Ironhead Dallas - TriathlonOlympic

Started out good with a solid sprint. A little violent but nothing bad and we all found our own water halfway to the first turn buoy. I picked out my draftee and moved to his hip. Made the first turn and focused on bringing my HR down and letting him do all the work.

He must have been the gassiest man on Earth because I've never seen so many bubbles in my live. I could hold onto his feet and not even have to look up. This was great until he decided to just stop in the water. I couldn't sit there and wait for him so I kept moving. Looked around for someone else to work off of but no one else in my wave was around. All the caps I could see were from the wave ahead of me. Shit.

So I hoped on a pair of feet, moved to their hip, then jumped to the next person in line. Did this over and over again until the last turn. I felt smooth and relaxed so I thought I was having a good swim. Picked up a good fish on the last straight away (turned out to be my friend Lacy) and came out of the water ready to race.

Looked at my watch: 7 minutes slower than what I had expected! Shit.

Find a better fish to begin with.

Sunglasses and helmet on, grab bike and run.

Missed fastest overall T1 by one tenth of one second! I'll settle for 2nd.

Hopped on my bike at the mount line and got up to speed before climbing into my shoes. Spun a little quicker than normal until we got out of the park and then started lowering the hammer.

Being in the last wave meant that there were a ton of people ahead of me so lots of legal drafting and people to run down. Made the first u-turn and was picking people off quicker than I could count.

The ride was fairly easy down to the 2nd u-turn. The wind on the bridges wasn't nearly as bad as usual. I must have caught 30 or 40 people, including 2 guys in my age group, during that first half of the first lap.

Slowed to turn and head back toward the park when something went wrong. My bike shuddered as I hit the brakes on the rough surface. I was almost sure that I had a flat tire. Stopped and unclipped. Felt the rear tire and it was at full pressure. Looked at the brake and it was in the middle of the tire. The rear skewer had come loose and my rear wheel had tried to slide out of the rear dropouts! Popped it back in, tightened the skewer as tight as I could get it and went back to work.

Pushed a bit coming back to start the 2nd lap and managed to repass most of the people who caught me while I was stopped. Grabbed a bottle of water from the hand up just to top off my AeroDrink.

2nd lap was just as easy as the first, but not nearly as many people to draft of off this time. Passed Karen(KSH) just after the turn around. I figured I'd say hi to her after the race. Had one 29 year old go flying past me and he would be the only guy to pass me all day.

Came back into the park and spun a bit easier than normal while I got myself mentally ready for the run. This was gonna hurt. Out of my shoes and hopped off my bike running full speed.

Training pace ride, so that's about as good as I can ask for.

Racked my bike, threw my helmet down, put my shoes on but stepped on the side of my shoes and had to stop to fix it. The insole of my other shoe wasn't right but I'd just live with that one. Grabbed my visor and ran.

Get my shoe on right the first time. 9th fastest T2 and could easily have been first.

Ran through the small field and checked my HR. I was in the middle of my race zone so that's where I was going to stay for at least the first mile. Came around transition and passed up a group of 4 with little work.

Clif was at the turn telling me to start picking people off one at a time. Passed the next guy ahead of me as I heard Haley and Jacob yelling for me. Grabbed two cups of water from the aid station, drank one and poured the other on my head. Hit the first mile marker in just under 7 minutes.

Grabbed the same the 2nd time I hit the aid station and started to push a bit more. Haley had to say goodbye as I ran past because she couldn't risk getting back to San Antonio late. I gave her a wave and kept on running, still picking of runners one at a time.

Hit the dam and that's when you could really start to feel the heat. Came up on Tommy and slapped him on the back as I passed. Caught up to a guy in my age group who looked like he was a strong runner. Tried to put as much time on him as I could before the turn around and from there it looked like he was going to crack.

Kept playing mind games to keep myself motivated to catch the person in front of me. Missed the mile 5 marker but I was guessing that I was still holding sub-7:30s. Hit the last aid station and started to kick with just under a mile left.

Passed 3 more guys before the final straight away and couldn't have been happier to be finished.

That's as strong of a run as I can do right now.

Grabbed a bottle of water and walked straight towards the lake. Cody and Lacy (were 2/3 of a relay team) were walking back from boat ramp when Lacy looked at me and said, "Aaron, you look like you're going to pass out." I nodded my head. "Don't pass out, okay?" Gave her a thumbs up.

Stripped off my jersey and threw all my stuff down in a heap while I waded into the water. Damn that felt good. Got out, threw my stuff in transition and headed to the Jeep to weigh myself.

Talked to several people and the consensus is that the swim was long. Glad I'm not the only one who was surprised at their time. Also surprised that I was 5th in my age group. First time I've missed the podium all year.

Hung out with Jacob, Tommy, Ashley and Karen afterwards and drug Shiner around because he was absolutely exhausted. Packed up and headed home after the awards.


Swim course was a bit long and I didn't draft well.


Just like all of Jack's races: great.