My training leading up to Ironman Texas & Race Report
It felt great to be back on the podium again in an Ironman. I feel like I turned over a new leaf for 2014. Unfortunately it didn't show with my 6th place finish at Ironman Los Cabos six weeks ago. Why? Well multiple flat tires bumped me off the podium and the possibility to win.
Before I jump into the race report I'll talk about my training which I hardly ever do. I am self coached except for the swimming portion. Gerry Rodrigues is my swim coach www.Tower26.com and he has done wonders for helping me with my swim. I remember starting out in 2010 when it was a struggle to swim 50 meters. Now I'm swimming with a great masters group 6 times a week. It is very structured and I swim 4-6,000k a day. Gerry has not only helped my swimming but help build my confidence in the sport. I am finally really starting to believe in myself that I have what it takes to be REALLY competitive. Thank you Gerry!
For training on the bike I go by feel, no power or HR. If I feel good I ride hard. If not, I ride easy. It isn't super structured but I'm very in tune with my body. Some weeks I might log only 8 hours on the bike, other weeks I may log close to 20 hours on the bike. I mix it up with road, tri and my mountain bike. I primarily mountain bike on the weekends to avoid traffic. I don't even keep a training log because it actually takes the fun out of what I do. A big part of my success is keeping things fun. I used to keep a log book a number of years ago but currently I tend to just go by feel and it's working for me. I do have key workouts that my body responds to and I tend to try to keep things simple.
For running, it's very similar to cycling. I go by feel. From time to time I will wear my Timex Run Trainer 2.0 GPS watch to get a feel for my pace on a tempo run but normally I wear a regular Timex watch and go by feel. In the last 5 weeks I've only been running around 20-25 miles per week and my only run with intensity was Wildflower triathlon two weeks prior to Ironman Texas. Typically I run double that amount but 5 weeks ago I did something rather silly...two weeks after Ironman Cabo I ran 28 miles in 3 hours (6:20 pace) after that run some of my muscles in my quads were tight and pulling some tendons on my knee. It was causing a little pain and I decided to be patient. To just rest and back off on all the running to let my muscles/tendons heal and recover. Therefore, going into Ironman Texas I was very unsure how my run would go.
Now to the race.
The swim:
The water was 71 degrees so it was wetsuit legal. I opted to swim with my BlueSeventy sleeveless wetsuit to avoid over heating. The men & woman started together which hasn't been done in years so I was surprised about this. I tried going out hard but found myself in the middle of all the swimmers. I settled in and was at the lead of a pack of about 10 swimmers. The water was murky like Ironman Arizona so it wasn't easiest to draft. I stayed controlled and didn't feel like I really pushed the swim. I got out of the water in 55 minutes and felt like I had just warmed up. I was in about 18th position (out of around 33 guys) out of the water. If I would have been a little more aggressive and pushed harder I believe I could have swam a high 53. However I was patient.
The bike:
The first 30 miles of the bike I was fairly conservative. I passed a number of people and at one point I legally (12 meters behind the next cyclist) sat in a group of 3-4 other cyclists. The pace felt really easy as I rode about 5 miles with the group. This was good because I was able to relax and rest for a little while before I started to push again. As the group approached an aide station, Joszef Major took off as I followed. Shortly after I passed Joszef as he hung on from 30 to the 50 mile mark. Right around mile 60 I picked up my special needs bag which had a half frozen Powerade bottle in it. At mile 62 a yellow jacket stung me in my right quad. That hurt! I spent the next couple of mile using my half frozen bottle to ice my quad as it started swelling up a little. I thought to myself, "During Ironman Canada in 2012 I got stung by a bee in the hand and I won that race. I'm going to think of it as good luck!" After that I decided to really get after the bike and pushed. I cruised into T2 feeling decent and got off my Trek Speed Concept in 5th position (4:21 bike split, 2nd fastest) with 6 minutes down of the leader Jordan Rapp.
I was probably the only guy out there who raced on a tubular and a clincher wheel. I typically race on tubulars. However with the Shimano upgrade from 10-11speed my two sets of disc wheels were not 11 speed compatible. Therefore, last minute I reached out on Facebook asking if anyone would possibly let me borrow a 11 speed disc wheel for Texas. Thankfully Ryan Foster (Thank you Ryan!) reached out to me and let me borrow his disc that was a clincher. This was my first time ever racing on the tubular/clincher combo.
After the race, I realized that my seat-post had slipped down about 1cm. I forgot my torque wrench so I did my best with judgement but it wasn't tightened enough. Thankfully it only slipped 1cm.
The Run:
The run was 3 big loops in The Woodlands, one of the more scenic run courses. I ran though wooded forests, around the lake, next to huge million dollar homes, along the canal and through pumped up crowds of people. My first lap of the run was very conservative. So conservative that I was losing time to 4th place Brandon Marsh and 6th place Chris McDonald who was catching me.
On the 2nd lap I reversed that. I started to find my running legs. Right around mile 13 I passed Brandon Marsh and I was running in 3rd. I was slowly gaining on Jordan Rapp who fell to 2nd place. Right around mile 19 I caught Jordan and passed him. About 30 seconds later Jordan passed me back and put on a little surge to gap me by 7-8 seconds. After another half mile or so at the aide station, I took off and didn't even look over my shoulder as I felt really strong.
My last lap I felt the strongest. I pushed forward but with 5 miles to go and 5 minutes to make up on Bevan Dochetry I knew it was practically impossible to catch him. Thank you Allan & Gillian for all of the time splits out there! I decided to maintain my firm pace so my place was secured. As I approached the finishing line I felt really strong. I still had a lot more in my tank when I finished. I had run a 2:52 marathon in my Skechers GoRide 3 running shoes as I rolled across the finish-line in 2nd place in a time of 8:14. A five minute personal best. At the finish-line I always do a special Blazeman roll in memory of my mother, John Blais and others who have battled with ALS, known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
After the race there was the typical media interview for the top 3. Then I was escorted to do a drug test which was a pleasant surprise because I got the same nice lady that drug tested me in Kona last year.
Results:
1. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 8:09:37
2. Matthew Russell (USA) 8:14:53
3. Justin Daerr (USA) 8:17:29
4. Jordan Rapp (USA) 8:17:58
5. Chris McDonald (AUS) 8:22:51
6. Matt Hanson (USA) 8:25:51
7. Clay Emge (USA) 8:28:52
8. Brandon Marsh (USA) 8:31:38
9. Balazs Csoke (HUN) 8:33:06
10. James Chesson (USA) 8:37:12
Reflecting on the race I am really happy with my performance in this stacked field. This is the best my body has ever felt post Ironman and I'm recovering really fast/well. There was a total of 7 Ironman Champions in my race and I lost against a two time Olympic medalist. I couldn't have done it without the support of so many people: All of the volunteers, my home-stay/friends (Allan, Jennifer, Hailey, Emily) and of course my better half Gillian. I couldn't have done it without the support of my sponsors: Timex, Trek, Destination Kona Triathlon Store, Xendurance, Skechers, Rudy Project, Cyclologic, Shimano, BlueSeventy, Powerbar, Beet Elite, Castelli, Feetures, PRO, UltraFast Optimization, Skins, Challenge Tires & Vim Sports.
Thoughts on Kona:
People have been asking me if I am chasing points for Kona because I race so much. The answer is no I'm not chasing points. If I do make it to Kona, great! Currently I am sitting in 28th position in the KPR and will certainly need more points to qualify for Kona. I race so many Ironmans because I love to race them. Thankfully I recover fast and I can mentally handle it. I have a few more Ironmans on my schedule before Kona rolls around so most likely I will be headed back to Kona if all goes well. In the last 3 years I've been the only American pro to compete and complete Ironman World Champs. Andy Potts and Tim O'donnell have qualified for the last 3 years but Andy had a DNS last year and Tim had a DNF back in 2011. Every year that I go to Kona I have always improved. 2011 -23rd, 2012 -20th & 2013 -18th. If I make it for 2014, my goal will be to improve on my 2013 finish.
*If I am using anyones photo and didn't give them credit, Please let me know.
Before I jump into the race report I'll talk about my training which I hardly ever do. I am self coached except for the swimming portion. Gerry Rodrigues is my swim coach www.Tower26.com and he has done wonders for helping me with my swim. I remember starting out in 2010 when it was a struggle to swim 50 meters. Now I'm swimming with a great masters group 6 times a week. It is very structured and I swim 4-6,000k a day. Gerry has not only helped my swimming but help build my confidence in the sport. I am finally really starting to believe in myself that I have what it takes to be REALLY competitive. Thank you Gerry!
For training on the bike I go by feel, no power or HR. If I feel good I ride hard. If not, I ride easy. It isn't super structured but I'm very in tune with my body. Some weeks I might log only 8 hours on the bike, other weeks I may log close to 20 hours on the bike. I mix it up with road, tri and my mountain bike. I primarily mountain bike on the weekends to avoid traffic. I don't even keep a training log because it actually takes the fun out of what I do. A big part of my success is keeping things fun. I used to keep a log book a number of years ago but currently I tend to just go by feel and it's working for me. I do have key workouts that my body responds to and I tend to try to keep things simple.
For running, it's very similar to cycling. I go by feel. From time to time I will wear my Timex Run Trainer 2.0 GPS watch to get a feel for my pace on a tempo run but normally I wear a regular Timex watch and go by feel. In the last 5 weeks I've only been running around 20-25 miles per week and my only run with intensity was Wildflower triathlon two weeks prior to Ironman Texas. Typically I run double that amount but 5 weeks ago I did something rather silly...two weeks after Ironman Cabo I ran 28 miles in 3 hours (6:20 pace) after that run some of my muscles in my quads were tight and pulling some tendons on my knee. It was causing a little pain and I decided to be patient. To just rest and back off on all the running to let my muscles/tendons heal and recover. Therefore, going into Ironman Texas I was very unsure how my run would go.
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The swim:
The water was 71 degrees so it was wetsuit legal. I opted to swim with my BlueSeventy sleeveless wetsuit to avoid over heating. The men & woman started together which hasn't been done in years so I was surprised about this. I tried going out hard but found myself in the middle of all the swimmers. I settled in and was at the lead of a pack of about 10 swimmers. The water was murky like Ironman Arizona so it wasn't easiest to draft. I stayed controlled and didn't feel like I really pushed the swim. I got out of the water in 55 minutes and felt like I had just warmed up. I was in about 18th position (out of around 33 guys) out of the water. If I would have been a little more aggressive and pushed harder I believe I could have swam a high 53. However I was patient.
 | |
|
The bike:
The first 30 miles of the bike I was fairly conservative. I passed a number of people and at one point I legally (12 meters behind the next cyclist) sat in a group of 3-4 other cyclists. The pace felt really easy as I rode about 5 miles with the group. This was good because I was able to relax and rest for a little while before I started to push again. As the group approached an aide station, Joszef Major took off as I followed. Shortly after I passed Joszef as he hung on from 30 to the 50 mile mark. Right around mile 60 I picked up my special needs bag which had a half frozen Powerade bottle in it. At mile 62 a yellow jacket stung me in my right quad. That hurt! I spent the next couple of mile using my half frozen bottle to ice my quad as it started swelling up a little. I thought to myself, "During Ironman Canada in 2012 I got stung by a bee in the hand and I won that race. I'm going to think of it as good luck!" After that I decided to really get after the bike and pushed. I cruised into T2 feeling decent and got off my Trek Speed Concept in 5th position (4:21 bike split, 2nd fastest) with 6 minutes down of the leader Jordan Rapp.
 |
| Photo Credit Corrie Kristick |
I was probably the only guy out there who raced on a tubular and a clincher wheel. I typically race on tubulars. However with the Shimano upgrade from 10-11speed my two sets of disc wheels were not 11 speed compatible. Therefore, last minute I reached out on Facebook asking if anyone would possibly let me borrow a 11 speed disc wheel for Texas. Thankfully Ryan Foster (Thank you Ryan!) reached out to me and let me borrow his disc that was a clincher. This was my first time ever racing on the tubular/clincher combo.
After the race, I realized that my seat-post had slipped down about 1cm. I forgot my torque wrench so I did my best with judgement but it wasn't tightened enough. Thankfully it only slipped 1cm.
The Run:
 |
| Photo Credit Allan Reitzer |
The run was 3 big loops in The Woodlands, one of the more scenic run courses. I ran though wooded forests, around the lake, next to huge million dollar homes, along the canal and through pumped up crowds of people. My first lap of the run was very conservative. So conservative that I was losing time to 4th place Brandon Marsh and 6th place Chris McDonald who was catching me.
 |
| Running next to Brandon Marsh |
On the 2nd lap I reversed that. I started to find my running legs. Right around mile 13 I passed Brandon Marsh and I was running in 3rd. I was slowly gaining on Jordan Rapp who fell to 2nd place. Right around mile 19 I caught Jordan and passed him. About 30 seconds later Jordan passed me back and put on a little surge to gap me by 7-8 seconds. After another half mile or so at the aide station, I took off and didn't even look over my shoulder as I felt really strong.
 |
| About to pass Jordan Rapp. Photo Credit Pablo Gomez |
My last lap I felt the strongest. I pushed forward but with 5 miles to go and 5 minutes to make up on Bevan Dochetry I knew it was practically impossible to catch him. Thank you Allan & Gillian for all of the time splits out there! I decided to maintain my firm pace so my place was secured. As I approached the finishing line I felt really strong. I still had a lot more in my tank when I finished. I had run a 2:52 marathon in my Skechers GoRide 3 running shoes as I rolled across the finish-line in 2nd place in a time of 8:14. A five minute personal best. At the finish-line I always do a special Blazeman roll in memory of my mother, John Blais and others who have battled with ALS, known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
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| Enjoying the homestretch! photo credit Lee Glaesemann |
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| Blazeman roll in memory of my mother. |
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| A big hug from Gillian at the finish. Photo credit Nick Morales |
After the race there was the typical media interview for the top 3. Then I was escorted to do a drug test which was a pleasant surprise because I got the same nice lady that drug tested me in Kona last year.
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| Media |
Results:
1. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 8:09:37
2. Matthew Russell (USA) 8:14:53
3. Justin Daerr (USA) 8:17:29
4. Jordan Rapp (USA) 8:17:58
5. Chris McDonald (AUS) 8:22:51
6. Matt Hanson (USA) 8:25:51
7. Clay Emge (USA) 8:28:52
8. Brandon Marsh (USA) 8:31:38
9. Balazs Csoke (HUN) 8:33:06
10. James Chesson (USA) 8:37:12
Reflecting on the race I am really happy with my performance in this stacked field. This is the best my body has ever felt post Ironman and I'm recovering really fast/well. There was a total of 7 Ironman Champions in my race and I lost against a two time Olympic medalist. I couldn't have done it without the support of so many people: All of the volunteers, my home-stay/friends (Allan, Jennifer, Hailey, Emily) and of course my better half Gillian. I couldn't have done it without the support of my sponsors: Timex, Trek, Destination Kona Triathlon Store, Xendurance, Skechers, Rudy Project, Cyclologic, Shimano, BlueSeventy, Powerbar, Beet Elite, Castelli, Feetures, PRO, UltraFast Optimization, Skins, Challenge Tires & Vim Sports.
Thoughts on Kona:
People have been asking me if I am chasing points for Kona because I race so much. The answer is no I'm not chasing points. If I do make it to Kona, great! Currently I am sitting in 28th position in the KPR and will certainly need more points to qualify for Kona. I race so many Ironmans because I love to race them. Thankfully I recover fast and I can mentally handle it. I have a few more Ironmans on my schedule before Kona rolls around so most likely I will be headed back to Kona if all goes well. In the last 3 years I've been the only American pro to compete and complete Ironman World Champs. Andy Potts and Tim O'donnell have qualified for the last 3 years but Andy had a DNS last year and Tim had a DNF back in 2011. Every year that I go to Kona I have always improved. 2011 -23rd, 2012 -20th & 2013 -18th. If I make it for 2014, my goal will be to improve on my 2013 finish.
*If I am using anyones photo and didn't give them credit, Please let me know.
Destination Kona is my go to Triathlon Store for gear. Use code: MRDK15 for 15% off online & in store purchases.