Lucky Number 13 🙂 Even though this was the 5th time of doing Texas on consecutive years the fact it was my 13th added a little bit of stress to this one but in the end all went well.
This is going to be a shorter report since I’ve already written Texas Race Reports a number of times and nothing major has changed since the last two around the course and logistics:
- https://theironbrit.com/2018/05/01/ironman-texas-2018-race-report/
- https://theironbrit.com/2017/04/26/ironman-texas-2017-race-report/
Instead I’m going to focus on a few changes I made as part of my preparation.
The biggest change for this year is I’ve been pretty much unable to run since doing a double-marathon New Years Eve-New Years Day. I damaged ligaments in my left knee which left it painful and with limited motion. It’s basically healed at this point. After seeing a joint specialist a few weeks ago before the IRONMAN to ensure using it was not going to cause further damage I found out:
- My right elbow has tennis elbow (been hurting for months)
- My left elbow has arthritis (dislocated it years ago while teaching Krav Maga)
- My left knee has arthritis, cartilege loss, bone spikes/spurs/fragments (can’t remember exact term) and ligament damage (I’m old and heavy 🙂 )
I felt like Batman but not in the way I really wanted 🙂 Basically I’m just old and crap. The good news is the Dr said to just carry on. What will happen will happen. I’m just going to do less running training and definitely no hard running anymore in terms of intensity.
My first run was 3 miles, 2 weeks before the IRONMAN, then a 6 mile run 10 days before then 9 miles 7 days before and that was the sum of my running. Because I couldn’t run I really focused on my cycling and I read a lot of articles and focused on lower RPMs (aiming for 80-85) but higher watts as this is supposed to be better for longer endurance events as was less stress on the cardiovascular system. In training I got up to a 5.5 hour ride for 125 miles, 220 average watts at around 930 calories an hour. My heartrate was around 135 during this ride. I also did a lot of eliptical (legs only, I found the arms on eliptical with the repetative motion caused the tennis elbow) as I figured that was closest to running and did some swimming focusing on my form.
My plan was to run-walk the entire marathon for as long as I could at 2 minute intervals so run for 2 minutes, walk for 2 minutes. I bought a little gymboss timer to wear on my race belt. I figured if I could run 9 miles/90 minutes, I should be able to run-walk for at least 3 hours, hoping to get to 4 hours then have to walk the final set of miles. My plan for the swim is to take it easy and focus on the arm form and on the bike try and hit 210 watts keeping heartrate 135 or less. I wanted to try and do well on the bike to counter the slow marathon I would have. I knew the swim would be 90 minutes. It always is, no matter what I do. 90 minutes EVERY time so I wasn’t going to gain time there.
I also bought a new Roka Maverick Pro II Sleeveless Wetsuit as I figured that would help shave seconds off my 13 hour time so a very wise investment 😀 I had my bike fully serviced, new cables, tires, chain, as good as its going to get. I also switched to Roka R1 googles in an attempt to finally find goggles that didn’t leak.
My nutrition was mostly the same except IRONMAN switched to Gu Roctane so I switched to those in training. During the bike I also added in FitCrunch mini protein bars on alternating hours instead of waffles. This gave more calories and protein than my normal waffles.
I packed everything up per my list at https://theironbrit.com/ironman-packing-list/ and set off Thursday morning to Houston after a quick training session. It’s about a 3.5 hour drive from Dallas. I stayed at the Westin again this year as it’s literally at the finish line and booked Tribike Transport valet to get my bike and transition bags from transition so I could pick them up Sunday morning from the IRONMAN village instead of walking half a mile there and back after the race. $40 well spent 🙂
I got All World Athlete (AWA) status silver again for 2019 and a change this year is the special swim cap could actually be used during the IRONMAN swim (in previous years they gave you a cap but you couldn’t actually use it) so that was cool.
Daniela Ryf was racing and I’ve always admired her and she was going to be at the 12 Pro Panel. I had pizza for lunch at 11 then headed straight to the Village looking for her. I spotted her approaching and ran over and managed to get a picture!!!
Mike Reilly was also signing copies of his book at the store so I took advantage of that as well!
I bought the IRONMAN Texas 2019 tri kit from the store, drove to Target to get assorted drinks then checked into the hotel. Had a nice quiet room up on the 12th floor so that was awesome. I watched some TV then walked to the Macaroni Grill for my traditional dinner of pasta and chicken breast on the side. The staff remembered me from last year. Back to the room and asleep at 7:30.
Friday I woke up about 4am which was a sleep in for me so that was good. Rechecked all my gear bags (for the 5th time) and this time I put the smaller items, i.e. not shoes or helmet, in a large zip lock bag inside the gear bag which made it easier to check and would also water proof it more. I then proceeded to watch more TV. I headed down to the bike and gear bag check in at 9:30. It was about a half mile walk and quite pleasant. To my surprise that were letting people in ahead of the 10am start so I placed my bike, let out a little air out of the tires and put my gear bags in their place. I then headed to Macaroni Grill for a repeat meal before heading to Cinemark DBOX seats for Avengers Endgame, which was awesome! After the movie I went back to the room for a little then to Grimaldis for my traditional pre IRONMAN meal of pizza! Put on my tritats then to bed at 7:30.
I woke up at midnight. Wide awake but at least got around 4 hours of sleep which is pretty typical for me. I watched a movie then ate around 3am. Protein shake, apple sauce and a blueberry bagel. Drank some gatorade and water. Got dressed, checked morning clothes bag had everything and left the room at 4:30. Got to transition around 4:45 and it wasn’t supposed to open until 5 but I think they started letting us in at 4:55. I had a good bike spot near the front thanks to AWA status so grabbed my bike and the bike technicians pumped the tires up to 100psi. I put on a gatorade and water bottle then headed to my transition bags to check they were still there and still had all my stuff in them. I headed to the swim start. It’s about a 1 mile walk but you have plenty of time. It is at the swim start you get body marking done and also drop off special needs bags (if you use them, I don’t).
My last few IRONMANs I’ve constantly needed to pee before the swim and during the bike so I made a change. 90 minutes before swim start only small sips of drink. 60 minutes before no drink and I queue up to pee. This worked really well for me. I took my 5 hour energy and Gu Roctane about 6:20. It’s a self-seed, rolling start. I put myself in the 1:20 to 1:29 group near the back and the age groupers started at 6:40. I was getting in the water about 6:50. For my goggles what has been working in the pool was I lick my fingers and run that round the edge of the goggles to make a better seal. I then push them down like a suction cup to make a vacuum. IT WORKED!!!! No leaking at all during this swim. Roka R1 and a little bit of spit forever for John!
You have no visibility in the water, it’s just brown. The sun is rising so you need tinted googles. I was able to site the buoys pretty comfortably and I stayed towards the outside which worked well for me. Only a couple of times people zig zagged in front of me. I really focused on a few key form items that I had been practicing in the pool but really was trying to minimize effort:
- Slight separation of fingers (I read you get a better “paddle” with 5-10 degree separation)
- Tilting hand down as entering water
- Hands going in around shoulder width and not crossing body
- Legs close together and legs pretty straight
The swim felt very comfortable and if I’m honest, easy. I got out feeling completely fine, not really gassed. My time, 1:29:35. So 90 minutes 🙂 No shock there. Grabbed my T1 bag, put on my tri shirt (this year I was going to wear the same shirt for bike and run), applied anti rubbing stuff, sun screen etc then headed out. I also let them apply more sun screen on the way out.
The bike course is mostly flat. There are a few little rollers but nothing major. You ride on some various roads for about 20 miles (a few bits of bad road condition) then you hit the tollroad. This is where you spend the next 80 miles. Out and back twice along a 20 mile stretch. It’s a good condition road which is nice and basically a straight line with those minimal rollers. There is zero cover though, from the sun or wind. Heading outbound there was headwind and I was only going about 18mph. Coming back I was hitting 25mph so I was fine with that. I was focused on my watts however I wasn’t hitting my target numbers but also wasn’t feeling that tired but was trying to be agressive.
My average power was about 200 and my heartrate was below 135 most of the time. Because I had been doing more bike training due to not being able to run, problems I’ve had in the past of butt and neck hurting were not there. The bike actually felt very comfortable for me and I got off the bike feeling OK. Also I never train outside, all my bike training is on a spin bike at Lifetime Fitness. This is likely not a good thing but honestly it doesn’t seem to hurt me. I focus on building the power and I’m just powering a different machine on the day. The actual bike handling is fine. Same for any running I do, on a treadmill, never outside. Someone once said to me you pay the bill in training or on the day. I feel on the bike for sure I paid in training so the day was actually great.
The only challenge I faced was the protein bars 🙂 Well they were covered in chocolate. The hour 3 and 5 bars had completely melted and as I tried to unwrap melted chocolate was flying at me and I was paranoid people would think its poop so I spent a lot of energy trying to squirt it off with a water bottle (which worked) :-).
This was another change this year. When watching Kona videos I noticed people are constantly using the bottles of water to spray themselves to cool down. I did this on the bike a lot and I do think it helped. It was 85 degrees but I never really felt much impact from the sun. This also washed away the sun screen which is why I got burnt some so lesson learned. Spray water on body not shoulders 🙂
Final bike time was 5:33:44 which is way better than previous years (plus last year was only 110 miles as they slightly shortened the course). At transition I changed socks and shoes (new Hoka One One Elevons instead of Nike Vomeros, another change), put on race belt, glasses and hat. Applied more sunscreen and anti-chaif and headed out. I turned on the gym boss. I had it set to audible only which was a mistake as in noisy parts I couldn’t really hear it so had to look at watch a little. Post-race I realized you can also set to a vibration mode which I’ll do for the next one. I could also see I was a little sunburnt, oh well.
The run is 3 loops and very flat. There is a lot of great crowd support and its a great run. There are sections that have shade and sections that have none. It felt HOT and heavy. I would throw water on myself and for the run my plan was Gu Roctane every 30 minutes, salt lick every mile and gatorade every aid station with sips of water inbetween. And that is what I stuck to. The pineapple Gu Roctane was revolting so I tried to stick to chocolate ones.
The 2 minute intervals worked great. I was actually able to maintain it the entire marathon, even going to 4 minute run, 2 minute walk for some parts near the end to try and speed up a little. My knee didn’t really hurt, my muscles were not dying. My goal was to average out to 5 mph by running at 6 mph then walking at 4 mph. I basically hit that goal.
My total running time was 5:15:47 and as you can see pretty stead intervals the entire time. This exceed my expections and the run actually went pretty fast. Normally I run at the start then have a miserable 3 hours of walking. Well that didn’t happen. By using the intervals when I was walking I was recovering and enjoying it.
My final time was 12:41:36, 6 minutes less than last year and a new PR. Considering I had done basically no running I was super happy. Even better I was in the top third of my age group which is unheard of for me!
And what finishing feels like 🙂
The medal this year was completley awesome, it’s a postcard type theme.
The next morning I got up and started lining up for the store at 6am 🙂 Bought the finisher polo and sports t-shirt. I didn’t get the jacket as I now have so many of them 🙂 Got in the car, took a 5 hour energy and drove the 3.5 hour drive home on 4 hours total sleep over the last two nights. Was a bit dodgy at times 🙂
Sunday I was sore but Monday I got up at 3, did an hour eliptical (easy), 90 minutes weights and actually feel pretty good. I think the run-walk intervals was huge and something I plan to use for Canada but increase the running to 4 or 6 minutes while walking 2. Obviously Canada is WAYYYYY hillier on bike and run so it will be slower but it will be an experience as its supposed to be the toughest one in North America so yay 🙂
Overally very happy with this result and how good it felt during and after. On to the next one!
The Iron Brit 