Texasman X50 Triathlon Race Report

Wow what a day! And it started out as an early one - 4:00 a.m. early. I packed everything up the night before, so I could "sleep in". After rolling out of bed, all I had to do was get dressed in my awesome, speedy tri-gear and make my usual pre-race breakfast (peanut butter bagel). The race site was an hour from home so I met up with two friends to caravan up there. Funny thing about Triathletes - we buy our cars to fit our bikes. The 3 of us each had a SUV to fit our bike - none of us had the bikes on a bike rack. I have one, but it's just more comforting knowing my baby is safe and secure in the back of the car rather than on the bike rack where it is subjected to the elements outside! So we get to the race start and hit the restroom before the lines got too long.

At this point, it's still pitch black dark out and FREEZING. Somehow we dipped down to 51 degrees in May! Transition opened at 5:45 so we had just a few minutes to get our stuff together and get it all up there to set up. I actually put my wetsuit ON after getting body marked so that I could warm up! It helped, a little. So I g0t transition set up, and hit the restrooms one last time. We all headed down to the beach as the sun finally came up, and it got a little warmer (thank god!).

Believe it or not, this is a lake, but they man-made a beach:

(Thanks Ken G. for the photo - I swiped it off your Facebook lol)

I was entered in the X-50 race (1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, 9 mile run= 50 miles). It's an odd distance, but I really liked it. Slightly less than a Half Ironman, but more than the Olympic Distance. This race also offered the Olympic distance as well as the shorter sprint distance. Nearly 800 athletes were there! My race had approximately 200 people in it. I would venture to say that the sprint had the majority of the rest of the 800, but the Olympic was still well attended as well.

The X-50 had two waves of swim starts - 7:00 and 7:05 (which ended up being more like 7:20 and 7:25, but we got there). My wave watched the first wave take off and head straight out towards the sun. As we're waiting for the gun to go off for our wave, we see some of the first wavers standing up WALKING rather than swimming in the middle of the lake! (Apparently there is a sandbar out there!).

So finally, they let us get started. I downed my first Gu just before we got headed out. This swim was pretty uneventful for me, except for a brief moment of panic when I got a huge mouthful of water and couldn't catch my breath. I got myself calmed down and settled back in to a nice, smooth pace. There was a bit of kicking, but for the most part, I did pretty good and stayed on course. I did get a strange cramp in my left calve (more on this later).

The transition area was probably .2 of a mile uphill from the lake, up a cement path. Volunteers were there to help you strip off your wetsuit quickly (boy are they good!) I begged them not to strip my pants off with the wetsuit! So I get to my bike and decided since it was cooler out, that a dry shirt would be a good thing. So I took the time to actually change into my bike jersey.

The first few miles of the bike were brutal - the wind had picked up and the roads were HORRIBLE. I actually stopped at mile 4 to see if my brakes were rubbing because I was going so dang slow! (They weren't). Other than the cruddy road conditions, the course was nice with the exception of the "turn around HERE!" that was sprung on us at the last second. I'm surpised there weren't accidents there. Maybe there were, but I didnt see them. The course was two loops, and the last 75% of the course back into the park was super fast! It was so nice.

So I finished up the bike portion and got back into transition to change into my run gear. It's warm, but not too warm (which really, really pleases me!). This course goes through the paved path in the park and partially on the road leading into the park. There were plenty of water stations and some very friendly volunteers. I did learn that Lime Cliff Shots and Cherry Power-Ade do NOT mix well.

The first mile was a little rough, but I got in a zone and was feeling great! I kept checking my Garmin and wondering what the heck I was doing - it read MUCH faster than I usually run! I did walk through every water stop with the exception of the last one (because it was only 1 mile from the finish line). The last mile I was feeling extraordinary and FLEW through the finish line! It was so awesome!

So my fellow Ironman training friends, Michael and Denise, and I were given an "extra credit" assignment for after the race by our coach. We were lucky enough to get to run 6 more miles! Yay for us! We gathered up after resting for a few minutes and headed back out up the trail while all the other finishers sat around eating and watching the awards ceremony. At this point, none of us cared about the pace lol so we'd run/walk/run/walk/stop at the water stop/walk/run/walk/run/etc. We ran by the man announcing the finishers (there were still others coming in from the run) and he said into the microphone "STOP WORKING OUT" and "Ya'll are SICK!") Denise had a leg injury going on, so she stopped and told us to go on. I think Clean (Michael's nickname - you can probably figure out why) and I ran maybe another mile and were debating the whole way whether we wanted to keep going or call it a day. Just as we decided to keep going and finish it up - my calve cramped big time and stopped me dead in my tracks. A woman walking by saw it happen and she said "Sometimes we need to listen to our bodies" lol (I wanted to say "Yes Mother"). So we stopped at 3.5 miles out of the planned 6.

Unfortunately, by the time we finished our "extra credit", all the booths with food had been taken down! We went up to transition to pack up our stuff so we could find some food somewhere. As we're in transition, Denise is told by a woman that I must have placed in my age bracket, because she got 3rd and there were only 3 of us! Well, for anyone that knows me, I am not a fast swimmer, a fast cyclist OR a fast runner. I am mediocre, but I can go forever. So it's actually pretty pitiful for me to PLACE in anything lol But when you have a small race, anything is possible! So we got all our stuff packed up and headed back to where the timing tent was to see if I actually had placed. I was still in disbelief lol The woman at the timing tent finds my age group print out and says "You didn't just place - you WON!" Unbelievable. And actually pretty pitiful lol because again, I am not fast. I guess it pays to be the youngest in the age bracket, especially when there's only 3 of us lol

So she hands me this most awesome plaque (and the finisher's medal is next to it). I'm still in major disbelief lol It will probably never happen again lol but it sure was FUN!

All in all, I was really pleased with my performance. I'm loving my new bike fit - I think it greatly attributed to my fresh running legs. I feel completely ready for my Ironman race, which is now just under 6 weeks (gulp!) away. There are still some things to work on, but my confidence soared yesterday! Now to just get my calve back to normal (seriously sore today!) and my heel (bruised it running up the paved path to T1). I'll be back in business soon enough!

Despite the crappy road conditions, this race is a great one. The course is very nice and they gave us lots of great swag (X-50 athletic bag, X-50 hat, X-50 tech shirt, X-50 t-shirt, X-50 running hat, X-50 socks, X-50 car sticker, X-50 water bottle and a X-50 towel). If you're looking for a good race - do this one or any of the others over the season that are on this course.