Ironman 70.3 Austin - Triathlon

No swim because of fog

None - waited in T1 for an hour to start

After they waited an hour to cancel the swim, they had everyone wait in T1 to start the bike. The Pro div started at 9am and did not finish until 940am. This was because they waited 30-60 sec between athletes. Then they started with age group athletes with low bid numbers and two athletes at a time. This took FOREVER!. I did not start until 1030 or almost two hours after I would have finished the swim.
This is a real problem because they were predicting record heat. There has got to be a better way.

Once I was on the bike, I was making good time - about 21.5mph at the mid-point. Because of the start, the course was congested pretty bad. Bikes/ riders as far as the eye could see.

The road conditions were poor with lots of chip seal, pot hols (marked in orange) and generally rough. You could open a used bike parts store with all that was falling off of bikes. Saw a few accidents and bunch of mechanicals.,

Do not let anyone tell you this is a semi-flat course. Bunch of hills in the beginning and at the end and some are good climbs. My Garmin registered about 2000ft of total climbing.

By the end of the bike, my legs were cramping in the heat. Drank a total of 72oz with 5 gels, bonk breaker, and 6 salt tabs.

This was my fastest bike in a 70.3. Averaged 19.5mph as the course length is actually 56.65. Happy with my speed just the heat and humidity did me in.

As I mentioned, my legs were cramping bad so I walked to my T2 bag. Stretched for a bit and then off to the run.

I started the run knowing I was dehydrated from the bike. I have never seen so many people walking in a race straight off the bike. By the time I started the run, the Temp was 88 and about 65% humidity. By the end it was 93 with 60% humidity.

This was a really tough run in the heat. I jogged with flats and downhills and walked the hills and aid stations. That was the best I could do. With my 2:38 run time - that was actually in the top 50% overall. That will tell you how bad the run was for everyone.

I drank a total of 64oz on the run (filled by run bottle 4 times). 4 gels and 10 salt tabs.

I could not drink anymore without my belly sloshing around. These are the cards everyone was delt - just did your best.

The finish was good but no one could find the food. I guess they ran out. This was a bummer.


Late start and heat/humidity.


Lets start with the pros and cons.
Pros:
1. Volunteers were amazing - great job!
2. Good sportsmanship among athletes. A lot of people hurting on the run and others helping wherever possible. Nice to see.

Cons:
1. No one can predict the weather so canceling the swim is just the way it is. .......But, early in the morning it was clear the fog on the lake was not going anywhere. Other racers called the airport to find out about the estimated time the fog would clear (10am). This was relayed to the race director. Plus, the prior day the fog on the lake did not clear until 10am. This race should have started at 7:30 on the bike. Everyone knew there would be record heat. Lets start early and get things going right away. They should not have waited 1 1/2 hours to start.

2. They started all of the age group athletes 2 at a time on the bike. Eventually, someone realized this would take all day and just let people go at will. The bike course was PACKED the entire time. This was dangerous and limited speed. Just crazy out there.

3. They ran out of ice on the run course. The weather was predicted to be at near record levels a week before the race. Clearly, someone had to know this. All the athletes seemed to . Just can't run out of ice - come on man.

4. No post race food - WTF! Well, I guess there was some but could not be found initially and was gone in short time. Really???

5. They need to rent out the toll road for this bike race (like the Woodlands). This course has bad road conditions.

Overall, disappointed not so my in my performance ( I usually finish right at 50% and I did here) but in the Cons list above. Things could have been done differently and if you look at the Ironman Austin Facebook page, you will see all the bad rants about the race. Just think little more forethought by the race officials would help.