Buffalo Springs Lake Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Announcer yells go and I take off running. This is the first run start I've ever had, and of course I lose my goggles immediately. Stand up and put them on. Dip back in and get to it. Significant contact, but nothing I wasn't used to.

By the time I made it to the first buoy, my shoulders wore worn out. This happened the last time I swam in the wetsuit. I'm thinking it might be a little small for me, or maybe I should go sleeveless. Regardless, the rest of the swim I just felt fatigued in the shoulders.

Did a good job of drafting. It really wasn't too hard because I was in a nice pack. By the time I rounded the second buoy, all I could think about is how hot it was. I wanted the wetsuit off, bad.

Struggled onwards. Trying to focus on staying on feet and good technique. By the time I saw the swim exit, I was relieved!

Not wear the wetsuit. As bad as this swim felt, I thought I swam much faster than this. I was thinking maybe around 35:00, which was my goal time. I did notice many of the pros who raced this year and last year were significantly slower this year (3-4 minutes) than last. To me, this suggests the course may have been a little on the long side.

This went horrible. A stripper got my wetsuit off well. Ran to transition and put the glasses and helmet on. Put on socks, since this isn't a sprint. Shoes on. Then I grab my nutrition. Reach to put it in my back pocket. Realize I don't have a back pocket, but little side pockets. Panic. Stand there dumb-founded. Try to stuff it in the side pockets. Grab my bike, run, and immediately my nutrition falls out.

I finally realize that I have my bike jersey in my bag. So I take of my tri top, put on my bike jersey, pack the nutrition, and finally get moving. Lost at least 1:30 in this. First moment involving lack of preparation.

Realize that my tri top cannot hold nutrition.

Clip in and ready to roll. I've been looking forward to this bike course ever since I signed up for BSLT. I must admit that it's nasty to start off with a significant hill right out of transition. The legs are shaky from the swim, and they were not ready to climb. Small chain-ring and started spinning.

Immediately got to the down hill and my front wheel is wobbling like mad. I thought something might be wrong, so I was going about 10mph down the hill getting passed by tons. Even somebody yelled at me. But it straightened out and never gave me problems the rest of the ride.

Long stretch of flat here as we exited the park. Just put my head down and kept my HR between 148 and 152. Very uneventful ride, until we made it to the next hill. That's the way this ride went. Grinding, boring, flats until you get to the hills. I kept telling myself, the hills are almost here to keep myself from going crazy from the boring flats and lack of scenery.

The hill with the guardrail was sweet though. It was a blast to descend down, and even more fun to climb. The spiral staircase was a blast too. These two hills were worth the trip!

At mile 30, I was supposed to pick the HR up to the high 150's. But I was too scared of the run. So I held out on picking it up until mile 40 which is about the point where the drizzle turned into rain. At this point I was on the long stretch of flat until you get back to the park. I'm pretty sure from miles 42-44 I was rotating with triritter and some other guy. But I sat up to grab a hammer gel, endurolytes, and chase it with some water. By the time I'm back in aero those guys were gone.

Rode with nobody around me for nearly 10 miles I would say, when I enter the park. This is where disaster struck. With 2.5 miles to go, I hear some noise and I thought it was my wheels rolling through the puddles. But really I had a flat. So I stop to change it. Every thing is set, and I go to inflate. But there's no stem. Turns out my spare tube is a short stem. I sit there for a few minutes, really confused about what to do next. At this point I was averaging 20.83, which is on pace to finish in my time goal of 2:40:00.

I think SAG is outside the park and is not coming in. I tell myself that if they do come in, at least I could start walking towards transition to make up some ground. So I walk, and walk, and walk. Walking sucks in bike shoes.

During this time, I'm mentally losing it. I'm just completely pissed off at the world. I wonder why I stressed so much over this stupid race. Why I care so much about trying to achieve time goals. Why does it matter if I'm fast? Why do I even race in triathlon when I continually seem to screw up? Why the hell did I spend so much money for this race, drive all the way out to Lubbock, only to have this happen?

I come to terms with alot of these answers. I mean, I had nearly an hour of walking to figure all this out. SAG never comes. I walk all the way into transition. Some guy tells me to get out of the way. I tell him I'm still racing!

Insure that my equipment is proper. Pack the right tube. I also noticed after the race that the gel I had been taking wasn't near the quantity I thought it was. It turns out I consumed less than 600 calories on the bike, which is about 300-400 less than I planned for. Can't let this happen.

I really handled this bike course before the flat exactly how I wanted to effort-wise. With an average HR around 152, I should've had plenty of juice left in the tank if I had eaten more.

Talked to my wife Gina. She was doing the run segment of the relay, and her cyclist was still on the course. She felt he would be out there for another hour. I told her I wanted to wait and run the course with her, but she said it would take too long.

So I piddled around, probably looking like a pouting baby. I had come to terms that I would proceed with the run, but I wasn't looking forward to it. I really had to pee, but all the porta-potties were occupied. So I stood there for maybe 15-20 seconds until somebody popped out. Took care of business. Made my way to the run course.

I didn't care at this point.

Took off running with the HR in the mid 150's, which was the plan. This had me running around a 7:30 to 8:00 mile. Ran the first couple miles in around 16 minutes. I felt ok, but it was starting to get hot as the sun was coming out. And since it had just rained, it was pretty humid.

Hit the first hill, and I lost all motivation. Walked just about the whole way up. Ran down, but the next hill came pretty quick. I walked some more. Made it to the energy lab road and ran all the way down and back. Saw my friend Steve from our tri-club and chatted for a quick second. He was suffering from cramps and really struggling.

After making the turn off the energy lab road, I was tired. I felt weak, like I hadn't taken in enough nutrition. Walking was frequent, even on the flats at this point. But I didn't care honestly. I was just trying to make it across the line.

Saw my wife Gina with about 1.5 miles left. I gave her a hug and kiss and thanked her for being there for me on a horrible day. Saw fleeb towards the finish and gave him a five. Not sure why, because I didn't have much to celebrate.

Crossed the line, happy the day was finally over.

I should've put forth more effort into this run. I should've quit pouting like a child.

Chatted with Tommy and alot of our tri-club members. Eventually I walked back about a mile on the run course to cheer on Gina and the rest of the people out on the course.


Obviously my lack of preparation killed me in this race.

From a training perspective, I'm still a poor runner. I have seen gains, but not near the gains I've seen in swimming and cycling. I don't think I had what it takes to get a 5:15 on this course at my current level, but I think I could've flirted with 5:20 if I had executed properly.


Buffalo Springs 70.3 is heralded as one of the more difficult 70.3 races. I believe it after this experience. If you're not a smart cyclist, those hills could really eat you up. And if they don't, the hills on the run can. And on a hot, windy day like Lubbock usually brings, this course could be a beast of a challenge. We were fortunate to have the weather being in the 80's, although the wind was a bit significant.

Regardless, I really do not like the west Texas terrain. I find it dry and boring. There's just not much color. The run course was ok, since it was on the lake. But the bike course was boring I felt. I would've like to have seen more hills. Going flat for long stretches just isn't appealing to me.

But the producers of this race really do an excellent job of creating a good fun atmosphere.

I wouldn't discourage anybody from competing in this race, but I can say that I will not ever race BSLT again.