LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Right, the water temperature was 78.5 and that was actually a 1.2 mile swim. NOT, on both counts. The water was absolutely around 80 but since they said it was wetsuit legal I figured I'd take advantage of it and use it since I haven't raced in my new suit yet and it would help me simulate IMFL. The swim was also around 300m short, but I won't tell my friends because I'll let them think my swimming has drastically improved. :-)

I started the swim right in front. For some reason everybody hung back and there was nobody even with the start buoys so I figured I'd take it. I started good and strong and nobody really caught me from the back. 200m in and we were already catching the women's wave in front of us. Most of the rest of the swim was trying to get around the waves in front of us. Every once in a while I'd find an open space but I had to swim around people a lot. Since I don't know who y'all are, I'll just broadly apologize if I swam overtop of you.

With that, the swim was good and I was shocked when I looked at my watch coming out of the water. Way ahead of my planned time.

It's quite a distance from water to transition. I got out of the water and got onto the grass and decided to pull my wetsuit off right there. Transition was pretty much dirt so I figured it would be better to peel it off in the grass. I put my Garmin on to capture heart rate data and then grabbed my Gu, PowerBar and salt tablets and I was off.

I should've used the Bento Box I'm going to use for IMFL as it took me some extra time to get my nutrition into my back pockets.

Since this race was for IMFL preparation, my coach wanted me to hold back a little bit the first 30 miles and then go hard the last 26 miles. I held a good pace but had 4 or 5 people in my age group pass me the first 30 miles. It was hard to watch them go by but I knew I had to let them go. I was here to train and not necessarily race. As soon as my computer hit 30 miles I yelled out "It's time to race" and I let the horses out. 3 minutes later I flew by the first person that originally passed me and then 10 minutes later I was past everyone that originally past me. Nobody passed me the last 26 and I was flying by people.

This bike course was actually much tougher than I thought it would be. First, it was much hillier than I thought it would be. I figured this part of Austin would be flatter, but there really wasn't that much flat riding. Second, the wind was very strong (15-20mph) the entire ride. It was mostly a crosswind or headwind. Only the last 12 miles or so of the bike was a tailwind.

Nutrition seemed to be real good but I think I needed to take in more fluids and salt. I don't think I realized how much I was sweating because the wind dried you off so quick. I drank 2 1/2 bottles of Gatorade Endurance and 3/4 bottle of water. I took 2 salt tablets 1 hour out and another 2 after 2 hours. I peed once on the bike but looking back at it now I should've drank more as I would find out later on the run.

I'm happy with the bike but I think hitting the last 26 miles harder than I would for IM cost me a bit on the run. More on that later.

Good transition. Feet out of shoes on the bike. Took off helmet. Grabbed hat and a few more Gu's and I was off.

The plan was to go easy the first 5k and then continually build from there. I felt really good the first 5k and then started to feel the hills. This is a VERY hilly run and I think this is where the harder 26 miles on the bike were felt most. I was taking my Gu's every 30 minutes and washing them down with water. I started Coke as soon as possible and to 2 salt tablets 4 miles in and another 2 around 8 miles in.

The hills started getting to me after mile 8 and I just decided to back off the run a little since this wasn't my A race. As I was coming down the last big hill at mile 11 at the dam I was actually feeling strong until I hit a little hole in the dirt path. My left ankle turned a little and I was forced to take a few off balance strides. Well, that was enough to start a huge cramp in my left hamstring. I couldn't take another stride and couldn't even walk. While I was stretching it out my right quad started to cramp. It took me a couple minutes to work them out and then was able to run again. The next aid station wasn't far but all they had was water. Needless to say I took it and kept running up Quadzilla no problem.

As I got to the last aid station at mile 12 I took a couple cups of Gatorade and 3 salt tablets. I could still feel a slight cramping feeling now in both hamstrings and both quads but I figured I only have 1 mile to finish the race. I just focused on taking short strides and not everstretching my legs. I ran without any problems the last mile until I got 5 yards from the finish line and both legs started cramping. I had to hobble across the finish line and stop moving as soon as I crossed the line. Medical wanted to take me to the tent but I knew I was fine and that I just had to take care of the cramps. They literally carried me out of the way because I couldn't walk at all. Once out of the way I just stood still taking in Gatorade Endurance. I just started massaging and stretching and I was fine a few minutes later.

It took me almost 19 minutes to finish those last 2 miles and I've never had to deal with anything like it. Clearly, I'll just need to force myself to drink more and take in more salt at IMFL.

Just hung out waiting for my Florida flat lander friends to finish the race.


Knowing that I had IMFL in 4 weeks and that this was a prep day forced me to slow a little on the run.


This really was a great race but there are definitely a couple things that need to be addressed. The car line to get to parking was long and slow and the lines for the bus to tranistion were brutally long.