Ironman 70.3 Texas

After weeks of thought I decided to participate in Ironman 70.3 Texas yesterday. I knew going in that it would be my slowest 70.3 and it very much was. I did the race severely under trained in all 3 disciplines but I was tired of missing races due to injury and illness and I felt that I could gut it out. I didn't begin training for the event until March 12th and I felt it all day. Here is the race breakdown.

Race morning was nerve racking for me. I was so nervous and I was wondering why I was doing this race. As I was getting set up in transition I had to keep reminding myself that this was just a day of training. I was not going for time, just finish. As I left transition and made my way to the the swim start I began calm down a bit and I started to visualize the start of the race. As I made my way over the bridge to where you have to jump in the water I knew I could finish the swim. I knew it would take a while but I knew I would finish. When the start horn went off I just went with a slow swim stroke. I didn't want to use too much energy in the swim. This was the part I was most concerned about. I have done very little swimming this year. In fact, I swam 3 times between March 12th and March 18th with the longest swim at 750 yards. I injured my right shoulder on March 18th at the Telfair triathlon and had to take 10 days out of the pool. I did get in a 2250 yard swim the Wednesday before the race and a 1500 yard swim the Friday before the race but that was it. But despite that I still felt like I could finish the race. As I hit the halfway part of swim I was really tired but I pressed on. I saw a lot of the swim waves that started after me fly by but I pressed on. As exited the water I was beat and I wondered if I could continue but I pressed on. My swim time was 57:56. This was by far my slowest time for a 70.3 swim but I didn't care. I was happy I finished.

When I entered T1 I took my time. I wanted to get everything straight before I got on the bike. As I started riding I could tell the wind was in my future. The wind on the front half of the ride was really slowing me. This combined with my fatigue was making me cranky. I was getting past up by everyone early on. I kept thinking this should not be happening but this is just for training. It doesn't matter. The one neat part of the bike portion of the race came at the 8.5 mile mark when I saw Lance Armstrong fly by. He was leading the race and was close to finishing the bike course as I was starting my 56 mile bike experience. After he flew by I just trucked on wanting to get to the turn around so I could get some relief from the tailwind that awaited me. At the halfway point I was 1:41:45. I knew this was slow but the headwind really slowed me and I knew I could make up some time with the tailwind. On the way back in the tailwind definitely helped. I was starting to pass some of those people who passed me earlier in the race but I was really getting tired. As I came to the end of the bike portion I knew I could finish the race even if I had to walk the entire 13.1 mile run course. My second half of the bike was faster at 1:28:11 and a total of 3:09:56. It was my slowest bike time for a 70.3 but not bad considering my longest training ride was 51 miles which came the Sunday before the race.

In T2 I was tired but as I said I knew I would finish. I started running right out of transition but it didn't last long. My legs were sore and I just couldn't keep any kind of running going. I saw Norma early on the run and she walked with me for a while. I needed the distraction from the pain. As I was running and walking my stomach became upset. I didn't workout my nutrition for the race properly and I was starting to pay for it. As I continued on I ran into Norma several more times. She was knack for getting around the race course. At any rate she walked with me several more times until I hit mile 11.5 and I decided to try and run the rest of the way without much success. I ended up finishing the run in 2:55:59. As before it was my slowest run for a 70.3. I still didn't mind. I finished and that is all that matters. My total time was 7:11:34. This is slower by 40 minutes from my previous slowest time. Considering my lack of training I will take it.

In order to contradict myself I have decided to make a run at Ironman Texas. 3 weeks ago I thought this was not going to happen. Until lately I have put zero effort into getting ready for this race. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. I know it will be tough to get ready but I'm going to try. If I miss the race due to an injury or illness that is one thing. I don't want to miss it due to a lack of effort. My training schedule is busy and I have a week of travel for business in April but I think I can get ready enough to at least finish the race. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress.

Bye for now.