Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3

Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3 Race Report

So it wasn’t but a year ago that I raced at the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon (BSLT). This race is a 70.3 race. It is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. Last year I blew up. It was one of the most difficult races I had ever done. I had to resort to walking on the run. My legs were cramping, it was rough. Follow this LINK for a recap of that race. This year would be a different story. My only goal for this year was to cross the finish line feeling fresh, and have a solid run. No walking. Well this year I did that and more.

In the days preceding this race temperatures across Texas were almost setting records. It had been over 100 degrees for the whole week. In triathlons as in life you can’t control the weather so you take what you get. I was ready to race in the heat. I train in the heat all summer. There is no way around in Texas. It’s something you learn to live with and actually, if you are like me kind of like. People always say how do you go exercise in this heat, it’s so hot out. All they do is complain. Well, I have a simple way of making myself adapt to it. I constantly tell myself all day long, all year long, “It’s not that hot out” By repeating this year round, I have adapted to the temperatures and it really doesn’t feel that bad to me. I routinely train at some of the hottest times of the days. I run after work and ride after work anywhere from 4pm to 9pm. So I like many others were expecting to see 100 degree temperatures on race day. Since there was a great deal of potential for extreme heat, I planned out all week to be really cognizant of my hydration. I was eating lots of fruit, apples, grapes, taking salt pills all week, and drinking lots of water and Gatorade. I would say each day I easily drank close to 7 liters of water. On Friday alone I drank / ate the following things:

1. 1 Liter of water with breakfast
2. 8 oz of skim milk (.25L)
3. 32 oz Gatorade (approx 1 liter)
4. 32 oz Gatorade (approx 1 liter)
5. 1 gallon of spring water ( 3.78L)
6. 1 gallon of spring water with NUUN (3.78L)
7. .75 lbs of grapes
8. 2 apples
9. Plus a few glasses of water with dinner (approx 1L)

Total for the day: 12.75 liters of fluids

I awoke on Saturday morning and was so hydrated that my urine was completely clear. This actually made me really happy. This meant my hydration plan was working. It just so happened that the God’s were happy with us on race day and gave us an almost perfect day. Upon waking race morning it was a mere 70 something degrees. The forecast called for 70’s till after 12pm. This was a bonus. They also called for rain, not so good, but not bad either. Recall last year it rained the entire time too. So I had experience with this. I had a good pre-race dinner of pizza, salad, glass of wine and lots of water. I was in bed and asleep by 10pm. We had our alarm set for 3:30AM. Super early.

Woke up and did my normal routine, ate my same breakfast and was ready to pack up the car. I wheeled my bike out and notice I had a flat front tire. Not good. So Prepared to change it quickly, I stripped the tire and pulled the inner tube and inflated it to see where the leak was. It was at the valve stem. This meant I had to change the tube. I pulled off my valve extender only to find out the spare I had was no good with the valve extender. I was glad this happended not during a race. The local bike shop was able to fix me up once we got to the race. I have since bought the right tubes. I got to the race set up transition and started waiting in line for the toilets, the line was too long for me to keep waiting, so went to the swim start. This would prove to be an issue later. Swim went fine as usual. My splits were as follows:

Swim 1.2 Miles – 34:15 = 1:46 / 100m

On to the bike, my plan was to hold back a bit on the bike so that I would be able to have a solid run. I feel that I could have ridden the course much faster, but didn’t want my run ruined either. Keep in mind the elevation profiles for this course are shown below. It is a tough course. Luckily there was no heat. On the bike I felt great on every climb and was able to keep my heart rate very low. I had a 17 minute timer on my watch to remind to eat, drink, and take a salt pill. I wanted to try to get almost 400 calories in per hour. T his would include Gatorade too. Here was my nutirition plan in order of what I ate.

My total bike split was : 56 miles --2:44:58 -- 20.4 mph Average

1. Chocolate Cliff Bar – I ate this right out of transition – 240 calories
2. Gel – 110 calories
3. Gel – 110 calories
4. Gel – 110 calories
5. Peanut Butter Powerbar – 240 calories
6. Vanilla Powerbar – 240 calories
7. Gel – 110 calories
8. Cliff Shot Blocks – 190 calories

Total food calories on the bike: 1460 calories – total ride time less than 3 hours, so I met my plan of 400 calories an hour.

As far fluids went, I started with my aero bottle filled with NUUN, 2 shorty bottles with Gatorade and 1 bottle with water. I did 2 gatorade bottle hand ups and 2 water hand ups. So total fluids drank was about:

Gatorade / NUUN – 88 oz
Water – 48 oz
I took 2 – 3 salt pills every other 17 minutes.

I have come to the conclusion that the more I eat on the bike, the better I can run. Plain and simple. I have repeated this time and time again in my training on the weekends. The plan for Ironman Wisconsin is to eat on a similar time pattern. I also plan on having some sort of solid food / sandwich / wrap / or something in my special needs bag and eating that prior to completing the first of the 2 two 47 mile loops.
I was very positive about my ride. I have decided that for any races or long rides going forward, I will not use my speedometer. I will simply ride with cadence and heart rate. This is much better for me as I don’t get frustrated with average speed and or mph.

Off the bike and into T2. I had a decent transition. I had accumulated all kinds of rocks and debris in my bike shoes during the ride. Since the last 16 miles it rained somewhat hard on me. Upon arriving in T2, my shoes and socks were soaked with water. Luckily I race in my ZOOT shoes which have holes in the soles and allow water to drain very efficiently. I plan on purchasing a pair of the newer versions for IM Wisconsin. The newer versions have more padding and will help on a marathon distance run.

Out of T2, I started clicking off the miles and just wanted to get in a groove. It is funny for me now, that unless I really push myself hard on the bike, I don’t even feel like I have ridden when I go to run. Or the fact that I have been doing at least 1 or 2 bricks per week, I got into a groove very quickly. My heart rate was extremely low and I was still running a sub 8-minute mile pace. Then I got this feeling, that wasn’t good. I had to go shit. So I stopped at mile 3 and took 4 minutes to run to the shit house and go. I knew I would be able to run better if I did this. This was upsetting because I wanted to go again before the race but couldn’t because of the line. I also didn’t have enough time because of the flat tire shit that happened. Lesson learned. I need to allow even more time to get to the race venue than expected. This poses a problem when carpooling with others. I generally always like to error on the side of caution and would get to the race venue as soon as it opens, but when others are with you this is always not an option. So with that episode behind me, I kept running. I met up with a good mate from Austin, TX who had formerly lived in Australia for the past 6 years. We ran together from mile 5 to 13.1. We were running strong and great. As you can see from the below splits. I took 2 gels on the run, Gatorade, water, and coca cola at almost every aid station. I also took 4 salt pills. Check out my splits and HR’s below.

Mile Splits:

Pace / Mile -- HR
1. 7:52 – 143
2. 7:50 – 144
3. 10:21 – 140
4. 8:52 – 147 (I forgot to hit my watch included a hill)
5. 7:47 – 150 (this was short from previous mile)
6. 7:42 – 151
7. 8:06 – 150
8. 7:31 – 152
9. 7:28 – 150
10. 8:05 –153
11. 7:44 – 150
12. 7:41 – 154
13. 7:32 – 157
14. :26 – 161

TOTAL HALF MARATHON SPLIT: 13.1 miles -- 1:45:06 -- 8:01/mile

So all in all this was an awesome run. My time would have been 3:45 seconds less had I not go to use the bathroom. This would have put my overall time for the half down around almost 1:41. This is excellent. I am extremely pleased with this and how fresh I felt during the run. No cramping at all on the run. I have never ran like this before in a race. I feel very confident that on an easier course I can probably run a 1:35 – 1:40 half marathon after riding 56 miles.
With all that being said, I am now toying with racing Longhorn 70.3 on October 25th, in Austin, TX. I did it last year and I think I can own the race. I think I can break 5 hours by a larger margin than I did in Galveston earlier in the season. Who knows, if I do well enough and people don’t show for the awards, I may get a roll down slot to the Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, Florida. This is the worlds champion and you have to qualify to race it. At BSLT, the slots rolled down to 13th. I got 17th in my age group. I plan on racing BSLT again next year and hope to break 5 hours there as well. The way I see it a 22 minute improvement in only one year is astronomical. If I can continue that pace for the next 5 years, I very well may be able to qualify for Kona or Clearwater at some point in the future.

My first try at a short story....

Sitting on a old dirty couch in their bedroom at the Lambda Chi house were two friends, Mason and Bill. One with his legs on a rickety coffee table that was fashioned out of brown wicker basket with a piece of 3/4" MDF screwed to the top to cover up the weaving of the wicker and provide a level surface to set the beers, cigarette lighters, and ash trays. The other friend was simply slouched down so far that he might as well have been lying on the ground. Overhead hung two monstrosities that held full size mattress. This was the bedroom shared by two close friends. The friends sat quietly in a room that smelled of stale beer and cigarettes watching re-runs of "The Simpson's" or whatever else was on during the commercials. 

It was the beginning of a new year. The outside was cold and school had just begun. It was early January and both friends had a full load of classes on their plate. Mason, was from Memphis, Tennessee. He was a scraggly boy but with quite a funny and playful side. Bill hailed from Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a serious type, somewhat carefree,  but yet very logical. Bill and Mason both were in their Junior year of college. They attended the University of Tennessee. Many a days were spent talking and sharing stories of their hometowns, and high school heydays. It just so happened that today the droning television, which played nothing but re-runs from 4pm to 8pm, despite having 200+ channels, led to a conversation and story that would forever change Bill and Mason. This story would be later reminisced some four years later at Mason's wedding, but let's not get ahead of ourselves too quickly.

Mason says to Bill, "I think I want to start working out and getting into shape"

"Well you know I have a few theories about lifting weights and training, I used to be in great shape back in high school", said Bill.

"Oh yeah what do you know?" says Mason

"Well as I am sure you remember from our day after the Christmas party pledge versus brothers football game, I used to be quite the football player." boasts Bill.

"Yeah I remember you and Pittsburgh (the other northern in the freshman pledge class), were decked out in your high school football regalia and cleats to play a bunch of hung over older fraternity brothers," sneers Mason.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, any ways I took strength and conditioning class every year of high school and my teacher and coach taught me everything he knew. He would train us 3 times a week, we would do full body workouts and focus on all the muscle groups each workout. His philosophy, which I believe in, was to train to failure, recover, and do it again. This allows the muscles to get the little micro tears and re-build and become stronger. It works too! I really bulked up in high school under this doctrine of his. If you wanna start working out we should train together. I'll do it with you. It's always better to have a partner that way you push each other harder, and they can always be there to help you to get one more rep when you think you're spent."Says Bill.

"Really? That some good stuff." Mason says as he and Bill both simultaneously reach to stamp out there cigarettes in an already over flowing ash tray. "Maybe we should do it today, instead of sitting here flipping back and forth between Home Improvement re-runs and Inside Edition", 

"Okay. I think I can put us both thru a solid workout. I did our workouts enough in high school I could never forget them. Plus I have never even been in that huge new T-REC's center across the street from our house. I mean its huge, brand new and I have never used it, chimed Bill.

Well alright then, lets get changed and go have at, a jovial Mason comments.

Mason and Bill rise up and start sifting threw their dirty clothes and dresser draws looking for clothes to wear while they workout. Obviously they didn't have a drawer set aside for workout clothes as this was something that was hardly a routine for either of them. They both would piece meal together some nylon shorts, cotton socks, and an old fraternity shirt, hoping they wouldn't look too out of place in the new fancy gym. The walk was short to the T-REC's or student recreation center at the University of Tennessee. It was literally across the street from the Fraternity house. A proverbial stones throw, but seriously, it could be hit it with a rock, and actually one night the previous summer one of the fraternity brother did just that. Minus the stone and add a beer bottle.

No one would ever suspect that these young college chaps, Mason 21 years and Bill only 20 would be turning a page in their live at this point. One could imagine and wonder what if these guys never decided to be roommates? What if one of them had scheduled a class during the time of "Home Improvement" re-runs and they would have never had that conversation? What if? There are so many other things that could have happened. But what happened that day would forever change Mason and Bill.

Becoming an Ironman

So this week is a large week of training for me. I haven't wrote in a while, because simply I haven't had much on my mind. I have just been focusing on training and completing the workouts given to me. However yesterday while running on a 10.5 mile run and thinking about the workouts I have done so far and the ones ahead, I had an epiphany. I really am becoming an Ironman. I mean right now my easy workouts are between 2700 - 3000m in the pool, a 40 - 50 mile bike ride, and anywhere between 7 - 13 mile runs. These are easy to me and I feel fine after doing them. That is what is interesting is that I have built up such a base in training that I can go and do these workouts before and after work, and not skip a beat. I do them day after day too. In the past I remember a good afterwork bike ride would 25 miles. Now I comfortably will ride 40+ after work. Same with running, when I used to do 3 miles as a run, now its 7 - 13 miles. I know it's only a matter of time before I am saying that 70 - 80 mile rides are a walk in the park as well as 15 - 18 mile runs. It is truly amazing what the human body can do. 

This weekend I have a hard workout. 3 hours of riding, with an hour of hill repeats followed by 2 hours of running. I am not gonna lie. I am a little intimidated by this workout. It might be as hard or harder than a Half Ironman. Next weekend, 4 hours of riding with over an hour of hill repeats and 2.5 hours of running. This WILL be the hardest workout I have ever done. That is the point of the training though. To push myself to new extremes, so that I can get comfortable with these 6.5 - 8 hour workouts. We shall see how this weekend and next week goes. Other than that, I feel if I get thru these workouts this weekend and next, that I am really going to be ready for IM Wisconsin and I still have some 113 days to go too! These workouts will be a big confidence booster for me.

Flat Tire and Volunteers

So, my ankle has been acting up and the funny thing is that I didn't even do anything to hurt it. I was taking my boots off to change before my metabolic testing and all of sudden.... Its just really sore and hurt. So I stumbled thru last week with a "FLAT Tire" of a leg not running on it, icing and elevating, and only riding, swimming, and yoga. Well my analysis from last week is that the riding is not helping it. This is very unfortunate, because it limits my training. I get really upset when I can't ride, run, and jealous every time I see others riding or running. However I just need to stop and think about the big picture. Rest and let the leg heal for a few weeks worse case and then I can go on and continue to train. There is never any sense of pushing thru minor injuries because they almost inevitably get worse. I learned this a few years ago when I was training for my first half marathon. I will never make this mistake again. So I am reaching out to a Doctor my coach recommended and just take this bull by the horns and make the ankle better. I hope a few days off from riding and running will make it better. For now lots of ICE, YOGA, SWIMMING, AND NSAIDS..... Boo no cycling. I hope its better before the shiner bike ride too. I paid good money for that ride and am going and doing it in 2 weeks.

In other news I want to shout out to all my family who will be coming up to Wisconsin for my Ironman to go and sign up for volunteering at the race. Please follow the below link to do so. You can't sign up yet but they will ask for your email to get an alert when you can sign up. I would recommend for the following people to do these things:

Volunteer LINK

Dad, Jeff & Donnie -- Men's Transition Change Tent or Bike catchers
Mom and Sisters -- Bike Catchers, Wet Suit Strippers, Aid Station on the Run Course, or Bag hander outer before the change tent.

So here is the math on when and where I will be on the course throughout the day, here is a worst case scenario. So take this into consideration and make sure you would be volunteering before the below times but no later than the below times. e.g. bike catcher choose a time slot around 1pm -- 4pm. You will for sure catch me.

Swim Start : 7am

Swim Duration: 1:30

Wet Suit stripping (I'll be there before) : 8:30am

Bag Hander outer before the change tent before: 8:33am

Men's Transition Change Tent before: 8:34am

Bike Duration-- 7:00

Bike catcher (time you could catch my bike before) : 3:34pm

Men's Transition #2 before : 3:35pm

Run Aid Stations: anytime from 3:35pm to 6pm This will allow you to be at the finish line when I cross. Best case is I finish in like 11 hours so 7am -- 6pm. But the run is a 2 loop course so even if you aren't volunteering you will see me quite a few times too, and when I'm at mile 20 or so you can go to the finish line. I most likely will be able to also tell all of you my Pace per mile for the last 6 miles to figure out if you have enough time to get to the finish.

Lonestar Half Ironman Results

Orville and Wilbur Wright are most commonly credited with inventing and building the worlds first successful airplane. If my memory serves me correct these brothers took much of their insight from nature around them. Inspired by the flight of birds these brothers did what many others had failed to do before them. They built a flying machine. There was no doubt times they doubted themselves during the course of their project. However persistance and a dream to someday build a flying machine came true that faithful day in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

One might wonder where is this post going, why allude to the Wright brothers. The point of this is to set the tone for this passage.  These two individuals took on a seemingly insurmountable task of mastering flight, and achieved what no others had done successfully before them. Stop and think for a second about the feeling that both Orville and Wilbur felt when that plane moved forward through the air. A feeling of elation, achievement, and empowerment, must have enveloped the brothers like a swarm of bees to a comb of honey. The initial thought is that anything is possible.

Anything is possible, is exactly the phase that could carry thru to my feelings today as I write this. I wish to share my experience in my fourth half Ironman race in Glaveston, Texas this past weekend. I went into the weekend not really caring about the outcome. All that I wanted to gain from the race was good experience and regardless of the outcome I knew this would happen. I also wanted to use the race as a gauge to see where I am at physically and mentally. I was very pleased with my performance physically, but what pleased me more was my performance mentally. I had done something I have never done before during the race. Despite horrible pain and being on the verge of cramping with every step I took, I pushed my limits. 

The swim was a 1.2 mile open water swim in a saltwater bay. This was an easy swim and it didn't phase me much. I completed the swim in 33:51 which works out to be a 1:45 / 100m. I didn't get in a groove until about 10 minutes into the swim. My only concern after the swim was the fact that I cut my toe on an oyster during warmup and knew I would have this to contend with the rest of the day. I had a slow transition of 2:31 but was ready to ride. I got on the bike and immediatly took my first gel. I hadn't ate since 5am and by this point it was 9am. I then started my watch timer for 15 minutes to make sure I would eat something 4 times per hour. I ended up consuming on the bike the following items:

1. 3 - gel packs
2. 1 - powerbar
3. 1 - cliff bar
4. 2 - packages of shot blocks
5. 150 oz of water and gatorade combined
6. 10 - endurolyte pills

My nutrition and electrolyte plan were solid. I think I am starting to get the hang of Half Ironman (HIM) distance racing. My only complaint about the bike is that I still don't believe I am used to riding a Tri specific bike. My quads were real sore towards the end of the bike and even more on the run. I am going to work with the store I bought the bike and my coach about its fit and why this is happening. This is the second time for that to happen. Anyways my bike split was 2:29:20 for 56 miles this works out to be an average of 22.5mph. This was followed by a quick 1:24 transition and off to the run. I was wearing my Zoot shoes without socks and finsihed my first of 4 laps on the run and looked down and my shoe was covered in blood. I figured I better stop at my coaches tent and put on the socks I had them holding for me. The sitting and putting on my socks caused me to start to cramp. This sucked. I stopped and rubbed out my quads and it helped. I had to keep pushing because I knew deep inside I had the time to break 5 hours but I didn't have anytime to spare. With the first 2 laps done it became a numbers game. My quads were on fire and with that my hamstrings were close to follow. I kept pushing. I started playing mental games and singing the refrain from a song by Lynard Skynard called "All I Can Do Is Write About It" as shown below. I also started singing "Traveling Riverside Blues" by Robert Johnson but performed by Led Zeppelin also shown below. When I say singing I mean like almost screaming loud. Its weird on a race course because you are very close to alot of other people but no one is talking. So I am sure people may have been annyoed but I just wanted to distract myslef from the pain I was experiencing.

So I made it to the final of the 4 laps and looked at my watch and realized I needed to run the last 3.1 miles in about 24 minutes or less to break 5 hours. This I knew I could do, but it was going to hurt. So I ran the first 2 miles and realized I had less than 8 minutes to run the last mile. This is when I just pushed it into another gear and starting running fast. I was able to run the last mile in 7:37. I amazed even myself with this time. I went to another place in my brain and shut off all pain I was feeling and focused solely on the finish line. As you will see from one of the below pictures I had to push past another competitor who was walking in order to make my times. I crossed the finish line and my watch indicated I had finished in 4:59:57. 3 seconds to spare. My surge at the end caught the attention of another runner and spurred him to pick up the pace and finish strong as well. He was very appreciative when in the last stretches I encouraged him to run with me and finish strong. We chatted after the race breifly and this was his first HIM and he had just broke 5 hours. This is an amazing feat for any triathlete of any age. He was 45 years old too. I high tailed it to the medical tent so they could mend my bloody toe and horrible blisters. I also convinced them to give me an IV while I sat there. I love IV's I wish I could have an IV after all of my weekend training runs and rides. They are amazing. They do in 45 minutes what drinking water for 8hrs does. Amazing simply amazing.

With all of that being said I was super excited with my performance and achieved something I used to think was going to be impossible. The most important learning experience from this race is that even when it hurts so bad, and you think you are going to cramp and cripple over, your mind can achieve what your body cannot. My mind took me to the finish line not my legs. 

The final results are as follows:

Swim 1.2 miles : 33:51 -- 1:45 / 100m

Transition #1 : 2:31

Bike 56 miles: 2:29:20 -- 22.5mph AVG

Transition #2: 1:24

Run 13.1 miles: 1:52:45 -- 8:36 / mile

Total Time: 4:59:54

I got 11th place in the 25 - 29 year old age group out of 43 people. I placed 78th out of 609 people.

Is there room for improvement? Absolutly. I think I can get my bike average close to 25mph and my run time down to around 1:40 or about 7:45 - 8:00 minutes per mile.

All in all the race was a success.

Here are some pictures.

Lonestar Half Ironman

Greetings from Dallas, tonight I will go to bed in Houston as I prepare for the Lonestar Half Ironman. I just wanted to give an update to anyway who is interested and or really board on Sunday. I will be racing in the Lonestar Half Ironman and it will actually be broadcast on the internet. Follow the below link and you can watch coverage.

My Race Number is 244, I am in swim wave #3 and will be wearing a green swim cap. For the race I will have on a tank top style shirt and will have a blue and silver bike with pink water bottle holders on the back. On the run I will be wearing a visor. Let me know if you watch!!!

http://www.lonestartri.com/lonestar/video.html

Ironman St. George, Utah

Well I pulled the trigger. Last week on Wednesday I received an email from Active.com like I always get and it was announcing to me to that the WTC had just added another North American Ironman race. The race will be held in St. George, Utah on May 1, 2010. Seeing this email and reading it blew me away. I then continued to scroll down and realized that they currently had open registration for this race. I started to get excited. I thought to myself that I could register for an Ironman race, the inaugural race at that, without out having to travel to the race site on race weekend. I thought to myself that this was a once in a life time shot. So I pulled the trigger. 

It is official I have signed up for my second Ironman distance race before I have even completed my first. It should prove to be a picturesque race too. I will post some pictures from the website. The icing on the cake is 2 friends of mine also signed up for the race as well. What makes this even better is that all 3 of us are looking to rent a house in St. George too.  Check out the link for the house we may rent. Houses.

After some thought and deliberation, I have decided that in 2010 I plan to go on a long bike ride. I have been speaking with a friend of the family from Cincinnati, my hometown, about how to prepare for such a trip. My initial thoughts are Tacoma, Washington to Dallas, Texas. I would carry everything I would need on my bike and make the trek in 2 - 3 weeks. I figure I would have to cover around 100 - 200 miles per day on the bike in order to complete the ride. I would camp as often as possible, and take as many pictures as possible. I feel like this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and something I need to do while still young, without a family and many more commitments.

In other news I celebrated my birthday on Sunday and turned 25 years young. Its crazy but time really flies when you get out of college. Just thought I would update everyone with these new happenings. I will be traveling to Galveston this weekend to race in my 4 Half Ironman Distance race. I really won't be racing but using this race as an experience builder and heavy training day. Lets hope for safe travels and good weather. I have a few friends going down too as well as my coach. I am pumped about a good weekend. I am taking work off Monday to recover and travel back to Dallas. Then the office is closed on Friday for good Friday so that is going to be a short week for me. I hope to get in an easy recovery ride and or swim next weekend too. 

I will leave you with a quote from a birthday card my little sister sent. It is really inspiring and is true to the way I live my life. I have to say it is one of the first cards that I have ever gotten that is meaningful to me. For that Thanks Brooke!!!

Dreams are power, they are imagination shaping our lives from the inside, they are possibilities becoming reality before our eyes; believe in the power of your dreams, and go achieve your dreams!