LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

As soon as I enterred the water the volunteers were encouraging us to start swimming out to the start. This was because there were lots of weeds at the start. One weed got stuck in my watch and stayed with me most of the race. I positioned myself about 2 or 3 back on the inside right so that I would be closest to the buoy.

When the horn sounded I punched "start" on my watch and started swimming. In sprints I usually give it all I have. I had to remind myself today that this would be a long day. I came here not to race anyone else, but to make this "my" race. All I wanted to do was finish. So I just settled in to a comfortable swim. For the most part I was able to swim without running into anyone else or getting hit by anyone else. Things did get a little tight as we approached the first turn buoy, but I just tried to claim my space and keep going. When I rounded the turn I looked up to see where the next buoy was. I couldn't see it so I just followed everyone else. The next time I looked, I saw a cap from the wave in front of my. I love it when I catch the wave in front of me, because I am NOT a faster swimmer and it boosts my confidence. However, the next time I looked up I saw some green caps. Did I really catch two waves in front of me? Uh, that would be a NO. The guys from the wave behind me were barrelling through. Yikes! But I just kept going. Coming into today I had a goal of completing the swim in less than an hour. When I hit the swim exit I snuck a peak at my watch. When I saw 48 minutes I was happy. And then I saw my family and that made me more happy.

For the training I put in before the race and knowing my ability, I am happy with the swim.

When I did Danskin at the same race site earlier this year I ended up with a rock or twig in my shoe that cut my big toe all during the race. Since this was a long race I wanted to make sure that didn't happen today. When I got back to my bike, I sat down and wiped my feet as best as I could with a hand towel. This slowed me down just a little but I'm glad I took the time to do it. I then put my socks and shoes on, put my gloves, sunglasses and helmet on, sucked down a gel, stuffed some extra gel in my pocket and took off.

Nothing.

I knew coming into today that I was a little under trained on the bike. The rain we had in the early summer kept me off the bike for a while and I have no one to train with on the bike, so doing long rides was difficult. The longest ride coming into today was 42 miles.

Coming out of T1 I spotted my family. I clipped in, told them I would see them in several hours and took off. I rode most of the course two weeks ago and I had read Mike's mile by mile description of the course several times, so I knew what to expect. The first few miles I just settled in and drank some water to wash down the gel I took in T1. When I reached 290 all the liquid I drank this morning caught up to me. I had to pee. But I'm not hard core and I wasn't going to pee on the bike. I knew there would be an aid station around 12.5 so I planned to stop there. As soon as I turned off 290 and saw the station I pulled over, hit the porto pottie and got back on the bike. Much better.

At this point it was a little overcast and I was hoping it would stay that way. The brutal heat is what kept me from finishing the course two weeks ago. I was doing well by my standards but I was getting passed a lot at this point. I had to remind myself again that this was "my" race and to just listen to my body. I pushed it where I could and took the hills as they came. They didn't really seem so bad today. I guess it was the race adrenaline. Every 10 miles they had a mile marker. I liked that because it helped me get through the race in small parts. I think my speeds ranged from 6 mph to 37 mph today. I stopped at the 40 mile aid station to refill my gatorade bottle and then started counting the miles off until the finish. When I hit 50 miles I was happy. Not much left to go, except the big hill at the finish. I've ridden that hill the past 3 years in Danskin and knew I could do it. As I was going up, I looked at the runners already on the run course. Most of them were males and most of them were walking. Yikes. This was not encouraging. I just kept going and was glad to get off the bike.

Now that I have a trainer, I won't miss bike workouts due to rain. Find a group to do long rides with. More hill training as it's the hills that kill my average speed. I can get up them, but not fast.

When I dismounted the bike, my legs felt great. This was a good sign (or so I thought). My feet still felt wet from the swim, so I decided to change socks for the run to avoid blisters. This cost me some time in T2. Normally my T2 is faster than my T1. Not today. I also forgot to stuff some pretzels and gummy bears in my pocket and went back to get them before heading out.

Not change socks (it didn't matter anyway once I hit the first aid station on the run and dumped water on my head). Not go back for pretzels and gummies. There was plenty at the aid stations.

My legs felt great coming off the bike so I decided to start off running. By the time I got out of the park and onto the road, I felt the heat bearing down on me. I don't do well with heat and the humidity makes it hard for me to breathe. I decided that if I needed to I would walk the uphills. And that's what I started doing. Run the flats and downhills and walk the uphills. I grabbed something at every aid station to make sure I stayed hydrated. I did not want to pass out from the heat. Before I got back into the park, I knew I would be walking most of the course. It was just too hot for me to push it. I reminded myself yet again that I just wanted to finish. And at this point I knew that even if I walked the remaining way, I would make it. So I just started enjoying myself. I would talk to those I caught up to and would say encouraging words to those that passed me. Coming back into the park I ran some more and enjoyed that first downhill just passed the transition entrance/exit. And I knew what was coming. The BIG hill. So I just walked. I got passed that and saw the chute for the finish and wished that I could go that way, but I had one more lap to go. I headed out and just outside of the park I saw my family heading back in so they could catch me at the finish. When they saw me, my son started trying to get his camera out so he could take a picture. So I stopped and waited. He was in such a hurry though that he cut my head off. I told them I was on my second lap and would see them at the finish. About mile 8 I started walking with a women who came from Colorado. We walked together for a mile or so and then she was ready to take off again. I told her to have a good race. I had decided to just walk it in. When I came back in the park again I knew I only had about 3 miles to go. The aid station people were so great. Being that I was so far back I was alone most of the time. At the aid stations a volunteer would run up to me, find out what I wanted, run to the table to get it and hand it to me as I went by. It was almost like my own personal aid station. There are perks to being at the back. I climbed the horrible hill one last time and decided that when I rounded the corner to the finish chute I would run it in. It was an awesome feeling coming down that chute knowing what I had accomplished that day. I don't remember seeing my family or hearing Adam call my name, but it doesn't matter. My family was there and got pictures and I finished! My first HIM!

Run more in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer? Like I said, I just don't do well with heat. That's the way it is for me.

I got my ice cold towel, my medal and my water bottle, let the volunteer take my chip and found my family. They were thirsty, too, so they went to get something to drink while I went to get my burrito. Then we found a place to sit for a little bit while I ate what I could. I wasn't really that hungry but knew I needed to get some food in me. After a while, I went back to pack up my stuff and they helped me get everything back to the car.


Definitely the heat. If it had been cooler, I'm pretty sure I could have run the whole run course (although maybe a slow run, it still would be faster than walking). I also need to work on maintaining my base and get more time on the bike.


This was a great race and a great one to do for my first HIM. I struggled a bit with the training due to the rainy summer and due to the fact that I am also training with Team in Training for my 6th marathon at the Nike Women's Marathon on October 21. Overlapping the HIM and marathon training plans was tough, and coming from more of a running background, I found myself ditching a swim or a bike before I would ditch a run. Overall I am very happy with my results. I didn't have a goal other than finishing and I accomplished that. I have been thinking about doing an IM in the future, so this gave me some perspective about what it will take to get to that point when the time comes.