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Just over 2,000 athletes started the race, but the high temperatures and wind forced a record number to drop out, with only 1,690 completing the race.
Dr. Rachel Heard was there in an attempt to finish her first Ironman-length triathlon. Heard is a full-time dentist in Victoria. She is married to Dr. Rick Heard, a periodontist, and they have two children, Richard, 9, and Reagan, 7. She is also an active volunteer in the community and in the local chapter of The American Dental Society.
Heard serves as a board member in both The Junior League of Victoria and The Victoria Ballet Theater.
She also serves as vice president of the Victoria-area American Dental Society.
Now she can add completing an Ironman to her list of long achievements. She crossed the line in an impressive time of 13 hours, 48 minutes, 58 seconds. She did the 2.4-mile swim in 1:33:13; the 112-mile bike ride in 7:06:48; and the 26.2-mile run in 4:52:02.
Feeling Strong
Heard credits good and consistent training with helping her to feel strong throughout the day of the race.
“I never had used a coach before, but used one this time to help me train,” she said. “I felt better during the Ironman than in any of the previous half-Ironman races I’ve done.”
Training for an Ironman race can be grueling and time-consuming.
Throw on top of that long hours at work, two children, and volunteer obligations, and you can begin to see the sacrifices Heard had to make in order to cross that finish line.
“Most mornings, I would get up at 4 a.m. to get the two to three hours of training in for the day,”Heard said.
Her long bike rides were done on Fridays, her day off from work during the week. Long bike rides were typically 4 to 6 hours long on Fridays and she usually would have a long run of 2 to 3 hours on Saturdays.
One weekend, she got up at 3:30 a.m. to get her long run in so that she could take her daughter and some other girls to Corpus Christi for a Hannah Montana concert. Heard is the kind of woman never to miss any type of commitment, whether it is to family, work, or in her volunteering.
The Race
Even though Heard had been nervous in the weeks leading up to the race, she held her composure and was fairly calm the day before the race.
“I was most worried about the swim portion as that is my weakest sport of the three,” she said.
Heard came out of the water about 15 minutes quicker than she had anticipated.
“I was so focused on the swim and then I did much better than I thought I would,” she said.
The bike leg, which is typically Rachel’s strongest portion, ended up being the toughest for her both mentally and physically.
“I wasn’t prepared mentally for how tough the bike would be,”she said.
“The winds were supposed to be 4 mph and they ended up being 18 to 20 mph head and crosswinds.”
This is particularly challenging for endurance triathletes as there is no drafting allowed in the longer-length triathlons.
“I kept looking down at my speedometer and couldn’t figure out why I was going so slowly,”she said. “Once I figured out how strong the winds were and knew on the second part of each loop I would have a tailwind, I was fine.”
Heard felt great on the run and even picked it up in the last mile so that another competitor wouldn’t pass her.
“I think I was running between an 8- and a 9-minute mile pace the last mile,” Heard said.
Thoughts on The Ironman
Heard never thought about quitting.
“I physically felt great,” she said. “The bike was a little mentally trying, but when I was out there thinking of all the sacrifices I had made, there was no way I was going to quit.”
Heard hesitated when asked if she would compete in another Ironman.
“The training took a lot of time away from my family,” she said. “It was tough with work and other commitments, so I won’t be doing another one anytime soon. Maybe sometime down the road.”
Missy Janzow is the running and fitness columnist for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-574-1206 or sports@vicad.com.