I normally don’t do race reports, but IMTX was a little different so decided to put it down in writing.

My last IM was Arizona in 2009, after completing seven in the previous 4 years. Needless to say, this was a long layoff from IM racing and since I’m not getting any younger, was interested (nervous) to see how things would go.  Training was somewhat inconsistent, but with work and family I did what I felt was necessary and to be honest, was worried it wasn’t going to be enough as I averaged about 14-hrs of training per week, whereas I used to get in 18-20 in the past.

I flew into Houston Thursday before the race and of course my bike doesn’t show up on my flight. Thankfully it was on the next flight from Colorado Springs to Houston which was 2 hrs later. So, hit a local Wal-Mart and picked up some last minute supplies. Was relieved to get the bike and then head over to registration for check in. In and out quickly so off to the hotel to build the bike and chill out. 

Friday was uneventful, just hung in the hotel room, did some work and watched TV until bike check-in which went very smooth. Back to the hotel and I noticed the temp reading on the car dash was 100! Yikes, it’s going to be very hot and humid tomorrow. Oh well, nothing I can do about the weather so off to TX roadhouse for my filet dinner - yes, I eat a nice steak the night before every race (along with a side of pasta). Done it for years and seems to work for me.  I have to say the bartender looked at me a bit strange when asked if I wanted a beer or margarita and asked for a glass of red wine. I guess most guys sitting at the bar by themselves don’t order red wine!

Race morning. Interesting setup as we had a good 10-15 walk to the swim start. No wetsuit so slipped on the Blue Seventy speed suit and headed into the water.  To say the water was murky is an understatement. When you can’t see your own hand in front of your face only a couple inches away is not right. That said, the water temp felt great!  Swam across the lake and stood in knee deep water until right before the start and surprisingly I was eerily calm. No nervous energy being wasted and extreme feeling of calmness and confidence about the swim. Cool, I like this feeling.

Couple minutes before the swim, headed to the start until the canon went off. Here we go! The swim stayed crowded for about half way out to the first turn. Hard to draft off anyone as you couldn’t see the feet in front of you or even their bubbles. Yes, just a bit murky. Stayed very relaxed through the swim and started to push it just a bit before we made the right into the canal. I was passing a number of swimmers on the return and never felt like I was pushing hard. Once in the canal I could see a group of about 10-15 aprox 50 meters ahead and I was gaining on them. However, If I pushed to catch them I had to determine how much energy I’d have to use and what the cost would be for gaining maybe 30 seconds. So, I made the decision to continue to swim my pace and stay comfortable. Exited the swim in 59 min and was content with that. Not as fast as I thought but nevertheless, under an hour still puts me where I want to be starting the bike.

Steady transition and off to the bike.  I told myself the day before, take the first half of the bike conservative as the way back in will be into a head wind and miles 60-85 are rolling and I know nothing is really won in the first ½ of the bike. So, go out easy and bring it back in strong and steady.  About 30 min into the ride I spot a Wattie kit riding strong ahead of me. Introduced myself to Ken Petruzzelli and we both wished each other luck and kept riding. At the 56 mile mark, I was sitting at 2:25 and did a little self-assessment. Feeling like I hadn’t put in any real work yet and ready to get the race started. On to the 2nd half, the wind kicked in but didn’t really bother me as it was a steady wind and not super gusty. As I said, nothing really happens in the first half of the bike and a handful of riders who passed me early in the ride, by mile 85ish I had the opportunity to say hello to them   Gave me more confidence that I was having a good ride and my pacing so far had been good. I did have a little laugh as I look at my mileage and saw 85 and thought to myself, “it’s been years since I’ve ridden this far!” As I said earlier, I haven’t done an Ironman in 4 years and in training for TX, I never rode more than 75-80 miles. So, while I had a little laugh, I also had the thought this could be where things start going downhill. Thank goodness, back closer to the Woodlands I was still feeling steady on the bike and was within the final 12 miles of the bike.  However, these miles seemed to take FOREVER!  Something about hitting 100 miles, you get this feeling you’re almost done, but you still have aprox 30 min to go.  Finally made it back to T2 and was super stoked to ride sub five with a 4:58. Only problem was as soon as I put my Left foot on the ground I almost fell. Something was up with the ball of my foot and I couldn’t put any weight on it. Crap what’s going on?  This was my first realization the run was going to suck. Feeling came back in my foot after a couple easy steps and I was able to keep moving through transtion. 

again.

The Run - Holy Hotness Batman!  I always have a plan on how I’m going to run the marathon, but I knew in the first 10 steps out of the transition I had to change my plan - better yet, throw my plan out and just go with the “just finish” plan.  I’ve raced a lot of hot IM’s but this was ridiculous.  In the first mile, I had two guys who I thought were in my AG run by me and there was no way I was going with them.  My entire mindset was now just keep moving and get to the finish line, forget about placing, forget about Kona, just put all my physical and mental effort on just getting to the line. I also told myself don’t look at mile markers; you just have to run three laps. Made it through lap one in 1:05 which I didn’t like, but was just happy I made it through one lap. Here we go lap two which I’m sure would be slower, but just keep moving and try to minimize my losses.  Now is the time when it got really tough. The heat was crazy and both feet and quads were killing me. Through lap 2 there were about 6 times where I felt like everything was going to shut down and I’d be forced to walk. Each loop I saw a sign which said, “just finish” and I just kept telling myself to keep moving and not stop. If you stop, you are done. Another reason I hate stopping is this means the finish line will take that much longer to reach so if I can just keep “running” the finish line will get here that much sooner and I can stop for good. By this time I made it to the start of lap three and again played the mental game “I can run for an hour (plus a little more!), and an hour is a short run.” Now it’s really tough trying to get everything you need through the all you can eat and drink “buffet stations” with almost everyone on the course and you can’t afford to miss the ice, water, coke, pretzles, etc.  But the volunteers were great and I’d go through yelling everything I needed and they all came out to get it to me. I remember hitting mile marker 20 and this is when I finally started looking at the miles. With each mile “I can run 6 miles, 5 miles, 4 miles, just keep going…” It wasn’t until I finally hit the path along the canal, I had the feeling of “I’m going to make it.” But, I still wasn’t sure. With 1.5 to go, my brother-in-law told me I was 2nd in my AG and he told me to go. My response was, there is no response. If I’m 2nd I’m good with that as I’ll get my Kona slot, when I didn’t even think I would finish.  Running into the shoot, was one of the best feelings - Yes, done! Finally, but boy did that suck.  About 10 min later, my bro-in-law informed me I won my AG, guess I passed the two guys who passed me in mile one. Somehow the race now doesn’t suck as much. It just sucked less.

I always try to come away learning and after 14 IM races here’s what I learned in TX:

1 - be confident and stick to your plan

2 - keep your head up when riding. At mile 60 I was kind if in a zone/daze and just picked my head up in time to see a motorcycle stopped on the side of the road assisting a rider. Another second or two and I hit the motorcycle and my race report is very different.

3 - Be confident to totally throw your plan out the window

4 - Never set a goal time

5 - Find anything to keep you motivated, even if it is seeing the Moxie Multisport crew Rockin the W!

6 - TX is stupid hot, find somewhere else to race.

7 - Loved meeting a bunch of Wattie athletes!

A couple thanx must go out:

First, thanx to the support from all the wattie ink elite team members! This is such a cool team to be a part of. Thanx to Powerbar, K-Swiss, blue seventy, fuel belt and all the wattie sponsors for taking care of us.  To Derick Williamson (Durata Training) and Steve Pye (Practical Coaching) for allowing me to bounce all my thoughts and ideas in training and reviewing what my plan was and for offering all the advice and input (folks, want to go faster, invest in a good coach first, then the aero helmet, wheels, etc). Stacy Sims at Osmo nutrition - you turned my hydration and nutrition upside down, but it worked. Ben Sharp - I valued your opinion on equipment choices. Kelly Williamson - I had you till the run (damit!)- thanx for your advice and thoughts on how to attack the course. Finally to my wife and kids for putting up with all the tri crap, glad to hopefully make it worth it with our Hawaiian “vacation.”

Aloha,

Kevin