Galveston Half Iron Man (Page 10)

Wow!  I'm glad to hear that you are ok.  That's an experience like no other I'm sure.

Now that you mention this, I remember an ambulance heading towards San Luis Pass as I was heading back in.  And I remember thinking to myself, "Oh man I hope nobody is seriously hurt". 

Best of luck as you prepare for Kansas!

So glad you are OK, my husband saw you getting loaded but nothing before that.

Hope ya'll felt the love.

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My back tire went out around mile 20.  To make matters worse, when I went to change the tube I noticed I left my CO2 in transition sitting next to my bike tool. AAAAHHHHHH! .  I then hiked my bike over my shoulder and walked for 15 minutes till one of the tech trucks came along and saved me. After it was all said and done it took 22 minutes ( I like timing my dumb mistakes).  It basically ruined my time but I still enjoyed myself.    After thinking about it, I must have seen 20-25 flats during the ride.

I couldn't believe how many flats I saw.  I kept trying to see if there was anything I can avoid on the road but decided that it was all up to chance. 

I did see the ambulance coming back on my way out and was hoping it wasn't anything serious so glad things were ok.

I saw her ride by on the bike also.  When I was talking to my family about it, my sister said she saw her leaving transition and her and a volunteer yelled at the lady that she forgot to take her wetsuit off.  She told them she was recovering from an injury and was using it for compression and just kept riding.  Doesn't make sense to me :-/

That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. I cannot imagine the hydration she lost wearing that thing the whole time. I hate wearing  mine when I'm swimming let alone biking and running! I hope she is ok, we were actually worried about her overheating.

Yeah.....that gal was me.

Oh no! Were you able to finish the race? More importantly, are you ok?

More like I skidded across the road on my face, ha.

Yep. I'm ok-thx for asking. Hurt like a mo-fo for the rest of the race and yeah, got some nice road rash on my rt knee, shoulder, and face. It wasn't fast or pretty but I finished. I'll have my RR up probably later today detailing of my horribly epic day.

Congrats to everyone! 

Glad you are okay!  I saw you go down from a few hundred yards behind.  Not sure what caused the crash as no other bikes were around you.  You went down hard and fast.  I slowed down and a few spectators came running over to assist, you were face down and no moving at all.  I saw a police officer on the side of the road and asked him to call an ambulance and told him you were not moving.  

By the time I turned and came back you were gone.  I asked the spectators if you were OK and they said you were so very happy to hear no real injuries!

thanks, Jeff! Well, that at least is good to know, in that nobody else was involved (which I didn't think was the case). Thanks for slowing down to check - GREATLY appreciated! And going hard and fast tells me that I likely either hit something, or caught my wheel in one of those ruts. And that narrows the time I lost I think, because we were only a couple miles from the turnaround, and if I was gone by the time you came back, I wasn't "gone" as long as I thought I was!

I really appreciate the response, and I hope your race went well for you... sorry to slow you down :-)

P.S. Man, I read your race report, and started laughing... I was the guy wearing the cardiac ironman t-shirt standing there at your water station on the start of the run Saturday... too funny. Congrats on a great race (other than the GI issues), congrats to Annie for doing it, and good luck at IMTX. I will be volunteering there at the Team RWB aid station on the run.

This was my first triathlon...wow, that was fun. I finished in like 6:13ish...I was bib # 954

First, let me say that everyone was so helpful to me...I got so much great and helpful advice on both days.... and I basically just followed everyone else through the transition areas...all of it was new to me, the whole thing.

The swim was slow...I just learned over the winter months, this was my first time in salt water...didn't taste all that great hah, and my broken hand didn't bother me, but because I was stronger on my right hand...I kept swimming off course. Oh and whoever you were that gave me the advice before we jumped in to put my goggle straps under my swimcap....thanks!

The bike...awesome! sorry to hear about the tacks, guess I got lucky...man that was fun, especially on the way back! Oh, and whoever you were that talked to me about eating on the bike....holeymoley, thanks!

The run...I felt good, (after a bathroom break)...kinda just took a slow steady pace in...since it was my first time I kept thinking I was going to "bonk" or whatever...so I didn't want to push it. I just sorta held it together and finished

By far the coolest thing I have ever done....I want more. On my run I kept thanking the volunteers and talking to fellow runners...I was just so damn happy to be there.

Bottom line...I learned alot, met some cool people, and had an awesome experience. I have not stopped smiling since.

ha! small world, eh?  Glad you enjoyed the race report!  My Tri Club volunteers at the first aid station every year.  It is always a good time and it lets us encourage the newer triathletes who are doing the sprint.  Make sure to say hi at IMTX and hopefully your road rash isn't too bad!

Oh, more importantly, is your bike okay?  Looked like a P2, right?  Keeping fingers crossed for your response!!!

Overall great race on Sunday.  It was windy, a little hot and humid and things were tough but fair. Unfortunately, there was some carnage on the bike course.  Some headwind headed out, some tailwind headed back.  Swim wasn't as choppy as last year.  Volunteers great as always!  My one and only gripe about the event was the lackluster food offerings after the race... or should I say food offering since there was just crappy Papa Johns pizza.

I flirted with the idea of making an attempt at sub-5:00 but changed that to 5:10 goal time because of the winds.  I knew the headwinds would mean I'd have to kill myself on the way out to push a 2:30 bike. I'm still training for IMTX and didn't need to push it so hard that I'd need to recover for two weeks. Nevertheless, I kept 4:59 in the back of my mind assuming the swim and T2 went as planned.  Swim + T2 were about 3 minutes slower than I would have liked, so I scrapped 4:59 and shot for 5:10.  Bike went well at 2:34 (1:25 out and 1:09 back).  I was fading on the last 4 miles of the run.  My last split was on par with the previously three but that was only because I had to kill myself the last mile and finished at 5:09 (40th in M40-44).

4:59 or better will happen next year.  I won't be in mid-training for IMTX and can treat the Texas 70.3 as an A race instead of a B race.  I wish others in M40-44 would slow down some so I could have a legit shot at the 70.3 World Champs in Vegas. 

Ha! Small world - I think that was me on the dock who told you to put your goggles under your swim cap.   We talked briefly about losing weight and how tri got us moving again, as well as you hearing about nutrition the day before...... I'm glad to see you did well - really well in fact!  I wondered how you did, and even told my wife about you and the fact that you jumped in with both feet and did a 70.3 as your first tri.  You are definitely braver than me.

I felt great about my race as well, finishing in 6:15.  I probably could have done a little better, but started fading on the run, probably due to not drinking enough.  I ran out of fluids twice on the bike, because I'm a tightwad and didn't want to toss my insulated Polar bottles.  I only had two bottle cages and they were taken by my Polar bottles, so when i ran out, I took a water bottle at the aid station, but couldn't hold on to it and pedal efficiently, so i tossed it.  At the next station, I came to my senses and finally tossed the Polar bottle for a gatorade replacement.  By that time, though, it was too late, as I felt the dehydration setting in - I just couldn't get enough to drink and paid for it on the run.

Overall, great race, great support, great experience!  Glad I did it and looking forward to next year!

Bike execution is key for long course triathlons.  Ride too hard or mess up your nutrition/hydration and it will manifest itself on the run.

You mentioned that you "only had two bottle cages."  You don't need anymore than that in a supported IM or HIM race.  One bottle for your nutritional needs (a concentrated solution of Infinit, EFS, Accelerade, Perpetuem, whatever you use that will get you through a 56 mile ride) and the other bottle with just water.  Keep the nutritional stuff in the insulated bottle and keep the water in a throw away water bottle.  Swap out the water at the aid stations every 10-12 miles.  For an IM, keep a second bottle of nutrition in your special needs bag or learn to live off the Powerbar Perform or Gatorade Endurance offered on the course.

There's no need for all the ridiculous clutter that people have all over their bikes.  Does one need four bottles of water attached all over their bike to finish a 56 mile ride considering they give you water every 10-12 miles?   Nope.  Those behind the seat bottle launchers should be banned as far as I'm concerned.  Beyond being completely unnecessary for the vast majority of people, they're dangerous. How many water bottles did you see all over the course?  I saw a lot. Most of those were either launched out of the behind the seat setups or dropped as people tried to put the bottles back in there. Run over a bottle going 20 mph and watch what happens.  Watch as people fumble around trying to put their bottle behind their seat.  They weave all over the place and add in the crosswinds we had on Sunday and the potential for disaster rises dramatically.  I wonder how many of the bad accidents had something to do with water bottles -- either dropped bottles or people swerving into someone because they were riding one handed in a 20 mph crosswind while reaching behind their seat.

For training, do what you have to in order to get the ride in.  You have to support yourself on the ride. If that means four water bottles on your bike then so be it.  There's no water hand-up every 10 miles.  A race is a different story.  I run one bottle on the frame and a torpedo setup between my aerobars.  It has gotten me through several long course races without issue.

Sorry for the rant but it's a pet peeve of mine... if you couldn't tell.