It has been a while since my last post, but after Ironman Texas 2015, I feel I should elaborate on my experience.
After a great 2014 season, I started 2015 with a decent endurance base and I felt even stronger than the previous year.
With only a few races leading up to my most important race this season (Ironman Texas) I was pretty confident I would do well. However, I should have treated IM Texas with a bit more respect and not just take it like another race in my scheduled season.
The following is where I think I went wrong in my preparation leading up to IM Texas:
Two weeks prior to the race after all the training has been done, I perhaps made one of the biggest mistakes you can make before an Ironman, 1) I didn't eat properly, 2) I didn't get the right amount of sleep. Even with a decrease in intensity and volume in my training, I arrived at the start tired, with little to no energy.
The first sign that something went wrong right from the first leg, I was feeling hungry not even half way through the swim. While on the bike it didn't matter how much of my nutrition I took in, my body was not absorbing anything as evidenced by my stomach feeling full, but getting no response nor energy at all from my muscles.
My main goal for this race was an increase in points towards IM World Championships, which meant I had to finish in top six, so by mile 70 I made a hard but practical decision to finish the race early. My watts were low, I wasn't catching anybody and I was barely moving like I usually do on the bike. As I said above, It wasn't easy to stop my race, since this was my first DNF (except Kona, where I raced injured) at an Ironman event. For me just to keep moving and to finish another Ironman with the way I felt that day didn't make any sense. Sorry if I disappointed some of my friends and followers, I will recharge my batteries and you will see me at the start and the finish line of Ironman Coeur D'Alene at the end of June.
