Clear Lake Sprint Triathlon 2012

It's been a few year's since I've been willing to do this particular race. The International Distance race from 2009 was my third and worst triathlon, and I am a bit surprised it didn't chase me out of the sport. However, this year I am back to give one last good triathlon race effort for 2012, and to support my friend Karen and several OutRival Racing teammates, in their race efforts.

I was up early to drive my friend Corey down to the race with me. My pre-race nutrition plan was a simple one: eat one Peanut Butter Chocolate Builder Bar each hour until an hour before the race, with a shot of liquid nutrition in 8 ounces of water about 20-30 minutes before the race as well. After I set up my transition area, I meet up with my friends and chat a bit before settling into some pre-race rest and warmups. I was also able to see the longer course triathletes begin their swim as I was in my preparation zone.

Swim: After seeing a lot of swimmers in my wave I decide to line up to the outside and plan to slide over as the wave thins out. I swim in a strong and purposeful manner, though not at my hardest. I am able to angle back into the main swim lane without too much trouble and take the turn and line up to the laddered exit and cross the mat in 10:49.1. (13th in my AG)

T1: I had a pretty good T1, I had a long run in and back out trying to weave around walkers and people standing around. Due to the tightness of the lane between the racks, I end up rolling my bike over towels, shoes and stuff left in the way. 1:31.2 (2nd in my AG)

Bike: I started a bit slower than I could go until I adjusted and got into a rhythm and then I pushed as hard as I could and stay around my lactate threshold heart rate or just above that. I passed a ton of people and felt very strong on the bike. I got passed by two elite wave cyclists and two age groupers, though the age groupers only passed me as I took a drink going in a turn, one of them I passed right away and the other just stayed right in front of me since we were near the end of the bike and there was a lot of other bike traffic we were both passing around. 38:21.7 (2nd in AG)

Photo from the TriHou Facebook page where I was about to dismount the bike

T2: Not much to say, I was in and out pretty quickly. I had a very minor issue with one shoe and paused very briefly to grab my water bottle, chug a drink and toss it back toward my stuff. I saw one guy in my AG just in front of me and passed him heading out. 1:08.8 (4th fastest in my AG, though one of those had a favorable spot not near the rest of the AG athletes). It's strange to think of it now and not notice it then, but there didn't seem to be any bikes around my rack other than the one guy I chased out of transition.

Run: I ran and I ran. When we went on wet grass and a grass hill, I just kept running, passing several on the grass and the hill. My HR was in the 170s and I kept going close to as hard as I knew I could keep going at this point. I was wondering why I did not see anyone marked in my AG as I ran (though some numbers were smudged). After the turnaround I saw another ORR athlete behind me and he caught me a bit later. I couldn't remember if he was in my race or AG or anything for certain, but I tried to keep him as close as possible for motivation and pushed harder in the return part of the run. I was feeling about out of steam late in the run and just pushed my run effort out until I saw the finish and found some energy. As I was about 50 yards from the finish line and I heard a runner behind me and found the energy to go a bit harder to the end. 16:12.9 (3rd in AG--the second and third place finishers were slightly faster on the run).

Total - 1:08:03.9 Now I know I have been improving and took on this race to provide my best competitive effort, which I did, though I still surprised myself with this time as I didn't see myself finishing faster than the 1:10:-1:12:00 range for this race at best, and more likely closer to 1:12:00 to 1:15:00.

I hung around to talk to friends and cheer in teammates for a while and had some fun. As I go around to see my finishing time and place, I run into Corey who high-fives me and tells me to check the results and smiles. I see Mike and Kelly of ORR near there as well, who ask me if I'd seen them and they smile and tell me to go look. In truth, I had thought I could compete for a podium spot with a good race, and I did my best to leave all my effort on the course this day in that effort. I figured these friends were confirming my effort to secure a podium finish in this race was a success, but to see my name on top of the AG was a bit of a shock, but a happy shock nonetheless. Yes, I won my age group! "WOW!!!!" doesn't describe how I felt.

Award acceptance photo taken by Corey. I also got a tub of Strawberry HEED endurance drink.

I know I won my AG in Montgomery a month ago but that was a much smaller race. Here I was not only first in a competitive AG of a competitive race, but was the 26th male and 27th overall of nearly 500 athletes and I did not see myself as being THAT athlete. 

My friends say that this doesn't surprise them, though it surprises me. I may not feel like I am letting any false limits define what I am capable of achieving, but I guess I better start thinking that like my friends now and accept that things have changed for me in all ways except perhaps how I saw myself.

Oh, and just to fill in the details left open in my report above, it turned out the guy I passed in transition finished in 4th place and that the reason I didn't remember seeing anyone else in my age group (ages are written on the triathlete's calf) is that I was actually ahead of them all.As it turned out, I needed every bit of speed I had for this win, seeing as how the second place finisher was 11.1 seconds behind me and the third place finisher was 10.0 seconds behind him.

Bridgeland 2012 Race Report

It's been a long couple weeks since the Bridgeland Sprint Triathlon and I just kept putting off my blog post about it. I finally made myself sit down and put this report out before I forgot more details and made this even more difficult.

After my last blog post my ankle seemed to heal fairly quickly and I was excited to be doing Bridgeland as a fun C-level race. However, the Wednesday before the race saw me dealing with pain on the sole of my left foot -- the previous ankle issue was my right foot.As it turned out, I had had a plantar wart festering in the ball of this foot for several months and it picked now to blow up in size and cause pain to plan weight upon my foot. A Friday trip to the doctor provided freezing treatment, and with it I had hope that I might be able to do the triathlon. Due to my foot issues I was unsure if I would be doing this race as recently as the morning before the race. However, my foot seem lasted to hold up decently well on a short Saturday morning run and I decided I was going to give Bridgeland a go. If anything, I was over-rested for this race given the recent foot injuries limiting my training a bit over the last two weeks.

On Sunday morning, my foot was giving me a bit of discomfort as I was going through the morning pre-race routine, but nothing more than being at a nuisance level. I got to the race site early and was in transition as it opened. I was set up quickly and went to lay by the OutRival Racing tent for 30-40 minutes. After that I got up to make a final check of transition before moving on to the swim start area. In this timeframe I made the first of several trips to the porta potties. Eventually I had everything worked out and met up with friends over near the swim start. My race plan was simple for today, try to get a good swim and then take what I could from the bike and run and enjoy this day.

Since I was in one of the early waves (4th or 5th) I stayed near the start are and quickly lined up my my group. When the time came for my wave I found a spot a bit to the left and in front of some less confident looking swimmers. When the horn went off, I found myself going at a solid rate with only a few pink (my wave) caps ahead of me. Somewhere near 150-200 meters in (maybe a bit more), I was suddenly hit with severe abdominal cramps for a moment which caused me to stop and breastroke for a short bit. I regained my composure and swam about 50-75 more meters and had more cramps that felt more severe than before. At this point I started to feel concerned and looked for a canoe or buoy that I might need to swim towards. Since neither was close I chose to breastroke for a bit as the cramps came and went for a moment or two. Suddenly and somewhat uncontrollably, I passed a lot of gas from my system and began to feel better and I soon resumed my swim, though this time at a more moderate pace for most of the rest of the swim. I exited the swim in 13:21. This was well behind my original expectations, but better than I imagined it would be as I got out of the water after my experience that day. :-/

As I completed this rather eventful swim, I exited and I found I could initially run on the carpeted path to transition, though after a minute my foot hurt enough that I had to walk and then limp my way to my bike. I had stashed some extra bandages for my foot near my bike and reapplied them to the sole of my left foot, and then I put on thicker socks than normal and also put on my bike shoes before leaving the transition area. Given the pain in my foot, I was moving pretty slow all through the transition process. T1 was: 4:02.

After I mounted my bike I started off at at good cadence with a slightly easier gear to keep pressure easier on my foot. Even in my current state I passed many more people than passed me on the bike. Although I specifically was not using a Garmin or bike computer to monitor my pace because I did not want to try to force myself to go faster than my comfort level would indicate, I was watching my heart rate and that heart rate stayed lower than I would normally expect it to be for a race effort. When my foot pain would bother me more than I wanted to bear, I would ease up on the gears a bit and try to make it up in cadence of my pedaling. My foot definitely hurt more as the cycling continued. In my mind I figured I was probably averaging in the 17-18 mph range , and maybe 19 mph if I was lucky. I was very surprised to see that I averaged 20.6 mph, which was very close to last year's bike speed (20.7) but under much less optimal personal conditions this time out. When I neared transition I took my feet out of the bike shoes and pedaled with them on top of the shoes. This was the least painful part of pedaling for me, probably because the distribution of weight from my foot to the top of the shoes kept pressure spread away from the area of the plantar wart. I finished the bike in 37:54 at 20.6 mph.

Once I got back to T2, I had to limp my way back to the bike and I gave a moment of thought to stopping the race, as I figured running would be more painful than cycling. However, I also thought I should start out and go from there. I took some extra care to get my shoes on comfortably and make sure my bandages were properly positioned on my foot. When I stood up it seemed fine and I jogged out of transition feeling good enough to give it a go. I finished T2 in 2:38.

The run was a very interesting one. All I really hoped for was a comfortable run with a minimal amount of foot discomfort. I felt good starting out and tried to keep a quick and easy cadence without forcing a pace. I found that what seemed a quicker and shorter stride felt less painful to me and ran like that. My heart rate was pretty much in the mid to upper 150s for most of the run, though I didn't much look at my watch and tried to just run on feel. This would be about 10-15 beats lower per minute than I would have normally expected for a true race effort. I hit the lap button at each mile (apparently, other than the mile 3 marker that I did not see). Mile 1 was in 8:04 with a 155 avg HR. I noticed about a half mile in that I was feeling more pressure than pain in my foot and tried to block it out from there and enjoy the run. Mile 2 was a bit slower in 8:23 with a 161 avg HR, I was still going on feel and trying to keep things comfortable and was just glad I wasn't falling apart from my foot around this point. The last 1.1 miles were finished in 8:18 with a 169 avg HR. I waited until getting up the grassy hill off the path near the end before trying to pick up my pace to the end. I was still feeling good and just went with it, though I could definitely feel my foot much more when I ran harder. I finished in a surprisingly strong 24:45 run considering my injured status. If I'd been healthy I would have expected better, but considering the status of my foot I expected a high 20 minute range run with some walk breaks thrown it. Last year's run pace was 9:16 per mile and I felt healthy and gave a harder effort, this year was 7:59 avg run pace.Overall time was 1:22:42, over 4 minutes faster than last year, though a different course. Overall I had a better race this year while feeling sick and having a bad foot. I'm thinking a healthy me could have finished at least 10 minutes better than that and maybe more.

A Distinctly Different View: Texas Star Tri 2012 Race Report

My first serious thought of doing this race came right after completing the Y Freedom Tri several weeks ago. After months of working towards, and completing, Ironman Texas I was completely thrilled with doing a sprint distance triathlon again. While I don't consider myself particularly speedy, I loved the feeling of opening up and going all out. The Texas Star Tri is held in Montgomery Texas, which is the historical home of the Texas Lone Star Flag design.

Race morning began with me getting to the race site just before most of the volunteers and I was able to park about 50-60 feet from the transition area, which really made set up easy. Being a shorter race I had minimal setup to worry about and I was done fairly early. 

 

 

If you look right behind me you can see the exit from the aquatic center pool to the transition area, which was close and allowed for a quick move between the two events.

The swim was a 300 yard seeded swim done in 25 yard lanes and swimmers went off every 10 seconds from both ends of the pool and got out in the center lanes as they switched lanes after every out and back. I had listed 5:20 as my seeding placement time, which I thought might be a tad fast but I was hoping to feel motivated to go fast. As it was I was exiting the pool around 5:10 and officially finished my swim in 5:29.1, including the pool exit and run out the building.

T1: Although I had some minor fumbling with my helmet straps, this was of minimal concern and I was on my way in a T1 time of  49.5 seconds.

Bike: This was listed as a 10 mile course and I had about 10.1 miles on my bike (maybe a shade more) so this was pretty accurate. In a relatively flat area, they seemed to find some decent hills as we seemed to be going up or down a lot. My strategy was to go hard the whole ride--it was only 10 miles, right? Well, I did keep with this plan and passed a fair number of cyclists and was passed by none.I finished the bike in 29:41.6.

T2: I made an effort to be quick in transition and only had a minor issue with my shoes. Then I grabbed my visor and race number belt and put each of those on as I ran off, finishing T2 in 59.2 seconds.

Run: The run was a cross country run around the high school athletic property. Most of the first mile was on pavement but most of the rest was off road, sometimes on somewhat muddy trails. Finally, the last 300 yards or so were on the school track to the finish. My goal was to run as hard as I could for as long as I could, and hold on to the finish. I passed a fair number of runners and was only passed by two others. The first guy who passed me early in the run proved to be the eventual race winner and he ran a 3 mile time under 17 minutes. The other runner who passed me got by me around the half way point and though I was not able to catch him, I stayed near him for the rest of the race and was only about 40-50 feet back of him at the finish line. I pretty much accomplished my running goals and was able to finish in 23:36.3.

This gave me a final time of 1:00:35.9. I had previous supposed a perfect race for me could be done in just under an hour, and I came pretty close to that. What was more important is that this race felt close to the best I could have done in terms of execution during the race, and that made me really happy. I felt that I had run about as strong and complete a race as  had in me on that day, and that also made me feel happy. This was my 19th triathlon to complete since I began doing triathlons in May 2009 and this was definitely the most complete race I had run overall (with last month's race being a close second).

The reason I do events such as these is for reasons of health and fitness, as well as for personal satisfaction. I'd never won awards, nor did I think I would ever expect to win any--although, I would have expected it would be good to win something at some point--but not in any way that made me feel like there was something I needed to prove anything to myself, or to others.

However, this day held something else in store for me. When they called out the name of the winner of the Men's 45-49 age group, the name they called was mine. It did not take me long to get over to the Race Director for my prize (an iTunes gift card, with a more formal award to be sent later after my name is added to it). 

For once, I had the distinctly different view while standing next to the race official and of looking back at the crowd while the cheers were for me---and that really was very nice. Hopefully, I will be able to win another award or two at some point.

However, that still is not the reason I do these races. I do them because I enjoy them and they help me be a better person by keeping me healthy physically and probably also mentally--and I hope I will always do these things for those same reasons for a long time to come.

Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas 2013

After close to 8 weeks of delays the registration for Ironman Texas 2013 opened at noon EDT yesterday. I was ready to register for the 2013 race at the original date registration was to have opened (the day after this year's race), however there were some unanticipated conflicts that had to be resolved......and apparently they were resolved. During the time since then I've been working on other plans, such as considering a later year Ironman race for 2013 and planning a late 2012 marathon for my beat possible race effort. Recently, work has intervened and I will not be able to make the Marine Corps Marathon this October due to scheduling conflicts. I'm currently looking at whether I reschedule to a race in Texas in November for that marathon or if I switch back to a fall triathlon schedule because if I'd do follow through with a fall Ironman next year then it will be 2014 before I can do some of these other races. At the moment Ironman races in Wisconsin, Florida and Arizona are the leading candidates for a group trip with my triathlon training group for fall 2013. However, this post is about Ironman Texas 2013, which opened registration at noon EDT yesterday (11:00 am CDT here). My registration confirmation email arrived 12 minutes later. I'm looking forward to it already!

Y Freedome Tri 2012 Race Report

I was coming into this race with high hopes and set some seemingly (at least to me) ambitious goals for the race, as follows:

Swim: 6:15
T1:1:15
Bike: 31:25
T2: 1:30
Run: 24:30
Total Race Time: 1:05:00

So, just how did I do:

Swim: 6:33.2
I had some minor issues with a couple others crossing over the swim lanes but overall it seems I was on the mark with my estimate, if just behind my goal for the swim. Perhaps, I just didn't quite push hard enough, though since this was a seeded race and I neither caught the guy ahead of me, nor was caught by the guy behind me, then I must have been seeded correctly.

Transition 1 1:07.9
I had a good spot near the bike out location and made the most of it with a quick time here. I really didn't think I could beat last year's 1:11 time, but I did.

Bike 31:01.1
I kept a good quick pace, pushing hard but not too hard. Well, maybe a bit too hard at times, but this is a race after all! I finished with an average speed of 21.3 mph and beat my goal time and cut 1:39 from last year's time.

Transition 2 0:59.2
I had the second fastest T2 time in my age group so I don't know how I could of been much better than that.

Run 24:12.6
I did what I set out to do with this run. I started quick, but not too hard. Then I increased the pace a bit as time went on. My mile times were approximately 8:26, 8:10 and 7:35.

Crossing the Finish Line!

Below is a comparison of my times at this race over the 4 years I have done the race, I think it is fair to say that this chart shows how my fitness has continued to improve over those years.

.........2009.....2010.......2011.........2012
Swim....7:25......6:43.......6:30..........6:33    (swim times include a run to transition)
T1........3:23........2:15.......1:11........1:08
Bike...42:32.....36:14.......32:40......31:01
T2........1:21........1:19.......xxxx........0:59
Run....38:27.....31:35.......xxxx.......24:12
Total.1:33:08..1:18:06.......xxxx.. 1:03:54

As far as this day went, where could I have improved? Well, I had some issues on the swim from other swimmers that slowed me and I swam decently hard but probably not really at a "race hard" level for the whole swim. I was happy with both transition times and maybe could shave a couple seconds off. Doing the relay last year gave me the luxury of going all-out on the bike without having to run. This year I kept something in reserve for the run. I definitely could have gone faster, though I can't say for certain whether I think it would have hurt the run or not to have gone much faster. On the run I probably could have pushed a bit harder earlier, but it was with the same thought about needing to be sure I was able to keep the pace and improve throughout the run. So, maybe I could have been a bit faster, and maybe not in the end, or at least not much.

In the end this netted me my best overall finish by far for this race, and for any other triathlon. In 2009 I finished 19th out of 22 in my age group and 291 out of 380 overall. In 2010 I finished 18th out of 28 in my age group and 218th out of 443 overall.  I finished 4th out of 21 in my age group and 32nd out of 397 overall. I'm just overwhelmed that I could have ever accomplished this considering where I was when I started this sport. In 3 years, I've cut nearly 30 minutes off my time in a sprint triathlon (nearly 1/3 of my time from that year!). I've had a lot of support from family and help from friends and some fantastic coaching advice over the years, but the truth is I don't know that I ever really thought I could be truly competitive in this sport until today.  While the success was mine today, my thanks goes out to any and all that have given me support over the last 5 1/2 years as I have sought to improve my physical condition.

One of those friends was last year's relay partner, Karen, who also did the race today. She finished 7th place in her age group and is already plotting her improvement for next time. Good work, Karen! The theme for the race this year was one of honoring veterans and supporting the military service members. As part of that the finisher awards were replica "dog tags", which you can see on the photo below.

Finally, I ended the triathlon adventure with a well-earned treat for lunch. I had the Darn Good Burger at Black Walnut (their actual name for burger). It was most definitely well-named and quite filling. Tomorrow I can go back to my normal mostly healthy diet but for today, this was my lunch....(and it was great!!!)....

Y Freedom Tri 2012 (Pre-race)

I'm looking forward to doing the Y Freedom Tri next weekend and, at the risk of seeming a bit self-serving, I wanted to do a review of the only triathlon that I've during every year since I've started with the sport. This is a small, low-key race on the other side of Houston from me, but it is also a lot of fun! What they lack in having a pretty unremarkable course, they more than make up for with a first class post-race celebration--including an ice cold towel waiting for you at the finish!

In 2009 the Y Freedom Tri was the second triathlon I ever did and came just under 2 months after my first triathlon. I seem to recall doing at least as well as I expected and finished in 1:33:08.

In 2009 this became the first triathlon that I repeated. I was back with a new bike and more confidence as this was now my sixth triathlon over all and my second for the year. As I recall I had just registered for Ironman Texas 2011 the week before the race. I improved across the board and finished in 1:18:06.

In 2011 I was coming off Ironman Texas and was a bit unsure of my complete recovery for this race at the time of registration. In addition, my friend Karen was becoming interested in triathlon. Karen and I did this as a relay where I did the swim and bike and she did the run. Together we finished in 1:05:55 and got first place in the relay division.

This year both Karen and I are returning, though as individual triathletes. Karen will be doing her second triathlon and I've stopped counting but am probably around 18 by this race  (Wow! Life sure has changed in many ways in that time for me.).

That bring us to this year. Like last year, I am not completely recovered for this race. Although I am certainly recovered enough to complete this race decently well, I can't be sure at this point that I will be able to keep up a race effort for the entire race (though I will try).

My comparisons to the previous race are as follows:

.........2009.....2010.......2011
Swim....7:25......6:43.......6:30    (swim times include a run to transition)
T1........3:23........2:15.......1:11
Bike...42:32.....36:14.......32:40
T2........1:21........1:19.......xxxx
Run....38:27.....31:35.......xxxx
Total.1:33:08..1:18:06

So, what are my goals? First off I would like a big PR over my 2011 time of 1:18:06, and quite honestly I SHOULD do that barring injury or equipment troubles. I estimate that I probably could have finished in the 1:08-1:10 range if I had done a solo race. I'm also reaching a point of diminishing returns in terms of improvement. Maybe I can drop 30-40 seconds off my swim time and I could possibly drop a couple minutes off my bike time from last year. Realistically, however, my run is where I have room for the most improvement and could still drop a good number of minutes from my 2010 time that I last ran the course.
I'm going to take the unusual (for me) step and lay out all my hopes and expectations for this course here we can see how it all shakes out.

Swim: 6:15
T1:1:15
Bike: 31:25
T2: 1:30
Run: 24:30
Total Race Time: 1:05:00

I'll be back next week to report how things went.

Ironman Texas Recovery and Getting Back to Business

Two weeks (actually 15 days, to be more exact) after completing Ironman Texas for the second time I am wrapping up my initial recovery period and will be moving on to a period of active recovery and training. Since IMTX I've done just three workouts--one each of a relatively light swim, bike and run. I have resisted the urge to do more and almost had to force myself at times to be cognizant of the need to rest my body after nearly 6 months of IM training, including a 39.3 mile Goofy Challenge, a 50 mile trail run, my first sub 6 hour half Ironman and a 4:06 PR marathon. I still have more plans for the rest of the year and need to be careful about easing back into training the right way.

My goals for the rest of the year include several more triathlons over the summer--2 sprint distances that I've done during previous years, and perhaps an Olympic distance triathlon. I also want to make a solid effort this fall at setting a new marathon PR. Currently my two main options for this target marathon are the Marine Corps Marathon (October 28) and the San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon (November 11). It would be really nice to do the MCM, but it has greater logistical hurdles (and the trip to D.C. would be several times more expensive than a trip to San Antonio).

My goal for that marathon is to push my PR to the best time that I can get. My 4:06 marathon in March was something I would not have believed possible until recent months. Given that I did this while I was in IM training, it is reasonable to expect that I can run under 4 hours, or even better, under more ideal circumstances.

However, my personal growth in my training has led to personal growth in my expectations. I have come to realize that the greatest limits upon me are those that I have placed upon myself. I'd like to try to become more aggressive in my goals and in my results. I fear that setting some goals could become too self-fulfilling, meaning that I could work towards and accomplish a goal that is less aggressive than that which I might otherwise be capable of achieving. Maybe 4:06 will be the best that I could do on a marathon course, but what if I am for 4:00 and hit 3:58, or aim for 3:50 and hit 3:45, .....when I might otherwise have been able to succeed with a time that seems so unreasonable that I would never try to make it a goal.

At this point I'm going to try to accept one thing about my race goals: I will resolve to race at my maximum effort and not be bound by any preconceived notion of a time goal. I will train and race by one philosophy and expectation--NO LIMITS!!

Ironman Texas 2012 – Race Report

Pre-Race: I went into the taper for this race concerned as I felt over-trained (and under-rested going into last year’s race). I spent most of the taper worried that I was not feeling rested soon enough, although in those last few days before the race I finally started to feel right. By race day, I felt ready to go—not just that, I felt great, and I knew that I was ready to go. During the week or so before the race I noticed my craving for saltier foods had increased. Although I did not gorge myself on anything unhealthy, I did allow myself to eat a greater level of these foods than I might normally. I feel that my body may have been craving these foods for a reason. It seems strange that while I did not limit my foods, and likely ate more than normal that week,

It felt great to see the whole OutRival Racing team, and so many friends (whether ORR or not) before the race that morning. In fact that morning set the tone for the whole day for me. Seeing the raw emotion on people’s faces brought together showed the greatness of Ironman—the mix of fear, anticipation, exhilaration and so many other emotions all at once charged the atmosphere. 

Erin and I before the swim. She had an awesome race! I am so proud of her!

 

Swim: Last year I started to the outside and this year I started to the inside—I would say the outside was a better choice. I thought I was generally swimming a good line, though I got angled off course at times by people who kept swimming at angles to the course. I also tried to position myself behind the fast swimmers and in front of the slow ones. Either I put myself too far back or I too many slower swimmers lined up near the front or perhaps I also did not push as hard as I intended or perhaps I just got caught in the crowd. I felt this swim was rougher than last year, though still not that bad compared to some stories I have heard. The few times I got pushed hard I was willing to push back, and the one time some guy tried to swim over me….well, he got pushed sideways towards the canal wall (when somebody wears a wetsuit you can push them away real easily). I took a slightly easier pace for the last 300-400 yards so I could exit the water not feeling out of breath. My swim time was 1:31:30, which was in the range of what I had projected before the race, though I had hoped for faster. It improved over my 1:40:03 from last year. I did have one physical issue during the swim; in the last 1/3 I felt some tightness in my right hamstring area. This was not quite a cramp but was noticeable for a short while. I slowed for a bit and then resumed normal stroking around that time.

T-1: My plan was to take a methodical approach to transition in order to be best prepared for the day. I did not go purposefully slow, though my longer than expected time does make me wonder….. Anyway I got out of the water and ran through the bags and ran to the changing tent. I noticed some minor chaffing and added extra body glide there, plus other potential chaffing areas. I had meant to leave my tri top in the transition bag and swim shirtless but had forgot to place it in the bag, so I had to swim with the tri top. I run out and grab my bike and go off to the next phase of the race with a T-1 time of 10:14 (versus 8:01 last year).

Bike: I felt surprisingly good early on the bike. 

I biked by heart rate though it was not getting that high (or at least not staying that high) until around mile 50 or so. I averaged just over 20 mph for the first 40 miles and hit the half way marker at 2:53:08 (19.41 mph) which is only slightly slower than Galveston 70.3 bike time. I was feeling good at this but also trying to not get excited and focusing on the plan. I stopped at the Special Needs station and took about 5 minutes to change out nutrition, change my socks and rub more anti-chaffing cream on my feet. (My feet were feeling sore from the pedaling by around mile 50 today, something which usually takes 60-90 miles to happen.). I’ve been trying hard to drink plenty of water and feel good about my nutrition plan at this point. I, and my feet, feel refreshed when we start back up and I resume the ride. Strangely it felt like I had a headwind from the west, south and east at times today—from the west by Richards, the south down 149 and 1486 and the east on 1488.  Around the time I turn back on to 1488 is when I notice I am beginning to feel a bit fatigued and losing a bit of focus. I probably lower my heart rate a bit so as not to overtire myself. During this period I notice my mind wandering a bit and I also start to feel some soreness in the lower back/kidney area. For some reason I start wondering if I have been drinking enough water (I had) and if I was having some kind of kidney issues since I had no desire to urinate even though I was drinking enough water to drown a small dog. After a near wreck at the aid station by the school on 1488 I stop to use the porta-potty and regain my composure (and am sure I don’t have kidney issues). Following a 3 minute stop, I am back on the bike and feeling a bit better as well. I bike better through the Westwood area but have a moment of panic when I’m passing another rider and I hear the sound of a tire going flat. After thinking “oh crap” and worse…..then I realize it was the other guy and not me! I feel pretty good getting through until May Valley (around mile 100) but feel like I am tiring as I go back through The Woodlands on the way back to transition and I am also trying to save energy by not going too hard late in the bike. I make it back in 6:13:20, which is well ahead of expectations (also well ahead of last year was 7:24:17, of course that race was having problems by then). 

T-2: Off the bike and kick of bottle and my shoes and run in my socks to get my bag and head to the tent. I change socks and rub Body Glide on my feet. I also decide to change into running shorts for comfort. T-2 is 8:55 versus 11:15 last year. I can’t explain the difference other than I didn’t feel nearly as worn out this year at this point as I did last year. 

Run: The run was like the Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities: it was the best of times and it was the worst of times….. I started off the run feeling good and holding to running between aid stations averaging a little over 11 minute miles. In that time I was seeing my heart rising so I backed off to a 8-2 run-walk, plus walking the aid stations. 

 

This got me through the rest of the first loop before my heart rate started getting too high. According to my Garmin I was averaging about 11:39 through the first 9 miles.

Due to heart rate rising and the start of intestinal cramping and gas, I changed my run rate to a 4-1 run-walk, plus walking the aid stations. A few times in this loop I started to feel the start of cramping in the same area of the right hamstring from the swim but it was not a major problem, though when it started to flare up I did some extra walking. I stopped using the gels during this loop due to the intestinal distress and nibbled a few grapes along the way. 

During one of my tougher moments.

I also used the restroom around mile 11 for a bit of a relief of my distress. Miles 10-18 went by slowly this way with lots of little ups and some big and small downs. I averaged about 13:48 per mile over this loop. I noticed some temporary spikes in my heart rate that just seemed out of place that kept me walking at times. In any case I wanted to be careful enough to not push too hard and risk crashing my race as well. I entered the last loop knowing I needed a nutrition boost but feeling like I was having difficulty taking anything in. I tried a gel early for some extra electrolytes and it did not sit well with me. After that I tried some cola, and that seemed to work well so I stayed with it at each aid station. I stopped at the special needs station at mile 19 to change socks and use the rest room and felt a bit better. Not too far in the last loop I picked up with a friend, Brandon, with whom I had been leapfrogging with for a while. We were both running and walk and stuck together for several miles and helped each other along. I was able to pick up the pace some after that, although my hamstring was becoming more of an issue at times, and during those times I walked a bit extra. 

Brandon and I running along the Waterway with just a few miles to go.

   

Brandon and I stayed together for several miles before he went ahead about 2 miles before the end. My last loop averaged about 13:13 per mile, with a pick up of pace closer to the end. During the last few miles I was thanking cheering fans and volunteers more frequently, knowing I was about to finish and was not coming back. 

Just before the finisher chute!!!

When I came up near the finishing area I paused a bit to allow others to clear the area and I tried to high-five as many people as I could, maybe even more than last year. Then I approached the finish and tried to jump up through it for joy at the end. Run time was 5:37:09 versus 7:12:15 last year. I was hoping to run it a bit faster but it was my 3^rd fastest marathon and only a little over 6 minutes slower than the Disney marathon earlier this year (more walking and less posing for photos).

Post Race: I was caught at the end by my friend Karen, who volunteered mostly to be there for me. 

Post race photo of me and my finish line "catcher" Karen, who is also my good friend, often times training partner and, at least on this date, guardian angle.

I got a big hug from her and felt a bit emotional and then she took me to meet Chrissie Wellington who place my medal around my neck and gave me a big hug and kiss and congratulated me. Talk about a big WOW factor for me! Chrissie really seems so excited and she must have been there for hours! After that I stuck around in the athlete area for a post-race massage, mostly my legs, and to eat. I would go get my bike and gear but I also hung around until after midnight to see the race close down and the last runners come through. 

During the time leading up to this race I had several goals I set for myself. My most specific goal was to improve by at least 2 hours over last year (and this was something I told most people who asked since it was easy to quantify). 

My next goal was to get under 14 hours (which I was less sure about but I knew was possible). 

My desired goal……well, somewhere in early April, I put together I “best case” estimate of what I felt comfortable estimating that I could do on race day. Try to keep it conservative enough to allow that race day would have some issues of its own and would not likely be perfect. Anyway, I wrote these goals down and stuck them to the back wall over my desk at work, where I have seen them as a frequent reminder for many weeks. Below is a photo of that paper:

This wasn't quite how the day went, but it wasn't too far off in the end.

Now, if they will just open up registration for IMTX 2013.......361 days away......

13:41:06

I'm going to need a bit of time to recover and regroup from Ironman Texas yesterday, and when I do I will be posting a full race report. For now I will say that parts of my race went as planned and parts were better and worse than planned. However, planning an Ironman is a rather ambitious undertaking under the best of circumstances. In the end my day was filled with sweat and tears, joy and heartbreak, success and failure in so many ways. On this day there was more good than bad as I finished in 13:41:06. My thanks to those of you who supported me along the way!

Oilman 2011

Oilman Triathlon is the renamed version of the Iron Star Triathlon that I did last year, with a blog post here.

While packing for race day I watched the online feed of Ironman Florida, as well as Facebook posts, to follow a couple friends in the race. One of my friends, Chris Gause, was competing in her first Ironman race. Most notable about her entry, which neither she nor her friends knew previously, is that no female of her age or older had ever completed Ironman Florida. Chris had a steady and consistent race effort all day and became the first female in the 70-74 age group to complete Ironman Florida with a time of 16:45:40, and qualifying for the Ironman World Championship next year in Kona, Hawaii, as well! With my motivation complete, I got some sleep for my race the next day.



Pre-Race: I had written down a nutrition plan about a week before the race and followed it pretty closely. Overall, I thought it did OK for me, other than if I could have done more to prevent the cramping that I experienced. I will be giving this a lot of thought in the near future since, as you will read, cramping did become an issue for me like never before.

Swim: Thirteen months of drought had taken its toll on the lake and a new swim course was created to account for the low lake levels, which included about 75 yards of walking/running up to shore in addition to the swim distance. I started in the front and outside, though this ended up putting me in the middle of the action fairly quickly on this course. For about the second 100 yards I thought it was rougher than IMTX. I made an effort to try to go at a strong and steady pace, but not too hard. I think I found my rhythm about 1/3 of the way into the race and tried to stay with it. I could have gone faster although that might have cost me later. Overall, I was happy with the swim. Swim time was 39:20.7, which included running out of the water and back to shore (the real shore, not the drought-effect shore).



Bike: This ride became my new longest bike ride on my new Orbea Ordu tri bike by abiout 8-10 miles. I tried hard not to go too hard and stay around an average heart rate in the mid 150s for the first half of the bike ride, after that I allowed myself to push it a bit harder. My average of 151 for the entire ride includes the periods where I was under less effort on downhills. I generally sipped on my nutrition about every 15 minutes and I tried to sip water more frequently. This was my first race with my new Speedfil A2 bottle (mounts on aero bars) which I found easy to use and refill and made it easy to take on water periodically. (I also drank several ounces right before leaving T1.) The bottle holds 24-28 oz of water and it never emptied, though I did refill it every time I could. I estimate that I drank 18-20 oz each hour on bike, especially a few times when I though my mouth was feeling a bit dry. The most surprising things about my bike ride were that I felt I held back some so I could have a good run and that this bike climbs hills very well. It wasn't that I was trying to push really hard to pass people on the hills, it just seemed they all slowed down a bunch when we got to a hill. (Did that make sense?) Bike time was 3:01:17.6, I could have pushed to get under 3 hours but that was not my goal so I did not do so.

Run: In addition to my previously stated nutrition, I was carrying 1 endurolyte capsule to take each mile in addition to a handheld bottle with enough liquid calories for the distance.. The run was approximately three 4.35 mile loops, which I will report to you individually. I started off watching my heart rate to try to keep it in upper 160-low 170 range for the first 2 laps and go from there for lap 3.
Lap 1: approximate time 44 minutes, I felt good but knew I was pushing myself today as I followed my plan, I think it was near the end of lap 1 that I could feel the little twinges of possible cramps hiding out there. I did have a moment around mile 3.3 where a cramp tightened up my right leg, but I loosened it up and it did not bother me right after that.


This photo appears to have been taken at the very beginning of lap 2.

Lap 2: approximate time 48 minutes, My Garmin gave out about halfway through this lap, the previous 3 miles before that were 10:58, 11:03 and 11:06. I was making more of an effort to stay on pace and watch heart rate. After the Garmin gave out I went on how I felt and how my pace felt. I think I pretty maintained my pace for the rest of lap 2, though it was definitely getting more tiring and I could feel more of the cramps to come that were hiding below the surface, which I had been managing by trying not to go at a pace that would not cause them to act up. About halfway through lap 2 I made an effort to drink some extra water at each aid station.
Lap 3: approximate time 61 minutes, early in the lap I could tell the cramps were more likely to be an issue. Up until now I only stopped to take in water while walking aid stations, now I also walked a bit at the miles to take in endurolytes each mile. I think I might have even pushed myself a bit harder pacewise to keep going in my determination, I can't really be sure. Around mile 10 I walked up one hill to avoid a possible cramp issue and took in the 4 endurolytes I had left.. After that I pretty much maintained myself until around just before mile 11 where I could feel the cramps starting to come. At this point I just tried to keep going as best I could. At the aid station turnaround at mile 12 is when my leg cramps spasms really became bad. At that point it seemed I could only get a few yards after one cramps subsided and another spasmed, even while walking. Another runner stopped and gave me a band to wrap around the cramp to help alleviate it--I asked her number as she ran off and she told me not to worry about returning it. I remember thinking at that moment she was like an angel sent to help me. The band did help with the cramping, however that led to cramps in other areas stopping me momentarily. So, for the next mile I ran as far as I could and switched the band between right and left legs, and between positions on the upper and lower legs. I made the last tenth of a mile on sheer determination that I would not let my legs buckle out from under me. Run time was 2:33:33.6.

This photo was taken just yards before the finish.

Overall: I improved in each area from last year, including both transition times. This year's time was 6:21:22.5, 46:20.7 ahead of last year's finishing time of 7:07:43.2.

In the end I obviously could have done better, but there is no way I consider this race anything less than a major success. In time I hope to take some lessons forward and think about something that was once truly unthinkable for me at this race distance: finishing with a sub-6 hour time next year (especially when you consider the two previous attempts to last year's 7:07:43 time were 7:52:07 and 7:58:38).

This ends my triathlon season for 2011. I expect to write an end of year post to sum up my 2011 experiences, however for now I will just say that it was a great year of triathlon for me in more ways than one.

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.

Kemah International Distance Triathlon

This past weekend was the Kemah International Distance Triathlon (formerly known as the Gateway to the Bay Triathlon). I went into the race primarily as a practice tune-up for Ironman Texas in 7 weeks, but also hoping to set a new PR while following a heart rate goal. My personal goals for the race were to use my planned Ironman nutrition strategies and to finish between 3:00:00 and 3:10:00.

I spent the night at the local Holiday Inn and was less than 2 blocks from the transition area. After getting ready in the evening I had trouble sleeping for no specific reason. Right before midnight I suddenly think that I did not get my swim goggles out and realize that I do not have them. Apparently I left them at the gym during a final warm up swim that morning. Fortunately, I have a backup pair in my swim bag in my car. These were a pair I tested a few weeks back that work okay, but sometimes didn't quite seal perfectly. In the end they are better than nothing.

I wake up early--as usual on race day with 3 alarms--though the first one is enough. I make it out to the transition area just after it opens and get set up pretty quickly. After it nears transition closing time I walk over to the big paddleboat that they are going to use to take us out to the swim start. This start is one where they take us straight offshore.

Once the race started I had about 30 minutes until my wave went off and then I stayed farther back in my wave to take my time. Overall, I felt I did pretty well. The water was choppy and there was a bit of cross-current, but I kept a pretty straight line all the way to shore. I posted a time of 33:06, which is a few minutes slower than I had hoped, however it was still about 30 seconds faster than last September's Austin Triathlon time which was under much easier swim conditions. However, comparative swim times for most people were several minutes slower for Kemah compared to Austin for most so I must be showing personal improvement to buck that trend and have a faster time.

As I moved on to the bike I noticed that the wind had definitely picked up, I estimate around 15 mph for much of my time on the bike. This led to slow times into the wind and fast times with the wind. Overall I posted a time about 1 minute slower than in Austin, which did disappoint me slightly, but considering the wind that may have been the best I could do that day and stay within my heart rate guidelines. I did have one mishap on the bike, which was fortunately not a problem with me.
As I was mounting my bike and before I clipped into the pedals I got pushed from behind by a guy not watching and had to find the pedals before I fell over as I moved slowly forward. Fortunately, I kept control and was fine, however from this photo you can see the guy standing sideways across the path as he tried to reposition himself and was blocking the way of others.

Coming into the run I knew that my two good transitions were the difference in my time being slightly under Austin's previous time. However, I was still on my plan and I felt as good as I have in any triathlon at this point. As I set out on the run I try to move smoothly and not push too hard. It turns out that I push through Mile 1 in about 9:30, which was a pleasant surprise. Then around the 1.5 mile mark I had a chance conversation with a fellow runner coming up from behind and realize that it is someone I know. Ingrid and I spend a mile or so together chatting before she pulls ahead of me. Anyway, as Mile 2 rolls by I realize that is another 9:30 mile. By this time I am running by the Kemah Boardwalk area with the roller coaster and the Bay around me. Miles 3 and 4 get a bit tougher but go by around 10:00 each. Finally, comes the last part of the run which takes us over the BIG bridge linking Kemah and Seabrook across the Bay. This is one tall bridge to run over--and I do run over it. I am able to pass quite a few runners who are humbled by this bridge, which pleases me to no end. I love this photo where I had just blown by this guy from Bay Area Multisport (aka BAM!) who was suffering as I was smiling for the photo! Finally, after going up the hill, down the hill, looping around and back up and down again.....I am about 2/10 of a mile from the end. I try to pick up my pace a bit and head on through the finish in 1:03:21, which actually represents a 10K PR time for me as well.
In the end I finish in 3:06:14, over a 12 minute PR time for the distance (powered mostly by a 10 minute run improvement!).