As many of you know, I did the Ironman Texas 2014 in The Woodlands over the weekend. Many of you have also asked for a race recap, so this is my attempt to do that. I always like reading race recaps that were as detailed and honest as possible, so I apologize ahead of time for the length of this post.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me give you some stats of what the training looked like for this race. My longest week of training was a little over 16 hours, in April. I started training for IMTX in October, working with Ben Drezek of KMF, and between then and now swam approximately 40 miles, biked a little over 2000 miles and ran a little over 460 miles. My training volume was not nearly as high as some of the plans you will find online, but I started the race without any nagging injuries and feeling about as good as I could hope. My coach Ben tailored my workouts to my needs and I was able to avoid any overuse injuries during my training.

A few weeks before the IMTX I raced the Texas Man X-50 as a training day. A story for a different day, but I had a medical issue in the swim that left me short of breath and with a raspy sore lung for about a week. Because of that, I swore off my wet-suit and was happy that IMTX is always a non-wet-suit swim. However, fluke weather gave us the first wet-suit legal IMTX ever. So, the stage was set. I was going to be in my wet-suit.

We arrived in The Woodlands Thursday with plenty of time to check in and hit up the athlete village. I had forgotten my compression calf sleeves so Shelly found me some really cool m-dot 2XU sleeves at the expo and I also picked up a cool shirt. That night we hit up the banquet. The food was decent but the music was too loud to really talk much, plus the kids were bone tired and ready to sleep so we bugged out early. We did get to hear some cool inspirational stories, including a guy that lost 200 lbs and missed the cutoff by a couple of minutes last year, and returned this year to finish it. (He did by the way). Friday I got my bags and bike setup, and we left to take them to transition. At this point we hit the first hiccup as the car battery was completely toast. By God’s grace, an oil and lube place next to the hotel, that literally had 5 batteries in the building, had the right size we needed. The manager brought it over to the hotel and put it in for me and we got to the transition on time. A true blessing. Our hotel, The Drury Inn, had dinner for their guests that was geared towards the athletes. Bland spaghetti, potatoes, and the like. So we ate and went to bed early. Side note, spectating is super hard as well, especially with four kids. So we all tried to get extra rest.







The night before the race I woke up about 3-4 times sure that I had overslept my alarm. I finally got up at 4 and got my jammers and warm ups on, grabbed my morning bag and family and we went to the lobby. I ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and we drove to the parking garage. From their we made the 1/2 mile hike to transition and I aired up my tires and filled my bottles. We then walked the mile or so to the swim start.

At the swim start I dropped my special needs bags at the various spots and hung out with Shelly waiting for the event to start. (Special needs bags are just bags you pack whatever you want into, that you get halfway through the run and bike). At this point it was about 6:20 or so and I was getting extremely nervous. My previous open water swim had gone so wrong that I was pretty much terrified. I tried to calm down and go over my plan in my head, and just take in the time with the family, but that swim was looming. The lines to the bathrooms were 30 deep at all 35 stalls, so I just waited with the fam.

About 6:40 they had the pros get up to the start line which was my cue to get my wet-suit, swim cap, and goggles on. I had Shelly hose me down with some glide spray and then I donned the suit. I kissed Shelly and made my way to the dock. About 6:50 the cannon went off and pros were off. The rest of us were then told to get in the water. As we were herded in I made my way to the left and hung on the dock. I let some water in my suit and kept dunking my head to get fully acclimated. The swim start was really magnificent. They were playing U2’s “It’s a Beautiful Day” and the crowd was really energized. I tried to take it in and enjoy it, but keeping the terror at bay was my main concern. The cannon finally went off at 7:00 and the open water combat began.

My plan all along, was to stay to the back of the pack and go out as slow as possible, and work my speed up if I felt good. I literally hung on to the dock and waited about 5 minutes after the start before I even started swimming. So at 7:05, I swam out and sighted my first landmark, and took off. I barely even was kicking at this point, as the suit was keeping me horizontal, and I just swam mostly arms. I got a good rhythm going, and felt great. Anytime I felt myself speeding up, and my hr ticking up, I backed off, wanting to hold back. Before I knew it, I was already at the first turn buoy. (The course was about a mile out, about 1200m back, and then about 800-1000m in the canal to the finish). I made the turn, swam about a 100m or so, and then made the left turn again to start heading back.

The swim literally could not have gone better. Faster than I could believe I was already turning into the canal. At this point I remembered I wanted to kick it up a bit, so I started swimming a little harder, kicking a little more and pulling a little more. The canal was great, with spectators on both sides cheering for everybody. I only got kicked a few times, nothing major, and the worst thing I saw was somebody swimming exactly sideways. (Really hope he fixed that at some point. ). I got to the finish ladders at about 1:40, which means I swam for 1:35 plus my 5 minute wait. I was super stoked with that time and made my way to the wetsuit strippers and then on to transition. I saw Ben at this point and told him I was feeling great. I looked at my Garmin and saw that I swam 2.65miles, so clearly I weaved a bit, but my time was great and I felt great.

In transition, a volunteer got me some water, and then I sat down and changed. I dried off as best I could and put my bike gear on. I had my next snafu here, in that I couldn’t get my heart rate monitor to pair with my garmin. I had planned on using HR on the bike to guage my efforts, but ended just throwing the strap back into the bag and getting on my way. I handed my bag to the volunteer and headed out of the tent to get my bike. (Side note here, the volunteers at IMTX are absolutely amazing. I didn’t look or perform like a pro racer, but I felt treated like a pro athlete. Absolutely amazing. ). I ran through the sunscreen area, and as promised to Shelly, got three different volunteers to apply sunscreen. I probably looked like I was dipped in ranch at that point, but I did finish the race with no sunburn, so I did something right. I grabbed my bike and headed to the mount line.

At this point, I saw Shelly and the kids. It was a real pick me up, and I felt great heading out on the bike. The plan I had worked out with my coach was to take it super easy the first 30-40 miles and hang on the remaining 70. The course is lots of rollers, not much flat, but plenty of good views and is usually a tailwind on the way out and a bit of a headwind on the way in. Very quickly I learned that this day was going to be different. That storm and slightly cooler weather (87F instead of 95F) also meant gusting 20+mph winds. I had a headwind for most of the first 32 miles and I was thinking “well at least it will be at my back on the way in”. I stuck to my nutrition plan, drinking as much water as I wanted and eating real food every 15-20 minutes. I was trying to take in about 350 cals an hour, mostly carbs. I also was taking 1 saltpill every other aid station (every 20 miles) and my stomach and everything felt great.

The first 40 miles or so I stayed out of aero and tried not to push per my plan. I was averaging about 17mph and feeling great. At this point, we started heading back east as well as north, and the winds started changing direction. I started getting lots of cross winds, as well as stronger head winds. By about mile 70, past special needs, I started feeling a little dehydrated and started getting bad leg cramps. To work against that, I started drinking more water and upped my salt pills to 2 every other aid station, and added in some bananas and perform. By mile 85-90, I was feeling better, but I couldn’t eat any more real food. I hit some GU at the next couple of aid stations, and finally rolled into transition about 4:45pm. My bike time was about 7:45 or so, and my avg was slighly below 15. Not nearly as fast as I hoped. My Garmin was showing me keeping a strong 16 riding, but I was stopping at every aid station to stretch out the cramps and refill my water bottles. I literally was drinking about 24 ounces of water every 15 minutes and I was losing the hydration battle. (I really didn’t get back hydrated till about mile 13 on the run, but more on that later). I wasn’t as happy with my bike time as I wanted to be. I really wanted to be in my 4pm at the latest, but after the fact learned that a ton of people dropped out on the back half of the bike or missed the cutoff all together. The wind was brutal on everyone, but at 265, I am a wind sail, so it took it’s toll.

I saw Shelly and the kids, and my dad and nephew at the bike dismount. I quickly said hi, and was picked up again by them and the great crowds. I handed my bike to a volunteer, grabbed my bag, and headed to the tent. I got changed, and headed back out to run that marathon. I saw Shelly again at the timing strip and headed through sunscreen once again. I then began the real race for me, the race against the clock.

In a perfect world, I think I could have finished between 15 and 15:30. But just a few things going different can push the race out. In my case, the winds pushed my bike long, which meant instead of having 8 hours on the run, I had 7. At the Cowtown, I had some cramping issues on the back half and ran a 6:45. So looking at my watch and doing calculations in my head (something I pretty much did all day, but I digress), I started realizing I needed to match my marathon to finish on time. After having done a 2.4mile swim and a 112mile bike.

The run at IMTX is really awesome. It is three 8+mi loops, about half on the canal (kinda like the river walk in San Antonio. Shops, restaurants, etc..) and about half through the parks around the lake and a really nice neighborhood. There was a small section out on the road and the bridge over the lake, where there were not many spectators (but still some), but otherwise it was absolutely packed with spectators. The crowd really gets into it, with tons of funny signs, costumes, and people. Lots of high fives and encouragement. All in all, a really fantastic run course.

As I started the run, I felt as good as I expected. I had strong legs, and no lingering rubbery legs from the ride, so I felt ready to go. I walked for about 2 minutes and then broke into a run. My plan was to control when I ran and when I walked. Starting my first loop, I ran 9 mins, walked 1, ran 8 mins, walked 2, ran 7 mins, walked 3, and then repeated. I was able to keep this up the entire first loop, and finished it in I think about 2:10. As I started the second loop, I started having severe calf and groin cramps, and started walking a lot more. I started repeating 7 min runs, 3 min walks, then 6 min runs, 4 min walks, and by the time I made it back to the canal, I was just straight walking. I hit a couple of bathroom breaks in there as my hydration finally kicked in. I was hitting water and perform and a gel at each aid station (every mile) for the first two loops. I saw my coach, Ben, once I got to the canal. He walked beside the course for a bit and gave me the low down on my time. I also saw my family on the bridge and it definitely picked up my spirits.

I knew, around mile 13, that I was slowing way down. As I said earlier, I also was continuously doing calculations. My mental state was deteriorating over that second loop. Going in, I had no doubts that I would finish. But on that second loop, the doubts came on strong. I started thinking I might not make it in time. I started imagining my family watching me either quit, or finish too late. The thoughts started to weight me down, almost literally. I thought that there was a 9:30 cutoff somewhere, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what mile it was at. I heard a guy behind me tell his running mate the cutoff was 9pm at mile 19. I knew I could never make that and I was getting very disheartened. (Turns out he was way wrong. The cutoff was mile 17 at 9:50). As I turned into the canal on that second loop, and after telling the umpteenth person that , no, it was my 2nd loop, not 3rd, I ran into Ben. He told me I was slowing down, but that was normal. He told me not to worry about the cutoff, I still had time. He told me that it was gut check time. That I had to power walk, and run whenever I could, no matter the pain, to make it in time. He gave me exactly what I needed, at the exact time I needed it. He told me it would be dark out there, and not fun, but that I could do it. As I came around the end of the second lap, I passed the chute to the finish and started my third lap. Shelly and the kids were waiting on the side of the canal just down the way and gave me much needed boost.

As I got out of the canal, and out on to the street and parks, the darkest hours came to me. I had to run less than a 6:45 marathon ( I had to PR my marathon basically ). I was walking, and every time I tried to run my legs would lock up in severe cramps. I was in the dark not yet at mile 20 and my mind was telling me to just quit. To just sit down and wait for them to take me in. It was telling me I would never make it. That I had failed. I imagined my kids, being so disappointed, and Shelly feeling so bad for me. I thought about all the hard work and sacrifices she made to support my training and me during the race. A kind older gentlemen came by me power walking, and he asked me if I could walk 12 min miles. He said if I could, I could make it. I knew that I couldn’t walk that fast then. Both calves had rippling cramps from knee to Achilles. I quickly prayed, for the seemingly millionth time, for the strength to finish. And then I did what I knew I had to do. I started running.

My legs cramped beyond belief and the ball of my left foot felt like someone was touching a lit match to it. But I knew I couldn’t stop. Not for anything. At this point I started getting dizzy, so at the next aid station I downed some more flat coke and chicken broth (pretty much lived off of that on lap 3) but I kept running. I ran the entire last 6.2 miles. Not fast, by any means, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t do it just for me. I did it for my family, for my friends that were watching back home, for my coach that believed in me. I did it because God answered my prayer and gave me the strength that I sure didn’t have any more.

And at 11:40pm I entered the finish chute. I somehow ran a 6:30 marathon, a personal best. I gave every person that wanted it a high five. I found Shelly and the kids and hugged and kissed them all. I gave Mike Reilly a low five and crossed the finish line. I’ll never forget hearing those words, “Jeremy Pope, you are an Ironman”.

It was an unbelievable feeling to finally have made it. To have succeeded, when so many times I wanted to quit, when I knew I would fail. Only later did I find out how many people had stayed up to watch me finish live online. It was truly humbling to know that many people cared and were pulling for me. Every note, email, text and facebook post meant the world to me. After I hobbled to the car and to the hotel, I read every one of them. Thank you all so much for the support.

A very special thanks to my coach, Ben Drezek. And especially my wife, the moon of my life ;), Shelly. Thanks so much for all your support and all you have done for me. I can’t wait to share this journey with you next year as you do your Ironman. Just wait guys, she will blow me out of the water.

-Jeremy