2013 Houston Triathlon Results

After the Bridgeland Triathlon and after a good month of training, I felt very confident going into the Houston Triathlon that I may see some great results.  I also wanted to dedicate this race to one of the bravest little girls I have ever had the chance to meet: Amaya Hope.

Amaya was born with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome and has had many surgeries in her first of year of life.  I first met her and her mother when I made a trip to Dallas where Amaya was in the PICU at Children's Hospital of Dallas awaiting for a heart transplant.  I brought the H.O.P.E. flag to the hospital so her mother could put her name on it.  I did not realize at the time that her name was going to be placed on my heart as well.  She just did not have the normal pink color that most babies have, but she was strong!

I wrote her name on my forearm so I could see it while on the bike and run.  I am so glad I did, because I know that seeing it gave me added strength to keep going and push harder.

I am happy to say that Amaya did indeed receive a heart transplant and so far the surgery has been a success.  She now has established that pink color that we see in all children and was released to go HOME the day after the triathlon! What a miracle and inspiration!

The race was changed slightly since the last time I raced it in 2011. The swim use to be a 2 loop swim, 2 loop bike, and run through the Towne Lake neighborhood.  This year the swim was redesigned to be all one loop.  This was exciting to me, because I knew that I would be able to keep focus on my rhythm.  For the first time in a very, very, long time, I felt comfortable in water.  I have had anxiety in the water for a long time since the Kemah Triathlon in 2011 when I was kicked in the head by a much slower swimmer and nearly knocked unconscious.  I have not been able to feel comfortable in the water since that day and especially when I was around other people.  I have been working on it a lot, however, I saw a huge difference at the Houston Tri.

If there was one complaint that most people have about the Houston Triathlon is that the distance between transition and the swim exit.  It is over 1/4 mile that you have to run to get to your bike.  Most say they hate it, but I have a complete opposite opinion about the issue.  First of all, this distance is the same for everyone, and second, it gives me a chance to let my heart rate go down before I have to get on to the bike.  This proved to be very beneficial.  I wish all of the transitions were that long.

The nearly 24 mile bike ride was my first test in race conditions since my master bike fit with Tad Hughes.  I knew that I would learn a lot about how I would feel about saddle pressure and upper body fatigue.  Unfortunately that has been a huge issue for me in the past, and that is was one of the main reasons that I chose to go to the Tad Hughes Custom Fit Studio to have my bike set up for "long course" racing.  The fact of the matter is that the bike portion of the race has always been the part that I disliked the most, but since it is the longest distance and time in most races, I wanted to do what I could to make it more enjoyable.  Little did I realize that comfortability would also correlate into being faster and for the first time ever in a olympic distance race I averaged over 20 mph for the bike portion for the first time ever in a race regardless of distance. I have to give all credit to Tad for this.  I know that being more comfortable helped not only my speed in the race, but the training leading up to the race.  I can't believe that I neglected this part of preparation before now.  If you don't get fit by Tad, then you are just settling for second best!  Thanks Tad for all your help.

I finally made it to the run feeling more refreshed than I ever have felt before, so I decided to take

advantage of that. It was pretty hot out there and most of the course was out in the sun without much shade, so it took a little longer than I expected to be my "run legs" going.  Finally after about 1 1/2 miles into the run, I found my groove and just in time to receive a ice cold sponge from the amazing volunteers at the race.  This is just one of many reasons why I think that OnUrMark is the one of the best race production companies out there.  They put a strong emphasis on not only making a race first class, but raising the bar of what to expect. I am so lucky to live in the same city that these races are held.  If you are planning your 2014 race, I highly recommend you go to www.onurmark.net and see if any of their events match your race schedule.  You will not regret it.

I finally made the last turn and could see the finish line.  I was worried when I had not seen Shawn and Rachel yet, so I was hoping that they made it to the race in time.  About that time, I saw Shawn running to me.  I was so excited to see them both.  I grabbed him up and gave him a big hug.  This was a huge accomplishment for me considering that the last two time that I did this race, I could barely hold up my arms, but now, I was fresh and feeling great.  I looked at Shawn and said, "You ready to finish this?" He smiled and said, "YES DADDY! Let's Do It!"  And we ran our way towards the finish line.

Results:

Swim: 36:24.0 2:26/M
T1: 5:02.2
Bike: 1:07:33.8 21.3mph
T2: 3:04.9
Run: 1:06:00.5 10:39/M

Total: 2:58:05.7

PERSONAL RECORD- THANKS AMAYA. WELCOME HOME!

This may be my last race before Ironman Florida.  It all really depends on certain things working out and timing.  We are now less than 50 days away from race day, and I hope to keep everyone up to date the steps towards becoming a 2 time Ironman and my training.  Most importantly, I hope to share some stories about some of the families along the way.  Thank you all for your support.  You may never know how much it motivates me to keep going.

2013 Bridgeland Triathlon Results ~ Back to "Tri"ing!

August was a time to finally start getting back into the groove of racing.  I had finally started to get back to training after a long time off because of my foot injury. I knew that if I was going to get ready for Ironman Florida, I knew that I had to start training regardless of the pain.

Jackson Wyers, Shawn, Matthew, & Karrie Bellard

My first attempt at racing is where all of it started three years ago: the Bridgeland Triathlon in Cypress, TX.  This arguably is the best sprint triathlon in the south mainly because the course is fast and the attention to detail by the promoter OnUrMark Productions.  I give a lot of credit to me continuing in triathlon because this was my first ever triathlon 3 years ago.  The atmosphere is just electric.

I was fortunate to be joined with two of the Team Shawn's Anomaly iDO! 5: Karrie B
ellard and Jackson Wyers.  I as also joined by our honorary team member Brittany Breaux whom was fundraising for the medical research goal at Texas Children's Hospital. I am proud to say that she raised $150.00 for the cause.  She actually passed me on the run and looked in top shape.  Thank Brittany for your generous heart and choosing Shawn's Anomaly as your Reason2Race.  To check our her fundraising page, CLICK HERE!

After Swim

I arrived to the swim start feeling a lot of butterflies.  It had been over a year since I lined up "between the buoy's to start a race, and I was just not sure how my body would react. I had dedicated my race to little Patrick whom was born with Gastroschisis.  I knew just thinking of him would get me through the tough times.  The horn sounded and took off swimming.  Even though the swim was 500 meters, the water was hot from the Houston summer, so I was focusing on saving my energy for the bike and swim. Sadly, I can't say that I ever got into a good groove while swimming.  I felt like I was struggling a lot, but every time I spotted the swim exit, I could see my great friend, Shauna Hall, waiting and pulling out some of the swimmers.  It was great to see her after the swim.

Not Actually Me, but very similar!

The transition (T1) seem to go pretty smoothly.  I do remember thinking before the race, "Should I put clip my shoes onto the bike, or should I wear them to the bike mount line?" I decided to lock them into the bike since the transition was on grass and I did not dirt and grass get into my cleats.  This ended up being a bad idea, and I made what w
as pretty much a "rookie mistake".

There are several ways that triathletes will mount their bikes.  Some will stop at the mount line and get on to the bike while others will have a little more flashier and faster mount by running next to the bike and jumping over the top bar and landing on the saddle.  The "Flying Mount" has always worked for me pretty well, but this day, well, not so much.  As I swung my leg over my bike, it got caught on my water bottle cage and I lost my balance.  It all resulted in me crashing. Fortunately, I the only thing that was broken was my pride, and I kept going.  Fortunately the remainder of the bike and my dismount was much better.

As I entered the run, the outside temperature had elevated over 90 degrees.  It was going to be a hot run on a mostly open to the sun run course.  It was tough to get my legs to start working, but finally after about a mile, I started to get into rhythm.  Shortly after, the finish line was in sight.

One of the best parts of OUM events is that Aaron wants them to be a family friendly environment. In the past, I have grabbed Shawn and crossed with him across the finish line.  Now that Shawn has gotten older, he has become a pretty good runner, so I initially grabbed him, but right before the finish line, I decided to set him down and let him run across the finish with me.  This became a very special moment for both of us that was captured by a friend of mine.  Thank you, Donna Ahrendt, for capturing this special moment.

Photo by Donna Ahrendt

Results:

Swim: 12:51.4 2:09/M
T1: 2:06.1
Bike: 39:00.0 19.7MPH
T2: 2:11.8
Run: 31:55.7 10:18/M

Total: 1:28:05.3

Finally I was back to racing, and next up was the Houston Triathlon...