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 Swim
Comments: Picked out my fish (Andrea Fisher and Tatiana) and sprinted as soon as the gun went off. Probably should have been another foot to the outside because Andrea kicked me in the face almost immediately. Lost my focus and just churned away to stay with whatever pack I was in. Rounded the buoy and looked for my guy. Picked out someone with a blue/red top sticking out of the edges of their wetsuit. Made him easy to spot when I looked up. Hopped on his feet and relaxed. He was breathing to his left (course was counter-clockwise) and ther was a line of 4 swimmers on our left that he was sighting off of. So one guy was looking up to sight, three people were on his feet, my guy was sighting off them and I was on his feet. 1 guy working, 5 people doing much less work and all going the same speed. Awesome. This pace was way to easy. I put in more effort warming up in the pool. I kept my eyes open for anyone passing us but it never happened. So I just sat there and relaxed. I've gotta start faster in Arizona and get in a better pack than this. Rounded the last buoy and came out of the water a few steps behind Tati and half a step behind my guy. What would you do differently?: Start a little further to the outside, put my head down and sprint as hard as humanly possible to get in a faster pack.  Transition 1
Comments: Pulled my goggles up and on my head and started pulling my wetsuit down to my hips. Passed my fish and thanked him in my head since I wasn't going to see him the rest of the race now. Saw the wetsuit strippers on my left and pointed at the largest guy in the group. Got on the ground a second later I was back on my feet with suit in hand. Passed a group of 6 or so guys before getting into the actual transition area. Dropped my suit next to my bike, helmet on, skipped the sunglasses because of the clouds and fog, and ran out of transition. What would you do differently?: 4th fastest overall T1 and 2nd fastest elite. The long run from the water is the only place I lost time, so improving my run will help with transition in this race.  Bike
Comments: Passed two people at the mount line and ran past them so they wouldn't get in my way as I hopped on. Got up to speed but waited to get into my shoes until we were out of the park and there were less turns. Got passed just before we turned onto the sea wall and I had my mark. Waited until he had 3 bike lengths on me and then matched his speed. We started passing straglers from the HIM so I'd hop on their wheel and coast for a few seconds before going back to work and keeping my mark 3 bike lengths ahead. The winds were strong but it was mostly a cross wind and didn't hurt anyone's speed on the way out. We were easily doing 25mph and settling into a nice rhythm. My goal was to stay in my race pace wattage and I was at the bottom end of that range without too much trouble. Stayed on my mark's tail and practiced using all 15sec of the legal draft each time we passed a HIM racer. Caught one or two of the elites from the quarter but it was mostly the last wave of the HIM. Grabbed a water bottle to top off my AeroDrink at the 10mi aid station. My mark rode straight on through and that was the last I saw him. Fluids and practicing grabbing bottles at speed was more important that chasing down some random guy. Backed off a bit to the bottom of RP until a woman from the elite wave caught me just before the turn around. She became the new mark and I kept her 3 bike lengths ahead at all times. Saw Tati after the turn and she wasn't too far behind. Kept any eye out for Jacob but never saw him. Caught Sydney about half-way back to town and gave her a 'Gotcha!' as I passed. Next up I could see a woman racing in just a swimsuit. I was definitely taking all 15sec to draft and then pass her. Once I got close I realized it was Amanda Lovato! Holy crap! Shouted, "I love you Amanda!" as I passed and she gave me a smile and a thumbs-up. Next I look up the road and see Andrea Fisher. She had a flat tire and was just getting back up and running. Passed her as she mounted her bike and a minute later she passed me back. There's my new mark. Followed Andrew up the sea wall and started to mentally prepare for the run. Had to swerve to avoid a bottle that launched off of Andrea's bike as we hit a rough intersection. Came into T2 3 seconds behind Fisher. Hells yeah! What would you do differently?: Nothing. Got lots of legal draft practice, bottle hand-up practice, didn't get caught up in chasing people and held my own with some real Ironman female pros. Transition 2
Comments: Flying dismount and unclipped my helmet as I ran. Since I transferred to the elite wave after AG waves were assigned I had 4th wave number and no one was on my rack. No one was even on the rack next to my rack. These were 150-200 people on each and I had all the room in the world. Rack bike, drop helmet, put shoes on, grab race belt and vison, RUN! Came into T2 3sec behind Fisher and 37sec ahead of Lovato. Ran out with leads of 9sec and 50sec respectively. It would take Andrea a mile to make up those seconds and one and a half miles for Amanda. Transition can make a huge difference. Results have me 3rd fastest in the overall field. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: This run hurt. I felt like crap at the start. My legs were absolutely dead but I was going to make those women HURT if they wanted to catch me. First mile was 6:14 and I was shocked. Wound back and forth and around the park and finally Fish caught me. Dropped behind her and held on for as long as I could. Started the out-and-back and picked out the next guy on the road as my target. Finally Amanda caught me and I told her that I still loved her as she passed. She smiled and chuckled as she dropped me like I was standing still. Aid station at the turn around and I had the guy in the Jack & Adam's jersey in my sights. Caught him as we ran through the grass and back into the park. Saw Tati with a couple of the Navy guys. Damn! They were age groupers who started 15min back and were working their way through the elite wave! Ran along the beach and starte to fall into no-man's land. Didn't have anyone to pace or draft off of and my focus started to waver. The heat was on in full force and I was starting to feel it. Grabbed sponges whenever I could to cool my head off and wipe the salt off my face. Ran out of the park and just wanted to see the final turn around. Turned, turned again, turned again, another turn... where the hell is the turn around! I catch a guy, two catch me and suddenly we're all headed back home. I spot Peggy Yetman catching up on me. She much have been running sub-6s and was absolutely flying. I high-five Tati on my way in and can't wait to finally stop. Zip up my top as we round the parking lot and try not to look so exhausted for the cameras. Finish clock says 2:13 which is faster than my oly PR and a Quarter Iron is a longer race! That was a hell of a rush. What would you do differently?: Focus. Mile markers were definitely off. My first 3 miles were in the 6:15 range and last 3 were in the 7:15 range. I slowed down a few steps but it wasn't that much of a difference. That threw me off my game a bit. Need to suck it up and hang on to everyone's feet. Even if I can only keep up for a step, that's a step of drafting which is easier than running on my own. Post race
Warm down: Slung a cold towel over my shoulders and talked with the pro's for a minute about their day. Found Andrew and we headed to transition so I could weigh myself and get some dry clothes. This was the first run I had done sockless with this pair of shoes and the tops of my feet were chaffed. Found food tent and sat down. A Clif Bar rep came over and handed me a bunch of free stuff. Apparenly he used to have a pretty impressive beard and was glad to see me racing with something in the same spirit. Literally, I had more people cheer for my beard than me during the run. Found all the other BTers, some still on the course, some already done and hung out unti the awards. I didn't win the raffle for the free Guru bike frame so there was no reason to hang around after that. Packed everything up and started the long drive back to Fort Worth. What limited your ability to perform faster: Didn't sprint hard enough to get into the right swim pack. Lost focus on the run and could have done better the last two miles. Event comments: Great race. The weather cooperated for Keith and made this a great day. Hopefully I can come back next year. I really like this Quarter Iron distance. Profile Album Last updated: 2008-03-10 12:00 AM
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75F / 24C
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Overall Rank = 27/730
Age Group = M Elite
Age Group Rank = 7/8
Got up with a good 4 hours before my wave started. Made some sandwiches for the road, loaded up the Jeep and Sydney(sydneypitt), Andrew(Big Red) and I started the drive from downtown Houston to Galveston. 2nd day in a row we had to do this drive this early and I wish I had gotten more sleep.
Parked at Moody Gardens and Jacob(tribullbutter) and Gary(gaarryy) found us almost immediately. I had some issues with me new drivetrain setup the night before. I realized on the way down that DA 10-speed cassettes have a spacer on the back that 9-speeds don't and that's probably what I forgot.
Checked my training wheel and there the spacer was. A few turns of the chain whip and everything was good again. Headed to transition, got marked, and set up my spot.
Jacob and I took our bikes out and went over the first few twisty miles of the course. The wind was out but we were still moving at a good clip without much trouble.
Pacticed my flying dismount as we came back to transition and got our shoes and went out for a run. Again, headed out on the course to give ourselves a preview of what we'd have in store later. Probably covered a mile in total.
Got our stuff together, commented on everyone else's bikes (espeically the Willier frame on our rack) and headed down to the dock. Ran into Rob(tag), Dennis(dgunthert), David(davidb), Brittany(TexasMPGal), Tatiana(tati) and I'm sure there were even more than I can't think of at the moment.
Watched the first wave of the HIM go off and watched one guy take a perfect line while everyone else went off course and a few people nearly turned at the wrong buoy.
Suddenly I realized that I left my HRM strap in transition. Hurried over so I could get back and still have time to warm up in the water. Got to transition and the volunteer working the gate wouldn't let me in. He also wouldn't let a volunteer go get it for me. I'm fairly certain that he was wrong about that being 'outside assistance' but he wasn't going to change his mind.
Walked around the outside of transition until I found two women who looked much nicer. Gave them my number, described my transition bag and which pocket the strap was in and had it in my hands a minute later. Sweet.
Saw Tommy Rushing come out of the water first to lead the HIM. That guy can really move. Got my wetsuit on and waded into the water for a quick warm-up. The water was cold at first but was very comfortable once you got moving.
Walked up the dock and got in line with my wave. Crossed the mats before they held us on the dock so the jet skis could get over in case of an emergency before we jumped off and lined up.