LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Started swimming and immediately was bombarded with WEEDS. Big, long, crazy weeds at every single stroke. It was like nothing I'd ever swam in before! Took about 200-300 yards to get through them, it was freaky since they were wrapping themselves around my arms and such. The beginning was awesome... no one seemed to want anything to do with the bouey line, and I had a clear line with no one around me whatsoever.

I felt really strong and smooth the entire time. And I had the bouey line to myself the WHOLE race. I still wonder why everyone was sooooo far to the right of me; I'm talking like 10 people wide, I could see them every time I took a breath. But I continued to hug that line and I sighted the best I think I ever have. It was great!

About halfway through, a fishy from the men's 20-24 wave came shooting past me. As he did, he (probably) unintentionally groped me more than once. First it was my calf, then the next stroke it was up on my hamstring. When I sighted, he was passing me and I made sure it was a guy, and then I *innocently* groped him back, haha! Just a little squeeze on his calf, but very intentional. :)

As I swam the final stretch, I found myself thinking that I really didn't want this swim to end. I was LOVING it, and I knew it'd be the last OWS I'd do for awhile. I love the swim. I always will. And this one was no different.

As I neared the shore, I hit the sea of WEEDS again, and this time they were wrapping themselves around my FACE! I had to shake my head a couple of times to shake them free. Yuck. I came out of the water all smiles, even though I had no clue what my time was. I hadn't worn a watch on purpose. Claimed a wetsuit stripper and started the long, LONG run up to transition. Happy girl :)

Nothing. I love the swim, and it loves me back :)

EVERYONE'S T1 times were at least two minutes slower than a normal triathlon, since the run was so long out of the lake, and transition was simply huge.

Found my bike and fumbled with my Garmin for a minute, getting it on. Socks, shoes, sunglasses, hemlet. Had to put everything, including the wet wetsuit, back into the gear bag or I wouldn't get it back. This was a royal pain, and added to my time - boo. Felt like this took forever, probably because it did.

Not fumble so much. Not much I can do about the distance from the lake, or the size of transition, or where my bike was racked.

So I purchased some new-to-me race wheels 2 weeks before the race, and decided what the hey, I'm going to use them! I got about 40 minutes of practice riding on them before the race; not very ideal. In the practice rides, they were volitile and wobbly. They made me nervous and uncomfortable. Those wheels were the biggest factor for any nervousness I'd had prior to the race. But you know what? As soon as I hopped on the bike, I just forgot all about the wheels and rode.

About 4 weeks ago, I started riding with a lady who is a spin instructor and certified USAT coach. We only rode a handful of times, but she gave me so many meaningful pointers on the ride, that even she noticed I'd increased my speed in just a few rides. My goal for this race was to continuously focus on riding solid - without zoning out like I usually do. I was determined, and confident.

Coming out of the lake I immediately noticed the roads were pretty rough. I hoped they would smooth out, because the ride would kind of suck if the roads were like this for 56 miles. But no such luck. The roads were BY FAR the worst I've ever ridden on. Not only the horrid chip seal, but you could tell where parts had recently been "patched up," but instead of making it a smooth riding surface, the new asphalt had bubbled up, making the patches more like speed bumps that needed to be avoided. I appreciate the effort made here, but unfortunately it did no good. Lots of bumps and cracks and gaps in the road; many hazards and the most turns I've ever seen on a race course (which meant slowing down of course).

Despite the bad roads, I was still determined to do well on this course. I forced myself into aero and just hung out there. I constantly reminded myself to use 360-degrees of the pedal stroke, to scrap my heel on the hills, to tighten my core. More than once, I caught myself just as my mind started to drift off, and I'd start counting my pedal strokes (a trick Tom taught me), or tell myself out loud to focus.

For the first race in my life, I was actually passing some people on the bike! And not just one or two. I was riding strong, and I could feel it. I could feel my legs working harder than they ever have before. It was a pretty awesome feeling.

I did see the aftermath of a scary looking wreck. Someone was being put into an ambulace as I rode by. And in the last 20ish miles, I counted probably 10 emergency vehicles of all sorts going the other way. I wondered if something really bad had happened, but I never heard.

Around mile 40, I noticed the wind REALLY pick up. I actually felt as if the wind was in my face the entire ride, even though I knew that was not possible. Some of the cross wind gusts caught my front wheel a few times, but I quickly corrected and made myself forget about the wheels - they were honestly no biggie and I have no idea why I let them freak me out so much before the race.

As I rode into the Expo Center area, I could see runners on the course and OMG there were hundreds and hundreds of people in such a small area. Wow! I saw Tom as I rode in, which made me smile big. Dismounted and ran past three people walking even before I entered transition.

Not a thing. I executed the bike perfectly, and I'm really proud of my time.

Another long transition due to 1) long run to my rack, and 2) we had to open our "Run Gear" bags and get stuff out of it. Things could not have been set out before the race like a normal triathlon. Didn't take a long time, but it did add a little bit.

Re-set the Garmin on the way out of transition so I could pace myself for the run. First time I've ever raced with a Garmin.

Not much. Had to work with the situation as it was.

The course had runners come through the arena to begin the run - which was pretty cool. Lots of cheers and such, but I did notice the stench already - wheeeee-eewwww!

The sun was in and out on my first loop, and I was just trying to find a rhythm. Usually it takes me 2 or 3 miles to warm up on a 70.3 run, so I just kind of waited for it. My goal was to run 10s or 10:15s, which is why I was wearing the garmin to help pace me. The first two miles were just over 10s I think, and I felt good about that. But I was still waiting to hit a groove, and I just... never... did. My legs were heavy and tight, and my heart rate was HIGH. I ran almost all of the fist loop and decided to eat a gu between miles 3 and 4 to see if that would help. But I was just not feeling so hot when I came around to start the 2nd loop. My hamstring-back-of-the-knee thing was bothering me a lot. I saw Tom though, and that really boosted my spirits. I told him my leg hurt and he suggested striding my legs out a bit to loosen them up. He ran with me for a few steps and then I was off for the 2nd loop.

The 2nd loop was mentally pretty tough. I walked up all of the hills, but tried to keep running inbetween. The aid stations were great - but some of them were spaced really close together. I couldn't figure that one out, but I guess better to have too many than not enough? They had lots of great stuff - the normal gels, bars, and drinks, but one had ice cold wet towels - a few had Coke - one had frozen strawberries - really well stocked run course with fun costumes and lots of energy from the volunteers. The sun was hitting me hard on the 2nd loop, and my energy was fading fast. I popped an Enduralyte at one of the aid stations and gagged on it a little - it nearly came right back up. Decided not to take another for fear of vomiting - my tummy was doing some weird stuff it never ever does. Just felt volitile; I wasn't sure whether I needed to pee (hadn't yet), poop (TMI!), or puke. U2 was playing at one of the aid stations which really pepped me up, but after that it was really quiet and a runner even commented beside me how quiet it was. He was right... there were hundreds of people shuffling along the course, but no talking, no laughing, no noises. Just quiet shuffling. It was kinda weird.

At this point I had abandoned my goal time and was just trying to run as much as I could. I knew Tom would be waiting for me and that powered me on the last mile of the 2nd loop. I saw him and told him my tummy was acting funny and that I'd been walking and that I was upset about that. He said "well don't walk anymore!" and told me I could do it and he'd see me in the arena at the finish line. OK. Last loop.

The last loop I just tried to hang on. I was falling apart fast, and doing a run/walk combo at best. I was drinking a lot, but didn't feel like eating anything at all. Still didn't have to pee, which probably means I didn't drink enough on the bike. And I don't know who these people are, but there were a ton of people with tops on that said "Fueled by Beef" and every time I saw one I thought about beef and felt nauseous (I'm vegetarian). Yuck. I kept leapfrogging one of them and literally had to make myself NOT look at her jersey.

Anyway, finally I came up to the sign that said "2nd and 3rd loops left, FINISH right" and I got to go right. Lots of energy and crowd here - this was it. This was the arena finish!

As I came inside my eyes were blasted by what seemed to be darkness, but it was just darker than it was outside. I had to blink hard a few times to adjust, but when I did, I saw all of the people cheering, and made my way around the loop. I saw Tom with the camera (all though me missed getting my photo here), and kept running around the loop. Finally to the straight away, exhaled a deep breath, and was glad to be done with this race and this season. About 3 feet from the finish line, two guys sprinted past me - one on each side - and completely ruined my finish photo. You literally can not see me at all in the photos, they engulfed me at precisely the finish line. Booo them.

But hey. I was done. I immediately started crying because I'm a girl and also because I was pretty upset about the run. I stumbled past people handing me a towel, a water bottle, a medal, a finishers hat. So much stuff in my hands. Found Tom and he thought I was happily crying, but I wasn't. I was kinda upset. He calmed me down and insisted I did great. I fianly calmed down and realized I did do pretty well, considering everything.

You know, after 4 seasons and 18 triathlons, I'm a little frustrated that I still don't have down one of the most fundamental and defining aspects of triathlon... running off of the bike. I know I pushed the bike in this race, and I feel like I really paid for it on the run. I obvioulsy need to do more LONG rides, and more BIG bricks if I want to do well in a 70.3 run in the future.

Stumbled to the food area, where I was happy to find a HOT baked potato with toppings. Yummy. Sat down with Tom, and we saw Alaina and Ryan (jazzwithnumbers and yeats) and we all chatted for a long time while I ate.

I got up to look at my results, and was ECSTATIC about my swim and bike times - especially my bike time. I have never averaged over 17mph in a 70.3, and my goal was 16.5mph. Go me!

We watched about half of the awards ceremony (Go Alaina! 3rd place in her age group!) and then headed out to collect my bike and gear bags and such. Hotel, shower, short nap, then dinner at the same Mexican place we'd eaten at the night before, LOL! I enjoyed a few margaritas and a long conversation with Tom. We rarely go out just the two of us and it was really nice to sit with him and enjoy the evening. I was so thankful that he was there... he drove 18 hours total with me, got up ridonkulously early 3 days in a row, cheered me on, encouraged me, and picked my chin up when I needed it the most. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. :)


Run fitness.


While I appreciate all of the effort that went into planning this race, I honestly feel like it's "trying too hard." With the arena finish, the race had two transitions this year, which meant 3 "gear bags" - one which had to be checked in the day before, and one which had to be packed up mid-race or you wouldn't get your wetsuit/goggles/etc. back. It just seemed like so much effort just to finish in the arena - which was cool, but not something I'd have traded off for that transition setup and gear bag logistics. It was way more complicated than racing should be, in my opinion.

The bike course roads were rough, with lots and lots of turning and cornering. I realize there are only so many roads to work with, but it was honestly the worst bike course I've ever ridden on. I've never seen so many items launched off of bikes - tubes, C02, bottles, full nutrition packages, I even saw a saddle bag in the middle of the road. Just really rough out there.

And while I am not a big fan of multi-loop run courses, this was not as bad as I thought it would be. If you had a cheering section it was nice to see them multiple times. The aid stations on the run were amazing, as were all of the volunteer and staff.

The arena finish was different and cool. I enjoyed having a place to sit down (air conditioned!) and something hot to eat afterwards. Excellent finish gear - a towel, a bottle, and a finishers hat, in addition to the tech tee in the race packet.

This is a good race and I enjoyed being a part of it. But I'm not sure I'll do this race again - because of the cost, distance from home, and the stress of the logistics that aren't there in 99% of other races.