Swim
Comments: I guess one cannot train by slow, long distance, open water swims alone. I felt comfortable the entire swim. Maybe that's the issue. I just couldn't go any faster. My first 400 yards were great and I had some good feet that I was drafting off when, all of the sudden, I lost the feet and then just seemed to lose any consistency in my stroke. After the turn around, I got passed by 5-6 of the younger contestants and relay swimmers in the wave behind us. A few didn't just pass me but BLEW past me. Very impressive. What would you do differently?: Do more speed and interval work in the pool. Transition 1
Comments: Transition is basically 20 feet from the swim exit and I was to my bike and into my bike gear quickly. Good transition. What would you do differently?: Practice with shoes on bike for a running start. Just not confident anymore to do it in a race. Bike
Comments: It rained for 3/4 of the bike on an already wet and puddle-filled bike course. It felt like I would come to a complete standstill if I stopped peddling. Just a grind the whole way. I even kept looking at my tires to see if I had a flat. I was unable to find any bike shop to repair my large chain ring cable so I rode the entire race on the small chain ring. That slowed me down on portions of the course that I could have pushed a higher gear to get the average up. Still, with the wet conditions, I seemed to be struggling, even in the small chain ring. My left hip/back started to hurt at about the turn around and the ride back was into the wind and even harder than the ride out. This is where I got passed the most. What would you do differently?: Once again, I have not done any speed work at all. The last time I did this race we were doing Thursday night time trials in our training group. I miss those suffer fests cause it made me much faster. The rain didn't help but there is no excuse to go that slow when it's cloudy and 71 degrees. Transition 2
Comments: I had a hard time in T2. My shoes were full of water when I got back and everything was soaked. I decided at the last minute to put socks on and had to dig in my bag to get them (which wasted a few seconds), then I had to put them on wet feet. Kind of a cluster in T2 with all the water. At least everyone had to deal with the same conditions. Socks on, shoes on, time to start the sloshing. What would you do differently?: Not much, just move faster. Run
Comments: Due to the storms and all the rain, the run course was changed from the "Dirt Road from Hell" to running out the park entrance road and coming back. The reason was for safety and effort. There was no way to get an ambulance or trucks with aide station equipment out on that road with all the mud. There are a few hills on the course and lots of false flats so the run felt harder than it should have. What would you do differently?: Nothing, genetics have dealt me a bad running gene and there is nothing I can do to get any faster or be a better runner. Post race
Warm down: Walked around and tried to find some dry clothes. It was actually cold. Then I walked back to the finish line to check the results and call Kari and the girls to let them know I finished. I was surprised to find that I had won my age group. It helps that the competition was very light but then again, everyone had the same opportunity to sign-up for this race as I did. Shake and Bake. What limited your ability to perform faster: Genetics and water Event comments: This is a VERY small race that is easy to win AG awards at. It's in the middle of nowhere and a 4 hour drive from Round Rock BUT it's a fun race and, when weather permits, one of the hardest 10k runs in the State. I'd do the race again even with the crappy roads. Last updated: 2011-06-24 12:00 AM
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United States
Ironhead Race Productions
72F / 22C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 39/92
Age Group = Clydesdales 40+
Age Group Rank = 1/4
Bagel and peanut butter at the hotel and then just sipped on some Gatorade until just before race start. Then I took a PowerGel and swam a few 100m for warm-up.
Swim 100-200m, then standing around trying to look slow and fat for all the peacocks.