IMTX Race Report

Kevin, myself and Gene waiting for the swim start 

The Swim: 
Waiting for the swim start I felt completely calm. After yesterday’s practice swim, I felt like I had shaken off the anxiety and was ready to get it done! I was sooo wrong. Like cattle we were herded through the start gate. Gene and I stood together and Gene made a statement to the Ironman media crew, "I've said it before and I'll say it now. I am NEVER doing another Ironman." Probably not what they wanted to hear. As I approached the water, Mike Reilly gave me a high five and I stepped into the lake.

Moving toward the start line

As soon as I was in the water, I started with the negative thinking. I decided to swim a bit with my head out of the water until I got away from the other swimmers. I felt my heart rate rise. I tried to breast stroke for a while so I can settle in. I told myself I have 2 hours and 20 minutes and I may just need that amount of time to get through the swim. I noticed people hanging on to the kayaks. I was determined not to be that person. If I reached for that crutch, I knew I would just give in to my fears. I thought about quitting and knew I couldn’t do it. I would have been so disappointed in myself. Finally, I got mad and said out loud “Just swim to the next kayak”. So I did. Once I got there, I told myself again to just swim to the next kayak…and then I didn’t stop. Almost right away I got kicked in the right eye. Luckily, my googles didn’t move and it wasn’t bad enough to create any real pain. The first third of the swim turned out to be pretty good for me. I got into a rhythm and finally could pick up some speed…until I ran into someone else. I swam relatively straight, I kept my eyes on the buoy line and felt pretty good. Once we turned around, I had a harder time spotting the buoys for some reason. I think it was because I was slowly drifting to the right. At one point it seems like the line of swimmers were so far away and I popped up to see a gentleman in the kayak waiving me back to my left. OOPS. I took another kick to the eye – this time to the left one. It slightly dislodged my google and I had to stop and adjust it. When we finally turned into the canal, I was just praying for the end of this swim. The canal forced everyone to swim much closer to each other. I ran into a lot more people as well as the canal walls a couple of times. I popped up once right before I hit a kayak and was told once again “Swim left”. Ya, easier said than done. Finally, I could see the steps to come out of the water. I turned on the after burners and swam wide to the right so I could quickly exit. My watch said I exited the water at 1:39 which was my fastest swim time yet! However, I couldn’t shake off the first 5 minutes or so when I allowed doubt to take over. If I could have gotten going right away, my swim would have been a HUGE Ironman PR.

Oh boy, don't I look thrilled? 

T1: 
 I had to use the restroom about halfway through the swim. By the time I finished the swim, I was downright uncomfortable to the point that my kidneys hurt. I couldn’t wait to find the porty potties. I didn’t have any assistance with my top until just at the end when someone saw me struggling and pulled down my bra liner.

Looking lost and confused at the start of the bike

The BIKE:
I knew the bike was going to be long and boring. The bike course took us out on the Hardy Toll Road. We spent some time on Friday trying to find places for my family to come out and cheer us on, but it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, the bike would be 112 miles of loneliness of me in my head. I thought I was prepared for it, but I quickly discovered I was wrong. As I took off from T1, I saw Nate and my family. Then I heard a random voice shout, “Go Carla!”. I turned and look and saw a complete stranger cheering me on. I was confused for about 30 seconds and then realized it was a friend’s cousin who was tracking me and Gene for the day.

The first 10 miles involved a lot of turns so there was no speed to be had. A couple of miles into the bike and I realized I had a Garmin issue. Two years ago I got a “new to me” Garmin, but forgot to set up the data fields in the Multisport mode. Naturally, one would think that you would do a triathlon before doing an Ironman again, but not me. This was my first triathlon since 2014! Around mile 8 I hit the wrong button and sent my watch to transition. UGH. I finally turned off multisport and just switched it to Bike mode. I missed about 7 miles. Finally, I got to the highway and I kept thinking “wow, this feels so easy.” When I looked at my Garmin, I saw my speed averaged between 12-13 mph. Yes, it felt easy because my awesome friend, Pat, loaned me his carbon fiber wheels, but I wasn’t gaining any speed in the headwind. Weather reports for earlier in the week showed an expected 8 mph wind. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t going faster….and then I looked at the trees and saw them whipping around. My worst fear was confirmed. Wind. Later, I saw weather reports that said the wind had gusts of up to 20 MPH. The IMTX bike was supposed to be flat with just around 1100 feet in elevation. Since we were now on the highway, we had some elevation on the overpasses. Wind and “hills” – not my strength, not something I trained for.

Because of the high temperatures, I did a great job of hydrating to the point of over hydrating. I stopped at almost every aid station with the exception of 2 to either get water or to use the porta potties. Since my Garmin didn’t show the correct distance, I mentally struggled. After 70 miles or so, I couldn’t calculate my distance anymore. I spent a lot of time re-calculating how many miles I had left on the bike. I couldn’t wait to get off this thing. With the tail wind and a flat surface, I flew by my fellow slackers who were still on the course, but climbing an overpass or heading into the wind I looked like granny on the bike….sooooo slow. I was using Lara Bars for nutrition as well. After reading Dr. Stacy Sims’ book, “Roar”, I was following her advice on “hydration in the bottle, nutrition from solid foods”. I used Nuun in my bottles, but carried about 5 Lara Bars with me for the first half of the race as well as Hot Tamales, my go to for every Ironman, and a couple of Honey Stinger gels in case I needed them. After 3 Lara bars in the heat, I groaned at the idea of eating another one. So I started eating my Hot Tamales only to quickly discover I didn’t not pack nearly enough of those! Luckily, I put a couple of Honey Stingers in my case as well and devoured those, too. Fortunately, my emergency supplies got me through the rest of the bike, but I was a little concerned I was in a calorie deficit. As I was finishing my last long boring loop on the Hardy Tollway, I had another rider pass me and say, “Now we just gotta get back before the cutoff time.” Panic set in! Because my watch wasn’t accurately displaying the time or distance, I truly had no idea what time of day it was. All of the sudden I was hammering my pedals to get back to transition afraid I would miss my cutoff. Luckily, I made it “plenty” of time.  I got off my bike to see Nate and my family waiting for me. I looked at Nate and dropped an F bomb. In his usual manner, Nate responded by saying, “Don’t worry about the bike. Your race starts now.”

Finally back in T2 without a clue on what time it is, sunburned
and ready to throw my bike at someone. This is where the F
bomb appeared. 

Not sure why I am even looking at my Garmin.
It's time to RUN! 

T2: 
T2 was smooth. I had people helping me change and lay out my gear. I know you’ll be shocked to hear this by now, but I had to go to the bathroom again before heading out on the course. I purchased a Race Saver from Mile, 18, Inc http://mile18inc.com/product/racesaver-1-0-bag/. Before I left transition, I asked the volunteer to fill it up with ice to help combat the heat. This little $18 purchase truly was a Race Saver.

And with oh so much joy I was ready to run! 

The Run: 
Nate was right. My race started now. I was looking forward to the run. I had several goal times in mind as you should always have a plan A, B and C!! The first part of my plan was to have a very slow first 6 miles at my “I can go all day” pace and it hit that goal fairly well. My confidence was growing after having a rough time in both the swim and bike. During my first loop, I watched runners ring the last loop bell and couldn’t wait to ring it for myself. Think about that though – I was on my first loop and people were starting the last lap. I think mentally that was hard on me. I usually try to find a rabbit to keep up with during the run, but this time I wasn’t sure if I was keeping up with someone on the 1st or maybe their 3rd loop.

Walking my second loop....ugh

At the start of my 2nd loop, my right knee buckled twice. Uh-oh. I decided my knee needed some rest and walked 95% of the 2nd loop. I remember a previous talk with a fellow triathlete about keeping a 15 minute mile pace in order to complete an Ironman in decent time. That was now my goal for lap 2. At the start of the 3rd lap, I thought my knee was feeling much better. I finally got to ring the last lap bell – even though I was the only one who seemed to truly enjoy it. The crowds had dwindled at this point. I was chugging along at a decent clip when my knee buckled again and I almost fell to the ground. Once again, I adjusted my goals. For the first time ever in an Ironman, I seriously wish I had put a chest lamp in my Special Needs bag. Part of the trails were so incredibly dark. If I didn’t have someone in front of me didn’t have the neon necklace that Ironman gives out glowing around her neck, I am sure I would have run straight into a tree. So far my 3rd loop, I made myself a bargain. If I could see the road, I would run. If it wasn’t going up an include, I would run. Otherwise, I would embrace the 15 minute mile walk. I was definitely able to stick to that plan.

Rocking the neon necklace

By the time I hit the run, I had definitely peed myself out. Once about the 13 mile mark, I stopped to use the porta potty and thought to myself, “I can just stay here for the night.” It felt good to squat and take some pressure off my feet. Needless to say, I didn’t hide in the porta-john. I came back out and hit the road again. At every aid station, I grabbed 2 cups of ice for my Race Saver bag. I used the bag in every way possible. I chewed on some of the ice from the bag in between aid stations. Sometimes, I took sips of the melted ice to keep hydrated and when the sun was still high I used it to cool my body by putting it in my bra. I even used it to wash some of the salt and sweat off of my face.

The Woodlands Waterway

I ate and drank from the aid stations. I took ice and some small piece of nutrition at every one. I stayed away from gels and focused on eating bananas, pretzels and chips. I tried to grab just enough for me to eat in 30 steps or less and then continued with my plan of running on the well lit flats of the course. A lot of people love the Texas run course. I didn’t care for it. Running along the waterway is beautiful; however, it’s such a small section of the run. The rest is a series of twists and turns which just made me feel lost. The run course is also 3 loops but it seemed to take forever for me to find my family as they waited on the run. Finally, I made the turn to the Finish Line. I could start to hear cheering in the distance, but it seemed so far away. I declared to some spectators that this was my last ironman. Today’s experience had left me with very few highlights. I made the turn where I could finally see the crowds and hear Mike Reilly calling the finishers across the line. Turns, turns and more turns….and one uphill to get there. It was a blur. People all along the red carpet put their hands out to give high fives. I relished in their encouragement and was thrilled that I was finally finishing. I made the final turn and saw the uphill and said to the crowd, “You mean to tell me when NOW have to go up that?”. The crowd laughed and I took off. I got to the top and saw Mike Reilly and what a glorious sight he was. He gave me a high five as he announced, “Carla Leber, you are an Ironman!”.

The awesome FINISH LINE

Wrap-Up:
After I finished the race, a volunteer guided me through my final steps…getting my Finisher t-shirt and hat and getting my Finisher photo. I headed to the finish line corral to get my cold pizza, but surprisingly enough I found some different options. Ironman Texas provided burritos at the finish line as well as pizza! I was glad to accept something different and chose a burrito. I found a chair and sat down for a few minutes so I could eat while I chatted with my family. As one would expect, sitting down in a chair took a few more seconds than normal. I’ve always wanted to be that person who stays around and cheers on the rest of the late night finishers, but I knew we had an early morning and a long drive home the next day.

Back at the hotel, I ate some leftover butternut squash pasta which Nate warmed up for me. We stayed up swapping stories about what we had each experienced through the day. I loved hearing his stories of what he and my family witnessed and I shared with him mine. Finally, at 1 am I said we’d better go to sleep since he had a long drive the next day. I thought I would sleep the entire way home. Sleep eluded me and came in bits and pieces. Finally, at 4:30 am, I worked up the gumption to roll myself out of bed and scoot to the kitchen to scavenge up more food. I was starving! I warmed up more leftovers and sat down to reflect on my day.

My legs feel pretty good except my right knee which is tender to the touch and very stiff. A new development though – my toes on my left foot are still tingly. A little Google search tells me I probably compressed a nerve which may also explain why a month later I still get a brief shooting pain in my left hip flexor. The tingly toes finally went away about 36 hours after I crossed the finish line.

Reflection:
During my Ironman, I definitely said this would be my last. The day after I knew I would do another but it would be a while. Not only do I feel I need to work on my fitness, I also am going to Europe in 2020 for a two week trip with my youngest daughter. With vacation time being what it is right now, I can’t plan anything else until I either get a new job or get through that trip. It took me about two weeks to adjust my thinking on this race. I carried around a lot of negativity about the race for a while. Why? I was disappointed in my entire race. Normally, I can find at least one or two positive notes to hang my hat on, but this time I really could not. I panicked in the swim. I hated the wind on the bike and my knee wouldn’t support me on the run. If one of three legs of triathlon had come together, I think I would have had a better attitude. So it took me about two weeks before I finally realized why I felt so negative toward my IMTX experience. Now that a month has gone by, I can truly say that I accomplished my “A” goal: To Finish. I missed my second goal, but I think there are definitely lessons to be learned there: 1) I will probably always panic in the first few OWS of the year. Deal with it. I need to find new ways to focus my mind on positive things so I can trust in my training. 2) Learn to be a better bike. I’ve always been told I pedal toe down which I believe may have been partially to blame for my tingly toes. 3) I may be getting older, but I am also getting wiser. Gratefully this was my 3rd Ironman and I knew there would be obstacles I had to overcome. Mentally fortitude is equally important as physical fitness when you are talking about Ironman. In the end, I am an Ironman. Mike Reilly said so. That is all I have to say about that.