Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Starting out, my goal was not to burn myself out on the swim. More often than not I'll push too hard in the swim and come out of the water with HR in Zone 1 hovering above 85%+ max. My goal was to pace myself and not go out too fast or try to finish too fast. It's the tortoise that wins the race.

Looking at the water and the trees, I figured the wind wasn't too bad and probably about the same as last year. I was wrong. It could have been worse...they could have cancelled the swim completely like they did the sprint/Oly yesterday. The wind was blowing parallel to the shore so for the longest portion of the swim (maybe 1000m) we were swimming almost straight into the wind. I drank a couple of gulps of water during the swim and sometimes the waves went over my head, which made me think "is that a wave or the jet ski's wake. Also, I felt like I was getting pushed around a bit by the waves and was hoping that I wouldn't get out of the water and be too dizzy. All-in-all it wasn't too bad...I wasn't sick when I got out of the water and I could slow jog into transition...but it definitely affected the speed of my swim.

In the end my swim split was probably a good 10 seconds per 100 yds slower than I wanted or 4 minutes slower than my goal time. Relatively speaking though, everybody was in the same boat and it's hard to complain about mother nature...it is what is.

Nothing.

I think my transitions were slow today. I sat down to put on socks and shoes. I got new shoes 6 weeks ago and didn't feel comfortable going sockless. I didn't run out of the water...a slow jog and maybe some walking. I knew it was a long day and that it would be better to push harder once on the bike or on the run. Once I had myself and my gear right, I jogged out of transition and hopped on the bike with no problems.

Jog a little faster? Not wear socks, possibly.

I was looking forward to this part of the race. I really hadn't put any significant road time on my new bike and most was spent on the trainer. The bike road perfectly and I was comfortable during and after the ride.

In last and only other HIM I've done, I bonked on the run and was pretty sure it was the result of dehydration. Today, I drank close to a gallon of fluids on the bike, 3 bottles of endurox, 2 gatorade endurance and a bottle of water. I also had a clif bar and 4 gels. This is compared to the three bottles of fluids and the and sleeve of shot bloks and sports beans that I had at Ironstar. I had this one dialed in pretty close to perfect. No cramping, no dehydration.

The winds were mostly a cross wind and partially a headwind, which you would think on the way back there would be a crosswind with partial tailwind. I didn't feel it on the way back, at least not to the point I was hoping, which was to average 23-24mph on the way back. If I'd gotten my wish, I probably would have averaged 17-18mph on the way out. Ultimately, I was where I wanted to be.

Nothing.

Though I felt slow on both transitions, everything went pretty smoothly. Again I sat down to take off shoes and socks and then put on new socks and running shoes. Then, I decided to stop at the port-a-can and get rid of a portion of the gallon of fluids I drank. What felt like a 90 seconds contorting my body and stretching the tri suit was probably more like 45 seconds, who knows. I definitely felt much better afterwards.

Nothing.

I have to be happy with this run; I had no expectations and had no idea how this would end. Over the last three months since running the Houston Marathon on January 17th, I've only run 26 miles (0 miles in February) and never more than 5 miles at one time. Tendonitis in my left ankle (posterior tibialis) prevented me from running in February and through early-March and then spraining my right ankle twice within the three weeks before the race put a dent in any further training. As a result, I spent a lot of time on the bike and probably more than needed in the weight room.

I started out stronger than I thought and felt good from the beginning. I ran the entire time except through a handful of aid stations and up the last little hill/hump (15 yards uphill). I had a flask with 4 gels that I drank during the first 8 miles of the run and that helped. I drank mostly gatorade and I didn't have any cramps but started to have some soreness in my left knee beginning at mile 10, though not enough for me to start walking. I also felt like I was beginning to drag at the end though I pushed through the last mile finishing it at about 9:00 pace.


Nothing.

Laid down in the shade with Bridgett. Stretched the achilles. Wondered about how badly sunburned I would be the next day (backs of my shoulders hurt worse than any part of my body that's sore from the race). It's Texas and you're in the sun for hours...wear loads of sunblock. I wish my dog Anna was still around...my face, neck and ears were covered in dried sweat/salt and she would have loved it!! I'm happy Bridgett was there for the support; it makes a huge difference having family and friends there...just like Lone Star last year. In any event it was a good race and I was happy just to lay my head on her lap...gather my stuff and head home to pick up the kids from Grandma's house.


The extra 15 lbs I had hoped to drop by April 24th. The fact that I had limited run training going into this.


Organization was good. Race route was good (flat). Volunteer support was good. I was disappointed in the post-race food, which was limited to pizza, bananas, pretzels, salad, and they had some cookies but you had to ask for them (and then they were disappointing cinnamon cookies of some sort). I missed the ice cream and cookies they had last year (oreos maybe)? Just felt like the selection was limited. The band they had was good. I'll do it again, especially knowing it's 2 weeks earlier in April 2011.