LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I got out front for the start and was ready to roll. Went hard the first couple of hundred yards with the other brawlers. Got kicked in the head in a big way, but had a total blast. Spotted well, drafted a little here and there, but it was so crowded that people were zig-zagging all over the place so it was hard to really catch some good feet. As we got closer to the shore I started kicking my feet pretty hard to get the blood flowing, and it meant that I was able to run up the hill right away, and didn't feel lightheaded at all.

It should be said that the swim must have been about 200 meters short. There's no way that I could have shaved 9 minutes off my Florida time...

Nothing apart from get even better at the swim so I can make 28 minutes on the real 1.2 distance.

I had a great T1. I was focused, and didn't rush it. Got out of my suit without a hitch, and didn't have a problem getting into my shoes once I took off. Just smooth.

Nada...

I was really hoping to be faster on the course, but the rolling hills kept my pace down. I did only get passed by about 10 people and passed quite a few people, but I still wanted to have be going around 22mph. I also began getting a little lower back ache towards mile 40 and that did take some power away.

Train more to be faster. That simple. Need more power.

I had a rocking T2. I dismounted totally smooth, continued running with the bike, racked it fast, and even though I had to put on socks, Garmin and Fuel Belt, I still had a pretty fast T2.

Nothing. Super smooth T2

I had a plan to stay right on 8min/miles and that really paid off. I was able to maintain that pace pretty much all the way up to mile 11. That's when I hit "quadzilla" the second time and had to walk up the hill and that slowed me down quite a bit. It was great overall though. I never really struggled, and I felt amazing all the way until 11. The only issue I had was sloshing in my stomach from my drinks from the bike, and I did have some GI issues that kept me from performing at my peak for sure.

Change my drinks on the bike so I don't end up with a sloshy stomach, and hopefully have room for gels on the run as I really need the caffeine on the run.

Got some cold towels and cooled down in the misting tent. Did some light stretching and got a quick massage.


My nutrition was good, but it wasn't perfect, and I did feel that on the run. Didn't bonk the way I did in Florida, but I was struggling a little on the run and felt nauseous. Otherwise it's all about training and getting some more work in there to get faster.


I loved this race. I thought it was really well put together, and this is a race I would do again for sure as it really played well to my strengths, and it's a course I could really perform on with the right preparation.