Strength in suffering: Athletes prepare for Ironman race
Worldwide event set to push limits of human ability
The athletes sat on warm pavement under the strong Texas sun, listening to the details of the grueling day to come.
It was midday Thursday in a parking lot in the heart of The Woodlands, less than 48 hours before the Ironman triathlon competition was scheduled to kick off there for the eighth year in a row. The suburban Houston course, not without past problems, was favored by some who competed here before, bringing an economic boost to the region.
Here was a group of people intending to do something that, in the minds of many, was insane. Beginning at sunrise Saturday, nearly 3,000 athletes, representing 53 countries and every state in America, were set to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles, crossing the finish line by midnight.
Ironman races take place all over the world. This year, locations include Nice, France; Frankfurt, Germany; and Lake Placid, New York. The Woodlands
race — designated the North American Championship — offered a particular draw: more coveted qualifying spots than any other North American, full-distance race to compete in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. The top male and female professional qualify automatically.
Seated in the parking lot were people who had invested thousands of dollars on competitions and gear, people who had set aside 15 or 20 hours a week, at a minimum, for years to train — sometimes on top of jobs, sometimes balancing family life, always making sacrifices.
“This is our job, our part-time job,” said Laura Aguirre, 30, of Houston. “This is our social life.”
Each had his or her own story to tell: the 18-year-old who set his mind on finishing an Ironman course at age 8, the 35-year-old who is blind, the 55-year-old who will pull his 24-year-old son with Cerebral Palsy in a boat as he swims, tug him in a chariot as he bikes and push him in a race chair as he runs, until they walk the final mile together.
Aguirre, who will compete alongside Houstonians she has trained with for years, planned to repeat to herself a mantra: “There is strength to be found in suffering.”
No one expected it would be easy. But for now, at ease in the parking lot, they could enjoy the festivities of “Ironman Village,” decorating signs, testing muscle recovery technology, trying on sunglasses. They could chart out the race path along clear roadways and leafy streets. They could perhaps get one more full night of sleep, before their nerves kicked in.
So much led up to this point. Last year, while competing on this course, a 54-year-old man from the area was transported to a hospital and died.
The announcer prepared to go through the warnings and details.
“Welcome to Texas!” he yelled to the crowd.
Planning for the unexpected
Located an hour’s drive north of Houston, The Woodlands is the among the region’s oldest, best-known master-planned communities. It was designed with outdoor space in mind. In some ways, it was built for an event like this.
Still, when Ironman first approached The Woodlands about hosting a race there, community leaders took time to consider it, recalled John Powers, assistant general manager for The Woodlands Township. They understood that, if they got it right, the event was one that occurred time and again.
The potential economic impact was significant: thousands of tourists this year are expected to spend $15 million in hotels, stores and restaurants over days. For all the traffic headaches, the event was also a chance to show off the area.
Race organizers promote the suburb as walkable, close to airports and complete with a lively downtown. It was voted by athletes as the best host city experience in 2017, according to the Ironman website.
The course is known among competitors to be fast, meaning, as Houstonians well know, it is flat. Some professional athletes train here months before the race. Others moved here because of it.
“I am confident that you will find the courses safe, the scenery spectacular, and the Texas hospitality friendly,” Greg Pennington, the race director, wrote in a participant booklet. “I am sure this area will not disappoint.”
The race Saturday begins at the glistening Lake Woodlands, where athletes will swim a path marked by buoys as the sun rises. They will then strip out of their swimsuits and change into cycling gear, clipping shoes into bikes shipped from homes many miles away.
The next part is where the race saw problems in years past. In 2016, Montgomery County Commissioner Charlie Riley, several months before the race, said the cycling portion could not go through his precinct as planned because of road construction. Worries surfaced about finding a path through the increasingly dense area in future years.
Bad weather also halted the 2016 race, then held in May, for 48 minutes. Galveston, which hosted a half-Ironman earlier this month, made a bid to steal the event away.
This year’s race in The Woodlands will steer toward the smooth Hardy Toll Road, which will be closed to traffic, where competitors will cycle two loops. It is predicted to fall on a warm, but cloudy, Spring day, perhaps cool enough to permit wetsuits in the water.
The grueling day will end back at Lake Woodlands. Athletes will run three laps around it — where spectators, as elsewhere on the course, will have their chance to cheer and perhaps ring forest green cowbells, handed out during check-in, stamped with “The Woodlands.”
‘World-class event’
To compete in an Ironman, racers explained, is to enter a community of people united in an ability to keep going when anyone else would give up. There are no lunch breaks. No time is set aside to catch your breath. It’s a day to push oneself to the brink and be comfortable with it.
Finishing the race will move people to tears. But for Jeff Dahle, 56, who works in farming in Minnesota, it is the lead-up to the race that he loves. The excitement, the precise planning. He and his wife wondered if the rumors about alligators in the lake were true.
For Dave Schwartz, 53, and Henry Novell, 57, both semi-retired, who train with a team in Huntintgon Beach, Calif., it’s the lifestyle of an endurance athlete that draws them. They enjoy the sense of the extreme. This race had an extra draw: Novell, an A&M graduate, grew up in south Texas.
Aguirre, who will be repeating her mantra, has been training in Houston with PR Endurance Sports. She stood Thursday with two of her teammates. They were a cross-section of the diverse, sprawling city: she a consultant from Colombia; Eric Baumgardt, 40, a chief financial officer from Germany for an oil field services company; and Don McShanog, 54, a business owner.
Baumgardt said he had long admired the triathlon. But when he looked at a training schedule, he didn’t think he could do it.
Now, goosebumps crawled across his skin as remembered crossing the finish line at his first full race, with the word “Papa” scrawled on his forearm, in memory of his father, who died before Baumgart accomplished the feat. He now has a tattoo of the Ironman logo on his calf.
“It’s physical strength and mental toughness,” Baumgardt said. “I think people underestimate what is in them to begin with.”
The community support and ample places for cheering are part of the draw of this race, Ironman Regional Director Scott Langen said in a prepared statement. Organizers expect 4,000 volunteers and 20,000 fans Saturday.
“The relationship we have with the community is fantastic,” Langen said. “It’s a world-class event being brought to their front door.”
John Anthony Brown, vice chair of Visit The Woodlands, the area’s marketing organization, said he found the event so inspiring he decided to train for it himself. He hopes to compete in next year’s race. He finds it a natural fit for the community, which he described as active.
“When you get to see that, it motivates you,” he said. “It inspires you.”
Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal said in a prepared statement that he appreciated how the Ironman organization worked with local officials to sort out the roadway issues.
“It’s inspiring to see so many dedicated athletes who have dedicated months to preparing for this grueling event,” Doyal said. “We wish them the very best.”