I’ve taken some time to reflect on the race to not only be realistic in my depiction of the event but also give myself some time to digest what a hard day it actually was. The day as usual started out early, up at 4 a.m.. I had most my bags packed and only had to eat and take a shower, my stomach wasn’t restless at all and after watching my diet all week I was hopeful I wouldn’t have any gastro issues like Ironman Canada. Jacqueline and I headed out the door at 5 a.m while my Mom stayed back and watched MacKinley. We got to transition and I headed right to my bike to get it set up for the day, gels taped to the frame, fill water bottles with electrolyte mix and just try to stay calm before the race. I was filling up my front tire when hisssssssssssssss, my valve stem came out and let the air out of my tire. Stay calm, I walked over to Jacqueline and I thought about crying but I walked to a mechanic and he fixed it for me in a few minutes, crisis averted. My coach Lisa Bentley was at the race with one of her pro’s and I was excited to see her in transition, we met briefly on my way out to the swim start and she gave me some great parting words of advice. I kissed Jacqueline and started the one mile walk to the start, you heard me right one mile walk to the start.

After a 15 min walk I arrived at the swim start and it was mayhem, it was a really small area to have 2500 athletes in not including family and friends who felt the need to be in the same space. I found a quiet spot and listened to some music and focused on my day ahead. At 6:30 I headed to the swim corral, The water temperature on the day was 78f , to warm for wetsuits to be legal but cold enough that if you wanted to wear one you could..?? I decided to not wear a suit, I knew I wouldn’t qualify for Kona but I felt in the spirit of competition I would play by the (sort of ) rules. Now picture shoving 2500 people onto a basketball court and asking them to tread water for 20 min, that’s exactly what we had to do. It was the narrowest swim start I’ve been in to date and it was actually scary at some moments, people treading water right next to each other, banging elbows, knocking knees and just fighting to stay afloat. It seemed like eternity for the gun to go off and when it did panic ensued.

If any of you have seen the movie “The Titantic” after the boat sinks all the people in the water freaking out that’s what it was like….seriously. When you have some swimmers wearing wetsuits and others not it is a decided advantage to be the one in the wetsuit, I was anxious. The amount of contact I was absorbing was shocking, I had no solution but to fight fire with fire and I was more aggressive than I had ever been in a triathlon, Rugby..no, but triathlon..yes. I saw some clear water over by the shore and headed for it, I knew it would be a longer route for me but if I could get to some open water, I could actually swing my arms I could make up some time. It worked but I knew when I got half way and my watch was at 35min already I was slower than expected. The second half of the swim was tragic, you had to swim up a man made canal that had concrete walls and was five feet deep, basically a big washing machine, after 20 min I saw the swim exit and knew I had a horrible swim but was glad to see the end, I grabbed hold of the stair railing and rocketed out of the water, 1:09…FML what the hell happened..?? I grabbed my swim exit bag that had all my bike gear in it and ran for the change tent, I changed as fast as I could and put all my gear in my pocket, or so I thought.

When I entered transition I was surprised to see so many bikes still on their racks, my swim wasn’t so bad after all, it was hard for everyone. When I got to my bike I went to put my sunglasses on and they were missing a lens…shit!!! To late to go back, I tried to make the best of it but I knew it would be a long 180km if the sun was out, luckily it wasn’t… yet. Then I realized I left my salt pills in the bag too..ROOKIE MISTAKE!! Now lets review, it’s going to be sunny all day and I have no sunglasses, it’s going to be 95f with a humidity of 72% and I have no salt pills, I tried to problem solve the first few kilometres of the bike and there was but one answer, slow my pace until I got my special needs bag at 90km that had salt pills in it. Looks like this might be a long day…

I felt pretty good for the first 25km and really was having a pretty good time with it, it was a relatively flat course but I couldn’t push to hard or my heart race would increase and the result would be I would sweat more, if I could keep my heart rate around 130 I knew I could make it to half way without cramping and have lots of energy to pound the pedals the second half. You could feel the temperature starting to rise and the sun was out now and it was hot, luckily the cycle was through a national forest and there was lots of shade from the trees. I heard something rattling around and I noticed my aero bottle was dangling by a strap, and at that moment it fell off, now I’m down to two bottles on my bike…what next?? You’re never really focusing on the view but a few times I remember thinking to myself, how else would I have ever seen this amazing place if I didn’t do triathlons? the answer is I wouldn’t.

I was wearing arm coolers and I made sure to wet them down at every aid station as well as grab a water bottle and put it down my top (I had no where else to put it) grab a Gatoraide and put it in my seat holder. I was starting to feel some pulling in my hamstrings at 70km so all I could do was take on lots of Gatoraide and try to get my sodium from it, but risk an upset stomach. I risked an upset stomach. I finally reached my special needs bag and took the salt and nutrition I had inside. I immediately took three salt pills, and ate a bar to try and get my sodium and calories up. I felt like a new man and was off on a mission. I reached the half way mark at 2:50 not where I wanted to be but under the circumstances I was happy with the effort.

I started to pick people off and only a couple people passed me over the next 30 km, at around the 130 km mark I could tell my nutrition was lacking. I honestly felt that if I closed my eyes I would have fallen asleep, I felt disoriented and everything got hazy all of a sudden..uh oh I’m starting to bonk. I had two bars and three gels left for 50 km, I scarfed down two of the gels and one of the bars and guzzled what was left of my Hammer Perpetuem (liquid calories) and hoped for the best. It must have worked because I felt waaaaaay better about ten minutes later. The wind was directly in my face the whole way back to town but I wanted to hammer the pedals, my coach always warns me that I’ll pay for it later but I really wanted to make up some lost time. I got back to town and felt remarkably fresh, my second 90 km was 2:34, sixteen minutes faster than the first 90km and it was into a headwind!! I cycled a 5:24 a full half hour faster than Ironman Canada, now the fun part…a marathon…crap!!

Run and fininsh next time,

MB

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As I sit here with less than 12 hours until I start my second Ironman in 8 months I am a nervous wreck. I know it’s normal but this is way worse than the actual event. I would rather exercise for 11 hours than go through this for the next 11..?? Am I ready? Can I do this? Why didn’t I lose more weight? Will my squid calf hold up for 42 km’s? These are all things that are continually going through my mind continually and I can’t keep my mind from racing, it’s like an Indy 500 in my head over and over again….C’mon 7 a.m. already.

I feel like I should be used to this already but I don’t know if this will ever go away…in all honestly I hope it doesn’t. I never feel happier than when I’m racing, my heart pumping, short on breath, legs on the verge of shutting down, is there a better way to feel alive? I mean really alive? I’m looking over at my daughter and she doesn’t have a worry in the world and I’m stressed about a race…a silly race. So after 6 months of training in the dungeon, swimming countless times, my time to shine is here and I’m going to make the most of it. My goal time is 1 hour less than Ironman Canada so 10:52. Can I do it if all goes my way? I think so but it’ll be tough but things are supposed to be tough aren’t they?

Now people I need your help, wherever you are tomorrow say a quick word for me and wish me luck. You can never underestimate the power of a bunch of people believing in the same cause and I feel your energy wherever you are. Now 20 gels, 5 water bottles, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 bars, 1 Red Bull, 1 trusty steed, 2 pairs of sunglasses, 2 bottles of sunscreen and 1 loving family….I’m ready to go. I love you all and who says dreams can’t come true?? Not me!!

See you at the finish line,

MB

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Today was a big day, I had a lot to do. First thing was to go for a quick cycle and make sure my trusty steed was working properly, it’s a funny relationship I have with my bike I miss her soooo much when I don’t ride her for a while. But as usual she was a little finicky on our first outing together and after a few minor tweaks she forgave me for not riding her as much as I should have lately (we had a long winter) and we were off into the Texas countryside. I rode a quick 40km on the beginning of the course to see what I was up for and it’s pretty flat heading out, I’m a happy camper. I got back to where I parked and scoped out the swim start and was over joyed to find out the water temperature is 80 F…..NO WETSUITS!!!! I was even happier to hear all the people complaining about it in the Athletes Village, advantage me.

I got in the massive line to register and waited patiently to get my race package and swag, there wasn’t much free stuff like usual but I’m not here for the goddies, I’m here to race! Heyoooooooooo!!!! After I was finished looking around for a while I went and met up with Jacqueline and we went for lunch and had a really nice walk around the canal, this city is beautiful. MacKinley was tired so we headed back to the hotel so she could nap and we checked emails and watched a little T.V.

I wanted to get a swim in but we’re not allowed in the lake yet so we tried to find a pool, we went to 3 different outdoor pools and none of them were open. I thought about jumping the fence and going rogue but I (Jacqueline) didn’t think ending up in jail before the race was a good idea. In the end I didn’t get a swim in and I’ll have to wait until Friday morning when we can get in the lake.

We went for dinner with one of Jacqueline’s friends Brad and his wife Alena’s house and they treated us to a great meal. Salmon, salad and some cous cous, who could ask for a better meal 2 days before an Ironman. They are a wonderful couple and they made us feel right at home and we had a great visit.

It was home to watch the Canucks game and now I’m finishing off the day with a few M & M’s…yummy. Tomorrow brings my Mom to town and my coach Lisa and the nerves will really start to creep in, stay calm Mike, stay calm. After all you can’t stop the sun from coming up in 2 days.

See you at the finish line,

MB

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70°F | °C	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Current: Clear
Wind: S at 12 mph
Humidity: 68%	83°F | 65°F	89°F | 72°F	94°F | 75°F	97°F | 74°F

_

So we have arrived in Houston after a really long travel day and got our selves situated at the hotel and got the lay of the land this evening. The race actually isn’t in Houston it’s in a small planned community called The Woodlands about 40km north of downtown. It was a forest ten years ago and now it’s this amazing place with great shops, clean streets and a great canal system to walk along. The swim actually ends up in the canal so it should be fun swimming with people lining both sides cheering us on.

I’m going for an hour ride tomorrow to try and see some of the course, at some point we’ll drive the whole course so I have some sort of idea what’s ahead of me. It looks pancake flat for a lot of it and then some rollers near the midway point so I’m pretty confident I’ll improve over Ironman Canada.

My calf is still giving me some problems but it’s to late now for any second guessing so I won’t be holding back on Saturday and I’m sure I’ll have a great marathon. The weather is getting a little better over what the last few days and if there could be some cloud cover during the run I would welcome it to say the least.

My subconscious is starting to be that little doubting prick he always is, telling me I can’t do this and I didn’t train enough etc, etc, etc. I don’t know why it happens to all of us at some point but I have been trying my best to shut him up but he always comes back louder everyday until the gun goes off and he finally shuts up, for a few minutes anyways.

Anyways I have to stretch, build my bike and try to get a few hours sleep, the madness of Ironman week begins tomorrow.

See you at the finish line,

MB

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Hey everybody,

I wanted to give you all an update on my training and other things with only 10 days to go until Ironman Texas. I had a setback a couple weeks ago, after a long run I felt some pain in my lower leg I thought it would just go away because that’s what always happens but this one held on..it’s still holding on actually. I got massage, iced it and rested for a few more days but I haven’t been able to run in over a week. I have a small tear in my soleus muscle in my calf but it seems to be getting better, bad news is I won’t know until race day..??

It feels fine on the bike and in the pool so now all I can do is rest it and hope for the best. The positive is I got all my long runs in before this and I wouldn’t be running much now anyways. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t make me nervous because it does but I’m not going to let it change anything on race day.

I am still in a little disbelief that I’ll be taking on this challenge again in 10 days…crazy!! I know my fitness is way ahead of last year and my weight is down ten pounds so if nothing else I have that going for me. I can feel my mood changing a little, I’m on edge to say the least. Little things that normally don’t bother me are bothering me a little more than normal, and I’m very short with people. I guess it’s the nerves sneaking in and trying to play mind games with me…I won’t let them. Today I am in a great mood and excited of the challenge to come, why be nervous of something I wanted to do?? Right??

Anyways I will be blogging nightly from Houston so stay tuned and hope for some cooler weather down there, it was 32 Celsius there today…yikes!! But if I could handle 36 Celsius in Costa Rica then I should be all good.

See you at the finish line,

MB

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