Ironman Texas 140.3 2024 Race Info/Report

By Coach Helen, Coach Dom, & Coach Rob

4/27/24

Prelude: This race report is long and detailed…we hope we gave plenty of info, and we hope it is useful to you! An important point is that each and every athlete has a different experience in each and every race. This report encompasses 3 athletes racing on the same course on the same day. Some things are the same, but certainly not all! Red is Helen’s experiences. Purple is Dom (duh, iykyk 😉). Blue is Rob. The black writing is a combo of Dom and Helen’s memory of the pertinent details.

>>>>>>Happy Reading<<<<<<<

Pre-Race:

Houston area traffic is HORRIBLE! Do NOT stay more than 20 min away from race location, and definitely avoid staying in Houston. There are lots of hotels and airbnb’s in Woodlands. Book far enough in advance to get a good place close by, it’s worth it! Dom and Helen stayed at a nice enough condo in Houston, but it added 9+ hours of driving to our stay. Rob stayed at a hotel in Woodlands and had a great experience.
Woodlands is a beautiful area, very walkable as far as Ironman Village and restaurants and grocery close by.
Ironman Village is outside. Transition/finish area is very organized and not confusing at all – the advantage of a race that’s been going on for a while in the same location.
We arrived Wednesday evening and immediately checked out the swim course/swim out/transition area to get an idea of layout. Definitely recommend doing this before the crowds arrive.
Parking is available nearby, but you do have to walk to get anywhere at all. NO parking right at the transition area. The church parking that the race recommends is the best spot to park for all the things, but again – it’s close to a mile away from the transition area. Budget time and energy for this walk each day. Woodlands is very particular with their rules.
Practice swim on Friday was amazing! Very well organized and at the official swim start. We all did it, and it was crowded but definitely helpful. We got experience with the swimmers who don’t sight and knew to expect that on race day. I had a dude swim right on top of me…in the practice swim! Also – water didn’t taste horrible, and water temps were mild but just below wetsuit cutoffs.
Riding and running pre-race close to transition was fairly easy on the roads, even though it seemed like not many people were riding.
Organized practice run on Thursday – Britt did it and said it was good and informative, and he even ran with Tim O’Donnell (bonus!).
Restaurant recommendations: Guadalajara’s (super close to transition) has amazing fajitas. The Goose’s Acre Irish Pub at finish was decent. Tosca (Italian deli) was really good for lunch and dessert. HEB is the grocery store to go to in Houston area.
Leading up to the race was pretty chill. Check-in was nice and smooth, although the expo has clearly gone downhill over the years with fewer vendors and merch. Thursday evening was also the athlete welcome banquet. It was a pretty good dinner consisting of carbs (multiple types of potatoes), carbs (chicken Alfredo pasta), more carbs (breads and desserts) and some proteins. I enjoyed it!
Friday was the practice swim, and it was very well organized. Likely because it was a Championship race, but still, organized. The water felt fine. A nice and fairly smooth 75 degrees. Just below wetsuit legal. The water wasn’t clear by any measure. But it was a good swim.
After the practice swim, it was time to drop off the bike and gear bags, again, fairly simple and easy to navigate.

RACE MORNING:

Make sure to arrive with plenty of time to fix potential bike issues, gather and organize gear and bags, and to walk a long way to transition from car, and from transition to swim.
Make sure you have nutrition and water for the walking time.
Saturday morning (Race Morning). Got into transition around 4:50am and took my time setting up my bike. Not as many tire pumps as normal, but I was able to find one to use. Was able to add nutrition to my run and bike bags as well. Once Madison was done, we walked the 1-mile walk to the swim start.
I’ve got latex tubes, and my back tire was pretty flat when I arrived race morning. As usual, we were a bit tight on time so that was stressful. But the bike mechanics in transition were super helpful and quick, so they quickly changed the tire as a precaution (not sure if it was just the sitting overnight, or an actual flat) and I was back in business in no time!

SWIM:

The water is dark and murky and not super clean, and there was a lot of physical contact. But all in all, this is actually a pretty darn good swim.
Hearing and seeing all the spectators on the bridge and on the sides of the canal is really cool and motivating. Brook hollered my name and I was able to wave back with a big ol’s smile on my face…it was only a few hundred yards from the swim finish! Canal wasn’t as crowded as expected, but that could have been that we were far enough to the front to not experience the crowds.
We read there were 800 first-timers, and that showed on the swim.
Swim start was PACKED, naturally, but I was able to find room to loosen up get ready to swim. Dom and Helen finally met up with us just before the start, and all I can say is that I felt fairly calm.
The swim was a cluster. I had intended to avoid the buoy line like I usually do, but unfortunately I swam right into it. There were so many swimmers grabbing, pulling, swimming diagonal and not sighting. The first 1000yds was tough for me to get into a rhythm. At 700yds or so, my goggles fogged and I had to get to a boat to put them back on my face. Normally I would keep going, but sighting was tough enough without having to see through fogged goggles. Finally around the first turn things seemed to open up. At this point I knew I was not going to get into a fast rhythm, but I thought I was swimming well. No issues on the second straight. I finally turned into the canal and immediately hit the bottom on a pull.. It was short lived, but I knew it was shallow. Unfortunately, I could see people along the canal, but could not hear anyone or anything. I am sure the cheering would have been fun. I know my wife was cheering and I heard nothing. I made it to the ladder, and was surprised to see that I was way slower than anticipated, but it was over. Swim Time: 1:25:32 (goal 1:13:55)

T-1:

Volunteers were great!
Plenty of help getting out of the swim onto the steps but they pulled me out almost too quickly for comfort 😉.
Wetsuit strippers were great – almost immediately after getting out.
Athletes have to grab your own T1 bag but they try to help locate it.
Tents were nice. The volunteers asked me if I needed help and since I said yes, my volunteer stuck with me and helped organize me. Volunteers didn’t help Dom in T1. After the tent, athletes carry their own bag to their bike and leave it there, and you get your own bike.
T1 was smooth. I grabbed my bag and went into the changing tent. Ate my pop-tart and rinsed my mouth with water while getting my helmet and shoes on and was on my way. The biggest slow-down was putting on the cycling socks. Other than that, I felt good. Time: 9:34 (Goal 8:00)

BIKE:

Winds were horrific! This is common but not every single year. Expect wind!
First 20 miles dragged on a bit before getting on Hardy Toll Road. Had more twists and turns than expected, and some spots that were a bit rough. Make sure you have proper bottle cages and that bolts are tight – lots of yard sales with dropped equipment.
Mile 20-41ish: Directly into 25+ mph winds on Hardy Toll Road. Really difficult to keep power low without losing all speed. The road is pretty wide and the southbound lanes of HTR are shut down for 2-way bike traffic. Phenomenal to have ZERO cars for such a large section of 112 bike! But – tons of drafting, tons of people passing on the right, no one saying ‘on your left’. Lots of wrecks. Entire course was concrete with bits of brick/stone. Tons of debris on breakdown lane/shoulders. Course was very well marked and well supported. All major bumps/cracks/etc either marked or a volunteer pointing it out.
Refs didn’t seem to be preventing drafting or unsafe riding; they seemed to be focusing only on the pros. We did hear afterwards that they were unable to safely drive on the HTR during the 2nd loop, because of the high winds and numbers of racers.
Watching the pro men & women fly by was pretty cool – and they were all respectful. Lots of the faster age-groupers were not so respectful. Lots of people with flats just waiting for sag (why don’t they know how to change a flat???). On course race mechanics were great though – fixed my rear brake (it was rubbing on my back tire so bad that the wheel was nearly locked up - for the first 80ish miles!) and it looked like they were rescuing all the flat tire folks. Funny fact: as a cyclist, I experienced for the first time the thought that if one of my crank arms would just fall off, I could just stop biking and that would be AMAZING!
At the turnaround, AMAZING! Mile 41ish to 62ish: Wind at your back really gave an awesome push – from 7mph on the way out at times, to 30+ on the way back with very little power. And of course you can finally hear yourself think. There was one spot on the way back that was quite rough, lots of people lost bottles, nutrition, and gear and even visors on the HTR – we had to go around them!
Having Brook on the bike course was amazing and uplifting – he was at mile 10, 38, and 80, TriPosse flag flying. Same!
Special needs was around mile 65, a little later than expected – just in time! Volunteers gave bags but didn’t help other than that. Porta-potties were right there though, which was helpful, and no lines. I welcomed the break and sat down for several minutes. I ate ALL the food in my bag! Also used porta-potty , and probably stuck around a couple minutes longer than needed. I had been expecting Dom to catch up to me for at least the last 40 miles, so when he showed up and looked pretty grim, I was worried and didn’t want to leave him. He made me leave haha!
Mile 62ish to 83ish: 2nd loop of headwind was ROUGH! Lots of mental talks, and power effort was down. Aid stations were great on the bike – the Boy Scouts were amazing! Didn’t try the Mortal Hydration. I stopped by Brook and had a mechanic stop and fix my brake rubbing – better late than never – finally better!
Mile 83ish to 104ish: SO amazing to turn around after the 2nd fight with headwind, but the tailwind isn’t as advantageous when your legs are fried from all that headwind! Speeds down but still helped with the tailwind. We both passed more people on this section because people were dropping from the pushing. Lots of accidents ☹
Mile 104ish to the finish 112: It was awesome to be Off the HTR but the windy nature of the roads were slow going at this point. Felt good to be out of the wind. Longest 8 miles ever, except for the headwind parts 😉. There was a large bump that wasn’t marked, but a volunteer was right there to point it out and save my teeth from rattling right out of my mouth.
That bike course was way hillier than advertised and discussed by previous participants. Going up a hill with a 25+ mph headwind is quite debilitating – 7 mph is soooo not fun. Approx. 2000 feet elevation according to Garmins.
Those windy practice rides on the beach saved our butts! If Dom hadn’t had the severe brake rubbing, he woulda kicked butt on that course. We knew the wind was there and we were prepared. Without wind prep, this course should not be attempted!
If wearing cycling socks, need to put chip on the outside, or maybe vaseline – mine rubbed really bad. We need to test this!
The bike is where things got dicey. I knew I was the last TriPosse member to reach the bike, but I had no idea how far behind I was. My goal was to just ride my race, I had plenty of time and I didn’t want to kill myself early. The initial 10 mile down and back was easy. I saw the other 4 members and kind of guessed where they were, but again, I didn’t overextend myself. After the u-turn, I saw Brook and he told me that Madison was about 1 min ahead of me, and I ended up catching her at the mile 10 aid station, where we both had to avoid a crash. Continued on, the next 10 miles was fairly simple to navigate. A few turns, but it went quick. Then came the Hardy Toll Road.
As soon as I got on the Hardy, I felt my rear tire go flat. It was a puncture. That took me about 30min to get back on the road. While I was stuck, Madison waved and passed by. After I got back on the road, I headed into the wind for the next 20 miles. That wind was BRUTAL, and to be honest, I am not sure brutal accurately described it. It was tough. I just tried to keep forward momentum, while not drafting in the pelotons that were on the course. I caught Madison again around mile 38 or so, just before the turn around, where again a rider fell. The first hard part was done.
The tailwind section was INSANE! I was struggling to push more than 140W and couldn’t figure out why. The wind assist had me riding between 24-26mph. It was a dream. I knew this would save my race. Each 5 mile interval was 8-9 minutes faster than the 5 mile intervals in the opposite direction. I hit the U-turn and knew the fun was over.
I made a quick stop at special needs to get more food and water, and was on my way. Not even 5 miles later, as a ride was passing me, the wind blew me into one of the joints on the road, and my front tire got stuck and I flipped over my handlebars. After gathering myself and looking at my bike, my derailleur was bent into my rear tire and things were scratched, but I had to keep going. I pulled the derailleur out from the tire and tried to ride again, but a few hundred feet later, I felt my rear tire was flat again.
This flat was a long delay as I had no more tubes or CO2 for the repair and had to wait on maintenance…… 80 MINUTES LATER, maintenance came and repaired my flat, and checked my derailleur, and I was on my way. At this point my race became about chasing cutoff-times. I pedaled hard into the wind for the next 15 miles or so, knowing that any other setback was the end of my race for sure. Gritting my teeth with the pain that my right foot/ankle/leg were in, I just had to keep going. I made the cutoff at mile 80 by SECONDS. Back into the fast leg I went. Going as fast as I could, I made the final turn and was on my way back to transition. These were the most painful 10 miles of the bike. But I made it.. Bike time: 8:21:05 (Goal: 5:26:25)

T-2:

Really good again!
We handed bikes off at the entrance – volunteers were great.
Removing shoes is recommended before the long trek to get your bag. Athletes run along the edge of the bike racks and then downhill on the outside of the bag area, then you have to u-turn and go up the hill to get your bag – a little rough. But lots of spectator and volunteer cheers, and the volunteers help you locate your bag. I was so happy to be off the bike, I threw my shoes down dramatically, which made spectators and volunteers chuckle. 2 of my toes on my right foot were crazy painful – no idea why, but thankfully it went away after the first mile or so of the run.
You go in the tent in the opposite direction from T-1, and no one-on-one volunteer help for T-2. But they had trays of ice, water, sunscreen, etc. Porta-potties are right there.
I rolled into transition less than 30 minutes before the cutoff. Hobbling through transition, I told my wife that I was just going to try and finish. I knew I was at least 8 miles behind anyone on my team, but it wasn’t about that. I got changed and went on my way. T2 Time: 12:31 (Goal: 6:00)

RUN:

3 loops around the waterway.
One nasty steep grass hill – 3x! Brutal! But short. This hill beat me! More explanation below.
Spectators were phenomenal!
Lots of twists and turns but separate sections broke it up into easier blocks for mental purposes.
Unfortunately, after mile 9, there was very little running for me. The first loop was a struggle, but I was moving decently. Run/walk in many different patterns, but trying to maintain at least 3 min run/1 min walk. But in the middle of my second time up that nasty ol grass hill, my body said NO MORE! My body gave out, and after lots of thinking and analyzing, I’m fairly certain it was not a bonk. I believe it was more than likely the cancer and cancer treatments and continuing meds, and my body not healed 100%. Around mile 10 and the giant row of porta-potties from the swim start, I finally decided to stop and wait for Dom to catch up. We walked together until the end!
Hippie Hollow was all it was cracked up to be, and the tri-club area was a close second – lots of good energy. Random groups of spectators will look up your name on the tracker and cheer for you by name – pretty amazing each time it happens 😊 Lots of people encouraged and cheered for Fxck Cancer too. I really enjoyed the Enchanted Forest, but my already negative head space just got screwier with the dark twisty path, and I even got dizzy a couple times. The walk was tough! Gorgeous homes on Majesty Row.
Definitely need a hat light for Enchanted Forest after dark, parking lot areas, and even some of the dark road sections.
Spectators in kayaks in the canal were cool, Brook again was EVERYwhere, SO encouraging to have a sherpa following us around and giving updates on our other folks! He said the e-bike was perfect and gave him the ability to get around more.
Had to run behind and thru the big row of porta-potties at North Shore (swim start) on each lap. Made me nauseous, but Helen liked it because she got to pee and can’t smell anything anyway haha!
Special needs is at North Shore, and you can only access it once – but on any of the 3 laps. This is kind of a neat feature, since normally you don’t have options.
There’s a bell to ring about a half mile from the finish, and they announce your name too. Then the finish – you go up a little incline, then onto the city street, then down the hill next to the chute. Then a u-turn that wrenched my knee, before you run Uphill to the finish! At the u-turn I looked back for Dom and he had almost hit the barricade on the opposite side of the road, made me laugh! We finished hand in hand – most emotional finish in a loooonnng time.
The run was HOT at first. My heart rate felt like it was 160+ from the start, but it was only in the 130s. The run was painful. My foot didn’t want to run, but I kept on trying. I knew I was slow, but I kept pushing. Unfortunately I had to walk more than I ran.
The run course was beautiful. I knew it was from my time there in January, but what I didn’t expect was the amount of supporters along the canal. That was the most supported run I have ever seen. The only parts that were lacking support were between miles 1-5. Everything else was so busy you felt like you were a celebrity. Hippie Hollow was everything it was cracked up to be. It was loud, and exciting and got you hyped for sure.
Unfortunately, I could only muster enough strength and grit to finish 1 lap of the course. The pain was too much to take, but even after the first lap, I knew I would have missed the cutoff. So I turned in my timing chip and took the DNF. Not my favorite part of the race, but it is what it is. Run Time: 9 miles in 2:40:02 (goal 5:11:47).

Post-race:

They had Finish Line catchers to make sure we were ok, but they were a little annoying lol. Dom and Britt both got massages and enjoyed them. Food was as usual less than ideal. Who wants a banana/oranges/chips at the end of an Ironman?? There was crappy pizza, and the burritos were ok. And no cookies ☹.
Roads being shut down still made it a little challenging to get to transition to get bikes and gear and get to the truck at the church.
We were VERY grateful for Brook’s help post-race! It would be very difficult to navigate post-race without a sherpa, because of how spread out things are.
I will definitely be back to finish this race. I should have CRUSHED it.. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t my day.
I am so happy to have completed this race. I’m also happy to have enjoyed the day (until I didn’t – mile 10-26 on the run!) I would love to do this race again, but not until I’m certain that it’s a good idea again. I’ll stick to 70.3 and shorter for a bit.
I’ve struggled with what to say about this race. My heart was never in it, nor did I know my why. I viewed it as a FAILURE immediately after, but since I’ve had time to properly reflect on it, I now view it as I just didn’t succeed on that day. I was able to help my partner & teammate to finish and anytime you can do that I call it a WIN! Part of me would like to do this race again to see how I would do on that bike course not having a mechanical, but I did not actually enjoy the bike course or the massive, blatant, rampant cheating pelotons.

Luis Lafer-Sousa