LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

So despite this being my fourth triathlon, I had never really felt like a real triathlete before, as I was always forced to do breast-stroke at some point (or more frequently, most of it). However, this was the first one I did freestyle the whole way, non-stop - Whoo hoo!

I was in the third wave. We waded in neck-deep water, which was really quite warm (85 degrees they said). I sorta sprinted to my chosen starting point and treaded water a bit to try to get a make-shift warmup in. Then the big countdown they did for each wave: "10..9.......2..1!", and off we went! I purposely forced myself to go easy for the first buoy length so as to set a better pace than previous races.

My navigation sucked, but it wasn't entirely my fault as there a general lack of buoys to navigate by. I tried to follow those around me, but there didn't seem to be a consensus on where exactly to go. Other than that, it was just one stroke after another, trying to keep good form the whole way. I picked it up at the end, and got a little woozy as I got out of the water. I remember thinking to myself "Whoa! I'm already kind of exhausted and this race has only started!"

Spend more time doing open water swims to work on navigation.

I'm pretty happy with my T1. It was a long jog from the water exit to the transition area and I tried to make a run (and not a stroll) but hold back a little bit, remembering this is a 5-6 hour race! Everything else went pretty smoothly.

Nothing really.

The bike was a lot of fun. Lots of hills, which meant 30-35mph downhills, but also the occasional painful climbs, which I totally suck at. Probably took in too much fluids during the race - I was anticipating it to be really hot, given the previous day's weather, but for the majority of the bike it was still pretty overcast. I took in 4 Gu's too, one every 30 minutes. By the end of the bike, I was bloated and felt like crap.

What I'd said I was going to do during my training but never really did - PRACTICE NUTRITION ON TRAINING WORKOUTS!

Getting off the bike, I briefly considered becoming a DNF. I was bloated, my legs were heavy, and my big toes were KILLING me (I think I need a new pair of shoes). Everything just hurt, and I still had a half marathon ahead of me! But then I decided, worst case, I'd just have to walk the whole run portion - I'd come too far to just give up! So I sort of hobbled, bow-legged to my rack space, swapped out shoes and off I went!

Better fitting shoes!

So despite all that pain and bloatedness, I managed to crank out a 7:30 mile for the first mile, briefly flirting with the idea of doing this thing under 5:10. However, pretty soon after the stomach cramping and pain became too unbearable and I had to walk a little bit. I tried to walk no more than 15 seconds at a time, but pretty soon my sub-8 minute miles dissolved into 8:45 to 9:30's. It's probably better this way, because I think I would've killed myself trying to hold on to finishing in under 5:10 - I don't think I had the proper base for my body to handle that yet. I was finally able to digest all the Gu and Gatorade by about mile 6, and the rest was just about holding pace and resisting the urge to walk.

Volunteer support for the run was amazing! Water/Gatorade stations every mile, sponges and squirt guns, mist tents, and several bands. Definitely made things more interesting while you're out there suffering in the heat.

See bike comments.

My sister was there to cheer for me on the run, and she was waiting for me right as I crossed the finish line - she's so awesome! She drove all the way out by herself, walked the mile or so from the expo, and stood around for 2 hours just to see me at the finish. She kicks ass.


Training (isn't that always the limiter?)


Excellent race. Well organized, great volunteer support, challenging course. And this is all in the inaugural year! Keith Jordan and all the Endorfun Sports people did a great job with this race!