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This episode is the crown jewel of the ZenTri podcast. I record before, during, and after the IronBaby; ZenTri's annual self-supported Iron-distance triathlon.
We started out with a 2.4 mile swim in "Lake Ironbaby". It's a 25 meter community pool with no lane ropes, no lane lines, and even no markings on the walls. It's like swimming in a white abyss; more challenging than you'd think! 155 lengths gets you 2.4 miles. Six swimmers in that thing created a nice amount of open-water chop, making it quite a trip. A good swim for sure.
A quick check of the water with the Suunto Ambit2 before we started showed it to be chilling at around 68 to 69 degrees. That called for wetsuits. I thought it would be tough to do turns in one, but it wasn't at all.
A quick review of the racers and distances: Phil and I did the full swim, bike, and run. Matt, April, and Stacy did the half-distance. Gary had IM Florida coming up soon, so he did the full swim, bike, and then ran a short while after he finished the bike to see how his legs felt.
Alright, back to the race! We all finished swimming around the same time and headed back to my house just two miles away to start the bike.
It's tradition to mark your lap count on the driveway with kids sidewalk chalk. It keeps you from forgetting which of the four bike laps or nine (yes, NINE) run laps you are on.
Athletes are required to self-support, so the easiest thing to do is put whatever you think you'll need in your own cooler for quick access. Here's mine.
You can see small bottles of BeetIt beet juice in there. They are kick-ass shots of liquid VO2 Max. Love it!
I rocked a 12:35 finishing time, then gathered myself together enough to snap this blurry picture of Phil crossing the finish line. Go, Phil!
I definitely wanted to go faster, but my stomach wasn't having it that day. Gary, on the other hand, was setting a blistering pace on the bike and run. If he went all the way, he would have smoked us!
Speaking of stomachs, I want to give a shout out to Freebirds Burritos. They are the coolest burrito shop you could imagine and they brought lots of food for us and our families. Here's a shot of the inside of their store on Rock Prairie Road for an idea of how crazy these folks are.
Amrita also sent a ton of their bars for us to use and hand out. I should have eaten more of these on the bike instead of that gel stuff that made me queasy! I'll remember that next time. They taste incredible.
We had all this great stuff set up under a giant Specialized tent loaned to us by our local bike shop, Aggieland Cycles. And then under that tent, we had a keg of ale sponsored by New Republic Brewery! Talk about awesome! Maybe I'll post more pics of that once we throw the HOA off our trail. :)
Emily had a banner made up that hung from the tent. We looked totally pro! Nobody is going to confuse us with Ironman, but I think Emily just found the edge of my comfort level. I don't need any letters delivered by certified mail, if you know what I mean.
While I was putting this post together, I stumbled across the picture of Kai and I podcasting together in 2005. This wasn't too long after IronBaby #1.
I really love that picture. There is so much history going on in one shot!
That wraps up the blog post, but there is TONS more in the podcast. Make sure you check it out. And a huge thank you goes out to everybody involved. The IronBaby is a living symbol of what people can do when sufficiently motivated. Keep. It. Up.
Monday, March 24, 2014 at 7:56AM 
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