Ironman Texas

Texas Ironman

Yes, this is a long one! If you don't want to read it all you can look at the pictures and then my little list of quick stats at the end!

Wow what a weekend! I flew into Houston on Thursday morning with Emi. It was my first time traveling alone with her and it’s a bigger pain than I thought it would be. We are so blessed to have such a great daughter. She is so patient and happy most of the time. The hardest part was just having so much stuff to carry around. I got a lot of “Wows” from people seeing how much stuff I was carrying. I had my roller suitcase, backpack, diaper bag, car seat, and Emi. She did great though. I knew my arms would be sore after that day though! I passed Emi off to my mom at the airport. Emi wasn’t so happy to say goodbye but I think it was mostly because she was so tired from getting up early. 

 How do I rescue everyone off this plane if it crashes?

My parents had way too much fun with her!

 I got to the hotel and was exhausted because I woke up before 4am. My room wasn’t ready but someone from the group I was traveling with offered me their bed for an hour nap. I jumped on it!

My sister arrived at the hotel and we went to the expo to get my bike and check-in. She is an all-world athlete so she was able to go to the front of the line and was able to bring me with her. It was my first time going through this and not just waiting for her on the other side. We looked around in the gear tent and headed back to the hotel.

We went on a bike ride together, just nice and easy around the hotel area. It was fun to ride with her and I wish we lived closer so we could do it more often! There was an athlete dinner that night. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to eat any of it (gluten). We went and Meredith ate the fastest dinner of all time! I was hungry and ready to get back to the hotel. Then bed around 8pm that night!

Friday morning I woke up and my left arm was SO sore! Little Emi isn’t so little anymore I guess! We went to where the swim start would be and went on a bike ride. Meredith wanted an hour with 4 pickups and I just wanted 20-30 minutes. Well, I turned around and got lost so I went a little over an hour while Meredith went an hour! Oops! We then changed into our speed suits while everyone else had their wetsuits. The water was FREEZING! I went about 10 minutes in the water and waited for Meredith at the car. Back to the hotel for breakfast and some ART. We did some last minute things to our bikes and got our gear bags together to drop off. Meredith also found me a wet suit to borrow in about the space of 5 minutes, she has too many connections!

Back to the expo to drop our bikes and gear bags and to go to the athlete meeting. The meeting was pointless and not helpful in the least. Back to the hotel for more relaxing, and to Academy for some new goggles for me, mine fog to much. We made and ate dinner in Meredith’s portable kitchen (Burner, pot, spoon, salt, pepper, seasoning, olive oil, seasoning, cleaning supplies, ect.). I had lots of brown rice pasta with red sauce. I usually have chicken to but my belly was too full from all the pasta to eat any chicken! I had some fruit too later that night and started Meredith’s tradition of a dessert the night before the race (peanut butter snickers bar). To bed around 8 again!

I did not have the best night’s sleep! I kept waking up and couldn’t go back to sleep. After about 5 hours of sleep off and on it was finally 4 am; time to wake up! I had buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and a few blackberries for breakfast. We got the rest of our stuff together and headed down to catch a ride to the race.

It felt so real and weird to be inside the excitement of the whole race instead of on the outside/spectator mind set. Checked my bike one last time and ironically took my fix-a-flat out of my bike bag to ask Meredith how to use it. She said, “I’ve never had to so I know as much as you.” Well, we both were praying that neither would have to use it anyway.

 Went to our special needs bags to drop off frozen water bottles and other nutrition. (you get these bags about half way through the bike and run if you want them.) Then it was on our way to pick up the wet suit to borrow and our “hike” to the swim start (0.8 miles away- guess it really was 141.4 ;) ) We met Scott along the way and walked together. I was SO glad to see him! It made me SO much calmer; less nervous, and just happier- amazing what the love of your life can do for you!
 

 Well, we got all ready for the swim start with our wetsuits on and what not and started lining up to get in the water. My back was still killing me (chronic flair ups) and my left arm was still super tight. Meredith got us to the font of the line and Scott stood right outside the shoot with us. They let us in at 6:45am right after they started the professional triathletes. I just followed Meredith. I wasn’t sure if I should start with her since I was thinking about a 1:10 goal time and she was 55min goal time. We swam to where the start was to be. There were paddle boarders lining the starting line in the water that we could hold on to while we waited for the start. I decided to start with Meredith since I could try to hold onto her feet and would be less likely to get kicked in the chest (broken rib).

 I started my stop watch about 30 seconds before the start. Mike Reiley (the announcer) told the paddle boarders to get out of the way, but the one in front of us didn’t. Meredith was able to get around to the left but I was right in the middle of the board and couldn’t swim around it so I just went under her. I found Meredith’s feet and just went with them. There were others who were blocking her way in front of her so I was actually able to stick on her feet for a little bit. A little after I lost her feet I got grabbed right in the crotch and my wet suit ripped almost down to the knee. I was praying the rest of the way that it wouldn’t rip the rest of the way down the leg. I got grabbed by the shoulder and pushed back by a couple people the whole swim. I found a guy who was swimming around the same speed as me and stayed on his feet for a while. I called him mr. bubbles in my mind because he had this weird kick with his left leg that created SO many bubble in the water! I lost his feet on one of the turns but found them again 10-15 minutes later. I lost them for good shortly after that. I took the last turn into the canal and was starting to notice that there weren’t many pink caps (women) around me. I thought, well I guess I’m swimming better than I thought I would! I thought the finish was further than it was and didn’t start kicking my legs hard like I should have (to get the blood flow to them so you don’t have jello legs coming out of the water). I looked at my watch and saw 1:04!!! CRAZY!!! I thought for sure it was on the wrong setting or something! I made sure that it was on the stopwatch mode and started whooping! I had a crazy smile on my face the whole way through transition.

Scott was able to tell it was me in the water and snapped this photo!

I was wondering where I was in my age group and was trying to ask Scott, but the website hadn't updated so he had no idea. 

 There were several volunteers helping us out of the water. I ran to the “stippers” to get my wet suit off then off to transition. There was one other woman in the changing tent so I had a couple volunteers to myself to help me. I pulled on bike shorts over my trishorts and got my jersey, glasses, helmet, socks, shoes and jersey stuffed with nutrition. I did forget my extra water bottle in my bag though! I ran off to my bike un racked and ran out.

I mounted and realized after a little bit that my shifting was off. I was in the small chain in front and my back shifting was jumping on one of the gears. I also later realized that my wheel wasn’t on super tight and my brakes weren’t tightened down. I didn’t want to start because I figured it would be fine.  I started on my first bag of jelly beans (300 cals) and then started my 200 calorie bags of jelly beans. I ate two bonk breaker bars in between the bags. I knew I would see Emi around mile 50 since my mom said she would bring her down. I saw Scott at the bottom of a hill around mile 20. It was SO good to see a happy familiar face! I saw him several more times on the bike as well as around mile 50 when I saw him and not EMI! I was SO sad and had to just convince myself to stay positive. I then got to see her around mile 60! It was so so nice to see her. I started to tear up. I then got to see my dad and oldest sister! It was so nice to see them! It’s amazing how much that really does keep you going! They had written Go Mer, GO J, and Go Mom on the road in chalk. I did end up grabbing my special needs bag because I felt like I wanted my extra salt pills in there. I grabbed it and threw out the extra Jellybeans in there and grabbed the salt pills. I was taking 4-6 an hour and my stomach was handling it. My back was KILLING me from mile 60 till the end. Also, my HR goal for the first half was 155-160 but it was highest 145 for the first half, usually closer to 140. The second half I didn’t see it go above 152 and usually around 140-145. So, I think I need to practice being in Aero position more so my back doesn’t kill me as much! A 8 bike peleton came up on me and passed me. My goal was to have no women pass me and there were two women in this group. You are not allowed to draft in these races so when I see people drafting it annoys me so much! I went around them and got caught by them a couple times. Then around mile 80 I heard a swishing noise. I thought that something got caught in my back wheel but then dread hit me. I got a flat! I pulled over and started to figure things out. There goes the peleton! A cop pulled over and made sure traffic didn’t hit me as I was dealing with my bike. I found the hole and put my finger on it while I got everything else ready. I got the fix-a-flat out and read the instructions. I thought “I have one chance to make this work!” I hadn’t changed a tube in years so I really didn’t want to try to do that. I started to put it on but the angle wasn’t good so I readjusted and jammed it on the valve stem. It filled the tire up and I pulled it off and rotated the tire. Part of the fix a flat stuck on the valve and I went back and forth between pulling it off or just leaving it. I didn’t want to pull it off and loose all the air in my tire. I ended up pulling it off and everything was fine. I was off on my bike again. I think I lost 4-5 minutes with this whole debacle! Around mile 90 I didn’t feel like jelly beans any more so I started sipping on the scratch and carbopro that I mixed up from my sister. I was able to get a lot of that down so that was great! I just kept wanting to get off the bike and start the run! Finally got to transition!

Gave my bike to a volunteer and got my bag and headed back into the transition tent. I took my bike shoes off, changed my jersey, socks, shoes, and got my hat on. I was the only one in the tent the whole time so I had 4-5 volunteers helping me out. One was pouring cold water down my back which felt AMAZING! I grabbed my running water bottle that was stuffed with jelly beans. They also had Vaseline to help with chaffing! When they offered it I was SO excited they laughed at me.

Finally to MY part of the whole race! I left transition thinking “don’t go too fast, don’t go too fast!” The ironman website wasn’t updating so I had NO idea where I was. I passed the T3 tent (Austin tri club) and they went crazy for “Meredith’s sister.” It was very needed and nice as I went up the one steep little hill in the whole course. It was a three-loop course. I was going to try to take in 150-160 cal/hr and 500-1000mg of salt, but things don’t always go to plan. I was already force-feeding myself on the bike and the run just got worse. Nothing sounded good so I just kept cramming food in my mouth as much as I could. I was able to get one package of honey stinger chews in me the first loop (160cal/hr), but then the rest of the run I only was able to get in ½ a package of chews (80cals). I was able to see Scott a couple times every loop, which was always a pick-up! I felt great the 1^st loop. I saw Meredith across the canal and cheered for her. The end of the second loop, the first pro female was coming up on me. She was finishing and I was going to start my last lap (the pros start before the amateur athletes). I was almost running as fast as she was so the biker who leads her was saying “first pro female coming through.” Then people saw me and told me congratulations. It was a fun mile with people thinking that I was the first pro female. I saw my sister again at Mile 16 and she said “I think you are first in your age group.” So nice to have someone else out there on the course with you! There were a couple of out and back portions on the course and I saw my sister again and she said go for first! I thought “of course I have first in my age group you said I was first and I don’t think anyone will pass me on the run.” On to the last lap! I grabbed my special needs bag this lap because I had a bonk breaker bar in the bag and didn’t want to loose it (you don’t get your special needs bag back). I was tired and figured I was 1^st in my age group, basically I got complacent. There were some miles that last lap I am utterly embarrassed by! I saw Scott a lot more this last lap that really helped! Then it was the last aid station and to the finish line! I was waiting for this point for several months! Mike Reilly the voice of Ironman said “Joy-celyn McCauley, you are an ironman!” and I did a little happy leap across the finish. I had been thinking about how to cross the finish since I started the swim and decided on Scott and my leap of joy when we see each other out on our runs. I don’t know how much I was able to actually leap but I tried!

 Emi LOVED my little award.

 On the stage with the Emmers!

 1

 Accepting my Kona slot.

 Sister duo going to Kona!

 "The Voice" of Ironman.

 Kona baby!

 Sporting one of her new onsies!

 The whole family at this craziness!

 Right after the finish!

 Showin' off

 Emi stared at Mike the whole time we were up there.

 The only two finishing photos I have right now! Thanks to one of Meredith's friends. 

It was an amazing day with amazing support! Thanks to the support of E2 triathlon training group here in Cincy/Dayton. If you want to know more about them ask me! Thanks to the support, love, and encouragement from all my friends and friends that are family or basically family! I really do appreciate all the good luck posts on Facebook! It helped to know there were people out there looking up my results or waiting to hear how I did! I couldn't give up on all of those people! (really I couldn't look bad to all those people!)

Thank you to Bryan Krabbe for all the advice on training and nutrition and for the organized long rides/runs. When I didn’t feel like eating anything I had Bryan in my head telling me to force feed myself :).

Thanks to my parents who watched Emi for Scott and I so Scott could support me and I could do this. Thanks to them for also helping us get out to Texas and of course for being there to cheer me on and get Emi to cheer me on as well. They made adorable onsie’s, they said “my aunt is an Ironman,” “Ironbaby,” and “my mom is an ironman.” It really helped to have them out there!

Thanks to my sister Megan who doesn’t do this craziness, but puts up with us! Thanks Megan for coming and giving up some awesome stuff you could have done in Cali!

Special thanks to the one who got me into all this craziness, my coach, Meredith! She helped me get race wheels, speed suit, and wet suit to borrow. Thanks to all the encouraging texts especially those on the end of long trainer rides with surprise workouts! Thanks for showing me the ropes and not making fun of me (too much) for my naïve new ironman questions. You can read her own race report that she'll post on Facebook and follow her on twitter and/or Facebook (Meredith Gardner- athlete) (twitter @gardnermer - shameless plug!

And last, but not least, thanks to my patient husband for helping me be able to get my long rides/runs in and for coming to Texas to cheer. He used the flight on the way down to enter the course into his phone so he could get around the course quicker and to more places, even though he should have slept since he didn't get much the whole week. He is the love of my life and I am so lucky I am his as well. He is so supportive in so many ways and makes sacrifices to allow me to accomplish these goals I have and further my talents God has given me. 

Quick stats:

1^st in my age group

2^nd over-all (missed 1^st by under 2 minutes :( )

 Fastest female amateur run split by 11ish minutes

Time: 9:51:44

Swim: 1:03:34 (goal: 1:10)

Bike: 5:24:14 (with a flat) (goal:5:30)

Run: 3:15:37 (goal: 3:00)

T1: 4:17

T2: 4:02

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