This has to be the most delayed race report ever. But, since I’m doing IM TX once again next year, and since my training partner, Eva, has asked for my insights on the race I’ve decided to finish it.
Some parts of this report I wrote shortly after the race, when the memories were fresh. Some I’ve been writing in the last few weeks, so I might be forgetting stuff. Regardless, here it is.
After a year and a half of doing triathlons, I decided I wanted to try the iron distance. I love endurance training and, even after a rocky first half-ironman, I realized that my heart is in the longer distances. So, after I finished the Austin (Longhorn) 70.3 in 2009, I started researching which full distance I wanted to try. Research I did, and I found the perfect one: Ironman Brazil. It’s held on Memorial Day weekend, during Brazil’s fall time, in a tropical environment to which I am used to race, and only one time zone away which would provide for minimal jet lagging. Oh, and did I mention it was in Brazil?
Well, being the newbie (and procrastinator) that I am, I didn’t realize the race would sell out so fast. When I decided to register, it was gone. I started looking for another race that wouldn’t be sold out. At the same time, rumors started going on that there would be a new IM race in Texas. In the end, I had IM France and the inaugural IM TX to choose from. While France was, well, France, there were a few pro’s that were making me lean towards TX including the lack of traveling time and expenses, being able to train in a similar environment, and the fact that it would be easier for friends to be there. Based on the title of this entry, it’s no surprise I ended up signing up for IM Texas.
After many many miles and hours of training. I arrived at IM Village in The Woodlands, TX on Thursday. Miguel and I checked in to the Courtyard, where a lot of other athletes were staying, and I did all the registration process that day. On Friday morning, there was a practice swim at Lake Woodlands which Andrew, Amy and I did, and yuck! that water was nasty, Texas Ski Ranch kind of nasty. It was also warm, so, no wetsuit for me, bummer! After the practice swim, we also did a quick bike ride around The Woodlands, but it was so short I’m not sure it was even worth it... anyway, we did it, and then proceeded to rack in our bikes. That night at the hotel, I packed most of the stuff so I wouldn’t have to waste time the next day. I even considered sleeping with my race clothes to save time in the morning, at the end I decided not to.
Saturday started early, as is the norm for any event, even more so for this one, because I was so anxious. I got a quick shower and got my hair braided. I had left most of my things ready, so there was not much to do other than filling the water bottles, making the PBJ sandwiches and waiting for Miguel to be ready (he’s not a morning person, at all).
Before the race Coach Jen had asked about my goals/strategy for the race. I’m glad that I wrote an email instead of just telling her face to face, because now, when all the endorphin rush is gone, I can take a good look at what they really were. Here’s what I wrote: “As for the goals, I'll be happy just to finish, excited to finish in under 15 and really-excited-can't-contain-myself if I get under 14 h. For the swim my plan is simple: just keep swimming. This is definitely my weakest sport, so I'll try to keep in pace and draft when/if I can, but at the end of the day I'll be happy if I finish before the cutoff. Judging by what I've seen lately, looks like the bike will be windy so I want get as much speed as I can on the first half and then deal with the headwind on the way back. (I'm crossing my fingers for no wind, but I guess I need to be realistic.) As for the run, I'm going to try running the first half and run-walk the second.”
Miguel had also asked about my goals. I think he was aware of the 17 hour limit, but he didn’t know of the intermediate cutoff times until two days before the race. I told him I would be fine and that, as long as I could 1) make the swim cutoff and 2) manage not to break or dislocate any bones during the ride, I would cross the finish line as an Ironman. Given my track record, the first condition seemed way more realistic than the second.
Morning Transition
I didn’t have much to do on transition. I had to leave my Garmin and GPS on T1, put the water bottles, a PBJ sandwich and the gloves on the bike, and drop off the special need bags. To make it easier to carry, I put all the stuff in the T1 bag (including the bike/run special needs bags) and headed to transition. Once there, I went straight to drop the T1 bag, good thing because there was a long line to get in. I dropped the Garmin, turned on the GPS and put it in the race belt and pulled the gloves and the special needs bags from the T1 bag. Then I went to the bike, put the water bottles on the cages, the sandwich on the bento box, and the gloves went to the aero bars. I saw Miguel right outside the transition area fence, he had brought a floor pump in case my tires needed some air. I went to tell him that I wasn’t going to need the floor pump and that I would meet him outside, where Andrew was waiting.
So far, so good. And then, I go back to my bike only to discover that my special needs bags were not there anymore! WTF?!?! I looked around to see if someone might have moved them, but there was no sign of the bags. I asked around and nothing. Someone must have grabbed them by mistake. Ok, don’t panic, focus, what was on the bags? Well, I had already left the stuff that went on the T1 bag, and I had already set up what went on the bike, so just the special needs bags themselves. Ok, there wasn’t much there, they each (run and bike) had band aids, some wipes, and some painkillers, and then the bike bag had an extra PBJ and some water bottles that were actually for Miguel to have during the day. Ok, ok, I think I can live without those… well, I have to live without those, ‘cause they’re gone, so just let it go.
I made it out of transition and met with Miguel and Andrew. Later on Coach Jen and Amy joined us so we had a little photo session. Once we were all ready, we headed to the swim start. Not much happened there. I do have to say that going into the water, this was probably the most confident I’ve felt before a race start. I didn’t tear up, which I usually do before every race; I guess my mind was going to so many places that I couldn’t even focus on being emotional. Once I got in the water, I decided to hold on to a little dock right next to the entrance. I could hear the announcer urging people to let go of the dock and just go in and tread water. Well, that wasn’t going to happen; I’m a weak swimmer as it is, there was no need of getting tired by trying to keep myself afloat. So I waited there, until I heard the countdown.
The Swim
They sounded the alarm for starting, and, oh crap, I did not know that the first discipline in this triathlon had been changed to water kickboxing. I got kicked and elbowed so many times I lost count. I had to stop and fix my timing chip strap. Then I had to stop again to fix my goggles. It was rough, like I’ve never seen, but I guess that’s what happens when you have twenty something hundred people starting at the same time. I focused on making forward progress. I knew that all I had to do was get to the end of the swim before 9:10am and that was my only goal. As I went forward I was paying attention to make sure there were still people swimming around me… I was still getting some contact with other swimmers at the turnaround point, so I knew I couldn’t be that far behind. Since I didn’t think I was in trouble, time wise, I took some time to pee in the water. I apologize to the fellow swimmers for this, but really, that water couldn’t be any nastier than what it was, even if all of us decided to pee. I kept moving forward, now with almost no contact but I was still seeing a lot of swimmers around me. I decided I was still doing fine.
I took a while, but I made it to the canal; still, plenty of people around me, so no need to panic. Once I swam under the bridge I knew I was close. I finally made it out of the water and the official time marked 1:56 and some change; not my best, but not my worst either, and definitely less than 2:10, so I was really happy. (Later when I went to check my overall time, I noticed it was really 1:46:15; I guess the time was the pro’s gun time.) There was a TriZones cheering crew there; I saw Bonnie and Coach Jen and some other people, but honestly, my mind was somewhere else. Thanks to all who were there, I’m sorry if I can’t remember all of you.
I made it to my bag in the transition area, and the guy there said I could just put my gear there. I didn’t have to change clothes, so I thought I’d give it a shot. As I was putting my helmet and race belt on, this other lady said I had to go to the tent to put my gear on. That’s ok too, so I grabbed my bag and made it to the tent.
Once in the tent, I sprayed on sunblock like there was no tomorrow and geared up for the bike. There wasn’t much to do since I didn’t have to change clothes or take off any wetsuit. Still, somehow, putting my helmet, gloves and shoes on took over 10 minutes. I also made sure that the GPS was on and drank the 5-hour Energy Carolyne had put on the IM goodie bags. I had never taken 5-hour energy’s on a race, but I figured I would need all the energy I could take. When I was done I walked towards my rack and the nice volunteers had my bike already ready for me.
The Bike
Getting out of town was probably my least favorite part of the bike leg. Although the roads were closed for us in this section, there were still a lot of cars around, which make me nervous. There were also a lot of cyclists that I had to pass, because I’m a way better cyclist than I am a swimmer (but that’s not saying much). When I finally got into my rhythm, I reached into my bento box for my sandwich; it felt good to have something solid in my stomach.
Soon enough I left town and there very few cars to worry about, but I was surprised to see that there were still a bunch of spectators. Some of them were parked on the side of the street others were just out in their front yard, some were in big groups and some were by themselves, but there was no shortage of cheering. And on the few segments where there were no spectators, fellow cyclists would take on the cheering. “Good job”s, and “way to go”s as the occasional “this is Ironman” and “are we really doing this” were never scarce.
Before I hit the first aid station I found a tag partner. I LOVE having tag partners on a race. They make the ride so much more fun! She passed me in a leveled section and I passed her on a hill and then she passed me on the leveled section again; she mustn’t have been from Austin because the so-called “hills” were nothing worse than riding Parmer. I didn’t noticed passing her again, but after the aid station she tagged me again. The same thing happened after the second aid station. By the third time it was pretty clear to both of us what was going on, and when she passed me again she said “I have to stop wasting so much time in the aid stations”. I guess she did, because I didn’t see her again, so much for having a tag partner…
At some point around mile thirty-five I reached the state park. This section of the course was really nice. It had big trees that kept the area shaded and cool-ish. I noticed that the wind forecast must have been right, because I was going on much faster than expected. I thought about slowing down to conserve energy, but at the end decided to stick to my plan of taking advantage of the wind at the beginning and dealing with it when coming back.
As I progressed through the day I was very good on following my nutrition plan, which included three Clif Bocks every forty-five minutes (I had set up my Garmin to beep at every interval). I was also being extra good in the hydration plan because Coach Jen had said in the morning to drink, drink, drink, because it was going to be a very humid day. At every station I got some sports drink and I kept refilling my bottles through the whole ride. (Note to self: sports bras are excellent for holding bottles if you don’t want to be reaching down to the cages on the bike frame.)
I got to the special needs station, and there was nothing there to do for me, since my bags had mysteriously disappeared in the morning, so I kept going. Not long after that I started feeling the need to go potty, and not the “number” you can do on yourself during a triathlon... This had never happened to me during a ride. I was trying to figure out what could have caused it and then I remembered that 5-hour energy; it must have really hyped up my metabolism, darn! I should have known better not to try anything new on race day, but it was done, so no point fussing over it. I passed one aid station and there was a potty line; I decided to keep going. I passed a second aid station and it had an even longer line, I decided once again to keep going and hoped the next one was better. Well, I never made it to the next one. In between stations I couldn't hold it anymore; I looked around for a place to go on the woods, once I found it I got out of the road to a little dirt path covered on both sides by tall trees and did my business. (Thanks to Carolyne for including a pack of Kleenex in the goodie bag; I’m sure this was she had in mind when she put it there, but it saved my day!)
With that out of the way, I could go back and concentrate on the ride. I noticed that I had slowed down quite a bit from the first half, but I knew it was due to the wind. Since the average speed was still very good, I wasn’t very concerned, I just kept going. Some time after that I found a few TZers cheering along the road. Heather, Annette and Kristen, thank you for being there! A few more miles after and I had to go potty again. What?!?! Well, at least this time was just peeing, and that I had practiced doing while I rode. So I started cruising and tried to relax, but I just could not pee. Oh darn it! I didn’t want to lose any more time, but it just wouldn’t happen. When I passed the last aid station I saw that there was no line for the porta-potty, and I thought for sure the ones in transition would have a long line, so I stopped, again, and did my business. The last few miles back into The Woodlands were uneventful and I made it back to the dismount line in seven thirteen and some change.
Back into transition a nice volunteer grabbed my bike and I made my way to the T2 bags. I found mine and headed to the transition tent. I had decided beforehand that I would change into dry running shorts and keep the same top, so there was some work to do. I was also putting on socks (which I do for half-m and longer runs) and spraying on some more sunblock. Again, the nice volunteers helped me out and I was done faster this time.
The Run
I ran out of transition and followed the directions to the running loop. As soon as I started moving I knew there was something wrong. Oh, my, God! My stomach felt terrible. I could feel all the liquids I drank while on the bike moving around in my belly. It felt like there was a hurricane/typhoon/tsunami in there. I had to do something fast or I was not going to be able to run at all. At the first aid station, I looked for the porta-potty. No line, thank God! I went in and threw up all the water I could. Not the nicest part of the day, but honestly, I was so hyped by the race and by the whole day, that I’m just now realizing that I puked in a porta-potty... nasty!
After that I tried to run again. The stomach was still complaining, but at least now I could jog. Slowly but surely I kept moving forward. Since the run course was a three loop course there were tons of spectators; everyone was cheering us on! I fed from the excitement of the crowd and tried forgetting about the tummy issues. I started thinking about my time; by my estimates I had done a 1:57ish swim plus a five minute transition (yeah, right!), lets say that’s 2:05 (I can’t do math when I’m running), plus, the 7:13 from the bike plus the nine-ish on T2, let’s say that’s 7:20is, so... 9:25-9:30 up to T2. Even with my lack of mathematical skills at the time, I knew that I had enough time to walk that marathon and still finish under 17 hours. That new found knowledge gave me some peace of mind.
At around mile six the loop took us back to the canal where the swim had happened in the morning. This was the BEST part of the run course. I guess they have apartments or condos around there because there were people having house parties and offering all sorts of things to the runners: burgers, hot dogs, beer, water; I passed on all, but I was thankful for all their cheers. Also, I knew that the TZ crowd was going to be somewhere along the canal and that encouraged me to keep moving. It was at around mile eight that I found the whole crew, it was beyond awesome to have them there. Coach Jen was there and she ran a for a little bit with me. She asked me how I was doing, I told her about my stomach and she said to try some coke on the next aid station and to just keep moving. I couldn’t see how it would be possible to put any more liquids in my stomach, so I skipped the coke, but I did keep moving.
At around mile ten -a little bit sooner than expected- my knee started bothering. I knew this would happen at some point, and I knew when that happened I would have to start walking. I remember being a little bit upset about having to walk, specially since I had been going so slow due to the whole stomach issue, but then I remembered, even if I walked this marathon I would be an Ironman come midnight. So I resolved I would run while it felt good, and I would walk as soon as I felt any pain on the knee. Again, just keep moving, one foot in front of the other. At some point, the unthinkable happened, well, unthinkable for me, because of all the things that could go wrong, this was one I had not pictured: my Garmin started complaining about low battery. How am I supposed to know how slow I’m going without the Garmin telling me? Well, nothing I could do now, is not like I could stop and charge it. Hmm, breath in, breathe out, and keep moving...
It took a while longer, but I was back at the canal and everyone was still having a blast. Now that I knew where the TZ peeps were, I knew that I had to run at least the stretch where they could see me across the water, and so I did. Once out of their sight (or so I thought) I took a walking break, then back to running, and back to walking until I was on the same shore side as the TZers. I started running again, and this time, when I approached them I started screaming “I need a watch, I need a watch!” like a crazy woman. Heather and Miguel responded to my plea and while Miguel was giving me his watch, Heather was calming me down. “You are doing great! You know, even if you walk the rest, you’ll still make it.” or something Heather-ish like that. “I know,” I responded, and thanked them, and kept going. One more lap.
The last lap was the hardest. Not so much physically, but mentally. The crowd was starting to leave, there were less and less people along the course. Add to that the fact that it was now night time, and I had been up since before the sun came out. I was tired; physically tired, mentally tired. At one of the aid stations the volunteers gave us blinkies; yep, I was one of them people with blinkies. Before I had started I had hopes, slim, but still hopes that I would finish before sundown; now I only had hopes of finishing. Those were some lonely long miles to get back to the canal. I wasn’t going as fast as I would have wanted, but I wasn’t stopping either... just keep moving...
Back in the canal for the last time I felt relieved. The house parties and the cheering were still going on on this part of the course; that gave me some energy. Again, I decided to run the part of the canal where I thought people -well, people who knew me- would see me. As I was running, and I think without any deliberate intention from either of us, I found a running partner. This tall guy and I, we found the same pace and we started running together and talking. We talked about the day, about the pace, about how much longer, about don’t give up because we are almost there.
At the second to last aid station we decided to walk together and it was there when I finally looked up to see his face, I was so tired I had been looking to the floor the whole time. When I did, more than his face, I noticed his hair which was neon green. Hey! I know you! You are Andrew’s friend, he had introduced us this morning. Oh, yeah. (It was John Tuggle) He said he wanted to finish in under 15, and I said I wanted to do the same; we had twenty five minutes and less than two miles to make it; pretty good chances on any given day, not so much after a hundred and thrity something miles of continuous movement. We decided to run to the next aid station.
At the last aid station we took a walking break. “What do you think? Run all the way to the finish line?” “Yeah, lets do.” Well, it was more of a jog than a run, but we didn’t stop to walk anymore. Closer to the finish line, we could again hear the crowd and the music. We were very near. When we finally got into the finish chute I saw the race clock and I swear I saw it mark 14:59 so I sprinted like there was no tomorrow. I could see the finish line, I was crossing it in under 15 hours! Tuggle also sprinted to the finish line. I crossed the finish line, and got my medal. I was beyond happy; I did not hear Mike Reilly call my name and say I was an Ironman, but I didn’t need it, I knew I was, and still am, an Ironman.
By the Numbers
Swim 2.4mi in 1:46:15 or 2:47/M
T1 10:18, I must have stopped to put makeup on
Bike 112mi in 7:13:08 or 15.5mph, pretty good for me
T2 8:38, just retouching my makeup ;-)
Run 26.2mi in 5:35:48 or 12:49min/mi
Overall 14:54:08, I’m not sure where did I see 14:59 while racing, must have been the excitement
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