Judgment Day: Texas Style

May 21st, 2011 would be an important day for a lot of people for different reasons.  For me, it was the day I would subject myself to the test of Ironman Texas, my first attempt at the 140.6 mile distance.  I've known about this race ever since it was just a rumor and then when it was finally announced last June and registration opened, I signed up within minutes.  I didn't know what to expect, but I knew it was something special and the opportunity wasn't ever going to be any more perfect than this, so I had to take the challenge.  My training started in earnest in January and progressed through to early May.

Many fellow members of my triathlon club also signed up for the race.  Some of them were Ironman veterans and some of them would be first-timers just like me.  The upside of this was that there were many training opportunities with other athletes.  Having a true Ironman race right in your backyard with the opportunity to go out and ride the bike course anytime you want is an amazing advantage.  There were things I knew on race day that others would have to learn for themselves.  I knew where the hills were.  I knew there would be a headwind on the second half of the ride.  I knew where I could go hard and where I needed to hold back.

I have raced four 70.3 (or half Ironman) races and I suppose I just expected this would be twice, the distance, twice the work.  In fact, it was something completely different.  The Ironman experience started on Wednesday before the race when I drove up to the Woodlands on my lunch break to pick up my race packet and drop some cash in the Ironman Texas shop.  I know that official race gear can sell out quickly so I wanted to be sure to get my racing kit right away.  Packet pickup opened at 10AM and by the time I got there, there were already 100 people in line.  By the time the place opened up, there were probably another 200 people behind me.  Nonetheless, I got my packet, bought some gear, and chatted up some friends who were there for the same purpose.  Then it was back to work for me.  The race packet was something new as well.  Sure I got a colored swim cap and a need bag like every other race, but inside of it were five different event bags.  This is craziness!  I got a bag for morning clothes drop-off, one for bike gear, one for run gear, one for special needs on the bike, and one for special needs on the run.  I ended up making an Excel spreadsheet for what should go in one bag.  For future reference, that wasn't a bad idea at all

My friend and training partner Jeremy went up on Thursday with another friend Phil, who flew in from New York just for the event.  Jeremy already had an Ironman race under his belt and Phil had gone the distance a few times, so they were a bit more casual about the whole thing.  I was debating driving up Thursday night again for the race meeting, but decided against it at the last minute.  It is an hour drive without traffic and I didn't feel like trying to make the trip after a full day of work.  Instead I went to the gym and had a light swim and a light spin and then a big dinner.

Friday, the day before the race, was really when the whole weekend of festivities began for me.  I had taken the day off from work and I caught a ride with Jeremy and Phil up to the race site in the morning to check in our bikes and also to participate in the open swim on the race course.  There had been some debate as to whether wetsuits would be allowed on the swim.  Ironman says a race is wetsuit legal if the water temperature is under 76 degrees.  Wednesday's reading was 80 degrees.  Thursday's reading was 76.7 and we all expected a "miraculous" wetsuit-legal race was in the cards.  Nonetheless, just in case, I did the practice swim sans wetsuit and discovered that the water was actually very comfortable.  We drove home after and I packed up the rest of my gear and then Alida and I drove to the Woodlands again to stay for the weekend.

Alida's co-worker Vicky lives in an apartment right above the swim exit and probably 500 yards from the transition area.  It was an incredible location and she was very generous to give us her apartment for the weekend.  Not only did it save us a lot of money, it saved me a lot of stress and labor and for that I am grateful.  As you can see, it overlooked the end of the swim course and the transition area.  This also meant that on race morning, I would only have to walk downstairs and around the corner to get to where my bike was to pump up the tires and put in my water bottles.  It also meant we could skip the entire process of finding parking spots all weekend.  The swim course itself was in Lake Woodlands, which is little more than a large recreational retention pond for rain runoff.  That isn't to say it was a poor swim venue, but due to the fact we would be swimming 2.4 miles, the course designer got to be a little bit clever with the layout.  We started near a bridge on the north side of the lake and swam basically the entire length southward and then turned around and swam all the way back to the start, at which point, we turned right and swam down a narrow channel, which became a sidewalk-lined and concrete-walled narrow canal.  It made for a pretty neat ending to the swim with people barely ten feet away lining both sides of the canal cheering us on as we made our way to the swim exit.  I'll get back to that in a little bit.

Once Alida and I had settled into our home for the weekend, we kicked back and took it easy.  Alida had made a massive bucket of vegan chili with quinoa and rice.  It tasted great and wasn't too heavy.  I had several bowls as I lazed around on the couch contemplating the events of the next day.  Around 6:30, I decided to call it quits for the day and went to bed.  My plan was to get up at 3AM and have a big breakfast with several hours for it to digest before the race began.  This did not exactly go according to plan.  I did indeed to go bed at 6:30, but I just couldn't fall asleep.  There was too much on my mind.  7:00 rolled around, then 8 and the sun finally went down.  Still no sleep.  9:00 and then 10:00 and finally I got tired enough to go to sleep.

The alarm went off at 3:00 and I was instantly awake.  I suppose I might have been a little bit tired, but it didn't matter because there was no going back.  I was up for the day and that was that.  I had a bowl of cereal and went over the day's preparations in my mind.  I wondered if the race would be wetsuit-legal.  I went to the balcony and looked out over the moonlit glass-calm water of the canal.  I saw some staff kayaking up the canal towards me to get things ready for the swim start.  I leaned over the edge and called out "Are we wetsuit-legal today?"  The answer was "No!" and just like that, the decision was made.  The wetsuit would stay in the apartment.

As the sun came up and transition opened, I decided to go down and make my last-minute preparations for the bike.  I tore the trash bag off the handlebars.  I had put it there in case of rain that never came.  I went and untied the tight knots on my gear bags so they would be ready for quick access in transition.  I saw quite a few friends who were doing the same thing.  This was going to be a common theme for the day.  A race this huge with so many friends and people I knew would make the entire day a tiny bit more bearable.  We were all in this together and everyone wanted everyone else to have the best race they possibly could.  Either that or everyone knew I wasn't a threat to take anyone's Kona slot so they could afford to be friendly to me.

I went back to the apartment to pick up the rest of my race gear and kiss Alida goodbye.  She would be volunteering throughout the day and I figured I'd see her some time after the swim.  Beyond that, though, I was on my own.  I went back to transition and then made the long walk to body marking, which was at the swim start.  I walked over with Johnny Zapeda, who works at Tri on the Run in Houston and is a very strong triathlete with many Ironman races under his belt.  We both had hopes of a successful day.  Unfortunately, Johnny's day would end in tragedy with a broken femur a mere mile from the finish line.  We all hope for a speedy recovery for Johnny.

At the swim start, it was pure pandemonium. I managed to find body marking and cross paths with many friends. I ended up hanging out with Dave Shaw and the two of us decided we'd hang back at the swim start and let the madness go ahead of us since neither of us claim swimming as our strongest event. I had never swum 2.4 miles in a stretch without resting before. I knew I was capable of it, but without the benefit of the wetsuit, I was very apprehensive of the start. Ironman swim starts are well-known as insane slugfests and unlike other triathlons, everyone starts all at once. The gun goes off and it's a mad break of 2500 bodies down the lane and every man (and woman) for himself. This video gives you a pretty good idea of what a swim start is like.

 

As you can see, it's just pure unorchestrated chaos as the water churns all around you and a mass of thousands of arms and legs begin flailing and kicking.  As someone who competed in jiujitsu tournaments for six years, I can tell you this was the most chaotic experience I've ever had in my life.  You just have to will yourself to keep calm and look for whatever holes in the crowd you can find.  Fortunately, the race does thin itself out a little bit, but it took a good ten minutes before I could go more than a few strokes without bumping into someone or having someone try to swim up on top of me.  I had set a very loose goal of 90 minutes to complete the swim and my only strategy was to stay calm and get into a rhythm as best I could.  Luckily, I was able to do so fairly early on and while the swim did take a long time, it really wasn't any more taxing than the 70.3 swims I've done in the past.  Once I went out and back and made the turn into the canal, the course narrowed a lot.  By the time we got into the proper canal in the developed area, we were surrounded on all sides by spectators.  Out of curiosity, I felt for the bottom wondering how deep the canal was.  I found out it was only about four feet deep.  There was something comforting about knowing that if worst came to worst, I could stand up and walk it in.  I did not have to do so, though, and I swam all the way to the swim exit.  I popped out of the water in 1:32 and that was just fine by me.

I ran through bike gear bag pickup and found my wife waiting for me.  Looks like she found a place to help out easily enough.  I grabbed my bag and gave her a big hug and then I was off the the changing tent to get ready for my bike ride.  As I ran into the changing area, I plopped down next to another friend of mine, Arthur Langham, who I had forgotten was doing the race.  We exchanged words of encouragement as we dried off, put on shoes, helmets, applied sunscreen, and off we both went to the bike area.  I grabbed my bike, ran out to the mount line, jumped on, and off I went for my 112 mile adventure.

I felt really good heading out on the bike.  I was making good time and the bike course was very familiar territory, since I have ridden the entire course already and I had ridden the more hilly northern section a good half dozen times throughout the spring.  I knew I would get a tailwind on the way out and I'd have to fight that same wind on the way in.  I didn't care about my speed, but I did worry about keeping my heart rate below 135 beats per minute whenever possible.  I also resolved to coast all of the downhills.  I quickly realized a small mistake I had made.  While I had my bottle of Perpetuem carb drink in one bottle, I had completely forgotten to fill up my second larger bottle with water.  I didn't panic though because I knew there were water hand-ups every ten miles.  Sure enough, after ten miles, I grabbed a big water bottle from a volunteer and easily emptied it into my water reservoir and I was back in business.  I was enjoying the unlikely luck of dark cloudy skies all morning that gave us all a break from the brutal sun we expected on race day.

Riding north out of the Woodlands is much better when you have a lane of traffic closed for your own use.  It's not really my favorite part of the course, but the wind was at my back and I was feeling strong.  The miles went quickly.  When I finally crossed FM 105, I was in familiar territory and I really started to enjoy myself.  This part of the course took us up through the Sam Houston National Forest and much of it is on small empty roads lined by trees on both sides to thick, their canopies close up above you.  I only wish the entire course was in this stretch.  I believe I could ride it for hours and never get tired.  Alas, all good things must end, and the course shifted to open farmland and eventually turned west, and then south into the wind.  It was time to pay the piper for all the nice tailwind in the first half of the course.  There was nothing to do but put my head down and cut through it as best I could.

Once I crossed back over FM 105 and started heading into Magnolia, I knew there was less than a third of the course left, but I was getting sore and my legs were getting tired.  I found myself passing and getting passed by the same dozen or so people who shared my general pace.  It was here that the sun finally came out and things started to get tough.  This road was less familiar to me and it seemed to never end.  Every turn seemed to be into the wind and when we finally returned to the Woodlands, the final eight or nine miles of the bike course took far too long.  At last I made the final turn and it was back into the transition area.  Ironman races are great.  they take your bike for you and put it back in its spot so you can go off and worry about transitioning to the run.  What a long day and I still had a marathon to run!  I never watched my speed on the bike, but kept tabs on my heart rate instead.  I wanted to finish the bike in no longer than 6:30 and I came off in 6:25 so that was just fine by me.

I ran through T2 and got my run gear.  Off with the helmet, bike shorts, and shoes.  On with the running cap, Zoot shoes, and a fresh spray of sunscreen.  My socks were still dry so there was no reason to change them. I saw a few friends, high-fived one of the volunteers, and off I went to run a marathon.  The very thought still astounds me.

I knew I would have to keep my pace down to avoid burning out early on the run and my goal was to hold 11:25 per mile, which worked out to a five-hour marathon.  Off I went and within the first mile, it was pretty clear that I had no legs left and even holding 11:25 would be a challenge.  I decided to walk as much as I needed in order to get my legs back and keep my heart rate down.  As it turned out, my legs never really came back.  I could jog gently for a few minutes, but then I'd have to go back to walking.  The upside of this is that I really got to joke it up with all the volunteers and friends and fellow runners who came jogging by me.

While it's easier on the legs than running, it's pretty far from easy to walk a 26.2 mile marathon.  It also seems to take forever.  Never once did I ever question quitting, but damn if I didn't want to be out there anymore.  It was hot, humid, and my legs were getting very sore.  After I did some math in my head and realized that even walking it in, I'd beat the midnight cutoff by a healthy margin, I took my friend Jeremy's advice (before he thundered off to a 11:55 finish--Go Jeremy!) and just soaked it all in.  After all, this is what I had been training for and today was the day I would become an Ironman.

The run was a scenic triple-loop course through the Woodlands town park with much of the path along the same canal I started the day by swimming through.  There was an aid station roughly every mile, which was nice.  My nutritional cravings varied all over the place from water to salted potato chips to chicken broth to oranges.  It's a good thing I was walking, because it would have been bad news to have all of that sloshing in my stomach.  I guess everything worked out for the best.  By the time I was on my third loop, the sun was going down and I came upon a lady named Angelica who was also doing her first Ironman race.  I had been introduced to her that morning by another friend and we had seen several common friends along the way.  She and I helped each other stay motivated and excited and we finished the last five miles of the race together.  As an example of just how exhausted I was mentally and physically, there were times when people I know and see on a regular basis would cheer me on and I'd smile and recognize them, but I simply could not call their names to mind to thank them by name.  At one point I started laughing out loud at just how dumbfounded I had become by the situation.  I'm sure I looked like quite the insane giggling idiot.

Five miles became four and then three, then two, and finally there was only one mile left.  We were both exhausted and without much power left in our legs, but we agreed to trot in together along the victory lap of Woodlands Town Park and through the finish line.  Crowds packed the finisher's chute and we both worked to whip them up into as much noise as we could.  Finally, I heard what I had been waiting to hear all day as Mike Reilly, the voice of Ironman called me out by name to tell me I am an Ironman!  We crossed the finish line as "Running on Empty" played over the public address system.  How appropriate.  There was one last surprise for me this night.  My good friend Gordon had surprised me by driving up from Tomball and he yelled out to me as I came through the finisher's chute and caught my attention.  I ran over and gave him a high-five and it brought an even bigger smile to my face.

The words I had been waiting all day to hear...

My finishing time was 14:41:38.  I had hoped for a faster time, but I cannot say I am disappointed.  The whole experience was overwhelming and far beyond what I could have predicted.  I have a distinct memory during the marathon thinking "I'm glad I'm going to finish but this is a terrible idea.  Why would I ever want to do this again?", which means that of course three days later, I can only remember the good times and I've just signed up for the 2012 Ironman Texas on Saturday May 19th, 2012.

There were so many people who helped me along the way through my training and on the day of the race.  I could never remember and list them all, but if you're reading this, you know who you are and you should know that you helped me go the distance.  In fact, my father, my wife, and everyone else who volunteered as well as those who simply stood by on the sidelines and cheered and offered support throughout the day and night were heroes that day and should be recognized as such.  I found this video that pays a great tribute to the Ironman Texas volunteers and everything they do.

Special recognition needs to go to a few of my friends who had memorable races at Ironman Texas.

Brett Blankner, my former coach and my good friend, finished in 11:24.

Jeremy Webb, my training partner, finished in 11:55, beating his twelve hour goal.

Dave Shaw, another training partner, finished in 12:08 on a 4:14 marathon.  Wow!

Philip Lavoie, a friend who came down from New York, finished in 10:42

Trent Stephens, my wife's schoolmate, finished in 10:07 two weeks after finishing Ironman St. George in Utah.
Debra Castell, an online friend and my wife's co-worker, finished her 1st Ironman in 12:26.

I can't wait until 2012 :)

Lone Star 70.3: A day of lessons and minor victories

Ever since Rocky Raccoon came and went in February, I have thrown myself headlong into training for Ironman Texas in May. It just so happened that Lone Star 70.3 would be my first triathlon of 2011 and I planned to use it as a warm-up for the big event.

My training had been pretty solid with a focus on long-distance rides and lots of volume for running and swimming. Century rides and 15+ hour training weeks with no rest days were fairly common. As the race approached, I took a bit of a break and decided either I was ready or I wasn’t but the race was going to happen one way or the other.

Lone Star 70.3 weekend started for me on Thursday. My wife drove down to Galveston on Thursday afternoon to get to the expo right when it opened at 5PM. Last year I wanted to get the official event tri top, but they sold out very quickly. There would be no mistake this year and the race kits looked great! Big thanks to her for driving all the way down there just to get me an event uniform. I plan to do a lot of training rides in it this summer and beyond.

On Saturday, we packed up all the gear and drove down to Galveston to get my race packet and check my bike into transition.  I wandered the expo a little bit and hung out with friends at the Houston Racing Triathlon Club tent area.  After that, we drove back up to Friendswood to my father’s place for dinner and an early evening.

Ready to face the day!

Sunday—race day! I woke up 10 minutes before the 4:00AM alarm went off.  I grabbed breakfast, double-checked my gear, and then I was off with my father to the race site.  I decided to let my wife sleep in a bit.  She’d arrive later to watch me come in on the bike and then during the run.

Walking into transition, I went right by Chris Lieto.  I wished him good luck and went over to my spot.  I set up my transition nice and early and then went over to the HRTC tent to grab a chair and BS with the other club racers and support staff.  It was very windy and we were all thinking about the bike ride.  The women were irritated because for a second straight year, all of the women’s waves started after all of the men’s waves, so they had nothing to do but sit around for a few hours and think about the race ahead of them—not much fun!

With about twenty minutes to spare, I wandered over to the swim start and gathered up with my group.  I’m in the Men’s 35-39 age group which happens to be the biggest and most competitive of all the age groups.  I guess triathlon really appeals to guys between 35 and 29.  At any rate, there were so many of us that they had to break us into waves alphabetically.  I was in the first wave and they walked us to the dock and then a short jump down into the water.  The first thing I noticed was that the water was cool but not cold.  In fact, it felt just right.  The second thing I noticed was that I had forgotten just how buoyant this wetsuit was in salt water. My legs came up quick and I noticed just paddling around it was easy to keep my hips and legs on top of the water. People jockeyed for position and I settled towards the back of the pack. The announcer counted us down, people started yelling ‘Good Luck!’ to each other, and just like that, the race was on!

1.2 miles works out to just under 2000 meters, which is a useful translation to my pool swims. My normal workouts are 3000m at a time, but I always take breaks every 500. This would be my longest unbroken swim since… well, since my last half Ironman race. I knew I could go the distance, but I didn’t know how much it would take out of me. I let the leaders go and swam the first dozen strokes with my head up. Terrible form, but it let me get my bearings at the beginning of the race. When I finally put my head down and started swimming for real, I was ready to go. I knew that it took a while for me to really hit my rhythm and I knew that around five minutes in, I’d start feeling fatigue and that I should just ignore it and relax and let my arms and shoulders adjust to doing work.

One down.  Two to go.

The swim went well.  My goggles never fogged, the waves were mostly minor, I never got a mouthful of sea water.  No complaints, really.  Because I could see clearly, I stayed on course and didn’t do a lot of extra swimming.  My goal going in was to try to come close to 40 minutes.  Last year in the choppy water, my hard work was “rewarded” with a 43 minute swim time—not very impressive.  Imagine my surprise when I rounded the last corner and swam up to the ramp, stood up, and looked at my watch to see 36 minutes on the clock.  WOW!  There’s a huge new personal record for the swim.

I stripped my wetsuit off to the waist and then dove onto the carpet where the strippers (not the fun kind!) were waiting to strip it off of my lower body in a single pull.  Back on my feet and into T1 to get ready for the bike.  I was feeling good and excited that the swim went so well.  I didn’t waste much time in transition, but I didn’t rush myself either.  Just get it right and move on to the bike.

And so it went. Once I got on the bike and got situated, I stayed in a low gear and just spun my legs for a few moments trying to get the circulation and muscles awake and ready to work.  I knew the first hour and a half would be into a pretty serious wind.  I also knew I wanted to try to hold at least 19mph overall if I could.  My goal was to try to hold 18mph on the average going out and then pick up the rest on the way back in with the wind at my back.  This was also my first race with my new hydration setup.  I have a 40oz water bottle mounted low on my bike frame with a long flexible tube running up to my handlebars so it would be easy to sip while riding.  I also had a smaller 32oz bottle mounted between my handlebars that was filled with carb drink.  I wanted to get about 250 calories per hour in addition to my water intake so I had pre-measured the amount of powder to mix in.  I felt pretty good about my nutrition, which was the bane of my race last year.

Off to challenge the wind.

Once we hit the seawall and turned southwest, the wind let us all know who was in charge.  There was nothing to do but put my head down and ride into the wind trying to keep my body as aerodynamic as possible and not crank away too hard on the pedals.  Let me tell you that was a very long 90 minutes into the wind.  I knew the course very well and I had ridden it many times last year.  The road surface was very good for the most part and we had an entire lane of traffic blocked off for our use.  I found myself passing more people than getting passed by people.  After a while, I saw an incoming police motorcycle, which meant the race leader was on his way back and was about to pass by me going the other direction.  I looked to see who it was, fully expecting Chris Lieto.  It was indeed Chris and then… nobody!  In fact, there was nobody else for nearly a minute behind him.  He was absolutely flying with the wind at his back.  He must have been holding 30mph on the flat road.  It was a really impressive sight to see.  I hoped he could carry that lead to the finish line and get the big win that eluded him last year.

Finally after 20 miles, the San Luis bridge was coming into sight.  I knew the bridge would have the worst cross-wind and it definitely did.  After I got off the bridge I knew it was just another five miles to the turnaround and not a minute too soon!  I slowed down, made the U-turn and then I felt the relief of a wind at my back.  Technically it was a cross tailwind and there was still a good bit of wind blowing across my side, but it was enough behind me to make a huge difference.  Every mile ticked by in under three minutes (meaning I was going 20mph or faster) and even as I worked less, my speed stayed strong.  When I finally got back to the seawall I knew I only had a couple of miles to go and my average speed had climbed to 19.5mph, putting me yet again ahead of pace to break the 5.5 hour goal I had set for myself.  As I rode into Moody Gardens, I passed a pair of college guys holding up a homemade poster that said “Honey Badger Don’t Care!”, a reference to this YouTube video.  I got a good laugh out of that and rode the last mile into transition.

I hopped off of my bike and parked it.  I swapped out my helmet for a running hat.  I swapped my cycling shoes for running shoes and socks and I grabbed my three gels for the run.  Off I went and I was out onto the run course.  My plan was to take a gel right away and then another at 45 minutes and a third one at 90 minutes.  Poor nutritional planning was what killed me at mile 10 last year when I ran out of energy and “bonked” as they say.  In a marathon, they call it “hitting the wall” and it’s not a pleasant experience.  I was determined that it would not happen to me this year.

The run course is a quadruple loop course through the Moody Gardens resort.  It’s very curvy and doubles over itself a number of times, but I like it just fine.  Each loop has four aid stations, meaning I would get a total of 16 aid stations on the entire course.  That is great in my opinion.  I looked at my pace and tried to keep myself under control.  Running anywhere below 8:45 minutes per mile would be fine to get me to my goal.  That should be doable. My easy runs sometimes go 8:30 per mile or faster, but the day was getting hot and I knew I had pushed the bike hard.

After the first mile, I looked down and saw it had passed in 8:15.  That’s a little quick, but not too bad.  I averaged 8:15 or better for most of the race last year.  After the second mile, I had allowed myself to slow down a little bit and my pace settled in at 8:30, which is just where I wanted it.  The problem is that it wasn’t getting any easier.  The first couple of miles after getting off the bike always feel like my legs are very heavy, but I also know that feeling passes within the first mile or two as my muscles figure out what they need to be doing.  I felt like I was working really hard for 8:30 and I didn’t like that.

I switched my watch over to monitor my heart rate and I saw my HR was over 150 beats per minute. That’s fine for a sprint, but it was a problem for a long-distance run. I needed to get it down below 140 and into the low 130s.  I tried breathing deeply, which works sometimes.  I tried slowing the pace a little more (but not too much!) but nothing I tried got my heart rate down.  I knew that this was a recipe for disaster and I had to figure out a way to get my body under control.  Every aid station I passed I poured ice water over my head and squeezed a cold sponge onto my head and neck.  It seemed like every mile got harder and harder, yet I watched my average pace slip by a second or two each mile.

Feeling strong... that will soon change.

The first lap went and I didn’t really feel any better or worse.  I was still moving at 8:35 or so and I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet.  As I ran, I started seeing a few people I knew and we yelled out to each other to give encouragement.  People on the sidelines recognized me or my uniform and yelled out to me to keep me going as well.  I made it through the second lap and onto the third, but it was getting harder with every step.  I don’t really remember much about the third lap except that by the end, my pace was over 8:45 minutes per mile and I knew that the 5.5 hour race was slipping away from me.

The fourth and final lap was once again where things got really rough, although this year it was for a different reason.  Right around mile 10, I couldn’t hold the pace so I had to let it go and take a walk break.  No way was I quitting, but it still hurt to have such an excellent race only to lose my goal within the last half hour of the race.  I had just pounded too hard on the bike and the fatigue caught up with me as the temperature climbed into the 80’s.  I would discover later that my friend and fellow competitor Jeremy was feeling the same thing I was.  His wave started 20 minutes ahead of mine and he was always a lap ahead on the run, but his overall time was nearly exactly the same as mine.

And just like that, it was all over.

5:30:00 came and went and I watched it on my watch with a scowl.  Maybe if I could find some energy I could still come in ahead of 5:37:00 which would be a new personal record for the race.  As I entered the last mile, I realized that also was not going to happen.  I made the last corner and crossed the line in 5:39:35, ranked 94th in my age group.  It wasn’t a personal best, but I was satisfied.  The conditions were tough and I set a new speed record for the swim and the ride.  I validated my new theory for improved race nutrition and I got an important preview of what would be to come in 6 weeks at Ironman Texas.

After picking up my medal and finisher’s hat and meeting up with my wife and father, both of whom volunteered the event, we made our way over to the Houston Racing Triathlon Club aid station and I plopped down in a chair while my wife generously got me some food.  Jeremy was there with his wife and he was in as much pain as I was.  As fate would have it, he crashed in nearly the exact same way I did and his finishing time was about one minute faster than mine.  We train together, so I guess it’s no surprise we should race the same.  I was tired, I was sunburned, I was covered in salt, and all I wanted to do was take it easy.  Even so, I congratulated all the other finishers who came by.

T2 is a pretty quiet place when Chris Lieto gets there.

I found out that the Chris Lieto, the pro I saw screaming by on the bike, held onto his lead and won the race, casting off the demons of the year before.  My father worked the whole day in the transition area and my wife who just planned to hand out water ended up getting recruited to work doping control escorting finishing professionals to the drug testing tent.  Both of them had a good time with their duties.

The takeaway from this race for me is a few things: First of all, I have no idea how I managed a 36 minute swim.  I need to figure out what went right and replicate that in my training and in my races.  Secondly, I need to spend some time studying the heart rate log of my bike ride.  I need to figure out at what point I was pushing too hard and when to scale it back.  Third, I validated the lessons learned from last year’s nutrition fiasco.  I think my plan went off well and I never ran out of energy.  Fourth, any secret designs I had for a time goal at Ironman Texas in six weeks have gone out the window.  My only goal now is to finish the race and then I can start chipping away at the time in the future.  Ultimately, I think a sub-12 hour Ironman is in me, but it’s more of a long-term goal than a short-term goal.

Last but not least, I need to keep Jeremy’s ego in check. I can’t believe he beat me by like one minute!  If I had known, I would have dug a little deeper to slap down that young buck. :)  Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way and wished me well.  It’s been a fun ride and I can’t wait for the next adventure.

Michael Barney: Keeping it classy since 2011.

Hanging out pre-race with the big cheese: Ron Stitt.

The Disco Stick

Rocky Raccoon 100 - A great day and a tough night

Rocky Raccoon 100 has come and gone.  I've been training for this since July and I had been looking forward to it for a long time.

I’d be remiss if I did not start this race report by thanking those people who supported and encouraged me during my training as well as during the race itself.  In particular, my father, who always volunteers for these events; my wife, who thankfully was with me when the wheels came off in the middle of the night; and Jeremy and Cathlene Webb who planned to come out to pace and support me, but ended up doing a different kind of race support for me.  Also, I need to thank Ingrid who shared so much of the race prep with me and to Brett who ran with me for most of the race until my heel blisters caused me to do less walking and more running than he wanted to do.  I have to wonder if things might have ended differently if I’d stuck it out with him. They both finished well.

I did not finish this race.  As a matter of fact, I dropped out at mile 76 just after midnight when I was ahead of my goal 24 hour pace.  It was a bummer, but I had a lot of fun during this race and I got an overwhelming amount of support leading up to it and during the race as well.  I'd be running along and I'd hear a beep as a new email, text message, or twitter message popped up.

I don't have much experience dropping out of races and I certainly prefer not to do it, but at least it wasn't one of those situation where I agonized over whether to keep going or not and worried about regretting it later.  In this case it was very easy for me to drop.  Within a mile of giving up my 24 hour goal, I was sitting on a footbridge shivering uncontrollably and unable to move except to throw up.  Nonetheless, I was still being a smartass and making jokes to the runners who ran by me asking if I was ok.  I’m not going to let a little thing like complete body failure get me down.  When the ATV finally came for me and I was sitting in a chair in front of a propane heater drinking cups of Gatorade, my dad looked at me sideways and said, “You’re going to make me do this again next year, aren’t you?” and I probably would have signed up for the 2012 race on the spot.

OK, enough about the bad times.  I’d like to talk about the vast majority of the race, which was a tremendous amount of fun and a massive success.  The fact that I was able to run so fast and strong even past 70 miles is a validation of my physical preparation for the race.

I know the course really well.  I ran the 50-mile race the last two years and I’ve done quite a bit of training as recently as last month on the actual race course.  What I did not expect was the cold front that blew through the week before the race.  That turned out to be a real game changer.  My father and I drove up the day before on icy roads and secured the camp shelter I had so diligently reserved prior to the event.  Yes, we paid $30 per night for two nights of a camp shelter we never used because I spent the night Friday night in a hotel room.  I have no regrets on that one.  I got seven hours of good sleep the night before the race and there’s no replacement for a good night of sleep.

On Friday afternoon, we coped out the state park and the race setup.  I dropped my bag at the designated pre-race bag drop and went to the pre-race meeting.  I met up with Brett and we had dinner together before turning in for the night.

Race morning was clear and cold by Texas standards.  The race started at 6AM and the sun had not yet risen, so we set off with headlamps aglow into the 25 degree night.  I quickly found Brett and paid attention to our pace so as not to go out too fast.  We wanted to slowly build up about a ten minute buffer in front of our 24 hour pace.  At the Dam Road aid station, we located our drop bags and dropped off our headlamps for the day.

The first loop came and went with very little fanfare.  We stayed nice and slow and consistent and we came in right where we expected to.  We did some equipment swap and probably spent a bit longer at the turnaround than we should have, but it was no big deal.  One notable thing about the first loop turnaround was that I ran into Wade Barrett’s wife who was there supporting him for his 50 mile run.  Wade is the former captain of the Houston Dynamo and now he’s an assistant coach with them.  He’s also a really hardcore runner and I knew he would be putting up some strong numbers.  I believe he finished the 50 somewhere under 7 hours.  That is incredible.

The second loop must have gone according to plan as well because I have to say I don’t remember a single thing about it.  I know I ran it with Brett and I know that Wade actually stuck around after his race to wait for me to come in and cheer me on.  That was really great of him and I appreciate it.

The third lap was where things started getting a little weird.  By the time I got to the Dam Road aid station 7 miles into the lap, I noticed my heels were feeling a bit hot and I stopped there to change socks.  I had developed blisters on the outside of both heels.  These were not agonizing, but they steadily grew in annoyance.  I discovered that my feet only hurt when I was walking and not when I was running because when I walk, my heel lands first and when I run, I tend to land on my mid-sole.  As a result, I found myself running more and more while Brett was sticking to his comfortable schedule of running a bit and walking the hills.  I had to make a decision.  Do I stick it out with Brett or do I do what feels better now and risk blowing up later on?  I decided I had to run my own race and so I burned my candle on both ends.  I finished the third lap running strong—really strong.  To finish 60 miles feeling great and running strong gave me a lot of encouragement.  I was also about half an hour ahead of my schedule.  I wondered how long it would last, but there’s no point in wondering what might come so I grabbed some more food and headed out again.

I started the fourth loop running strong and caught up to my friend who was on his fifth loop, but slowing down a bit as he walked more.  This was a tremendous psychological boost having someone to run with and talk to.  In the future, I’ll line up a pacer for the 4^th and 5^th loops.  I stuck with him past mile 70 (90 for him) when I started having increasing stomach issues.  I’d step off into the woods and send him on his way and then catch back up to him.  Finally, I sent him off and that was the last I saw of him.  He finished a little over 18 hours.  What an awesome finish!  About half a mile before the second Dam Road aid station, I ran out of gas.  This was a really strange situation for me.  I was so out of gas that I could hardly walk straight, but I was still way ahead of schedule, so I decided to take a time out at the aid station and get some calories.  I had two cups of hot chocolate and probably 6 quarters of pb&j sandwich.  This was the beginning of the end but I didn’t know it yet.

After Dam Road, I was getting a little bit of energy back, but there had not been enough time for the calories to be absorbed by my body and my stomach issues were only compounding.  After two trips into the woods on the 3.5 mile trek to the next aid station, I finally called up my wife and asked her to meet me there with an Imodium tablet.  I should have had one of these with me to take at the first sign of stomach distress and I will do so in the future.  I ran/walked into the Park Road aid station where my wife was waiting.  At this point, I realized that sub-24 was simply not going to happen and I was satisfied to walk the three miles to the main start/finish aid station and pick up Jeremy as my pacer for the final loop and just see what happened.

Alida agreed to walk me in and we set off walking.  About a mile in, a switch flipped somewhere in my body and the race was over.  Walking lowered my body temperature and allowed the chills and fatigue to come flooding in.  My muscles seized up and it was all I could do to walk from that point to the footbridge thirty feet away to sit down.  After sitting there shivering for about ten minutes and feeling terrible, I finally got up enough energy to lean over and start throwing up.  All the hot chocolate and sandwiches I had force-fed myself in my desperate search for calories were rebelling and my body said “no more!”

I’m extremely lucky that Alida was there because otherwise, I would have been in really terrible shape.  Alida called Jeremy and Cathlene who came pretty quickly and the four of us assessed the situation further.  It was a strange situation because I didn’t really feel bad but I just couldn’t move or do anything.  I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to stand up, let alone walk back to the aid station a mile away.  The race officials were called and it was decided I needed an ATV to come and pick me up and take me to the medical tent.  I was hoping to avoid a trip to the hospital if possible.  I ended up waiting about an hour and a half before one could come pick me up.  During this time, runners ran by the three people standing over a runner lying on a bridge wrapped in jackets.  Everyone asked if I was ok, which I obviously wasn’t, but mentally I was fine.  I told people the race was so easy I decided to stop and do some sit-ups.

Finally, the ATV came and took me to the medical tent.  I sat in a chair in front of a propane heater and warmed up.  I was exhausted, but the vomiting seemed to clear up my stomach issues and I was able to sip Gatorade and water.  I turned in my timing chip, thanked everyone who helped me, and climbed in the back of the SUV to sleep while Alida drove home.

The next morning, I checked up on the finishers.  Ingrid ran a really strong race and finished a little under 25 hours.  As luck would have it, she ended up winning her age group and won an award at the race.  Great finish!  Brett also hit the wall, but he did it at mile 93.  So close to the finish, he opted to spend half an hour at an aid station wrapped in blanket and then limp his way to the finish in a little over 26 hours.  Great job, Brett and Ingrid!  You really earned your buckles on that race.

I’ve always said that wins are more fun, but losses are more useful.  This race was incredibly useful to me.  I learned more in 18 hours than I have in months of training.  I found out where my limit was and I also figured out what I need to do to increase that limit.  My physical training was spot on for this race.  My two biggest problems were clothing and nutrition.

Clothing is easy to fix.  I brought clothing appropriate to keep me warm while running below 30 degrees, but I should have brought clothing appropriate to keep me warm while WALKING below 30 degrees.  Nutrition is a harder nut to crack.  I had a pretty good plan from my previous 50 milers and several 50k races.  The problem is that none of the food I brought appealed to me at all.  I plan to work with a race nutritionist and figure out what I need for ultra-distance races and this includes my upcoming Ironman race.

I’ve never had a race where I failed to finish and didn’t go back the next year to right the wrong and this will be no exception.  I take hope from the fact that Brett says he wants to do it again and also, a few other people have expressed interest in the 50 and the 100.  This is great news.  I also plan to arrange pacers for the 4^th and 5^th loops.  Having someone to talk to makes all the difference.

Here's the tale of the Garmin for those who are interested in such things.  Ignore the last mile.  I forgot to stop the watch.

Let's run long... really long!

Training for my first 100 mile trail run has been a lot of fun, even though it's had some challenging moments and I haven't even started the race yet!

It all started with training for the Athens marathon back in the summer.  The confidence of putting out a decent 26.2 miles was an important first step in getting my mind and my body ready for a 24-hour endurance run.  As soon as that was done, it was back home with a 50k run the next weekend.  Then some maintenance weeks and a double half-marathon weekend, some 50+ mile weeks, and yet another 50k in December followed up with a 30k race the next day.  That was a 74 mile week--my biggest to date.

Miles are the most important thing, but they are not the only thing that matters.  It's also good to get miles on the trail.  On the race course itself is even better and since Huntsville is only an hour north of town, I decided to go get some miles recently.  Last weekend, I ran with my friend and fellow Houston Racing Triathlon Club member Ingrid.  Ingrid has a very similar attitude to me when it comes to training.  Neither of us run a record-setting pace (even though neither of us is particularly slow) but what we want out of triathlon and distance running is the satisfaction of seeing what we're capable of.  For this reason, it was pretty easy to impress her with the idea of running the 100 mile ultramarathon with me and she was in from the start.  She also has some ultra distance plans for the future that I will be taking part in, but more on that in a future post.

Anyway, back to the big run this weekend.  We went up to Huntsville State Park and ran the Rocky Raccoon course.  It's a 20-mile loop that is repeated five times.  We decided to run it twice for 40 miles.  This was an all-day affair and would be great practice for the race itself.  It would also be my longest self-supported run by a large margin.

I got to the park a little late--just after 8AM and I missed Ingrid, who was off on the trails with her friend Lauren who was running the first lap with her.  I figured I'd cross paths with them sooner or later and I ended up running into them about five miles into the run.  After that, we settled into a long day of running the trails, walking the hills, and chatting about whatever would pass the time.  After 20 miles, we were back at the car to top off our water, food, and any clothing change we needed.

The second loop was just the two of us and it was a little tougher.  The hills seemed to get a little higher and the roots seemed to jump up at my feet a bit more than they did the first time around.  Towards the end of the second loop, it began to get dark so I borrowed her headlamp (she was done--I still had an extra three miles to make my 40) and went off on a little side loop alone.

The pace I held was way too fast throughout the day and I really felt it by the end.  I think my nutrition was fine, with gels, some salted potatoes, electrolyte capsules, and and chicken soup w/ rice and butternut squash at the end.  it was cold, but I didn't care.  In the end, it was Mission Accomplished and I managed to run 40 miles just under 8 hours.  For reference, I'll be aiming to run that same distance in about 9 hours and 20 minutes on race day.

7:55:19 total time.  11:52 minutes per mile for 40 miles.

Now I'm going back today.  It's a week later and we're going to be running 20 miles, or a single loop of the course.  The difference this time is that it's all going to be at night by the light of our headlamps.  We're starting just after sundown at 6PM and we hope to be finished some time between 10 and 11PM.  The weather report looks pretty sketchy with cold temperatures and a high chance of rain.  If it was easy, there'd be no challenge, right?  I'll let you know how it goes.

2011: A Year in Review

Today seemed like a good day to post this.  One the one hand, it’s still very early in January so it’s a good time to look back at the year that has ended.  On the other hand, today is one month before the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile trail race, which is what I’ve been preparing for since mid-summer.  It’s right around the corner!

2010 on the whole was a very good year for me, both in running and in triathlon.  The year started with intensity as Alida and I flew to Florida for the Walt Disney World marathon weekend.  Alida ran her first half marathon and I did the Goofy Challenge, consisting of the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday.  What we never expected was that a sub-freezing cold front would hit Florida the weekend we were there.  I was largely unprepared from a clothing standpoint and this was all too obvious on Saturday morning at 4:00AM when I was standing around in the 32 degree sleet wearing a shorts covered by a pair of Tyvek (essentially paper) pants to stop the wind.  Wardrobe challenges aside, it was tremendous fun to get the photos and run with Alida as she finished her first half marathon.

I made the surprising and pleasant discovery that even when you run a marathon, if you spend the rest of the day in compression socks walking around the park, you won’t be very sore the next morning when you get out of bed.  This was a real gem of seemingly-obvious information and I pass it on whenever possible.

Disney was great, but there was no time to waste, as I had the Houston Marathon the very next weekend.  I didn’t really know how that would work, since the taper was basically nonexistent.  Not only did I have the Houston marathon, my friend and coach Brett Blankner was hosting his ZenTriathlon Base Camp the same weekend up in college station.  He had brought in John Hirsch, professional triathlete, Christine Lynch, a nutritionist with a great take on holistic diet, and Rich Roll, an ultra-distance triathlete and all-around interesting guy.  I could only attend half of the camp because of the marathon, but in the little time I was there, I picked up some great tips—mostly regarding the philosophy of training long and seeing the proof that training slow can make you fast.  I was so struck by my experiences there, I decided to go on a full vegan diet, which I planned to keep until my birthday in September.  And I did.

I'm with my dad and a fellow Dynamo supporter after the Houston marathon

The Houston marathon was another really positive experience for me as well.  This was my third time running it and not only did I run it well, setting a new personal record and breaking 3:45:00 for the first time, but I felt really great doing it.  I ran at a good pace and still had enough energy left to pick up the pace for the last 10k.  Two marathons in two weeks felt like a real validation of my training efforts.

All of that happened in January, but February started with a bang as well as I returned to Huntsville for the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile trail run.  I had completed it the year before, but my goal was to break ten hours.  I met some great people along the way and I got to test out the merits of fuelling myself on 100% plant-based foods.  In the end, I ran in the last ten miles with Tammy Massie, who was also shooting to break ten hours and we both met our goals.

With that completed, I turned my attention to triathlon training.  The big race of my early season was the Lone Star Ironman 70.3 race in Galveston in early April.  I had already broken the six hour mark the previous fall and now I wanted to come in under 5:45, maybe even under five and a half hours.  I put in long hours of training under a schedule put together by my friend and coach, Brett Blankner.  Lots of riding, lots of swimming, and lots of running.  It paid off, though, as I was able to finish in 5:37.  I had a little trouble at the end of the run and that cost me a 5:30 finish, but not to worry.  I’m already signed up again for this year and I plan to hit it even harder.

Brett and I celebrating our finish at Lone Star Ironman 70.3

Jeremy in the mighty 114 mile monsoon ride

After the 70.3 race ended, my schedule was open.  Without a goal, I fell into a bit of a training funk.  Luckily, my friend Jeremy was training for his first full Ironman race at the end of June in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho.  Part of his training would involve some seriously long bike rides.  I started going out on long training rides with him and really enjoying myself as we rode, 60, 70, 80 miles at a time.  Finally, his schedule called for a century and I wanted to tag along.  Neither of us had ever ridden that far before.  On the day we had the ride planned, a nasty storm blew in, but it wasn’t cold, so we rode it anyway.  It was our triathlon club’s monthly ride and the course was 55 miles so we just doubled it.  We got a little bit lost on the second lap and the weather really got ugly, but in a way it was also kind of fun.  When it was all said and done, we had ridden 114 miles and had a huge sense of accomplishment.

We ended up riding two more century rides before his big triathlon and he had a good race up north.  After that, there really wasn’t much going on.  My motivation was low and I didn’t have any real events until the Athens marathon on Halloween.  As a result, my mileage slipped in the summer and I became more of a spectator.  I turned my attention to volunteering with the triathlon club and spending more time supporting events.  That is extremely rewarding in its own way and I had a very productive summer and met a lot of good people as a result.

In July, I decided enough was enough.  Even though the weather outside never really got below the low 80’s at night, I needed to do something so I started training for the Athens marathon.  At first, it was very slow going and discouraging, too.  My could barely run an hour at a time without taking walk breaks.  My heart rate was through the roof.  Could I really be that out of shape?  Well, yes and no.  In hindsight, I was a little out of shape, but the weather was hugely influential in my struggles.  As July became August, then September, and October, the summer got hotter and then cooler and by the time Athens was only a few weeks away, I was pretty sure I could run the race and produce a time I wasn’t ashamed of.

Another big thing that happened over the summer, even if it doesn’t sound big, was that I made the mental decision to sign up for my first full Ironman race.  Ironman is coming to Houston on May 21, 2011 and I wasn’t about to miss a lifetime goal race in my own backyard.  I was ready at noon on the website when registration came online.  Five minutes and $630 later (OUCH!) I was signed up.  Even as I write this, I’m excited about training for and racing my first full Ironman triathlon.

In August, my father was celebrating his 65th birthday and we decided to do it by climbing Mt. Elbert in Colorado.  Mt. Elbert is the second highest peak in the continental US and the highest peak in the entire Rocky Mountain range.  The hike was long and the air was thin, but we got to the top and grabbed a great view from the top of the Rockies.

Rocky Mountain high indeed

The next weekend, Alida and I flew out to California to take part in the Disneyland half marathon weekend.  This is the second part of the Disney Coast to Coast challenge, which was a lot of fun and got us another cool Disney medal for completing it.

Crossing the finish line in Athens

After months of training, October came around and Alida and I packed our bags for Athens and the 2500^th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon.  What a special time and event for a marathon runner, to be where it all began and on such a huge anniversary.  It was everything I hoped it would be and I did put forth a respectable time of 4 hours and 17 minutes.

No time to rest after Athens, though!  The marathon was just a stepping stone on my way to the 100 mile race in February.  I needed miles and I needed them fast.  The next weekend I had a 50k trail run that I ran with Cathlene Webb, Jeremy’s wife.  She had been training for an ultra and it seemed like a good opportunity to up my mileage.  We both had a good race and a strong finish and I went on to run several other ultras over the course of the year.

Another event of note in November was the Galveston Seawall Half marathon.  As it turns out, this would be my father’s first half marathon.  It was a hot and muggy day, which didn’t help anyone’s race, but we raced it all the same.  I needed extra miles, so I went out at 4:45AM and ran the course in reverse prior to the race starting.  I ended up running the race pacing Gordon and we finished a little over two hours.  My father was also successful in his race and finished a little over three hours using his walk/run method.  Not satisfied with his first race, he’s signed up for another one and he’s looking to break 3:00.  I think he probably will.

The last big excitement of the year for me was being elected to the 2011 board of directors for the Houston Racing Triathlon Club.  I am the director of membership and it’s pretty cool to be part of a small team who runs the biggest triathlon club in the South Midwest region.  Our club has over 800 members and we’ve won the regional points title for the last several years.  I look forward to a great year of service with the board and having a lot of fun as well!

Here are my final numbers for 2010:

Here's to raising the bar yet again in 2011!