RACE REPORT by Jim Peplow

 After doing the full Texas Ironman last year I didn't think I would be doing it again this year. The two main things against it were the strong winds on the bike leg - upward of 30 mph, and the nasty water on the swim. I had a miserable experience on the run and later determined, after talking to several people that also had similar experiences, that it was most likely from the water we swam in. The volunteers were the best I had even seen at any event, and the run course was fabulous. There is a reason that in the annual poll of athletes it's typically selected as the Overall Best Race in North America. If I could figure out how to overcome the wind and the water I would definitely consider a return trip to The Woodlands.  

This race has a clean transition which means nothing, other than your bike, can be in the transition area. The things needed for the bike and run are packed into gear bags and dropped off the day before the race. Everything is done in changing tents. After the swim you put your wetsuit and goggles into your bike bag, then after the bike you put all your bike stuff into the run bag. Normally people will still come to transition on race morning to check tire pressure, put water bottles on their bike, etc., however this swim start is a full mile from transition. The hotel we stayed at was the same one we were at last year and is one mile from both the transition and the swim start. After doing the two mile walk last year, I decided to have my tires full and my bottles in place when I dropped off my bike the day before, and only have to do the one mile walk to the start. Because I wasn't going to be checking it in the morning I racked it as late as possible (4 p.m.) the day before. 

After last year's 24-30 mph winds straight from the south, I was excited that the forecast called for 8-9 mph winds coming from the SE. That would mean a quartering headwind going south and a quartering tail wind coming back north. The first 20 miles of the bike is a nice warm up through city streets before reaching the meat of the course – 84 brutal miles on the Hardy Toll Road. This portion of the race consists of two full south and north loops with each segment being 21 miles. The entire course is "relatively" flat, but being on the toll road there is no protection from the wind, and guess what, the forecasters were wrong. It wasn't as bad as last year, but the winds ended up being around 18-20 mph, with gusts into the 20s. My total average speed ended up being 17.2. On the southbound segments it was 14.5, while the northbound segments were 20.0. (Compared to last year's 16.9/13/23).  

After getting off the bike it was finally time to test my right calf. I eased into the run and thankfully I never felt the right calf the entire race! (I had been praying for two things about this race. One was no mechanical issues on the bike and the other was that my calf would hold up for run. Both those were answered. Thank you Lord). (Addendum added three days after I posted this report - I was going to do a bike ride today, my first since the IM, and it had a flat back tire. About 3/4 of the way through the bike leg I had a weird feeling that I may have run over something and I kept looking down at the back tire to see if it was going flat. It never did. But, apparently my intuition was right. Fortunately it stayed inflated for the remainder of the race and was only a slow leak. Once again, thank you Lord!) With temps approaching 80° there were some sections of the course that were a bit of a struggle. The course is three loops of just under 9 miles each. There were a couple of times mid race I had to take a short walking break, but the great thing about this venue is that there are amazing spectators and volunteers the entire way. They are very encouraging and keep you pumped up, especially the famed "Hippie Hollow". Running through here is an experience unlike many others, reminiscent of the Wellesley Scream Tunnel during the Boston Marathon. It's fun during the daylight hours, but on my third and final pass after dark it was a totally different experience. (The competitors that are so fast they miss the evening version of the Hollow don't know what they are missing. Although truth be told, it would be more fun to be that fast).  

There was a lot of talk the next morning at the awards banquet about how exciting the finish of the Pro Men's race was, so when I got home I watched the replay. The top 3 kept pushing each other all day and at the end only 21 seconds separated the top 3, which for a full Ironman race is amazingly close. 

Beside getting the Finisher's Belt Buckle Medal for this race, I also received the "Texas Two-Step" medal for completing in this race and the Texas 70.3 (Galveston) three weeks earlier. Also, because of my IM race results last year I earned All World Athlete Silver status which I picked up at this race. One of the benefits is a low bib number and priority bike racking position. Always fun to get those extra little perks.

Now that I've completed these two races my next scheduled events are the USAT National Spirit Championship in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) at the beginning of August, and Ironman Augusta (Georgia) 70.3 in September.