Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

First off... I'm horrible at drafting. I really wanted to try with this race so I started a little back rather then the front like I usually do. I started too far back. I got behind a group of 4 guys that were going too slow for my pace and I couldn't get around for the first 400 to 500 yards. Once we made the first turn I got into a nice comfortable pace and just gave up on practicing drafting. But this is when I stopped tracking so closely and got way wide on the back side. I was probably 150 yards off the buoy line. I started to panic and feel like I needed to hurry to make up for the mistake, but I caught myself and got back to a comfortable stroke. I was proud of myself for that. In the past I would have blasted the swim to try and make up for the lost time.

Coming out of the water I cut my toe on some rock. I don't think it was one of the dreaded oyster beds because it would have been worse. But it didn't feel good for the rest of the race.

Track better.

I didn't hurry here. I didn't want my heart rate to jump into the 180's again and have to recover for the first 10 minutes of the bike.

I need to practice my transitions. I don't have my shoes already clipped in, I don't do a flying mount and I can barely say I run with my bike. Taken together it all probably adds up to a couple of minutes in both of the T's. It doesn't matter that much in a race of this length, but it cost me a couple of sports in the overall in the sprint yesterday.

The way out was hard as we had a cross/head wind. I averaged 20.2 for the first hour. I was getting a little concerned because I had trouble telling if it was a pure cross wind that we would have to battle on the way back as well or a bit of a head wind. The flag said it was a bit of a head wind, so I just hoped for some help on the way home. Once we made the turn and looped around again the route started to get a little crowded. It was tough not to be in someone's slip stream and it wasn't possible to pass someone without pulling in behind the person in front. I did the best I could, but I probably gained some advantage from that many people on the road.

The way back was a blast. It was 22-23 mph the whole way. I stood up a couple times to get the blood flowing in other parts of my legs and crotch. I was also having problems with stiffness in my gluts that I haven't had before. When I get the new seat, might be time to look into getting fit again as well.

Might have gone a little too hard, but this was a fun ride. I averaged the same speed today that I averaged yesterday on the sprint. Also, I think I have a problem with my front race wheel. The bearing doesn't turn as freely as my other wheels or the rear wheel. I don't know what I can do about it. I hope I don't need a new wheel as I think I've already blown my triathlon budget this year on Coeur d'Alene.

Just like yesterday, I need to work on this transition.

I probably started a little fast with the 8:19 mile out of the block, but then i settle into an easy 9:00 to 9:10 mile pace. I was suffering in the middle as the heat was starting to get to me. But then the wind really started to pick up and cool the course off. I was able to pick up my pace for the last 4 miles or so. I realized with about 3 miles to go that if I could hold 10 minute miles or so I could go under 5:20, which has been a goal of mine. So I increased my turnover just a bit. 10 minutes miles would be no problem as long as I didn't have the GI issues I had at my last half iron. That last lap went by pretty fast.

Off Topic: I've found a new game to pass the time late in a long course race. Its a version of TV's "Are you smarter then a 5th grader". I'm amazed at how dumb I get in the late stages of these races. Something to do with all the blood going to my legs and lungs and nothing left over for my brain. At 6 miles I was trying to figure out what pace I needed to hold to come in under 5:20. I consider myself a highly educated person, I have the student loans to prove it, but it took me 2 miles to figure it out and by that time I had passed 2 more mile markers so I had to recompute. It wasn't until 2 miles to go that I realized I was going to make it. 22 minutes left meant 11 mile pace... I can do that. And yes 31 minutes to go with 3 miles left was too hard. So in the future I'm going to ask myself a series of progressively easier math questions to see how far my mental state has deteriorated. A coworker of mine had a calendar of math questions meant to sharpen your skills... maybe I'll put some of those in my special needs bag at Coeur d'Alene. Then take one of my wife's 4th grade math tests at mile 20 of the ironman and see if I would have passed. Its like a drinking game... only you're running.

Wear sun screen. Other then that not much. I'm not a good runner so given that I was able to pick up the pace at the end I think I did ok. The first few miles were probably a little optimistic.

I am happy about my nutrition plan. This is where I would have discovered any errors made on the bike. I didn't cramp or have any GI issues. So I"m sticking with it.

Just walked a little. I didn't have the energy to warm down.


Lack of training.


Good race, lots of volunteers. The run route was a little strange, but that's due to hurricane Ike last year, so they did really well given the circumstances. It was even a little fun.