I still keep reflecting on Ironman Texas and what things worked for me and what I need to work on. Here’s a few thrown together thoughts and photos that I have left over.
Oh! And the “Finisher’s Video” that I got.
Mike Reilly did in fact call me an Ironman at the finishing line, however the video didn’t capture that epic moment. 🙁
Here are some photos!

The worst part of these trips is dropping this guy off at the vet for boarding. Kills me every time 🙁
- Happy with my fit so far, but I think I can likely start lowering my cockpit more. (Stop thinking that way, you dirty pervert.)

Oh god I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and I would die a happy (and very large) man.
What do I think I did right?
- Nutrition – Up until the last loop of the run course I was feeling great with no stomach problems. I generally don’t have digestion problems but sometimes don’t keep up on calorie in-take during long endurance events. I can’t remember all that I had but here’s a basic run down of what foods kept me going.
- Breakfast? I can barely remember! A combination of Greenlees awesome cinnamon bread, some dark chocolate peanut butter, Trader Joe’s miniature chocolate chip cookies and probably a kids clif bar. Super healthy right?
- Honeystinger Waffles – I believe I had 5 or so of these things. Definitely my favorite thing to eat while cycling – very tasty and go down easy.
- Powerbar Gel Blasts – I’m not really much of a fan of gels, but these gummy style bites are a great alternative. I emptied a couple bags of these into a ziploc bag and took them when I felt necessary. I mixed the raspberry and strawberry banana flavors. (3 packages total)
- Clif Shot Blocks – I love the tropical flavor and saved the package for the run course to switch it up.
- Powerbar Perform – The on course sports drink. I actually like the lemon lime on the bike, but didn’t care for the mango on the run course. I tried to alternate bottles of this at the bike aid stations and…
- Water!
- Potato chips – On the run course when salt was needed very badly. Ate maybe two handfuls over the entire marathon.
- Chicken broth – best thing I ever tasted.
- Bike pacing – I was happy with my bike split. 17.6mph over 112 miles isn’t very fast but I felt like I left enough “juice” in the tank to be able to give a valiant effort on the run.
- Not panicking after being punched in the face multiple times during the first 5 minutes of the swim. I’ve been hit before plenty of times, but never so much in such a little amount of time. The Ironman washing machine was amazing and intimidating.
- Thanking the volunteers every time I could – without them the race wouldn’t have been the amazing experience it was. I tried to thank every single one I could for doing what they did. Great people.
What do I think I did wrong?
- Weight – This one is obvious. I still need to shed at least a minimum of 25 pounds on my frame. I’ve come a long way so far but I’ve been stalled for way too long. It’s my own fault for not controlling my diet more and using the “I’m training” attitude too much. I think this is the hardest to fix for me but I have to try. A lighter weight will increase my speed and endurance since I’m essentially strapping a 25lb (35lb?) plate to my belly and going out there doing this.
- Brick Workouts – I didn’t do nearly enough of these at all. It wouldn’t have prevented the meltdown that I had with blisters on the run course but I would have gotten a lot further along than I did before that epic meltdown! Respect the brick!
- Bike Workouts – My cycling workouts were much more rare than they should have been. Yes I’m happy with my pacing but I know I could’ve been much better if I spent adequate time out in the saddle. It is the sport out of the three that I feel the most comfortable so I neglect it too much.
- Heat adaptation – Not sure how the hell I could be prepared for that Houston heat but there has to be a way! Lock myself in the sauna for a while? Wear layers? I think I just got unlucky with the California weather too.
I have many more things that pop in and out of my head that I wish I did differently but those are the main ones. I have to lay off that BBQ!
Will I do it again!?
YES. I’m already in the planning stages of picking a new venue for another challenge, and this time I’m bringing a partner. Kelly is going to join me on the next Ironman journey. Very excited and will post updates on here shortly.
Silicon Valley Long Course
A triathlon in my backyard! They added a new long course (1 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 9 mile run) format for this year. I did the SVIT (Olympic Distance) last year and the recap is in this post.
I did a bit better than I was expecting, especially after the Ironman a few weeks earlier.
Swim: 34:53 (Making progress, happy, goal time was under 38 minutes.)
Bike: 2:55:34 (19.1mph, happy with this too, goal time was under 3:10)
Run: 1:28:59 (Goal for this was 10 minute miles, 1:30! whew)
Total time ended up being 5:05:02. Honestly would have been happy with anything under 5:30.
This was Kelly’s first attempt at this distance and she did very well. She completed two sprints and an Olympic so far, so this was a big step up.
Whew, sorry for the big blast of random things flying around. Organization isn’t my cup of tea. I really don’t have too much going on until mid-July when the Vineman 70.3 is and I’m looking forward to getting revenge on my performance from last year!
For now it’s time to rest up…