LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The course was short. Geoff Whitfield thought it was short before we even started by the fact the pros were done in 19 minutes and change. During the run Danny and I were talking and we both thought it was about 300 meters short of a full 1931.

From the time I started to my actual water exit was just over 29 minutes. That's impossibly fast for me. Vineman in July was 38 minutes. I have not been swimming enough to take that kind of time off my swim. I did do a better job drafting and catching currents in packs or feet, but not 8 minutes worth of time.

I noticed a large group of guys huddling on the outside of the course at the start so i went over to the inside buoy for a clean start. I figured by the time the group thinne out and moved to the inside, the fast guys would be ahead of me and I could draft without getting beaten up too bad. Turns out I was right.

I avoided most contact and save for some minor body bumps, but no elbows or feet to the face, which is always nice.

My navigation was mostly good. On the way back into the finish, the course veered a bit left and I kept going straight or about 20 meters, but the correction was not too bad. I did get cut off a few time by slower swimmers from earlier waves, but that did not seem to be too far from ordinary.

nothing - this was a really goo dswim for me, even excluding the short course...I avoided too much contact and was able to get out well and draft when able.

Fairly good transition. my wetsuit got stuck on my left heel, but I avoided the dreaded "sit" that pissed my off at the last 70.3.

I had a lot of dirt on my feet so I tried to rub the soles on my towel to make the ride more comfortable. I got into my ride gear fairly well except for dropping my sunglasses.

Grabbed a drink from my transition bottle and hit the road.

get the suit of a little faster.

I was pushing pretty hard at the start and thought I might pay for it later. I wanted to try and get out fast because I had such a good swim I thought I could place pretty high in my AG.

Then, around mile 35 I started to cramp in my quads. I took a salt tab and moved around on my machine to stand and stretch and that took care of the problem. I definitely tried to pick places to take it easy and save some energy for the run after that little problem.

Nevertheless, I averaged a full .5mph better than last year so that was fairly impressive.

New bike and positioning has helped because I have not been nearly as much this year as last.

not a whole lot.

I made a mistake here and took the long way through transition to get to my rack. I went straight in rather than taking the left hand turn and making my way to my spot in the most direct way. Probably cost me 5 or 10 seconds.

Switch to run gear was fast once I got there.

take the shorter path

There is not a flat part on the course at all. Just like last year, I started cramping as soon as I left transition. I was able to run through them fairly well. I had taken four salt tabs on the bike to keep the cramps away. I took my last two during the first 8 miles of the run. I grabbed 2 Enduralytes at two aid stations to assist.

I did the gatorade and coke thing here as well and it worked fairly well. I felt a little bloated between miles 2 and 4 so I made a pit stop quickly in a port-o-can. Felt a little less full after that.

On Quadzilla 1 I started the hill and my right leg totally seized up the entire inside of my groin and quad. I could not even walk. Grabbed the fence, stretched and proceeded as quickly as I could. Walked up the hill and then started running again above the steep part.

I felt really good between miles 7 and 9.5. The rest of the run was fighting cramps and blisters on my feet. But after mile 10 I knew I was almost done and I needed to turn it on as best I could to get a better place in my AG.

The second time down by the dam I really exaggerated my stride and opened up my gait to go fast, avoid quad-breaking, and stretch for Quadzilla. I ran all the way up the second time on Quadzilla and was passing a bunch of people. That motivated my to finish strong. I had really bad cramps just before the final aid station so I walked through it and got one last sip of Gatorade.

Finish was good. Strong as I could go the last 3/4 miles and was very pleased with my time.

walked around, found Robin. Saw Berkley and a few Texas Iron folks and ate a burrito.

My stomach started feeling better about a half hour after the finish and then my legs just hurt.


cramps


Even with their apparent misgivings at measuring the swim, I still think Keith and Crew do the best job organizing a race.

This race was harder than Vineman, but not every race can have 50 degree start temps with clouds and a high of only 80.