Buffalo Springs Lake Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I swam to the beach for the start with about 2' to go. Saw Kristen, Shawn, David and some other Triple Threat people standing at the timing mat. High fived them and crossed the mat to the swim start.

Positioned myself in front and toward the middle. Not really the best position to hang with the pointy end of the field. But I thought it was good enough. I can't hang with them anyway. Mike Riley said "Go!" and off we went. I ran, did two dolphin dives then started swimming. This was an easy start. No real physical contact. Headed out of the cove and could see the pointy end of the field forming ahead. Those guys are too fast for me.

This swim was unremarkable except for these points:
1. I should know this course after having been there 4 times. Just out of the cove you need to sight and find the YELLOW turn bouy and swim toward it. I swam toward the orange bouy instead. That cost me some time.
2. I had fast guys from the waves behind me pass me. For some unknown reason I didn't try to draft off them. I should have even if it was for a short time.
3. This swim felt easy. Maybe too easy. Need to learn to swim harder and suck it up more.

Do more mental prep and plan what to sight for at the start. Try to draft even if it's for a short time. Swim harder.

9/69
Hit the timing mat at 37'. I was disappointed when I saw that time. Oh, well nothing to do but continue on. Ran to the last stripper and got my wetsuit off. This transition area is not conducive to a flying bike mount, so I put my bike shoes on in the transition area. Still had the 9th fastest T1 in my AG. The fastest T1 was 1:44 so we are only talking 30" or so.

Nothing. Good T1.

The weather was overcast and relatively cool. There as a strong wind blowing. After having trianed in N Tx wind I knew the wind on this course wouldn't be that big of a deal...it wasn't. In trainsition before the race, a camera man interviewed about the weather and the wind. I told him I live in N Tx and that a strong wind was probably an advatange for me.

The bike was unremarkable. I stayed at a steady pace, increased speed with the tailwind (30 mph!), spun into the headwind and stayed seated on all the climbs. Kept my HR in z2.

I was constantly passing other athletes, especially on the hills. In training I spent a lot of time on hill repeats and also did two 100 mile rides in the hills at Forestburg. These training rides definitely improved my hill climbing fitness.

About 2/3 through the bike the clouds opened up and the rain came down hard. Just kept on riding. The road on the Spiral Staircase was wet so had to slow down for the switch backs. With about 10 miles to go, I had to pee bad. So pulled onto the shoulder of the road and let it go. Figured the down pour of rain would wash things off.

Rolled into the park and made it to the final climb before the descent into T2. As usual this climb looked like a death march. Athletes were walking bikes upt he hill and walking bikes down the hill. I guess the roads were wet and they didn't want to chance a crash on the descent into T2.

Nutrition: 1 3-hour bottle of Infinit + a bottle of plain water. Didn't finish all of the Infinit.

Pee more before the swim start. That cost me some time.

10/69
Didn't do the flying dismount. Too tight of a transition area and the down hill approach. Ran to my rack. Looked around and didn't see any bikes on my rack. Turns out I was 6th in my AG off the bike. They give out numbers by AG and most in my AG had 800's. Except for a couple of the really fast guys and podium placers in my AG that singed up at the last minute; they had 1000's.

Sat on the ground, changed shoes, hat on, grabbed GU and was on my way.


Good T2.

I saw Kristin on the way out of T2. She said Bret was a few minutes ahead and to go catch him. Never did. Then I saw Aaron. Gave in a high-5, I think. I wasn't feeling too good. I hadn't peed completely while on the bike. Within the first mile I was passed by 2 in my AG. There was no way I was staying on their heels; they were moving too fast. At mile 2 I stopped at a port-o-let. Felt much better after that and got into a good rhythm. In mile 3 I was passed by another in my AG. That's 3 now.

Saw the pros coming back in from the run...but I was at mile 3. This is the fourth time I've done BSLT. Each time I've seen the pros coming back in further down course.

After the first hill, I saw Tribendis coming back in. He was flying and looked to be racing strong. Also saw Jeff Bennett at mile 4. He was coming in and heading for a Kona slot.

Somewhere along the way I passed someone in my AG. At mile 5 I was passed by another in my AG. I tried to stay on his heels as he wasn't passing fast. Stayed with him for about half a mile but couldn't hang with him any longer.

Hit the half way U-turn. Tried to find another gear and pick up the pace. No luck. The pace I had been running was as fast as I could run. It was wierd. I couldn't seem to push my HR up any higher.

The run back in was mostly uneventful. Tried to pick up the pace for the last 3 miles after descending the last hill, but still no extra gear.

At about half a mile to go, I saw my wife on top of a hill yelling, screaming and taking pictures. Awesome.


Maybe went too hard on the bike. Hard to say. This was actually a pretty good run. But I think I could do better with a taper and peak.

Not much. Walked around talking to various athletes and spectators.


No taper. This was a 'B' race. I had one week of recovery during my IM training.


BSLT puts on a great awards banquet. The banquet in the evening after the race. Every year I've done BSLT there has been a band, great food, and of course the awards. This year was BSLT's 20th anniversary, so they had Mike Riley, the voice of Ironman, come in to call the race and the awards banquet.

I wasn't planning on getting close to a Clearwater slot at this race. This course is tough and I really didn't plan to place as high as I did. When I saw I was 10th, I told Michele to bring her check book. Of course the one Kona slot went to the guy in first place. Then there were 3 Clearwater slots. I think the guy in third on the podium took one slot. Then Mike Riley started calling other names. No one was there. When Mike called Thomas Smith I whispered to Michele "I'm next". I'm going to Clearwater.