Marble Falls Texas #6 of 30

Marble Falls Texas-

I had only been home for one day from South Africa.  The trip home turned out to be 41 hours of travel.  I was tired from doing my second Ironman in two weeks and adjusting to the new schedule, then to have this extremely long travel home didn’t help matters.  One of the most important factors for me this year is going to be the sleep I can get after  each event.  Well, if any of you have ever tried to get quality sleep on an airplane, it is a tough thing to do.  Arriving home Wednesday night, I tried to get a good night sleep.  My body had started adjusting to South Africa time, so I would pop up super early in the morning not getting the rest I desired.  My one day at home was eaten up quickly with am early morning massage, a few clients at work, sorting out my Visa for Brazil and prep for my trip out to Texas the next day.  Needless to say, it was NOT restful.  I had about an hour of free time to play with my kids and spun them all till we were all dizzy!  Before bed, a heard a knock on the door and a gentleman asked me, “Do you know who’s trampoline that is out in the street?”  I looked out and realized that our kids’ trampoline had been picked up by the wind, hopped the fence and was being blown down the street!  He helped me to pull it back to the house and we tied it to the tree for me to deal with in the morning before my flight - not exactly what I needed to happen.

Luckily I had one of my stud clients Chris Taylor over first thing for some threshold riding on the Computrainer.  He was able to help me take the trampoline, from being tied to our  neighbors tree out front, back to the backyard.... I hope we can get the tramp back to a useable condition, it is a huge source of entertainment for my 5 little ones and cousins.  My friend Jess has been huge help this year and takes me to the airport when he can, knowing that Sunny would have to load up all the kids to make this trip.  Jess was available today and took me to the airport.  I know I have said it before, but it is all the little things that people do for me that will make this year not only a success, but will make it a journey for all of us!

Dolly standing amongst the damage.

TYRELL!!

It so happened that one of my best friends, Tyrell, was working in Austin Texas area. Austin is the closest airport to the HITS race in Marble Falls.  He generously offered to host me for the weekend, what fun!  Normally Delta charges $200.00 to check a bike, so I was pleasantly surprised but still DISGUSTED when the agent told me it was going to be $150.00  I still can’t figure out Delta’s need to charge so much to check these items.  I flew to SOUTH AFRICA and Jet Blue only charged me $80.00 to book my bike and coming home, South Africa Air charged me $ZERO$!  So to go to South Africa and back it cost me $80.00 total and to go from Utah to Texas it cost me $150.00 ONE WAY!    I left my bike with Tyrell in Texas and he will ship my bike to Houston to be there for my arrival in a few weeks after my race in St George this weekend.  Thanks to Russell at Pro Structures and Brian and the crew at Timp Cyclery for helping me get the bikes I needed to make this journey possible. 

On Saturday, Tyrell and I headed to packet pick-up.  It was a great venue and I was overjoyed when I heard that water temperature was 74 degrees.  We jumped in for a practice swim and I am happy to report that my arm is starting to feel great!  Tyrell did a great job swimming.  I coach Tyrell and we have worked hard on his swim.  He has had major anxiety in the past in open water.  Not any more - he handled himself great and sliced through the water like a dolphin.  I am hopeful he will be able to do my final event in Palm Spring with me!!  After we did our practice swim, the kids race and novice race were about to start.  This is one of my favorite times at the HITS races.  People experiencing triathlon for the first time.  I remember my first race and all the details of it like it was yesterday.  HITS does a FANTASTIC job creating great memories for kids and newbies to the sport.  When the kids gun went off, we jumped in the water to help the kids get through the 100 meter swim.  It was a lot of fun seeing these tiny tiny bodies fight to complete their 100 meter swim, just as we do to finish out 2.4 miles swimming.  Like EVERYTHING in life, it is our perspective of the events we are going through.  I could look at these struggling novice athletes and scoff at the ease it should be to cover 100 meters in the water, 3 miles on the bike and 1 mile of running.  But for them, this is an Ironman...this is their Ironman!  That 100 meter swim is just as scary to some of them as our 2.4 miles.  I respect and applaud all those who were brave enough to get up off their butts and ‘tri’!  I wrapped up the day with a 20 minute ride and a 15 minute run, just to test the bike and get the blood flowing.  We went to dinner at the Texas Road House and then off to bed!  Riddle me this - Should a Texas Road House in Texas be called the Texas Road House or just the Road House?

Sunday, April 29th, Marble Falls, Texas - HIT Full Distance race

Like any Ironman you are up and out the door very early.  One of Tyrell’s friends and co- workers, Rob, wanted to come and hang out for the day.  The three of us headed out and had no idea what the day was about to have in store for us!  We arrived to the race site with plenty of time to set up.  It is always fun for me when people come up to me and wish me good luck on the race, and the year!  I enjoy taking pictures with people and making new friends.  The weather was nice, a few clouds, not much wind and a high projected temp around 88 degrees.  The water looked flat and I was finally going to be able to swim without fighting mass amounts of people and big swells of water. 

Coming out of the water

The swim went perfect and I turned in a solid conservative swim of 1 hour and 16 minutes.  It was a very simple, two lap, well marked course.  I avoided most all contact and swam the entire swim.  I was so so so happy that upon exciting the water I could feel my hands and my feet!!  Off, onto the bike.

Still feeling good...but it's early!

The winds had started to pick up, but that was ok, nothing could be like the winds last week in South Africa.  The sun was out, I was nice and warm and I shot out of transition onto the bike course.  I noticed my heart rate was a little high, so I tried to just calm down and start my First Endurance nutrition plan, which has been flawless so far this year.  The bike course took us out into the country, where I could enjoy some good old Texas beauty.  Tree lined road and rolling hills. 


It took me a while, but I finally got my heart rate back within reason, still a little high but within reason.  By mile thirty of the bike, I had caught the race leader and took over the lead in the race.  I was reliving my first race of the year in Naples, where I took over the lead early in the race and never looked back taking down the win.  The way that I was feeling, I thought we had a chance to get my second win of the year!  Well, let me say this, Ironman is a long day and never count your chickens before they hatch.  The day had a few surprises for me that were yet to come.  I continued to hammer through the bike, feeling good and under control.  It was a lot of fun having Tyrell and Ron out there cheering me on and taking some fun pictures and video of the day.  I just love having the lead and a motorcycle escort, make me feel fast and important. 

In the lead.... what fun... I just couldn't help myself.

By mile 100, I started to have some cramping issues in my upper inner leg.  It started to grab and cramp when I would engage my right leg, especially in a climb where I would get up out of the saddle.  I managed to limp into transition having biked the last 12 miles mostly with my left leg.  When I got off my bike, I remember telling Tyrell that I was in trouble.  I hoped running would relax my leg, as I would be doing a different motion with it.


I headed out on the run and was running my normal pace but felt super labored.  I looked down at my monitor and was holding my normal pace but my heart rate was 176 and not the normal 147 it should be at this point of the race.  I knew something was wrong and told Tyrell that I need to walk in order to bring my heart rate down and back under control.  I could barely get my heart rate into the low 150’s while walking.  I felt ‘ok’ and thought something may be wrong with the reading, as it was quite high on the bike all day too.  At mile 4.5, I told Tyrell I wasn’t feeling very well and proceeded to throw up what seemed like my body weight it liquid.  Tyrell shocking asked, “Where the hell did all that come from?”  Just as I has suspected, my body wasn’t processing ANY of the nutrition I was putting in.  So I wasn’t getting any hydration, or electrolytes needed to perform. 

Reduced to a walk.

I started running again and proceeded to walk-run over the first 8 miles of the run.  My heart rate would climb when I was running and still stay too high when I was walking.  I started to get a buzzing in my left year and the sound came and went.  I have had this happen once before and I knew exactly what was going on.  I stopped on the biggest climb of the day and just for a second wanted to lay down on the ground.  I got down and instantly regretted the decision.  My right leg issue, from the bike, grabbed so hard it took all my hand strength digging into the muscle to try and get it to release.  I had Tyrell help me up quickly to see if I could shake it out.  I was frozen, locked up not able to walk.  I told Tyrell I was done and after a few minutes, we got the muscle to relax enough that I could again start walking.  I walk-ran it all the way back to transition, slowly trying to get fluids back in my body.  It still wasn’t happy and I kept throwing up what I was putting in.  The race director was at the half-way bags and I told him to have a few IV’s ready for me and that I would see him in a few hours.  About a mile away from transition, I told Rob and Tyrell, who were shadowing me making sure that I was safe, that I was going to have to no longer walk-run but just walk this one in.  As I was walking, the cramps went from my inner leg, to my quad, to my hamstrings.  My entire upper leg was now shaking and locking up on every step.  I had my heart rate under control now that I was walking, but I knew I was dehydrated.  I knew I wasn’t risking my health if I continued to walk.  At about mile 17, things went from bad to worse.  We had just passed an aid station and Tyrell could see me starting to lean.  He jumped out of the truck and asked if I was ok.  I took a few more steps.  The cramping quickly shot into my calves and through the bottom of my feet.  My entire body, legs, chest, back and stomach all locked up and I started to go down like a tree in the woods.  Tyrell says my entire body went stiff like a metal rod.  Rob pulled the truck up and helped Tyrell get me to the back, where I could lean on it.  I threw up a another huge amount of liquid, this time really perplexed as to where it was all being stored and unused.  Tyrell and Rob quickly rounded up medical to come, as it was now impossible for me to take even one more step.  Let me be very clear that I did not quit... I went until my body physically would not take one more step.  There was no more mind over matter , if you tell your body to do it, it will.  I was done, finished, cooked.  Medical laid me on the ground, covered me with blankets and proceeded to pump 2 bags of liquid into my body, bypassing the stomach.  After about an hour, I started to feel much better but not in a position where I thought I could continue.  I had my legs loosened up and my fluids replenished.  I then received a phone call on Tyrell’s phone from my wife and 9 year old daughter Lucy.  Lucy says "Daddy you have to get up and finish the race, it’s a world record.   Can’t you walk?  I said “No, sorry sweetheart.”  Then she said “Can’t you crawl it daddy?” I said “No I’m sorry sweetheart it’s too far to crawl.” Then she said “Can’t you do cartwheels the rest of the way?” I laughed through my tears and said “I would try sweetheart.”  I  hung up, pulled out the IV and set out to finish the race I started.  I had 9 miles left to go and still had 7 hours left to do it in.  I couldn’t bend down to put on my socks and shoes so Tyrell helped me with that.  We then took off walking into the night to get the job done.  15 hours and 2 minutes after the starting gun went off I crossed the finish line on my face.  I didn’t just cross the finish line I did a cartwheel across the finish line.  Thank you Sunny and Lucy for making that call and helping me through a tough moment.  Thank you to Tyrell and Rob who helped me through some of the toughest miles I have ever had to cover.  Thank you to all the people who sent all the love and energy my way.  Every little bit helped.  Six down.... 24 to go.  We head to St George Utah on Thursday where Sunny will attack her first Ironman race and I will do the whole race with her!  I can’t wait!!!!!

Back out on the course - what a shot!