moved towards the transition area. I left the pool area in a time of 6:30 (about 6:00 of swimming and :30 of running out of the pool area). I moved quickly through transition and exited in 1:11--dropping 1:04 from last year as I had the energy to move quickly. Then I moved on to the bike. This was where I wanted to hammer out some hard effort and work on my time to be as fast as I could be. Last year's time was 36:14 and I wanted to be at least 3 minutes faster and hoped to be less than 33 minutes (20 mph pace). I was able to keep up a solid effort for the whole ride as I hoped and maintained a true race pace cadence. When pedaling got harder I shifted down and when it got easier I shifted up, but I held my cadence pretty good. I got passed by 4 riders and passed more than I could count in that time (including passing one of those that passed me!). I can easily say this was my best bike performance on any triathlon! In the end I made it back to transition with a time of 32:40 (20.2 mph pace), making my time goal. I parked my bike and handed off the ankle band and chip to Karen and away she ran. It was a warm and humid morning already and she had a pretty sunny run, but she did well and ran a personal best 3 mile time around 24:15-24:30 (the actual time is not yet posted due to a timing issue).

We finished in 1:05:55 and had a great time, and Karen enjoyed her first-time triathlon experience as well. However, there was a special surprise in store for us as we were the first place finishers in the Mixed Relay Team Division, with a great presentation by a cool-looking George Washington.



In the end, you would think winning my first triathlon award would be the special part of the day, but the truth is sharing this experience with a friend for her first time really made me feel better than taking home an award. This day reminded me in a special way of why I really do these events and why I really enjoy them.

Readjusting to Normal

It seems the more I wish for my training to get back to normal, the more it seems normal is now different.

This week I had a couple good run workouts. First a track-based speed session and second a weekend long run. Since my Ironman training was almost exclusively based on endurance pacing, I did not get the chance to really stretch out my legs and my pace for a long time. As I approach the end of the recovery period I am able to see the signs of improved fitness based upon my performance, while also being reminded by my fatigue that I am not quite fully recovered yet. Still, I like what I see at this point from a performance point of view.

The mental part of my program has been a bit different of a type of recovery. First, I dealt with the desire to quickly get back to training too quickly. I had been so long in a training mode that I seemed to lack the ability to relax and not train. When I realized that I did not have the physical stamina to return to full training I was better able to make that adjustment. Now that I am four weeks out of Ironman Texas I am able to begin a greater level of workout effort, while still realizing that I am also completing my recovery and am not yet ready for workouts longer than 2 hours or so. However, the hardest part of my readjustment was more perception-based. I did not bargain on becoming an example to others with my completion of an Ironman race. Of course part of this is likely because it is easier for them to recognize the physical changes I have been through in this process since I see myself every day and they may only see me periodically. It seems that to some of these friends I have become their example of success in triathlon. It has taken a bit of time, but I have become okay with that. If I can be a positive force for someone else to become motivated or inspired by what I have accomplished, then I have succeeded in ways that I never expected when I began doing running or triathlon events. That is a thought that gives me both personal peace and satisfaction in a way that is hard to describe--and it is probably quite appropriate considering I have friends that that have been my inspiration as well.

As I go forward in my training and competition, I only have two primary goals for my future. Those goals are to do the best I can and be the best example I can be for others.

I am fine if this is what normal means for me now.

Let's get moving forward again.

I am more ready now than ever.

Tuesday Night Track Workout

Tonight was my first effort at a speed workout doing 800 meter (half mile) repeats with 2 minutes rest in between. With the early summer heat setting in the evening temperatures were in the mid-90 degree range at the start.

My early warm up mile went well, too well in fact as I did the first mile in 10:14. Following that I did some warm up drills with my training group. After that we did the 800 meter repeats with a 2 minute rest between sessions. I completed 4 of these with times of 3:48, 3:50, 3:45 and 3:54. I think this is a good bit faster than I would have expected to have done a year ago. When I went back in my log to last June the most comparable workout that I could compare this one to was a 2 Mile Time Trial where the first mile was in 8:35 and the second mile was in 9:30.

Although I can tell that I am not fully recovered from the recent Ironman race, it did feel good to be getting back into a real training workout.

There's no telling how sore I will be feeling tomorrow...

Final Post Ironman Thoughts

Now that I have had 3 weeks to recover from my Ironman adventure, I have also had time to think about my experiences leading up to, during and following Ironman Texas. From my perspective of hindsight I can only now truly understand why my friends who had previously completed Ironman races were so enthusiastic to see me take on this effort, and why they described this undertaking in such glowing terms as a transformational process.

I would encourage anyone wanting to take on the challenge of completing an Ironman to do so with one caveat, that caveat would be that they should truly want to take on this goal. The process of preparation will not be easy, but by race day a proper training program will have you both physically and mentally prepared. The importance of the mental preparation is not to be underestimated in this process.

During my own race I experienced problems of a sort that I did not experience in training, however I always felt confident of my ability to overcome those issues and complete the race. Of course part of that could have been my own innate stubbornness that refused to allow me to fail.

There were a couple things for which my training did leave me completely unprepared. The first was the emotional feelings associated with receiving the cheers of support from the many friends and family members that I saw along the race course. Racing in and completing the Ironman was emotional in itself, but being able to do it with so many friendly faces around made it truly special. It was not long after I had finished that I was virtually surrounded by excited friends. The second is the admiration I have earned from friends because of my Ironman finish. In this regard I am a bit embarrassed with the feeling that I am being placed on a pedestal in such a way. However, I have come to feel that this is not necessarily a bad thing. I feel that with this I can be a positive example to those who wish to also take on the challenge of the Ironman and may feel less confident of their own abilities at the time they register. For those who may feel inspired by my story, I hope I can be up to being the example that helps them achieve their own success. In a way, I am only
just learning what it means to serve as this example and hope I prove to be up to the challenge.

Finally, moving forward I know that I want to take on the challenge of Ironman again. I am not sure when this will be, and my race schedule is already too full for it to earlier than the second half of 2012. The question of which race really has me wondering and will have to wait for some time to come, especially since most Ironman races need to be registered for almost a year in advance.

Getting Back Into Things

Fifteen days after Ironman Texas finds me having taken some time to spend time with my wife, having spent some time resting and sleeping in and also enjoying an occasional off-diet treat. Somewhat surprisingly I have maintained my pre-IM race weight and even lost an extra couple of pounds (not counting the piece of cheesecake that is waiting for me following this blog post!). In short I have taken some time to stop and smell the roses, and to remember some of the good things that make life worth living.

My post IM period has had it's great moments. I have realized that I have trouble recognizing my own reflection. That is probably more due to my self-image of how I see myself not yet catching up to my actual weight loss and actual physical image. I still keep running into friends for the first time following my IM race and have gotten to enjoy explaining my Ironman stories to them when they ask--and they all do ask. So many people have told me how I have inspired them with my Ironman journey (and believe me it is pretty powerful when people whom you respect a lot call you inspirational!) that I not only feel good for having done something worthy of being a positive example for that many people but I also feel good for having done it for myself. I'd always thought that I had a pretty good self-image of myself, but clearly this process has forced an expansion of that self-image...even if it is still lagging reality a bit.

After a couple weeks of rest, I feel like I am ready to start getting back into some training activities again. I have started to feel restless and done a few light workouts consisting of things that I did because I felt like doing them. Next week has a schedule with a variety of decent workouts, although nothing like my Ironman training period. While nothing I have done recently has really pushed distance or pacing, I have seen flashes of what I expect are signs of how the Ironman training program has improved my overall fitness.

With the extra time that I have had to think recently, I have given thought to my motivations that have propelled my to today. So much of my motivation has been pushed by fear. Fear of losing ground on my program and regaining some of my lost weight, fear of losing the advanced fitness I have gained. In a way, I have always been haunted by the ghosts of wondering what things would have been like if I had always stayed in shape and never gained those 80 some pounds and stayed that way for so many years. I have decided that it is time to lay those ghosts to rest and concentrate on forgetting the things that I cannot control in my past and work towards improving the things I can control in my future. To tell you the truth realizing and deciding this really feels quite liberating, in a way I finally feel like I am going to get to live for myself.

I really do look very forward to the future!

Ironman Texas Wrap-up

Strangely, writing this final report to wrap-up some items feels bittersweet. For almost a year, Ironman Texas was my one real goal race where everything else was merely a part of building towards this race. I certainly leave this experience better off because of it-- I have made some great new friends and gotten to know other friends better, I have improved my fitness by any standard I can think of, I pursued and achieved a difficult goal and (regadless of whether it was my first or only Ironman race--hopefully first of several/many) I had the experience of a lifetime throughout the process.

What Did I Do Right?
1. I did the training. I was prepared for this race and told myself--and others--that I was only coming off the race course one of two ways: running across the finish line or being dragged off by events entirely beyond my control. I am glad to say that it was by crossing the finish line!
2. I entered the day with a plan and followed it for the most part. Things went well where I followed my plan and I spent most of the day on or ahead of schedule with my plan. Where I went off plan...well, that is below this section.
3. I picked a great race for my first Ironman experience. Sure the weather was tough, but I always knew that was a likelihood. By my doing a local event, I found that I had friends all over the place. It was definitely a great motivator seeing them out there along the course and at aid stations. When I crossed the aid stations that had a volunteer that I knew, one of them would often walk with me for a moment to make sure I had everything I needed and grab it for me if I did not. The other benefit of a local event was being able to stay at home and save money on not having travel costs.
4. I put Body Glide into every transition and special needs bag. By doing this I had access to Body Glide at several points during the race and was able to prevent additional chaffing issues when they started in a location where I had not previously chaffed--and while chaffing was never an issue during my training, it became one during the race....fortunately, a problem that was marginalized because of my preparation.

What Would I Do Different Next Time?
Not much, I had a good plan and had problems with it's execution, so I think I would largely work on improving those things for next time. As far as specifics:
1. Don't deviate on the nutrition plan! I made one minor change that I thought was inconsequential, but it looks like it could have been the cause of my upset stomach. In brief, I had trained to sip one aero bottle (mounted to the front of the bike) with a solution of electrolytes over the entire ride while also taking in one bottle of water plus other nutrition each hour. What I decided to do at almost the last minute for convenience was to put drink each hourly water bottle through the aero bottle and dissolve the electrolyte tablets for an hour at a time. What I did not consider was that the electrolyte solution was a moderate acidic solution and I spent 7 hours consuming this solution where I had been used to my primary method of fueling being near a neutral pH.
2. I found that my wet feet during the bike ride were uncomfortable at times and I wished that I had an extra pair of socks to change into in the second half of the bike ride. Other than feeling uncomfortable, I don't see that this cost me anytime. I have some friends who ride without socks and that may be a potential solution as well.
3. Swim without the tri top on if I wear the two piece tri suit in the future. For some reason the tri top was chaffing around the front of my shoulders and had not done this before. The time saved by not having to put on the top in transition was minimal and I could have saved myself some minor discomfort issues early in the race.

All in all, the positives far outweighed the negatives in my race experience and I accomplished the goals I set forth for myself. I am looking forward to my next Ironman race experience even though I have not yet decided where and when it will be. A return entry to IM Texas is not likely due to other races already on my schedule, so perhaps another 2012 PIM race location or even the 2013 IM Texas event will be selected.
Strangely, writing this final report to wrap-up some items feels bittersweet. For almost a year, Ironman Teaxs was my one real goal race where everything else was merely a part of building towards this race. I certainly leave this experience better off because of it-- I have made some great new friends and gotten to know other friends better, I have improved my fitness by any standard I can think of, I pursued and achieved a difficult goal and (regadless of whether it was my first or only Ironman race--hopefully first of several/many) I had the experience of a lifetime throughout the process.

What Did I Do Right?
1. I did the training. I was prepared for this race and told myself--and others--that I was only coming off the race course: running across the finish line or being dragged off by events entirely beyond my control. I am glad to say that it was by crossing the finish line!
2. I entered the day with a plan and followed it for the most part. Things went well where I followed my plan and I spent most of the day on or ahead of schedule with my plan. Where I went off plan...well, that is below this section.
3. I picked a great race for my first Ironman experience. Sure the weather was tough, but I always knew that was a likelihood. By my doing a local event, I found that I had friends all over the place. It was definitely a great motivator seeing them out there along the course and at aid stations. When I crossed the aid stations that had a volunteer that I knew, one of them would often walk with me for a moment to make sure I had everything I needed and grab it for me if I did not. The other benefit of a local event was being able to stay at home and save money on not having travel costs.
4. I put Body Glide into very transition and special needs bag. By doing this I had access to Body Glide at several points during the race and was able to prevent additional chaffing issues when they started in a location where I had not previously chaffed.

What Would I Do Different Next Time?
Not much, I had a good plan and had problems with it's execution, so I think I would largely work on improving those things for next time. As far as specifics,:
1. Don't deviate on the nutrition plan! I made one minor changes that I thought was inconsequential, but it looks like it could have been the cause of my upset stomach. In brief, I had trained to sip one aero bottle (mounted to the front of the bike) with a solution of electrolytes over the entire ride while also taking in one bottle of water plus other nutrition each hour. What I decided to do late for convenience was to put drink each hourly water bottle through the aero bottle and dissolve the electrolyte an hour at a time. What I did not consider was that the electrolyte solution was a moderate acidic solution and I spent 7 hours consuming this solution where I had been used to my primary method of fueling being near a neutral pH.
2. I found that my wet feet during the bike ride were uncomfortable at times and I wished that I had an extra pair of socks to change into in the second half of the bike ride. Other than feeling uncomfortable, I don't see that this cost me anytime. I have some friends who ride without socks and that may be a potential solution as well.
3. Swim without the tri top on if I wear the two piece tri suit in the future. For some reason the tri top was chaffing around the front of my shoulders and had not done this before. The time saved by not having to put on the top in transition was minimal and I could have saved myself some minor discomfort issues early in the race.

All in all, the positives far outweighed the negatives in my race experience and I accomplished the goals I set forth for myself. I am looking forward to my next Ironman race experience even though I have not yet decided where and when it will be. A return entry to IM Texas is not likely due to other races already on my schedule, so perhaps another 2012 IM race location or even the 2013 IM Texas event will be selected.

Ironman Texas 2011 Race Report

Last summer when the registration for the inaugural Ironman Texas opened up, I was refreshing the computer screen until I could register---and I was registered within minutes! I knew this was going to be an adventure, but little did I know just how much of an adventure it would be!

I started a 20 week training program for my race that coincidentally began January 1st. Steadily the training weeks got longer and longer and longer, with an occasional recovery week thrown in after 3 build weeks. I remember that February through April had many long and dark workouts, and many times I felt like I was still asleep when I got to the gym to swim or ride. In time I was also so tired that I was not always sure I could complete a workout without falling asleep. There is a lot of stress that goes with training for an Ironman, but I also feel like it was worth every minute of effort I put out. I have so many good memories that I could never remember them all at the same time if I tried.

Anyway, on with the race report.....
I set 3 alarms to be up at 3:30am and within minutes I was packed up and ready to head out the door. Technically virtually everything was packed up the night before--and unpacked and repacked..... Since bikes and transition bags were turned in the day before the race all I had to do was get myself there ready to race and turn in my special needs bags (one bag for each the bike and run that was available at key points in the race in case there was something I thought I might want or need). I head out, get parked near the race and get to transition by 4:30am (I have to love being so close to this race--2.5 miles from the start line!). I check my bike, set up my nutrition on the bike and head out towards the swim start area. As I walk along I bump into various friends and talk about the race. By the time I get down there and get all ready to go it is about 30 minutes until race time. As I am standing around with friends waiting to enter the water, we realize we are only several feet away from one of the male pro racers, Tim O'Donnell and his girlfriend Mirinda Carfrae. Tim goes on to take the Men's 2nd place in this race and Mirinda is the reigning Women's World Champion. In a few minutes we are in the water, I find a place to hang onto a nearby dock to avoid using energy treading water before we start as the final minutes tick down.

At 7:00am the gun goes off and the race begins. I was caught in a tight-ish pack for most of the first part of the swim and held back by so many slow swimmers that started at the front of the line. I also wanted to try to swim at the outside to start, but there were still athletes getting into the water when the gun went off and they blocked that route for me. I expected bumping and jostling and was not surprised at the swim being rough at times and did not think it was that bad. The next day I heard several multi-time IM-er's describing it as worse than their other IM swims, so maybe I was better off being planned to expect worse than it was. Here is a photo showing a sample are of the swim start.

Being my first Ironman swim, I projected a 1:40 swim time and was clocked at 1:40:03.

As I make it in, I get to the ladder at the swim exit and pick up my transition bag on the way from the water.

I had a good bike ride for the first half, but started having problems early. For some reason my bike computer was not registering out of transition (and I did check it before the race) so I made a very early quick stop to realign it. All was good for the first hour and a half as I was pretty much on pace and then little things went wrong. First, the screen showing my speed went blank and never came back on, so I biked on heart rate and perceived effort as my guide, which is what I use for my effort level anyway. About an hour later the zipper broke on my nutrition box and I had try pry it open. Still, I made it through the first half of the bike ride about 7 minutes ahead of my goal range. However, I started feeling nauseous around mile 60 and by mile 70 was in urgent need of a rest stop. After a longer stop than I wanted at the porta-potties and making sure my feet were OK in my wet socks (next time I am considering a mid point sock exchange), I then got back on the road. I did not time my stop but it probably got close to 15 minutes. I did feel better for the next 20 miles but then the nausea returned around mile 90 and stayed with me all day. Seeing friends late on the bike course did perk me up a bit but my stomach was not happy.


I did finish the bike in the back end of my (7 to 7:30) target zone with 7:24. I thought my T2 was slow but it was faster than I thought it was, I headed out on the run. I really did enjoy the run course, and was almost always near someone cheering or volunteering, but my stomach kept bothering me. I walked the first half mile to get started and when I saw a friend who motivated me to start running. The best run I could manage was a 3 minute run/2 minute walk on this loop--however that still got me around loop 1 in approximately 2:02 on my watch when I hoped to average around 2 hours per loop.
It did feel good to run but I was always so close to being sick when I ran. By the time I got to mile 12 I was realizing that even this effort level was pushing me to nearly vomiting and I feared that might push me too close to dehydration, as I saw a number of runners go down from dehydration and heat exhaustion. I decided at that point that I would rather walk and guarantee a finish than push my pace and risk failure, so I walked much of the rest of that second loop and just ran where there was better crowd support. About a mile into the last loop I was feeling somewhat better and wanted to try to run some more, but the guy I was walking with kept wanting to drop out so I stayed with him and talked him through the last loop until we got around the mile 25 marker. At that point I told him he had about 45 minutes left with a 20-25 minute walk ahead of him and I started running again until near the end. I waited near the finishing entry to Market Street for a minute or two to get a place with no other athletes in the finishing chute and then went for my finish.

I was glad to have the chance to go in and high-five a bunch of people on both sides and really have fun with my finishing run before I crossed the line.

It was not long until I saw friends and fellow OutRival Racing members come up and hug me and tell me how happy they were for me and want to ask me all about the race. That really made me feel so great to share those moments with friends!!


Finally, before I drive away from the race area to head back home, I am adding the new distance sticker to my car!


Ironman Texas was an awesome experience! I may have had things go wrong, but I also was well enough prepared to overcome those problems and succeed in finishing. In the end, I was able to endure and still enjoy my race. A friend of mine had once told me that there is no real plan for Ironman because things will go wrong. I remembered this statement during my race and told myself that I would be fine---and I was. This Ironman journey was the adventure of a lifetime and I would not trade it away for anything! As difficult as this was, I can't wait to do it again!

I...AM...AN...IRONMAN!