LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Due to some crazy conspiracy, this race was somehow wetsuit legal. Even though that water was MUCH warmer than 78. Trust me. My wetsuit was back in SD so I was going without. I would say a good third of the folks I saw standing around also decided to go without.

I seeded myself up at the front on the left hand side (closest to the first buoy). Gun goes off and I head out. It was a fairly crowded swim start. Just lots of girls. I was able to hold my own for the most part but I eventually got whacked in the head which broke my goggle seal. I would have loved to stop and fix it, but I would have gotten run over. So, I just dealt with it. It's just water. Annoying, but not stingy.

I rounded the first buoy and headed down the long stretch. I had a little more swimming room but now I kept finding all the people that can't swim straight. I pride myself on swimming very straight and I get annoyed when people repeatedly run into me. At one point I saw someone taking an obvious cut in the wrong direction (and towards me). I sighted to make sure I was swimming straight (I was), then on my next stroke I grabbed their arm. It worked...they looked up and straightened themselves out. Seriously people...learn to swim straight!

Somewhere on that stretch I started passing people from the waves in front which always creates a log jam. I just concentrated on a good effort and good pulls. I finally rounded the second buoy but due to the water in my goggles I could not see the finish arch. So I just swam along with humanity. About now my right hand went numb. A few minutes later I felt the blood rush back into it. NO idea what was going on with that. Finally I spotted the finish arch and swam straight for it. I saw what I thought was the last triangle buoy and went to keep it on my left. Unfortunately, that was one of TWO triangle buoys that you were supposed to swim between. I figured this out right as I came abreast of them and had to make a 90 degree turn to the left to go through them even though I was on a straight line to the finish. I doubt it cost me much more than 10 seconds.

Lots of people stood up early but I swam until I couldn't turn my arms over without hitting the ground.

Learn to draft. I never draft. And maybe bring my wetsuit even if it was too warm.

17th fastest T1 in my AG. Helps if you don't wear a wetsuit.

When I stood up from the swim I had a hard time staying steady and getting my goggle/cap off. Once I finally did my eyes were all blurry since I had gotten so much water in them. But after I hit solid ground I was able to jog up the hill. I didn't want to do more than jog since it was a long uphill stretch and I didn't want to waste TOO much energy.

I found my spot easily. I went to put on my shoes and had to douse my feet with water because they were COVERED with dirt from the run in. I normally don't care, but we're talking sandy dirt here...you can't have that rubbing on your feet all day! They really should have put some hay or something down in transition.

Once the shoes were on I put on helmet and glasses, grabbed my shot bloks, put on my race number belt, and headed out. I did the mental checklist as I ran with my bike. I had everything. I chose to run in my shoes rather than have them on the bike because transition was so dusty. I normally would leave them on the bike but I knew my feet would be covered in dirt if I didn't run in the shoes.

I'll include getting onto the bike in transition even though this was AFTER I crossed the timing mat. I could NOT get my right shoe to clip in for ANYTHING. I think it was full of dirt from transition. This easily cost me 30+ seconds.

I'm not sure. Considering how far I had to run this really wasn't ALL that bad. Even with the difficult time getting the shoe clipped in I still think I would have worn them for the run out. It was that or have super filthy/chafing feet all day.

Ah, the bike....my nemesis. It was definitely the immediate "pass Jen" party that it always is. But I was holding my own. I would call this course "flat". The Texans want to call it "hilly". It was just a lot of false flats and constant small rollers. And a million turns. Check out the map. http://www.ironmanlonghorn.com/longhornmap.html I count at least 30 turns. That's ridiculous.

I was told to do Z3/4 so that's what I did. Pushed the whole way. Lungs were always fine, legs were BURNING! I noticed right away that I had forgotten to reset my Ergomo so my time/distance were wrong all day. I had to do math to figure out how long I had been riding and I didn't even bother looking at distance. Who really cares anyway?

It was very very crowded early on and almost impossible to avoid inadvertant drafting for quite some time. I just tried to stay out of drafts but not stay too far left so that people could still pass. I sipped on my infinit on the 15/45 and had two shot bloks on the 20/40/60. My stomach felt fine at this point. I was also trying to drink water out of my new neverreach. I had tried it out in transition and gotten water out of it. But the first 5 miles I could not get any water out! This worried me greatly so I spent some time trying to figure out what was wrong without stopping the bike. Finally I found that the best way to get water out was via a technique I dubbed the "lift, pull, and suck". Just like it sounds, I had to use my mouth to lift the tube up a bit, exert pressure to "pull" some on it, then suck through the bite valve. Minds out of the gutter people! Though I will admit I laughed. It was still hard to get water out, but at least I could drink now! All tolled I went through about two bottles of water and my bottle of infinit. I probably would have gone through more water if it was easier to drink. Total calories: 1359.

Okay, back to the riding. I was feeling really good and able to stay aero for about the first 40 miles. There were some light head/cross winds in here but nothing more than a nuisance. However, there was lots of annoying CHIPSEAL which is the DEVIL. After about 40 miles my body rebelled at the aero position. I don't blame it, all I do is climb from the bullhorns at home! Luckily this was the point at which we turned to put the wind at our backs. It picked up a little bit and I sat up for most of the rest of the race spinning with the wind at my back. I was still going over 20mph so I figured I would roll with it.

I finished the last of my nutrition about 5-15 minutes from the finish. Climbed the last speedbumps and headed into transition.

Eat more of the shot bloks early on the course and the infinit later....see the run.

43rd fastest in my AG. Not bad. I probably lost most of my time "jogging" in with the bike and "jogging" out. I couldn't run very fast.

I got to my spot and found that the biatch next to me had racked her bike backwards and was where mine should have been. This was the SECOND time she had done this. She had done it wrong during setup and I had to switch it around. So I had very little patience at this point. I almost just took her bike off the rack but instead I backed it up so I could rack it by the handlebars. Then I was able to fit my bike on, but this cost me time!

I got the bike shoes off and socks/running shoes on. I took the helmet off and then instead of running with my hat/gels/etc. I took the time to put it all on at my spot which probably wasn't smart. Then I jogged out.

Move faster?

I was SUPPOSED to be running Z4 with a 2.5'run/1'walk technique. But that just wasn't going to happen. I haven't done any "fast" running and it was honestly everything I could do to keep my 2.5' runs at a "jog".

The first 3 miles I felt really sick. I probably ate too close to the end of the bike. I did my 2.5/1 with some "modifications" to make sure I always walked aid stations. During the first three miles all I could stomach was water and cola. I did that and took it super easy until my stomach sorta came around.

Once my stomach came around THEN I realized I was going to have the runs for this race. Lucky me. I hit a porta potty late in the first lap which helped, but within a mile I needed to go again. I held off as long as I could and stopped early in the second lap. I swear I didn't even have my tri suit all the way back on and I had to go again. I spent FOREVER in that second porta potty.

There isn't much else to say. I never completely bonked and had to walk...I always kept up my 2.5/1. I was just SLOW. The only thing that ever really hurt was my feet. I hadn't gotten all the dirt off them so they were getting a bit roughed up. And my plantar fascia really wasn't happy with me.

The big news of the day is that my knee didn't hurt. Not a single peep out of it. I hesitate to say this is total proof that the surgery worked since I did walk so much of the run, but it's a really really good sign. I mean, I could BEND it when I was done. I almost cried I was so happy. It BENDS still!

Nothing. I kept moving forward and never completely died.

After I crossed the finish line I got them to take off my chip then started walking in the direction of the BT tent. The line for food was too long so I kept walking to the BT tent. They had food there that I did not have to wait in line for! I wanted to get out of my wet clothes so I did the "between the car doors" changing thing. Julia would be so proud of me. Once in dry clothes, I ate some MEAT and had some fluids and sat around talking to people. I also demonstrated to anyone who would watch that I could still bend my knee. Trust me when I say this is nothing short of a miracle. I finally had to go to the bathroom again so I walked ALL the way back to the porta potties (which was very painful BTW) and then walked ALL the way back. No line at the food tent anymore so I got myself a banana, a burrito, and cold drinks. Back at the BT tent I forced myself to eat it...I wasn't HUNGRY but I knew I needed food.

Then I sat around chatting with BTers, icing my PF, and waiting for Brittany. Once she was back we made the long walk to the cars and drove home.


Lack of run training and the 30+ pounds I need to lose.


Fun weekend! Good times, good people, etc. etc.

I was slow, but this was a training race for me. And it was a swim/bike PR. The swim was short, BTW. :) I'm not THAT fast! I haven't run that much since my surgery so I really could not expect a good run. I just wanted to test out the knee. On to IMAZ...