Race #2 Corpus Christie Texas

Corpus Christi Feb 2012

Race number two in my journey this year was a HITS event in Corpus Christi Texas.  I headed out early on Friday morning with friend and pro Triathlete Heath Thurston.  Jerome, his brother was kind enough to take us to the airport really early in the morning.  Travel went well and I was greeted in Texas by my host, Chris Barron.  We went straight to his place to get settled in and build up my Shiv bike.  The weather was horrible and the rain was coming down.  While putting my bike together, I notice that I was missing a small piece that holds my seat in place.... it would be tough to ride 112 miles with no seat.  

KT Tape with high hopes of holding me together!

We headed down to the race site with my bike to see if we could solve the problem.  We quickly solved my bike issues and dialed it all in, which made me very happy as I was starving!  We ate some dinner and listened to legend Dave Scott give the athletes some pre race motivation.   Despite the pouring rain, many athletes showed up to eat and listen to a legend.  Exhausted from travel, we headed back to the Barron’s house for a much needed night of rest.

Me and Dave Scott at the pre race dinner.

Saturday-

Today would be a very relaxing day.  I just enjoyed the novice race.  Chris participated in the 100 meter swim, 3 mile bike and 1 mile run.  Chris has had open heart surgery and had recently lost a large amount of weight - big accomplishment!  This was his first attempt at a triathlon and I just love that HITS series offers this free to first timers and kids!  I know I will be bringing my kids to a few of these events so they can take part in this free racing opportunity.  I was very impressed with the race directors who made a HUGE efforts to make all these first time athletes feel comfortable and welcome.  Chris ran into a few issues on the swim and then came off the bike not looking good.  After sitting in transition we noticed that there may be a problem.  They allowed us to go in and see how Chris was doing and found that he was spitting up some blood.  We had medical come check him out and deemed him not fit to continue.  Chris was disappointed but said something to me that really impressed me.  He told me that he wasn’t going to let this stop him and that he will keep trying until he finishes.  I hope to see him later this year at the HITS event in Marble Falls.

This 7 year old Myra ROCKED the kids division!

Chris being checked out by medical

After a nice nap the Barron family took me out to dinner, Chuck O’ Rama!  I have eaten here a few times before a race and knew there would be some good choices pre race.  I did splurge and ate a few small pieces of fried chicken and some chocolate cake - yum!

Sunday - Race Day

I woke up well rested and headed down to the site first thing.  Lots of people have been asking me what I take for my race nutrition so I will post that next, then will break down my race.

---Day of Nutrition---

In the morning I ate 2 packets of Rokit Fuel Cereal, FE (First Endurance) Optygen HP, FE Multi Vitamin.

I sipped on water throughout the morning and 15 minutes before race start I ate a banana and 200 calories of EFS Vanilla Liquid Shot.

On the first 56 miles of my bike I had 3 bottles filled with 150 calories each (1 and a half single serve packets) of Lemon Lime EFS Drink.

I replaced all three bottles with 3 new ones all with the same 150 calories in each of the Lemon Lime EFS Drink.  Half way through the second loop I ate 1 packet (200 calories) of Shot Bloks - these tasted so good as I was getting hungry.

I didn't require any race supplied nutrition and was testing not taking any additional salt tablets (the weather did not warrant it).

I felt great on the bike and started the run with a 400 calories wild berry liquid shot with one scoop of FE pre-race mixed in (if you haven’t tried pre race from first endurance just ask one of my athletes Carlee how well it works.)  At the first aid station I grabbed a bar (not sure the brand).  I sipped on the liquid shot throughout the first 13.1 miles of the run.  I waited to shoot the liquid shot till I was near and aid station and chased it with water.  I didn't put anything in my halfway bag on the run (I am thinking of putting another 400 calorie Liquid Shot here in New Zealand).  On the second loop of the run I drank race supplied HEED and cola in the last 8 miles.  I also remember grabbing a handful of potato chips and some gummy bears.

Back to T1 for the race start.  I have been battling some major “golfers elbow” and have been concerned about the swim portion of the race.  I already not known for my fast swim.  I am rocking the newest BlueSeventy Helix suit and goggles so can’t use that as an excuse for my long swim times ;)  The Helix fit like a glove and the goggles didn’t leak or fog once.  I started the swim relaxed and just really took my time and found some open water.  Health shot off the front of the pack as expected and lead the entire swim.  I on the other hand took an extra long time and posted a personal slowest ever swim of 1 hour and 28 minutes.  I kept looking around for dolphins because on Saturday during a practice swim there was an athlete swimming along and was accompanied by a few dolphins (see attached video).  I exited the water and really took my time in transition.  I really wanted to take the day easy and keep a super low heart rate.  I wanted to see what time I could post and see how well I could recover with a minimal effort Ironman.

I headed out on the bike and tried to settle into a rhythm.  I really just hung out for most of this ride.  The athletes were well spaced out.  On our way out the wind was at our backs.  I was able to keep my heart rate very low and keep my mph up.  Before reaching the first turn around, I saw Heath and he had managed a big lead.  I was pretty happy to see him in that position and was hopeful he would hold on for his first full distance win.  After I turned at the turn around, we were smacked in the face HARD with the wind and slowed from 25 MPH to 17 MPH.  Not concerned with speed, I focused on my heart rate and just remained steady.  I picked off people throughout the day and was only passed when I pulled over to pee.  I have never had to pee this bad or often in a race before.  At mile 93 of the bike, I passed Heath while he was walking along the road pushing his bike... WHAT?!  He ran into some tight hip and back due to a seat post malfunction.  This guy just has the worst luck when it comes to racing.  I finished the bike with an 20 mph average and a 138 average HR.  Perfect!  It was exactly what I had planned to do.

Feeling great after the race.

I headed out onto the run and stayed real patient, with a plan to stay in the zone where I need to be.  By this point of the race, I had managed to run into second place and at around mile 4 I was passed to drop back to 3rd.  I just let him pass me again staying in control knowing where my needed to be.  I wasn’t in race mode, just efficient mode keeping the big picture in mind.  By mile 13, I had caught  back up to the second place guy and passed him for good.  I maintained my pace and settled in for the rest of the run.  Health came back out and ran my second lap with me.  This was a huge help and made the time go by much faster.  I ran a 3:53 marathon with an average heart rate of 147.  I am so pleased with the way my body responded to an easy conservative ironman effort.  My final time was 11 hours and 7 minutes, which on this day was good enough for a second overall finish.

                                                                                      Video of my finish in Corpus.

After the race, Chris, Heath and I went to some good old fashioned Texas BBQ.  It was delish! 


I was happy that my golfers elbow held up.  The KT Tape I applied before the race definitely helped.

A huge thanks to my sponsors and the Barron family for hosting me while I was in Texas!  They had twin 9 year old daughters who were thoughtful and bought me a parting gift, a Texas cup!

It is now Sunday, one week removed from my race in Texas.  My legs have recovered perfectly and I am ready to take off to New Zealand for race number 3 on Tuesday.  I am very excited to head there and have always wanted to travel there.  During my ride in Texas, I managed to do some extensive damage to my OTHER arm.  In an attempt to take it easy on the ride I sat up most of the day out of my aero bars.  This put me in a position on my bike where my forearm rubbed against my elbow pads.  Not realizing I was doing damage, I remained in this position for more than 5 hours.  The days following the race, my arm swelled up and became unusable.  I ended up canceling personal training clients this week as the pain grew too much.  A friends of mine Matt, has a brother happened to be a PA who specializes in arms from the elbow down - who knew!  So he made the call and got me in right away.  Turned out I had done damage to the “intersecting” forearm muscles which has made my arm freak out and swell up like a balloon.  After a steroid shot and some much needed rest, my arm now feels a little better and I think I will have a shot at starting the swim in New Zealand.  I am still very concerned with both my arms and can’t believe that it is my arms that are giving me issues and not my feet, hips, and legs.

James Lawrence aka the Iron Cowboy

Ready to fly!

Air Craft Carrier at race start - pretty darn cool.

Massive dog at the Barron household.  I thought he was going to eat me!

I had minor foot pain after the race, better safe than sorry.

More dogs, that's what this family did... dogs!

Chris Barron dropping me off at the airport.

Race plan change for New Zealand... Sun Screen.