TimberMan 70.3 Race Report....Return to Racing, Finding the Passion Again

TimberMan 70.3 (Gilford, New Hampshire)

4:38:40, 13th M30-34, 69th Overall 

(Got a roll down to 2016 70.3 WC)

Pre-Race

Ironman Texas crushed me in a way I have never experienced in any of my previous 6 Ironman races.  I was broken and battered physically and emotionally.  I put all my eggs in the Texas Kona basket and trained harder than ever only to come up short again.  It was particularly frustrating to spend so much time and effort on my run preparation only to run my worst Ironman marathon (even slower than my first).   I went deeper into the pain cave than I ever have and took my body beyond its limits.  The true measure of damage didn't reveal itself until several weeks after the race.  I was depressed, exhausted, unmotivated and broken.  

Going into the summer I had grand plans to use my early season Texas fitness to race my butt off before the birth of my first daughter.  Unfortunately for me, my body had different plans and I spent the whole summer in a weird funk of aches, pains and depression.  I have always had some form of post Ironman depression but this bout was the worst I've experienced.  It's atypical for me to spend the summer in a funk (I have some form of seasonal affective disorder and get pretty glum during the winter).  As someone who loves the summer, it was a major downer to struggle mentally during the months I am usually happiest.  June and July passed in the blink of an eye and though I trained consistently my body was just not right.  I signed up for Challenge Williamsburg 70.3 and a local race called I Love the Tavern.  I was in no shape to do either race and ended up pulling the plug on both.

It wasn't until mid July when my body started to come around and I started to feel like I could race again.  I signed up for Timberman and thought I could put together enough good weeks of training to take a run at a 70.3 Worlds qualification.  I hit a few weeks of great workouts and was feeling excited and strong going into the race for the first time since May.  Timberman would also be perfect in that I would have the opportunity to spend time before and after the race at my aunt and uncle's house in Maine.  I have never been that far Northeast and it is spectacular in August!!!! Timberman is sure to be on my short list of late season races from here on out.  

Timberman was also ideal in that a large contingent of folks from Richmond were racing.  Having a large number of familiar faces on the course is always helpful to have a good day.  I also had great family support.  Mom and dad made the trip with my sister Jackie and her fiancé Bobby.  I also had great support from my Uncle Pete and Aunt Jodi who made our stay in Maine spectacular.  My buddy Trey McFerren also dropped everything last minute to make the trip!!!!  Lake Winnipesaukee is breathtaking.  The water is clear and cool and the lake is spectacularly large.  Words do not do this area of the country justice.  I enjoyed every minute of my time there and can't wait to go back.

Race Morning

70.3's are a little different in that there is typically a wave start for the swim.  Unfortunately for me, my wave is typically near the end which means a long wait between setting up transition and go time.  Transition opened before 6:00 am, the first amateur wave was around 7:00 am, and my wave was not scheduled to go off until nearly 8:30.  This meant a 5:00 am wake up call and a lot of waiting around.  I got to transition before 6 and got everything set up.  I caught up with a few friends and then went back to relax in the car and eat breakfast.  At about 7:30 I headed down to the swim start to watch some of the earlier waves and meet my family.  It was nice to hang on the beach with my family and feel the pre-race excitement of the earlier waves.  I never get tired of pre-race anticipation.  There is nothing better than being surround by 2500 peers all tense with nervous energy and excitement.  I love the mood, the atmosphere and the blaring music.  There is nothing like it.  As the time for my wave approached I suited up with my hammer tri kit, my LG M2 Skinsuit for the bike, and my blue seventy helix wetsuit for the swim.  Because I wasn't anticipating a particularly hot day I opted to wear everything from the beginning of the race and I would strip off a layer in each transition.  This plan ended up working nicely.

Swim- 25:58, 1:20/100m

My plan was to swim comfortable and strong.  I knew there would be some congestion as I would have to swim through an hour of earlier waves.  I figured it wouldn't get bad until the turn buoy, but the truth was that it never got bad.  It was actually easy to keep clean water by swimming just wide of the buoy line.  I have been doing a ton of open water swimming lately and I expected a fast swim.  I have been in a good zone with swimming and have really enjoyed some quality time in the James River.  I am going to keep up with the swimming as much and often as I can because I have come into a nice groove and may even do the Peluso Bridge and Back 5 miler.

The water temperature was perfect and it was unfortunate that this was a wetsuit swim.  I swam in the lake several times before the race in a speedo and it felt perfect.  It would have been really nice to avoid the wetsuit but those are the breaks.  When the gun went off there was one guy who broke clear in our wave and I was in second position.  I figured I would slowly eat away at his lead and hopefully be leading as I got to the swim finish.  I lost sight of him until about 300 yards from shore when I realized we were swimming stroke for stroke.  I put in a surge to get out of the water first but he snaked me to the line.  My goal was a 25 minute swim and as I glanced down at my watch I realized I was right on the money.  I ran straight to the wetsuit strippers and I was on my way to hit the bike hard.

Bike- 2:26:22, 22.9 mph

Avg Power- 273, Norm Power- 280, VI- 1.03

Avg HR- 151, Avg Cadence- 86

The bike course was challenging but not overly hard.  I drove the course the day before and knew that

there would be plenty of hills.  I also knew that the back half of the course was going to be harder than the front and my goal was to manage my effort accordingly.  I had been doing plenty of hill work prior to the race and had no concerns that I could manage my power on both the ups and downs.  The course was exactly as I expected and there were a couple of short steep climbs but it was mostly rolling terrain.  The first and last ten miles of the bike course are pretty chewed up but the middle portion of the course had excellent pavement.

My goal was to ride about 280 watts and have plenty of juice left for the run.  I felt great on the bike. The power came easily and I could have ridden harder.  I played it smart and I think I probably had the "stuff" to ride 10-15 watts higher.  The course is super fun and there were long sections where you could absolutely fly.  In fact, there was a 10 mile section where I averaged 25.5 mph...really fun stuff.  There was also a descent on the back half of the course that was insanely fast.  I hit 50 mph going down and even started getting a few speed wobbles.  It was the fastest I have been on a bike since the Keene descent at Lake Placid and I am not ashamed to say it was a bit scary but

exhilarating.  (check my Placid race report if you want to know what happened the last time I got going that fast)

I have been working on my aero position lately and made some changes after Texas with fit guru Dave Luscan.  Best Bike Split estimated a bike split of 2:28 at 280 watts.  I was thrilled to find out that I rode 2:25 off less wattage.  I think that means that Dave is getting me dialed in and we have made some nice aero gains since May.  I switched to ski bend extensions and I think I am close to my ideal fit.  However I think I need more length so I just ordered the speed concept plug in aerobar and I will be able to squeeze out a bit more length with ski bend extensions of my choosing.  I also need to work on my hand position as I have been told that it is not very aerodynamic.  I rolled into transition right on target feeling fresh with the knowledge that a solid run would put me well within WC slot contention.

Run- 1:42:36, 7:49/mile

The plan on the run was 7:00/mile pace.  Nothing complicated just hit the paces.  I felt good running out of transition and the first mile clicked off at 7:15.  It was a little slow but I wasn't concerned.  Unfortunately I slipped up to 7:30 on the second mile and I continued to hover there.  This was a challenging run course with lots of ups and downs.   The difficulty is roughly comparable to the Kinetic Half.  I knew about the difficulty going into the race and having run 1:32 at Kinetic I figured that was a reasonable goal.  Unfortunately for me it was not to be.  It got pretty warm during the run but it was nothing unmanageable compared to the 7th circle of hell at Ironman Texas.  I have got to thank Dan Szajta for literally stopping to cheer for me everytime we passed each other on the run course.  I can't wait to cheer him on at Kona.

It was a weird run for me. I never felt bad or fell apart I just ran slow.  The first half of the run stayed at 7:30 pace and loop 2 climbed to 8:00/mile.  I never blew up or crumbled, I just ran slow.  I biked well within my limits and don't think that was the culprit for the slow running.  I don't really know what the issue is with my running lately.  I feel like I have taken a few steps backwards after a really great spring preparing for Texas.  I had my best 10K at Monument and three of my best 20 mile runs prior to Texas.  I felt my efficiency had improved and I was finally making great strides toward being able to run 3:30 off the bike.  Since Texas, I can probably count the number of good runs on one hand and feel like I need to go back to the drawing board this fall and winter to make some strides.

My pedestrian run took me out of the running for a guaranteed slot but after the race we hung around for roll down with the hopes that I might get lucky with a 70.3 World Championship Slot.  I figured I would have a reasonable chance since the race is in Australia next year and many people would take a pass.  Sticking around paid off and I was the last person to snag a roll down slot.  It was exciting to get called out and sign the paperwork.  It gave me a jolt of energy and fired me up to start planning next years races.  

Post-Mortem
It is an exciting time for Britt and I.  Our daughter Sloane is due at the end of September and I am feeling excited and anxious about it.  I am at the point where I just want her to be here.  I know Britt is ready to be done being pregnant.  The ladies sure get a raw deal with this whole pregnancy thing and I always joke with her that if men had to have babies humanity would go extinct.  I sure as shit couldn't do it.   Ironman is a joke compared pregnancy!  I am getting excited to see this face in person.  I may be biased but she looks like she is gonna be pretty damn cute!

In terms of triathlon and racing, I am going to spend the winter focusing on my run and do a single sport block when the baby gets here.  I figure it will be much more reasonable to train for one sport rather than three during those first few months of adjusting to life as a parent.  I will spend a bit of time on the bike and keep the mojo going with my swimming.  I'd like to keep swimming open water as long as the weather will allow.  In terms of racing the only races I might do are the Richmond Marathon and the Peluso Bridge and Back 5 miler.

I am leaning heavily toward returning to Ironman Texas next year.  Despite the hellish conditions I feel like I have a better day there.  I think I can conquer the heat now that I know how truly oppressive it can be.  With my aero improvements on the bike, I don't think there is any reason why I can't swim :52 and follow it up with a 4:50 on the bike.  Unfortunately, I age up to the hardest age group next year (35-39) and I will have to get better at running to make it to Kona.  30-34 was hard but it will only be harder for the next few years.  I am certainly up for the challenge....plus now I will have dad strength!  As always thanks for reading and congratulations to all the Richmond's that kicked ass up at Timberman.  This is truly an amazing community and we are fortunate to live in such an awesome place.

Racing on a Razor's Edge, Ironman Texas Race Report

Ironman Texas Race Report

10:01:52

10th Men 30-34/90th Overall (Last KQ went to 8th place in my AG)

(2239 Finishers/2587 Participants)

Results 

Four Minutes and Thirty Eight Seconds......

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I have been chasing this dream for several years (and chasing it really seriously for about the last three). My training since 2011 has been consistent and has steadily improved in every metric.  Going into Texas I was the fittest I have ever been and my run fitness and form were at all time highs.  I knew the weather and competition was going to make this a hard race to nab a KQ, but felt my coach, Eric Limkemann, had prepared me well for the challenge.  I also felt a sense of urgency going into this race because I have my first baby on the way in September and I know there are going to be some new and more important priorities moving forward!

In the past I have been a KQ bubble guy mostly because I have never run a really good marathon off the bike.  I have run a few serviceable marathons but nothing of the quality necessary to be amongst the top competitors in my age group.  Historically I have been able to swim to the front of the field, bike strong enough to stay in contention, and then watch helplessly as M30-34 calf markings zoomed by me on the run course.

After looking at run files from my Texas prep, I now know that historically I was not nearly as well prepared to run well off the bike at my previous 5 Ironmans.  Going into Texas I felt things were going to be different and I had done the work to run 3:20-3:30 off the bike.  I did several 20 mile runs on tired legs where I was running comfortably in the 7:45/mile range.  My bike power has been at an all time high but I have been dealing with neck and shoulder issues on the bike which has made it challenging to hold aero for as long as necessary.

Based on these factors, I had a very different mindset going into this race.  My goal was a 4:55 bike split and if my neck acted up I knew I had the fitness to ride 5:10-5:15.  I was excited to get to the marathon so I could showcase all the run work I had done....I was actually more nervous about the bike which is a different mindset for me.  However, Ironman is a fickle mistress and the day did not unfold on the marathon course as I envisioned.

Pre-Race
It is no secret that the Woodlands in May is hot and humid.  I tried to prepare for the heat by using a sauna protocol.  Unfortunately I had to go on a business trip in the middle of the protocol and didn't spend as much time in the sauna as I originally planned. I have always liked hot races and done pretty well in them (2 of the three years I did Louisville were well into the 90's).  I have no basis of knowing this for sure, but ultimately I don't think lesser time in the sauna negatively impacted my race in any significant way.

I arrived in the Woodlands on Wednesday night and got settled into the rental house.  My mom and dad (Sherpa Ma and Pa) were kind enough to drive our bikes all the way from Virginia to Texas and our equipment was waiting for us safe and sound when we arrived.  I stayed with two of my good friends Lindsay Wohlford and Trey McFerren (who were also racing).  I was also lucky to have a strong contingent of my Hammer Tri Club brothers down in Texas.  I am truly fortunate to count such outstanding men and athletes as my closest friends and I was excited to see what Jeff Tunstall, Moose Herring, Justin Moyer, David Gallagher, and Bob Flanigan would do.  We were all well prepared and ready to get down to business.

I spent all day Thursday tinkering with my equipment and crunching the sodium and calorie numbers for my nutrition bottles.  Most of my friends that have observed this ritual think I love it.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  I actually hate this period of time.  I pour all of my nervous injury into compulsively checking and re-checking my bike, bags, bottles, everything....it is actually mentally exhausting.  It is always a relief when I can drop everything off and get it out of my possession the day before the race.  I settled on two nutrition bottles for the bike.  Each bottle had 9 scoops of EFS Pro and 3 scoops of carbo pro (about 750 cals).  I also planned on eating one bonk breaker and 5 salt stick capsules.  This would put me at about 300 cals/hour and 1000 Mg of Na/hour.

Friday morning I went to the practice swim and felt amazing in the water.  Shortly thereafter I dropped my bike and bags off at transition and made a concerted effort to relax.  As usual, the day before the race ground along at a snails pace and dragged on forever.  I finished out the day with my usual pizza dinner followed by a couple of hours watching videos of the bike and run course, and unwinding in front of the TV.  I waited up for my wife who flew in that evening and went to bed around 10 p.m. with a 4 am wake up call right around the corner.  I slept a few hours that night (which is more than usual) and woke up feeling fresh and ready to roll.  I had a quick 800 calorie breakfast and headed down to the transition and swim start.

Swim
52:52 (1:22/100 meters)

Unlike the day before the race, everything seems to move in double speed on race morning.  Even though I was up at 4 am, it was only a blink of an eye before I was standing on the edge of Lake Woodlands.  My plan on the swim was to stay with the lead group and conserve as much energy as possible for the rest of the day.  The swim start was self seeded and I positioned myself amongst the first few rows of the sub 60 minute group.  As the clock ticked toward the start time I began weaving towards the very front of the pack.  At 6:40 Mike Reilly sent us off and we ran into the water full bore.

The first 300 meters were pretty violent with all the strong swimmers jockeying for position.  By about 500 meters a small group of about 5 of us began to form.  I swam most of the out section in third position and made a move to join the two leaders at the turn.  I felt great in the water and felt like I had the goods to break away if I went for it.  I decided I was better served to work with the group and save my pennies for the rest of the long day.  The back stretch before the canal was fun and everyone in the group was working together taking turns at the front.  It was one of the most fun swims I have had in an Ironman.  It was fun mixing it up at the front with some excellent athletes.

When we turned into the channel things got more exciting as the crowds began to build.  Shortly into the canal there were people lining both sides of the water cheering their heads off.  The cheering was awesome and filled me with a jolt of energy.  In the channel our small group fragmented a bit as we started to swallow up some of the pro women.  I think I exited the water in third or fourth position and looked down at my watch to see a 52:xx swim split with no pennies spent.  The day was off to a perfect start.

T1- 4:09
I rarely focus on transition times going into a race.  I usually try to act quickly while thinking slowly (great advice from Coach Limkemann).  Because I knew a KQ could be very close, I actually had a goal of 3:30 for the first transition and 3:00 for the second transition.  Both transitions ended up being slower than I would have liked.  The first transition went fairly smooth.  Mom and Britt were standing right at the bike bags and helped point me to the correct bag.  I grabbed it and jumped into the change tent where I pulled off my Blue Seventy PZ4TX swim skin (this thing is fast....highly recommend) and pulled up my LG M-2 sleeved tri suit. Pulling up the sleeves is always a little challenging when wet, but the volunteers were helpful.  I elected to carry my bike shoes to the bike start because transition had turned into a massive mud pit with all the recent rains.  I ran through the mud and overshot my bike rack.  I had to back track to grab my bike and it probably cost me about ten seconds.  I carried my bike over the mud, dunked my feet in a baby pool to rinse off, put on my bike shoes and I was off to conquer the bike course.

Bike
4:59:48 (22.42 mph)
Avg Power- 239, Norm Power- 242
VI- 1.02, IF- .74
Avg HR- 145, Avg Cadence- 85

This winter I did a lot of high quality work on the trainer and my power numbers reflected that.  I had played around on bestbikesplit.com before the race and felt comfortable I could hit a 4:55 bike split if I executed my wattage and paced appropriately.  Obviously such a split would be contingent on my ability to hold aero position despite my ongoing neck issues.  Based on my training data I was confident that I could ride 250 if I needed to, but the plan was to ride conservative due to the heat and humidity.  I intended to let the speed come in the first 40 miles (with a slight tail wind) then focus on nailing my power numbers on the back half of the race with the head winds, rollers, and chip seal roads.  Another major goal was to focus on staying aero as I knew this would be critical during long sections into the wind. I planned to ride around 235 for the front half and then build to 240ish on the back half of the race.

The first 40 miles of the bike were pretty rough for me.  This was the first time (in an Ironman) where I was out on an island for a long time.  My strong swim had me well positioned in the race but it also meant that I didn't see a whole lot of other racers during the first 90 minutes of the ride.  It really gave me an appreciation for how mentally tough the pros are when they ride off the front.  During those first moments I kept thinking this isn't very fun being out here alone!!!!  I did my best to block out those negative thoughts and focus on holding my power.  The splits were ticking off right on cue, but there were definitely a few "dark" thoughts during the early stages of the ride.  There were a few strong cyclists that went by me in those first 40 miles but by and large I was alone.  I didn't feel like I was really racing until the halfway point of the ride when I finally started to regularly see some other competitors.  From the halfway point I rode in close proximity with two other guys.  There was a nice ebb and flow to the race at this point and it was good to have a few people to pace off and jockey for position.  ***On a side note, I have worked my ass off to become a strong cyclist and it still amazes me how many guys can wipe up the floor with me.  It just goes to show that no matter how hard you work there is always someone out there that is bigger/faster/stronger.  It is nice motivation to keep striving for each and every extra watt during the winter.***

The back half of the bike course was largely into a strong head wind.  I felt like I did a good job of staying aero, and I felt like my size worked to my advantage when the winds would shift to a cross wind (I wasn't getting blown around as much as the little guys).  It was definitely challenging riding into the wind especially with fast rising temps and crazy humidity.  Despite riding 22+ mph and dealing with a headwind, I noticed there was no evaporative cooling taking place.  My skin stayed wet for nearly the whole ride.

I focused heavily on hydrating and made sure to drink an entire bottle of water between each aid station (approx. 10 miles).  The only time I deviated from this plan was once or twice when my stomach started to feel a bit sloshy.  I stuck to the nutrition plan and got all of my calories and sodium in as planned.  For those doing the race next year, please note that the aid station after mile 80 came closer to mile 95 and not 90.  This was a bit of a problem for me because it had gotten very hot and I was out of water by about mile 90.  By mile 95 I was ecstatic to get my hands on a cold bottle of water.

The heat really started to bother me in the last 30 miles.  I typically don't feel overheated on the bike, but I was feeling very hot due to the lack of sweat evaporation.  I also started to feel like my head was frying underneath my aero helmet.  This is the first time I have experienced that sensation.  By mile 95 I was ready to get off the bike.  I spent the last 15 miles trying to hydrate and mentally prepare myself for what was coming.  I knew this marathon was going to be challenging in the heat and I tried to use the last 30 minutes pumping myself up with positive self talk.  It was during these moments that I thought about my family, friends, and HTC buddies.  I tried to channel all of their collective strength and put it in reserve for the upcoming marathon.  I also tried to throttle back a bit to conserve a bit more energy in an effort to ensure a good run.  It was such a relief to pull back into town, and even more of a relief to get my first sub 5 hour bike split.  So far so good....now it was time to demonstrate my run fitness (or so I thought).

T2- 4:42
T2 was way slower than I anticipated.  I'm really not sure why it was so slow.  I felt like I moved deliberately and with purpose and I had good volunteer support.  I was cramping a bit as I grabbed my run bag, but this is pretty typical for me.  I also started to cramp when I sat down to put on my run shoes (again typical, nothing major),  I know I spent a bit more time in the tent making sure I had my gel flask and Base Salt canisters.  I also took a few moments to drink a few cups of water.  It was steamy in that tent and I knew what awaited me outside would be worse.  As I exited the tent my family was right there, the only words I could muster were, "it is too f*cking hot!"

Run
4:00:21 (9:10/mile)
I had a specific run plan tailored to my newly earned run fitness.  The idea was to run the first loop comfortably around 7:50 pace and then build my effort on each of the three laps.  The idea was to end up averaging around 7:45 pace with the third loop being my strongest.  I had a hard heart rate cap of 160 bpm and my instructions were to walk briefly if I exceeded the cap.

Running out of transition I experienced some early cramping and had to stop and stretch a few times during the first mile.  I always expect to cramp during those early minutes of the run so I focused on getting salts down and managed the symptoms until they subsided.  I had to stop and stretch my hamstrings a few times which made for a slow first run split of 8:40.  At that point my thought process was "no harm no foul", just get through the first mile and lock it in.  After getting through the first mile the cramps started to go away and I focused settling into my pace.  I was alarmed to see that my HR was 165 as I was running 7:45 pace.  I had done 20 mile runs at this pace at 145 HR.....uh oh!  I had already exceeded my HR cap 10 minutes into the marathon!  I knew at that point that all plans were out the window and this was going to be a test of will.

I slowed down my pace so it matched a HR in the upper 150's.  This roughly coincided to splits between 8:00-8:10.  At that point I changed my plan to holding that pace/HR as long as I possibly could.  It was during these early miles that I started to feel really bad and the pace started to go up the escalator.  I have never experienced heat and humidity like this.  I have done Louisville on some pretty hot years and had success.  These conditions were on a whole other level.  I couldn't mentally manage my pain or what I was feeling.  There is also very little shade on the course and there was virtually no respite from the rays of the sun.  The weather forecast called for partly cloudy skies and thunderstorms, but we ended up with blue skies and sunshine.  I spent a lot of time that afternoon praying for rain to provide some type of cooling relief.

Nothing in the aid stations seemed to provide relief and I was in searing pain.  I can honestly say this was the most pain I have ever felt.  By mile 5 my plan morphed again to making it through the first lap so I could tell my family it was going to be a long 16 mile walk.  I also began to realize that a Kona slot was probably not in the cards.  I even started to think I wasn't going to be able to finish and was mentally preparing for a very long walk.

When I approached the crowds along the water I saw my friend Amy Ford who yelled some words of encouragement.  I told her I was blown and the rest of the race was going to be ugly.  She insisted that I looked great, everyone was struggling, and just keep running (this turned out to be the best advice of the day).  Shortly thereafter I saw my mom and dad.  I gave my mom a kiss and I told them both that I was deep in the hurt locker.  I literally wanted to stop and sit on the wall in the shade with them.  I begrudgingly started running again and planned to make it to the other side of the water to tell my wife that Kona was not going to happen....but hey we are having a baby so this year is still the best!!!!!  When I got to the spot I thought she was, I couldn't find her so I decided to keep jogging until I found her.  Fortunately for me, I never saw her so I kept jogging.  This ended up being a small blessing because my heat fried mined switched focus to jogging to the end of the second loop until I saw Britt again.

The last two loops of the run are largely a blur of pain.  My walking increased steadily throughout the day.  Soon I was walking every aid station, then to the ends of  the street, then to signs/trees, then ultimately several times per mile.  I retired and un-retired from triathlon about 50 times.  I vowed that I would never do this to myself again.  I thought about family, and friends, and all the sacrifices....I cried.  It is weird what happens during pain like this, I would get waves of intense emotion that would bring me to tears.  I carried the positive thoughts of all my friends and family which is ultimately what kept me moving forward.  I would run as far as I could until I couldn't bear the pain and then I would walk.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) the walking was just as painful as the running (and was only going to take longer) so I tried not to walk anymore than a minute at a time.  My mindset was laser focused on making the pain stop as soon as possible.

At the end of the second loop Amy insisted that I was doing better than I thought.  She stressed that I couldn't see what was going on.  She told me everyone is suffering....you are still in it....just keep running.  I did my best to follow her advice but there was a lot of walking on the third loop.  The third loop was also a blur and I have few specific memories other than heat and pain.  I have never felt so happy to see a finish chute in my life.  I was so happy in fact that I didn't even respond when a guy in my age group passed me in the chute.  If that last Kona slot went to him I would have never lived that down.  I met my family at the finish line broken and exhausted.  I had no idea of my placing and I thought my time was around 10 hours.  I was hoping I would sneak under 10 but I couldn't tell if the finish clock time was set to the pro men or women (it was set to the women...no sub 10 for me).

Analysis and Lessons Learned
I ended up 10th place in the age group and the last Kona slot went to 8th place (there were 2 roll downs).  The 8th place guy beat me by 4:38....so close....again.  I have spent much of this week second guessing my race.  What could I have done to find those 4 minutes?  Faster transitions? Three less walk breaks?  Dial back the bike a bit?....I am not disappointed but I am frustrated.  I am tired of being so close to a dream I have been chasing for years.  I am also frustrated that my run split was in no way indicative of my fitness.  That being said I learned some important lessons in the Texas heat.

1. Never ever quit.  Even when you think you are done there is more in the tank.  We get so caught up in our own suffering that we don't realize that most everyone else was in the same boat, even the pros.  (Read Joe Skipper and Lionel Sanders' blogs if you don't believe me).  As Amy said, "you are still in it, just keep running"
2. Despite doing a sauna protocol I don't know if there was anyway I could have adequately prepared for those type of conditions.  I think the difference between those who ran well and those who didn't (among the potential KQers) was mental toughness.  My toughness on the run course left something to be desired.
3. This is a hobby.  Remember why you do it.  Thank your friends and family.  Thank the volunteers.  Enjoy the journey.  A very small percentage of people will ever experience this level of fitness.  Even fewer will ever learn what they are made of in the midst of suffering.  You will find yourself in the darkest corners of your mind.  You may not like what you see but we are fortunate to be able to gain a greater understanding of ourselves through crazy athletic endeavors.

After Texas I am left feeling listless.  I have only one race on the calendar right now (Challenge Williamsburg).  I am thinking about signing up for an Ironman later in the summer before the baby comes.  Having a week off makes me realize how much I crave the structure and intensity of Ironman training.  I will make a decision on this in the coming days.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who follows me and takes the time to provide words of encouragement.  I had over 50 texts and nearly 100 facebook notifications when I got back to my phone after the race.  I carry all of those things with me on the course and they help get through the tough times more than you know.  Congratulations to all the IMTX finishers.  That race was truly one to write home about.  Love to everyone and happy training.