IMTX Race Report: Part Three

T1: or how you go from soaking wet to rolling on wheels as quickly as possible.

Ok, we left off yesterday with me climbing out of the washing machine also known as the Ironman Texas swim venue. I exited the swim in 1:15:18 and that ended up being 12th in my Age Group out of 151 women and 503rd out of 2686 participants. Not too shabby considering the Slug-fest that the swim was. Since it was point to point, we were now back at Transition. After checking my watch and seeing that I was five minutes ahead of schedule, I relaxed and started to go through the simple motions of getting ready to ride. I went to unzip my two day old TYR Torque Pro swim skin and ended up with a stuck zipper. Crap! I knew this would probably happen because I had trouble unzipping it the day before for the practice swim and just unzipping it without my body being in it...

ATTENTION TYR: Please look into fixing the zipper design on your Torque Pro Swim Skin!!! For $350.00, it should unzip easily.

Thanks, that's all.

I heard a few people call out my name as I ran down the rows of blue T1 bags and grabbed mine off the ground and dashed into the women's change tent. Right before I entered, I saw my good friend Norma and waved to her. A volunteer quickly took my bag and finished opening it up as I loudly called out that I needed someone to unzip me. Two other volunteers struggled for at least 30 seconds to get the zipper all the way down so I could get out. My Team in Training tri suit was all ready on, so I only had a few things that I had to do. As I was getting my shoes on, the volunteer was buckling my SPI belt with my race number on it around my waist. We struggled to get my DeSoto Arm Cooler Wings on my wet arms. I had suffered enough crazy sunburns so I thought that I would order me a pair of these and give them a try. I liked them enough on my longest training ride that I knew that they would be part of my race attire. My volunteer opened up a baggie that had my S-Cap electrolyte capsules in them along with a small container of Sport Legs lactic acid buffer capsules and a tube of Carmex lip balm. I stuffed those in my pockets, put my cycling gloves on, and stuck my helmet on my head.

I thanked my volunteer and dashed out the tent to head to the bike racks. Since I had my Arm Cooler Wings on, I did not need extra sunblock. I was trusting that the sun block Greyhound had let me use before the swim start was still on my legs and that if I felt I needed more, I could find some at an aid station. I also ran past the bank of port-o-cans since I had taken care of that issue while I was swimming. Yes, Lake Woodlands was basically one huge toilet that morning. Gross, I know, but that's the dark, secret side of Ironman we don't advertise much. I ran to my bike rack quickly because it was right next to a PowerBar flag that I was using as a landmark. I pulled my sunglasses off the bike and put them on and then grabbed the bike and headed out to the street and the bike mount line. Again I heard a few people call my name. I apologize for not looking up, I just did not want to crash into someone else of do a Mary Catherine Gallagher fall trying to get on my bike. Here is a video of me all the way over near the fence with my white Arm Cooler Wings and my pointy aero helmet, trying to get on my bike...

Total time in T1 was 5:23. That seems like a long time and many people do it faster. I could have gone faster but I did not want to make any mistakes or be totally out of breath by the time I got on the bike.

OHHHH SNAP!!! I am leaving you hanging! I know you were sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for what happened on the bike, but you will have to check back in tomorrow. Right now I think I hear a sandwich and a banana calling my name and I must to see to it.

Tomorrow's episode, "How you know you're hydrated."

Later Gators!

Liz