Tom's Ironman Texas Race Report

It’s taken a little extra time to get this out as I’ve been out looking for a swim coach J

Results:

Swim 1:31:xx

T1  5:52

Bike 5:05:xx

T2  7:13

Run 3:48:xx

Total 10:36:59, 5^th AG, 170 OA, PR by 13 minutes and 23 minutes over same course last year.

I was very happy with my results.

 Pre race

This was my second go around at the IM TX course.  Last year I ended up right around 11 hours and was lucky enough to come 5^th in my age group and claim the last Kona slot.  This year I was expecting a faster race and with 25 fewer slots this year, I knew there were not going to be 5 AG slots again.

I arrived Wednesday and got settled in. I spent the next couple of days hanging with some of the Endurance Nation athletes, going for a very short swim, bike, and run and generally just taking it easy.  I picked up Kira Thursday night and got started on a great weekend with her.

As with all the previous 8 IMs I’ve done, I’m always a little nervous about being under prepared. I take the EN strategy of shorter/harder workouts versus longer.  For the 12 weeks of training leading up to the race I averaged about 11 hours 45 minutes per week total.  That’s typical with most other years.

Race Day – Swim

I’ve always been a poor swimmer.  Last year I ended up with a 1:39 swim and vowed I’d train a little harder this year.  I swam 4200 yards at least once a week for quite a few weeks this spring and the training knocked 8 minutes off my time.  Still nowhere where I need to be, but I felt great coming out of the water.  At the start I had a couple of mild panic attacks, got run over and otherwise got off to a poor start.  I was glad to be done and get on with getting serious.

T1 – A little slow but uneventful

The Bike.

Very few age group machines out there – but I was one of them J.  Very surprised at how many people were giving away so much free speed on such a fast course.  Not many rear disks, very few race tires and presumably race tubes, lots of crap tapped to bike frames and many people out of aero very early on.

For the first 4 hours it was head down, consistent power, and passing all the good swimmers.  My normalized power per hour of 199/197/196 and 194 was quite even.  At the end of the 4^th hour I new I was going to have a good bike split.  I was getting a little tired and made the decision to ease up a bit to ensure I’d I have a great run.  The last hour or so of power ended up with 177 watts – lots of coasting and easy pedaling where I could.  Overall it was a pretty easy ride for me with a 0.67 IF. Post race thoughts are leading to thinking I should have pushed the last hour to gain another 5+ minutes.

Nutrition started with 2 bottles of Cytomax, refilled at special needs, a couple of gels and then course fluids to fill in.  I averaged about one bottle of sports drink between each aid station.  Emptied bladder twice so I thought hydration was good.

T2 – The Debacle

As I was coming into T2 I started looking for someone to grab my bike.  I rolled slowly passed the dismount line with no volunteers beside me so I kept going towards them.  A few hollered that I had missed the line and to get off the bike.  I quickly jammed on the brakes and promptly flew over the handlebars and ended up staring into space.  Everyone around was yelling that I was OK and to get up and keep going – so I did. I passed my bike to a volunteer and ran towards the bags. I hollered for my number and dashed into the tent, dumping the contents onto the floor.  I realized suddenly that I had asked for the wrong number and had to gather everything up and go back out.  Missed by 1 number!  Tried again and was successful.  As I headed out I realized that I had forgot sunscreen so back I went.  I headed out again and decided I should go back and empty the bladder.  A 3-minute transition had turned well past 7.  Need to work on that!

The Run

I felt great for the whole run.  The nutrition plan was course materials, and rotating Perform, water, then gel/water.  As I progressed I found it harder and harder to get liquids and nutrition in me so I walked more and more of the aid station each time.  Running time seemed to average 8:15’s or so, but near the end I was adding a minute or more per mile because of the walking at aid stations. Once the fluids were down, I was good to go.

I knocked off more than 20 minutes from my last year’s time so it was a good run.  Still thinking about how to fix the extended walks.  Maybe switch up run nutrition, maybe just front load all the calories and then have water for the last half or more.  Things to ponder!

Race Recap

Mildly disappointed that my 5^th place spot didn’t grab a Kona slot again this year, but I knew I had to shave 30-45 minutes, which was almost impossible. I did come away thinking I could be a whole lot faster next year. 

Time for some down time, hanging with kids all summer and then back to work in September.

I did just find a swim coach J