LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim went well considering training and number of participants. My first time in an out-of-state race and a large one at that. Swim was wetsuit legal but I did not bring one (organizers indicated 78 degrees was the cutoff and we dropped just below it).

Wore my tri top to try and save time in T1 but would probably not do it again in hopes to increase my swim time - felt the top may have had a little drag.

Don't have T1 time but I wasn't pushing it to make sure I had everything and put on additional sun screen. Everything went smoothly.

Except not wearing my top, nothing. Wore a sleeveless top and put on lots of sun screen. Thought about using regular shirt but knew it would be hot and hoped that sun screen would work (it did, but I was nervous because I burn easy).

Rented a Trek Madone 4.7 with Bontager race wheels - very sweet, light & fast. First 20 miles flew by and kicked butt on hills. Feet and shoulders began to cramp around mile 30 and had to stop to massage and loose straps - worked and no other problems. Heat and humidity sapped my energy combined with low biking training, ran low on energy on latter part of ride. Took a shot block 3 miles before finish. Spinned at high cadence last 30 sections before T2. Didn't have aerobars which may have helped.

Do more bike training and longer rides. I was in between bikes which limited my training rides to club bike trainer.

Nailed nutrion- 3 half peanut butter sandwiches, 4 shot blocks and 1 energy bar (wafer). Appx 250 calories/hour.

Drink - half water, half electrolyte drinks (heed & gatorade).

One potty break

T2 went well. Put on a little more sun screen. Wore hat on run

Nothing I can think of...

Weather on run was sunny with some cloud cover. Temp was around 90 degrees with humidity. Race strategy was to just get me to the run which normally is my strong point, but today I didn't have it. First 3 miles were very slow and tough. Legs loosen up after that and grind it out. Heat killed me and I struggled through most of run.

Felt I was in great condition for run but would need to handle heat better - try and train in conditons (???), try and travel earlier to acclimate. Forgot to bring my newer running shoes but don't think it would have mattered.

Went to lake to cool down. Did some light stretching.


Limited bike training and not used to heat/humidity.


Very well organized, plenty of volunters and aid stations. Great pre- and post-race activities. Nice sourvenir, shirt & hat. Very fun race and would do again to see if I could improve and handle conditions better.

Overall race time was 6:37.