Ironman Texas 2012 Race Report

Sorry for the long read, but I didn't do IMWales justice, so I am making up for things.  

I will try to write this in a way that will be memorable to me, and hopefully helpful to one or two readers.  As many of my friends are much faster than I, there is not always a lot for me to offer in terms of racing, but I think that my steady progression can give other triathletes hope that while some of us take longer to improve, it can happen.  And, if you are hoping to do IMTX in the future (if they have it), hopefully this will give you some good feedback on the course. 

Race report

The race was preceded by a night of no sleep and my normal nausea/cramps from the arrival of my favorite time of the month.  (lucky me) I wasn't able to eat much race morning- I think I had a couple of bits of oatmeal and a banana.  Maybe 150 calories?  Fortunately, Keith gave me a Honey Stinger sometime before the swim, and I took a gel before I got in the water so I wasn't quite so hungry- another 260 cals I think.

Swim- 1:16/ 1:49 per 100/yd

Everyone complains about this swim, but I think it was awesome, with the exception of the first 1000 meters, which completely sucked.  Water temp was 80ish- no wetsuits allowed.  The course is very narrow as you are sandwiched between a buoy and a wall.  I lined up near the front and to the right.  (But, as I came to learn later, not as far to the right as I would have liked to have been.  My suggestions if you do this race is go FAR right.  Or just be fast and get out of there). 

After treading water for 20 minutes, the cannon went off and I was immediately massacred by everyone that can sprint.  I don't have any speed swim, with or without injury, and it really hurts me in the swim start.  I had to tread water, breast stroke, back stroke, tarzan swim, and then finally I swam lateral to the shore and found some clear water.  So, I had my normal panic attacks followed by close encounters with death.

How in the hell is everyone so fast in the water?  Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!

So, I had about 20 minutes of complete misery before I could swim.  I was surprised to see that a mile into the swim I passed so many of those "fast" swimmers that tried to drown me at the beginning.  I guess a lot of people have a fast gear but no endurance? I have a lot of endurance but no fast gear.

Otherwise, I was just super grateful I could swim and tried to enjoy every bit of the fact that I was swimming my first 2.4 mile non-wetsuit race.  It is much harder than a wetsuit swim, in my estimation, and you truly work muscles that are allowed to just hang out with a wetsuit.  I stayed as focused as possible and took as many good lines to the finish as I could.  You can save tons of time by knowing when to follow the buoy line and when to follow the shoreline for the tangents.

My shoulder wasn't hurting, I was just slow and out of swim shape.  But, I was doing it and happy.  As I have not done anything longer than 600 yards at a time in the past 2 months, I was completely expecting well over 1:20 for the swim.  I came out of the water in 1:16, which is about 1:48/100 yards.  Although I think I could have finished in 1:10 if I was fit and uninjured, I was extremely happy to have finished the swim.  Plus, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment to swim my first 2.4 miles non-wetsuit.

Oh, and the canal that everyone complains about?  Totally cool.  Reminded me of ITU races where you go under the bridges and spectators line the waterways.  I don't know.  Maybe my perspective was different because I felt that the swim was a gift, but I thought the opportunity for people to see you on the swim course was really awesome. 

I rank this as the most fun swim course (minus the start) of my 3 ironman races. 

T1: 4:07

My goal was 3 minutes.  I was on track for a clean and awesome transition.  And, for the record, this is the first ironman I actually had a helper.  THANK YOU!!!!  I was ready to go, got up to run out of the tent, and realized I forgot to take my speedsuit off.  Arggg!!!!  I had to sit down, take off shoes, take of suit, and get everything back on.  Finally....out of the tent.  Ok, so one error down for the day.

Bike- 5:29/20.3 mph

 photo by finisherpix.com

I was passed early on by a girl or two that were hammering from the get-go.  Do I go?  They are in my AG?  I let them go and settled into my own pace/HR.  I am still learning when to go and when to stay.  :) 

My plan was to not under-ride the bike, contrary to all of the unsolicited advice of well-intentioned supporters.  Tim and I have noticed that I generally do not perform to my capabilities on the bike.    At IMTX, I vowed to not ride like a granny.  I was going to ride smart, but not slow.  I don't look at MPH on the bike.  I don't care.  I ride at a pace that feels appropriate for 112 miles on the bike + a marathon.   I do use a heart rate monitor for the ride, regardless of the fact that all of the cool kids use power and HR is "outdated."  But, what has been happening in virtually over every distance is I just ride too easy.  You know me...super conservative. 

I took in 7 gels?  Maybe 8?  I know I got 1 full bottle of EFS carbo pro down at 500 calories.  I had 2 more bottles, but the fluid was boiling and I had a really hard time drinking it.  So, maybe I got in another 400 cals to total 1700 approx.  This is plenty of calories, but honestly, if my drinks had stayed cool, I would have easily taken in 2-300 more cals.  I also took 3?  S-caps for sodium.  It was BLAZING HOT on the course.  I took water every 10 miles from the aid station to drink and also poured it on my sleeves and head every 2-3 miles.  The ONLY nutrition mistake I think I made, besides not being able to take all of my liquid calories that were too hot, was dropping my water bottle at mile 100.  I was dying of thirst the last 12 miles, and my bottles were too hot to drink. 

I had a great ride in terms of feel and RPE.  Everything just felt so steady and pretty easy.  I was never breathing hard, my HR stayed steady, and I was singing and having a jolly time at mile 100.  (When I hit 100 at about 4:52 or so, I said BOO-YA out loud.  And that was to all of the people that criticize my cycling plan that happens to include a lot of aerobic riding.  Some people race their race in training....I choose to race when it counts.)  It was a definite improvement from my past two ironman races.  I still think there is room to push the bike as I am feeling pretty fresh at the end of these rides, but I think I am getting closer to the sweet spot where you put together a good bike and marathon.

photo by www.brittanilouise.com

For those of you wanting to do the race, IMTX has 1700 ft elevation (not a lot), lots of wind, and blazing heat.  There was not a cloud in the sky.  You will only have shade for maybe 8 miles on the whole ride.  Be prepared to COOK!!!  It was by far one of the hottest races I have ever completed.  The roads are super, in my opinion, but then again I live in Memphis where the roads are awful.  I kept waiting for the bad roads everyone complains about, and I never found them.  We had tail winds and cross winds heading out, and I found it easy to ride smoothly, even in the strong crosswinds.  The rollers are nice and keep things broken up.  There were no packs near me, and very little drafting.  There were TONS of marshals on this course.

But, you have to turn around, and the headwind is a beast.  You will see an immediate drop in pace, and it just hits you like a wall.  Plus you have over 60 miles left to ride.  I found that it was possible to stay strong into the wind if you stayed focused, and then you could ride harder when you got a small bit of crosswind.  It is all about staying in the moment and not letting the wind defeat you.  It does let up in some sections, so you have to be prepared to take advantage of the crosswinds. 

T2:  3:52

This was uneventful.  I at least had a "3" in the time.  I did try to start the garmin and it didn't sync.  Shoot!

run- 3:55/ 8:59 pace

photo by www.brittanilouise.com

Sigh.  You know this run was not good or bad.  I think it was solid for the day, but definitely not my best or reflective of my capabilities.  I never died.  I never slowed down.  I ran steady the entire day.  It was just blah. 

I started off easy and hoped the garmin would sync.  At mile 1, it still wasn't syncing, so I literally stopped for 1 minute and waited for it.  I will never do that again.  Let me repeat.  I will never stop for a watch again.  What was I thinking?  Why do dependent?  I really wanted to know my pace so I didn't run too fast.

I started off at 9 min pace- right where I wanted to start.  (ignore ironman.com tracking.  I don't know why they can't get the timing mats and tracking correct).

IRONMAN IRONY:  2 miles later, the garmin completely died.  Yep!  All of the stopping and worrying, and I didn't even get to use it.  NEVER AGAIN!

The temps were in the high 8os/low 90s.  My socks and shoes were soaked the entire time, I was having a little plantar fascia flare-up on the left foot, and I felt like I had a stress fracture in my right big toe.  I felt like I was running pretty quickly, but I didn't really seem to be gaining on anyone.  I had at least 2 girls pass me in my AG on the run, and I never made an attempt to keep up.  I was SUPER worried about the heat and my ability to not fall over dead from heatstroke.  I didn't feel confident in my ability to handle the heat.

I had no clue where I was in my AG.  No one told me on my first loop.  I just got a "yay Damie."  So, I figured I was way behind.  Second loop someone told me I was 10th.  I thought, well, I was 8th before I let those girls pass me.  Some things would be better to know earlier than later.  

I unfortunately was taking too much time at the aid stations, although I don't think I realized it at the time.  They were crowded with the course being looped, and I found myself making the aid stations more of a priority than I have ever done in past races.  I took at least the following at every aid station if not more:  2-4 sponges, 4 cups of water (2 on arms and head, 2 in mouth), 2 cups of ice down top, 1 cup perform/or coke, 1 gel every 3 miles, 1 S-cap whenever I needed it which was about every 5 miles.  I held ice in both hands and put ice in my mouth while I ran.....all 10 seconds before it melted. 

photo by www.brittanilouise.com

I made one big bathroom stop mid-way through the race.  (necessary when it is that time of the month).  I got out of the bathroom and noticed a girl had passed and was now 1/4 mile ahead of me.  Is she in my AG too?

On the last loop, I noticed I was running with another female pretty consistently, and we decided to try to work together.  I told her that if we kept our pace up, we might finish in 11:15.  She looked at me like I was crazy and said we were on pace for a 10:45-10:50.  ????  I couldn't do any more math.  She then told me that we had been running 8:15 pace for that mile.

8:15?  I had been running steady all day.  I was timing my 3 laps.  They were amazingly consistent....to the minute.  (why did I need a garmin again?  Pacing is not my issue, clearly).  But, they were not suggesting a 8:15 pace.  Actually- they were dead smack on a 9 min flat pace.  Yes....each of my 8+ mile laps were times at exactly a 9 min pace.  Where did the 8 min stuff go?

Ah- ha.  The time was lost to stopping for the garmin, not getting through aid stations quickly, not hurrying in the bathroom, not having my nutrition ready to ingest at the aid stations, etc.  And sure enough, at every aid station, my new friend would get in and out quickly, and I was fumbling around to get everything I wanted and dropped behind her.

Ironman is about focus. 

In Wales, I was 100% focused and hurried.  I didn't lose a precious minute to anything unnecessary on the run.  I had my eyes focused on catching any girl possible. 

Looking back, I definitely did not have this focus in Texas.  I wasn't focused on catching girls, I was just focused on finishing.  I didn't save as many seconds as possible.  I was focused very internally on the day, which is not a bad thing per se, and I think it got me to the finish line in good form.  So, while I don't think the run was great, I think it was good.  It can't all be perfect!  We have to save that for our most special days :)

I truly enjoyed myself the entire day.  I generally had a smile on my face, and as I made my way to the finish, I was elated.  For the first time, I broke 11 hours....with time to spare.  I also ran a sub 4 hour marathon again, giving me more confidence to really chase those faster marathon times instead of focusing on surviving.  I have needed to prove to myself that my cycling and running is not a fluke.  It is not.

photo by finisherpix.com

I was definitely overjoyed as I ran down the finishers chute.   10:49- 9th AG 30-34- and a PR

I hate looking back and seeing that there were 3 girls right smack in front of me on the run.  RIGHT THERE!!!!! 3 girls within 3 minutes.  I never really saw them with all of the turns, but they were there all along...girls that had passed me in the beginning but never really made any time on me.  Tell me I couldn't have found another minute in that race.  At the time, no.  But when I analyze the race, I see so much more I could have done.  The frustration is that I did not compete in the run.  I didn't challenge a single girl to anything.  I just ran my same ol' pace, never lifting it in a challenge. 

While I hate to look back and see that I maybe didn't push myself to my best race, I am ELATED to know that there is even more room for improvement and my best race is yet to come.  What would I do if I had it all figured out?  :)   I guess this means I will have to do another ironman! :)

I didn't have a time/place goal going into the race.  I wasn't a slave to the clock.  Tim and I briefly talked about some possibly paces/outcomes, but I don't set those things as goals.  At least not for this race.  I went to IMTX to learn to start racing the distance and figure out how to start combining everything for a faster finishing time.  I think I accomplished what I set out to do at Texas.

I am very process driven with my training and with these races.  I am not Veruca Salt, and I don't have to have it now.  I love that I continue to make progress.  That is very satisfying.  Even if I don't make progress from race to race, the overall trend is positive and taking me in the direction I want to go.

So, awesome, awesome day.  Thank you to Dave, friends, family, and teammates for your support and encouragement.  It doesn't go unnoticed!