longhorn 1/2 mary question. Quadzilla?

not familiar with the dallas area... but after doing the race last year... its not as bad as every one makes it out to be.

Great, no hill training. You said so. lol

any idea what  the grade or distance is?

Of the top of my head, I had estimated it at 10% for 100 feet but I'm pretty sure the route below is the actual hill:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?route...
(9.5% for 85 feet.)

Here's a hill in Flower Mound, TX that is similar that I do bike climbing reps on sometimes:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?route...
(9.4% for 79 feet.)

Very helpful .
Thank you.

^^^What he said.  It's not that big.

Go run Arbor Hills in the heat. That will get you the proper training for the entire Longhorn run course.

If you are looking at Arbor Hills and go to the right... there is a long downhill... turn around and run up that... do that a few times...

Quadzilla is a bit more steep, but running those hills will get you in shape for the run.

If that gets too easy, go run up Windhaven.

I would also suggest that you ride Windhaven as well!



Edited by KSH 2009-06-29 5:15 PM

That ONE hill isn't completely horrible (although miserable in it's own right)... but the entire run course is not flat. There are some hills on the run course... and if you are slow (like me!) and you have to run that half marathon in the heat of the day... all of it added up together makes for a pretty challenging run.

Like I said "Whole"... go run Arbor Hills... in the heat. It will prepare you perfectly for Longhorn.

Here's the thing. . . .

I did this event in its inaugural year (2007).  It was about 98 degrees during the run.  The two times I went up the hill, I walked it.  I only saw about 3 people who actually ran it, and they weren't going much faster than the people who were walking it.  After talking with others after the race.  I found that the majority of the folks walked the hill.

But, that was on a 98 degree day.  What are the odds of that in the middle of October.  It's a tough, tough hill on a HOT day, but I think it is managable on a day in the 80's.

You'll have fun.  Its a great event. . .

It was a tough hill, but not that bad...I actually thought it was worse as part of the bike leg (you finish with a few of these)

I have to agree about not training for that one hill. Unless you're a super strong runner anyway, walking the hill will be close to as fast as trying to run it.

I also agree with the post above who said the run course is not easy. IMO, it was much harder than the Boulder 5430 Long course run which is the only other HIM I've done.

ditto... the heat index was 104 ish.. everyone was cooking out there.. that made it extra tough out there...

what Karen suggested is great   arbor hills and windhaven

Is this the Windhaven hill?

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?route...

No, that's not Satan's Buttcrack. This is:
Link

Notice it's just north of Arbor Hills. You can get in quite a bit of hill work on the bike & run if you hit that area.

Edited by JBrashear 2009-06-29 11:10 PM

Satan's Buttcrack, that's funny. Windhaven does look like a nice hill for training. When I rode out there seriously years ago none of the hills were available for road training. Many were dirt roads and some are in new developments that didn't exist back then. I had to drive from Flower Mound to some hill in Valley Ranch to get any hill reps in.

I still ride out there a few times a year with friends and family. My sister is married to Todd's brother (the Todd of Todd and Robin). I'll tell ya, the riding has greatly improved out there over the years, except the bees are meaner. I get stung while riding everytime I'm out there.