Ironman Texas 2014 Preview

Next weekend, Amber will be toeing the line for her first 140.6 race of the season. We will be heading to the Woodlands in Texas next Thursday. She started her season off well in Florida and is looking to capitalize on her off-season training. Believe me, she has been putting in the hours. She ran a 5.5K this past weekend in 18:13 in the midst of a 5+ hour bike ride! While none of that sounds appealing to me, it does mean that she is likely to be coming into Texas ready to rip it!

This will be her first Ironman on her new Argon 18 bike fitted with Enve wheels, which she loves and is looking to ride her way to a PR on the bike. With the way the Kona qualifying works for pros, every race is important, but big ones like this can make a huge difference in whether she makes it to the big island in October.

The race itself is going to be interesting. With this exceptionally long winter, she hasn't had many opportunities to acclimate to the heat and humidity which is sure to be a factor in a town 20 minutes outside Houston. Judging by the course map, while there doesn't look like any long climbs, the course does have over 3,600 feet of elevation gain so won't be a pancake flat course either. The run looks to also be constantly up or down with very little flat terrain. Hills are good for Amber! Amber eats them for breakfast :) In reality, it makes for a more fair course and one that Amber can really make up some time.
As with last year, the pro fields just seem to be getting deeper and deeper and Texas looks to be no different. As of 5/8/2014, this is the most current start list and you can see that there will be several Ironman champions lining up to race:

1.       Kelly Williamson

2.       Bree Wee

3.       Julia Gajer

4.       Sarah Piampiano

5.       Jackie Arendt

6.       Karen Thibodeau

7.       Jennie Hansen

8.       Suzy Serpico

9.       April Gellatly

10.   Eva Wutti

11.   Sara Gross

12.   Olesya Prystayko

13.   Rachel Jastrebsky

14.   Corrie Kristick

15.   Christine Fletcher

16.   Tamara Kozulina

17.   Jocelyn Cornman

18.   Palmira Alvarez

19.   Amy Javens

20.   Tami Ritchie

21.   Cindy Lewis

22.   Ali Black

23.   Christina Jackson

24.   Amber Ferreira

25.   Jessica Meyers

26.   Heather Leiggi

27.   Jacqui Gordon

28.   Kristina Wiegand

29.   Lindsay Ludlow

30.   Rahel Bellinga

Make sure to send all your good vibes to Amber on May 17th.