Lonestar - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Best tri swim so far. Considering the distance and chop I am very happy with this swim. Came out of the water and was in pretty decent shape.

NOTTA

I have never had the pleasure of being stripped during a race. This went very well. Very happy with my transition.

Tape my ears down - they don't like going into the aero helmet.

Raced the plan minus a little. I passed so many bikes I started to wonder if I was racing the race smart. I knew I was under the power goal but I was clearly flying compared to most. Thanks to Justin Wood for letting me borrow his S80. I was rocking the wheel cover in the back and 80 up front and that combined with the helmet gave me a bunch of speed for the same power. At my weight, I would race the full cover in the back and 80 up front for anything less than 20 mph winds. It was a bit sketchy at times but I wasn't afraid I was going to wreck once.

I hate to not be proud of my bike split but clearly something needs to change to run.

Not sure yet. I took salt tablets, chomps and drank 2 bottles of Gatorade and 1 bottle of water. All part of the race plan. We thought my cadence may have been why my legs cramped up on the run but the cadence average was pretty spot on.

Nothing fancy

The rules stated (read that damn packet at least 20 times) we needed to move through transition with bike shoes on but they changed that on race day. I didn't worry about practicing feet on shoes since it didn't seem like it was going to be allowed. I will work on this for my next race.

Settle in / grab your favorite beverage because if you are reading this you have a ways to go now.

Here is where my 5:30 goal and then my 6:00 goal went bye-bye. I came out of transition 8:15-9:00 pace forcing myself to slow down - staring at the Garmin ...life was good, Ken was smiling - it's going to happen..I am going to race my plan and a smart race for once.

1/2 mile into to the run it went horribly wrong. Both quads tightened up and cramped fairly hard. I pushed through the pain for a bit and kept the pace at 9:00/mile. I started thinking I was in trouble but if only the pain would let up when my run legs warm up I could hold 9:00 pace and still hit my goal. Before the first lap was over I walking. Cramps moved from quads to hamstrings to calves and on occasion would grab my leg so hard my shoe pointed sideways while running. The rest of this run course would be whatever I thought I could pull off. A lot of walking, some death marches and a couple of stops to let the crushing cramps let go so I could move again. There was NO WAY they were taking me off that course. I would have crawled 13.1 before I didn't finish. I wasn't injured just in a bunch of pain. I ate bananas and drank at every aid station and threw everything I could think of at my body to get the cramps to stop and finish the race running. Even 14'/mile pace would have better than walking. Generally slow running caused stopping which seemed less productive than walking. At 1.1 from the finish my right calf took me out and I feared I may have been done. Some nice security folks helped me but I begged them to not let me move forward while they helped me get through the cramp. Within a minute or two I was walking again. .25 miles from the finish I tried one last time to jog it in. Not to be. One last reminder that I was not in control of my pace. I could see the finish and I had to stop completely to wait on the cramp. It let go and I shuffled my way across the line. The picture shows 7:09 and my wave was supposed to be 1 hr in, so my official time should be 6:09ish if it shows up (nothing on the tracker for my run split or overall time) God knows I hit every timing mat at nearly a death march pace so they should have my time.

Still trying to figure the plan that allows me to run like I train. I raced this race perfectly according to my plan and even went a bit conservative on the bike because I was scared about the run. I clearly cramp very easily and need to find a magic potion or combination that keeps this from happening. Cramps have taken me out of two races and hurt me bad during or post training runs.

One last crushing cramp as I moved my leg to allow the nice volunteer to take my timing chip. She ended up holding me up, without her help I would have crashed to the ground on that one. They asked to take me to medical or the massage tent and I asked them to just let me finish - "they said you have finished". I just needed to go sit with my family and cheering crew.


Not sure yet - It was very hot and that would have impacted my run with or without the cramps. 9'/mile pace may have been all I had if my legs worked. I would have been pleased with a 2hr 13.1 but it was not to be.


That was the hardest thing I have ever done physically. I was so happy about my race coming out of T2 and felt like I had a good shot at a great finish. It's amazing how quickly things change. I knew the swim / bike times bought me plenty of time to get the race completed. I have never wanted anything so badly in my life. I retired a couple of times on that run course but ultimately decided to look at the positives from the race and know that I will figure this thing out one of these days and be very proud of my complete race. In the first year of triathlon I completed a HIM swim when I could barely get to the end of the pool when I started. My bike is pretty awesome and I am pretty happy with my stand alone run. When I finally put these together..look out!

Holy cow the people that came to my race to cheer for me. Justin, Melissa, Chris and Stacy all showed up at the crack of dark. Always great to see my friend Justin on race day. By the time I finished I had 11 friends trying to will me across the line and I needed all of them. Last, but certainly not least my awesome family. My family is the best and they always come ready to cheer. Keri completed 13.1 on a shattered heel... I damn sure could finish with cramps. I had a new respect for my wife's accomplishment.

My coach has helped me prepare for this event and I feel I was well trained. Clearly, I am not your average triathlete and we need to work on something that works specifically for me. I feel we will figure it out and I will go on to have great races. Thanks Eric - I have a lot to be proud of on this race and have you to thank for that.

The race itself was everything I wanted for my first half. The pros were there and Chris Lieto took the thing - AWESOME! Plenty of protection on the bike course, fans, music and drinks on the run. Great race that I didn't get to enjoy as much as I hoped but at least half of it was fantastic. Everyone was drained physically and emotionally and we didn't stick around for post race festivities.