Kerrville Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon

Brutal. I have some issues with my wet suit. Sometimes it gets tight around my neck and feels like it restricts my breathing. Floating in the water to start, I felt calm and ready to go. After about 100m, my arms were getting tight and restriction around the neck was getting bad. I tried to wave down a kayak to loosen the velcro and the zipper on the back of the suit but the kayak ignored me and went charging off in the opposite direction. It was about 30-40 yards to the bank so I swam to the shore and worked on my suit. Jumped back in and swam another 100m and it still wasn't right so I swam back to the shore again. At this point, I considered bailing out briefly but that would disqualify me from the series so I mentally told myself to deal with it and move on. Before the first turn buoy, I held onto a kayak and finally got the neck positioned right on the suit and started swimming. From there, I swam the whole way without too much issue. I had some cramping in my right hip and the tightness in my arms did not go away. I was very happy to see the swim finish. I gave away a good 10 minutes to the field. Very crushed when I left the water.

I don't know. I really wish they would have let us in the water before the start. I probably need to look for another wet suit.

It rained the previous night so I put toe socks in my bike shoes and in my T2 bag. If there was no rain, I was going to put my socks on in T1 and forget about T2. Running the 13.1 miles without socks would be stupid. I decided to go with the socks in T1. It was a long run up the hill into T1 so my time is actually really good.

Nothing. Went about as well as expected. Considering how poorly the swim went, I may have been calmer in T1. I wasn't feeling pressure to move quickly.

Wind was blowing moderately from the north to start and was 10-15 by the end of the ride. Going southwest out of town was fast. No problem averaging 22-24mph. Once you turned off the highway, we rode the worst chip seal I have ever ridden on. I literally thought the bike was going to shake apart from under me. It was several miles on the stuff and worse on the second loop because you knew how long it lasted. I prayed for no flats and the tri gods cooperated. There were a few sneaky steep uphill climbs on the return. I drove the course the day before an knew what to look for. Sections of the course were rough. Once we got to Kerrville and turned on to Highway 16, the wind was in our face and it was stiff. I was very happy with my ride. This is a PR for me on a 56 mile ride and just missed 20mph average. I felt really good and my legs were not trashed. Really bumming over the swim at this point.

Nothing, could not have gone better. If I knocked off one more minute off the ride, I would have hit 20mph average.

Due to the rain, I wrapped the top of my T2 bag with hockey tape to make it as water tight as possible. It took a few extra seconds to get into the bag but my stuff was dry. Didn't need to deal with socks and I was in and out quickly.

Nothing. Went great.

For the first half of the race, I walked the aid stations and drank a cup of water and/or gatorade. I had plenty of shark salt and took one or two every thirty minutes. It was a little humid but the temps were down. Since I was racing the series, I could see the guys ahead of me. I wanted to move up to second place but my swim tanked that. However, I had a chance to catch the second and third place guys in my age group. The way the course was laid out, you could see if you were making up ground or not. My wife also let me know my splits to the leaders. I started conservatively for the first 3-4 miles. I had to dive into a portapotty and that cost me a few minutes. Close to the finish area, there were lots of people cheering and I remember a group on the street playing music and dancing. It relieved the tension. On my second loop, I started to feel really good and closed 3 minutes off of the second place guy in the series. I did not seem to be making up any ground on the third place guy and he pretty much maintained his 8 minute advantage for the entire race. Damn swim. After three loops, i closed the gap to 3 minutes and was closing fast. I wasn't going to get back any real time for the series but I did catch him. I ended up beating him by about 15 seconds. I have only run one sub 2 hour half marathon in training and that without a 1.2 mile swim and a 56 mile ride. My moving time was 1:57:52. I negative split the half marathon and got faster as each mile went by. I had some tightness in my right calf but never cramped during or after the race. My shark salts were awesome and I was able to keep the right mix of fluid and gel in me. Very satisfied with the results of the run.

Can't think of anything I would have done differently. Feeling out the course for the first loop was key and not pushing the pace early. I had just enough left in the tank to finish strong without completely trashing myself.

Across the finish line and got my medal. Kind of a basic medal for a half iron distance race. Oh well, what do you do with them anyway. They gave me a bottle of cold water. My wife met me at the finish and we sat down at a table. I ate some fruit and gatorade. We checked the results to see if I placed, which I did not after the brutal swim. It was a long ride back to Dallas so we packed up the truck and headed back to the hotel. The hotel made me pay another $75 for a late checkout so I could shower. Seeme petty to me. All the other races I have done in the series have been very accomodating.


Wet suit issues on the swim. I really feel like I could have broken 5:30:00. Never the less, the was a PR for me on the bike, run and overall finish.


Aid stations were nicely spaced and well manned. The volunteers were awesome. Kerrville is a great town and I would come back to visit without racing some day. Hotel cheesed me out of some cash to get a post race shower. The race was well done. They really need to do something about the route with the horrible chip seal. This concludes my season and I am tired. I'm racing closer to home next year.