LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Race day started with a surprise announcement that the swim was wet-suit legal! It's a good thing I had my old Desoto T1 longjohn with me. I decided that I would wear the wetsuit even though I had not been in a suit since April and not in that wetsuit since 2007! After about 300 yards of warm-up in the middle of the "triangle" swim course, I felt ready to get going. So, I got out of the water and made my way to the corral where I could find Kari and wish her luck. Then I pushed my way to the front row, right side thinking it way the shortest distance between the start and the turn buoy. I was up to my chest in the water and was able to get horizontal with 5 seconds left on the countdown to the start. I never heard 3-2-1 cause I was already going. After the initial slam, bang and boom with some guys next to me, I was able to get clear and start to look for those "fast" feet. Unfortunately, all the fast people were on the left side and had already started to pull away. Oh well, I missed the first group and ended up being on the slower side. I couldn't find any feet to swim on from my wave until we started to get into the next wave. By then, it got crowded and I had a hard time finding the "right" feet. I was swimming ok, but didn't feel the arm strength that I normally feel in open water. It was weird, I just didn't feel like I was moving through the water very well. The suit felt fine, the water temp was nice, I had new goggles, and the water was calm. The traffic from starting in the last wave was tough but I can't imagine it slowed me down that much. I guess you really do need to train for these events. I would spend time trying to find a good line (which was easy this year with all the added buoys) and time doing pick-ups to increase the speed. I knew the course was short when we made the last turn back to shore. I lifted my head to see where everyone was going thinking that we had another buoy or two to go before turning. To my surprise the turn was correct and I started to pick-up the pace, hoping that I could make-up for the lolly-gagging I had been doing in the middle of the course. It got more and more crowded the closer I got to the swim exit but once at the ramp, I grabbed a hand and almose yanked them into the water as I shot up and started to run PAST people on the hill to transition. For those that know me, I don't usually PASS people when I run. I looked at my watch and smiled as I saw a 25 minute Half Iron swim. I didn't know how short the course was but knew I did not swim that fast. I am thinking that had the course been accurate, I would have swam about a 30-31 minute. The 75 yards or so up the grassy knoll was terrible as my heart rate reached around 300bpm (OK, not really, but it felt like it). When I saw Maurice, I went straight to him but couldn't speak too much as I tried to get the chip off my leg and unto his. Afterwards, I stood around the relay bin and waited for Gary, Kari and Robin to finish their swim before we headed over to the BT tent to fire up the grill and get the party started.

Swim faster and stay with my drafter

I don't know what Maurice was doing here but I was heating up the grill, setting out the cowbells, cranking up the tunes, helping Gary eat M&M's and opening the first beer of the day.

More power for the sound system, 4 10x10 tents tied together. Bring a smaller grill to reheat everything. Video camera on a tripod.

I only ran between the BT tailgate and the finishline but I did it 5-6 times to check on people and deliver some BBQ and Beers to some of the race people who couldn't make it to the tent.

Bring a Mtn bike with a basket.

Drank to many beers.


This was the funnest race I have been too. Tailgating at the BT tent was a blast and doing the swim part of the relay was the bomb. I don't have any desire to do the whole Austin 70.3 again but I will do any of the three sports as a relay just so I have time to cheer at the team tent. We will do it again next year (just better).