Ironman Longhorn 70.3

(Initial race report. Will post more details and photos later.)

Second Half-Ironman race complete!  Almost 13 minutes faster than my first - Lone Star Tri at Galveston back in March.

Swim: My plan was to be in the front but along the side. I was just to the left of the right start buoy (there are two start buoys between which the swimmers are supposed to line up), but a bunch of people went to the right (outside) of that buoy so I ended up kind of in the middle. Not the best place because I got "run over" by about 20+ people in the beginning. After the initial flailing, I slipped into a decent rhythm. The water in the lake was a great temperature - 77.9 degrees - just barely wetsuit legal. I think the swim course was short - I find it hard to believe that I had a swim pace of 1:45/100M pace (without a wetsuit - I decided not to bring mine - FAILED) when I was trying to hold back for the rest of the 70.3 miles.

T1: Felt pretty good on the run up from Decker Lake. Hated the fact that my feet were all dirty from the grass/dirt transition area. Had to take extra time to clean them off before putting on socks and also to put on my TNT tri-top (no bare torsos for Ironman events). My bike rack was very close to the Swim In entrance and directly opposite of the Bike Out/In so I had a long way to run with my bike to get to the Mount line.

Bike: Despite two mishaps, I had a great bike - 20.5 MPH and I literally passed hundreds of people over the 56 mile course. Overall, it was a decent course, although there was a bit of chip seal and a stiff headwind from the west which came into play in the second half of the route.

Mishap #1: My chain popped off when downshifting up a steep hill at Mile 6. Since I was going up a hill, I quickly lost speed and couldn't unclip from pedals, and fell to the side of the road. Luckily, no injuries other than to my pride. I got up and put the chain back on, but didn't think I would be able to mount my bike on the steep hill - so I ran with it the rest of the way to the top. There was a race photographer up there too, so I may get a photo of this glorious moment.

Mishap #2: Around Mile 42, came up on a bumpy bridge, a lot of debris (water bottles, etc.) on the road and bunch of bike traffic. The jostling caused my water bottle to become loose in its cage. Reached down to adjust it and ended up clipping my finger in my front wheel spokes instead. Ouch! Kept rinsing out the cut by sipping water from my AeroDrink and then spitting it out on my finger. Adrenaline is an amazing pain-killer and eventually the bleeding stopped.

At Mile 54.5 as we neared the end of the bike, we hit a big hill - really big. I looked over to my right and beyond a chainlink fence was what looked like a running trail. A running trail with runners and volunteers on it. I guess this must be "Quadzilla - The Hill of Truth".

Speed (note my stop at 0:15 when my chain popped off):

Heart Rate (averaged at 156 BPM - probably on the high side, but fairly reasonable):

Elevation (2,396 ft - not flat!)

MotionBased data for Bike leg: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6921403

T2: Not much to report except that I was dead-tired coming off the bike. Didn't even bother jogging with my bike to my rack. Still, 2:02 is decent bike-to-run transition time.

Run: Very painful.  There was hardly any flat terrain on the entire run.  My quads cramped up while going up a hill at Mile 1 and I started my first of many walks.  At the top that hill, I started feeling better - a combination of my lower heart rate and good music from a live band.  I ran past a guy and girl dressed in disco outfits (and thought of the Disco Tri) who pointed the way to the next rest stop.  After the first turn-around I headed down that I had walked up a 15 minutes earlier.  At Mile 3, I saw Jarrod exiting the park grounds a couple miles behind me.

At Mile 4.5 the run course turned onto a grass and dirt trail and I headed down a long hill.  Although it was fun to run down the hill, the entire time I kept thinking to myself "What goes down must come back up."  Sure enough, after passing through a festive aid station hosted by superheroes - including Batman (oddly, dancing to the Superman theme), Mr. & Mrs. Incredible, and a guy dressed as (I assume) one of the Super Mario Brothers - I came up to Quadzilla.

For my first trip up "The Hill of Truth" I ran about the first third of the hill, walked the middle third, and jogged the rest of the way to the top.  The second time, I walked almost the entire thing - defeated!  There was an announcer at the top of the hill greeting passing runners as we cross the chip timing mat (there was one at the bottom of the hill too - the fastest male and female runners up the hill got a special award) - that was a nice touch.  There were also signs with amusing quotes along the path up in an attempt to keep our minds off the painful climb.  A few I remember:

• All power corrupts, but absolute power is pretty neat
• Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
• Suburbia - where developers chop down the trees and name streets after them

After passing by the transition area (and passing the finish line - so close yet so far), I started the second loop of the run and headed out on the now familar course.  At Mile 7.5 or so I waved at Derek who was about two miles ahead of me on the course (but doing his first loop) and at Mile 10 I saw Jarrod for the second time, but I don't even know if he heard me shout his name.  He was in the zone!

Along with my leg cramps (first it was quads - those loosened up - and then I had Charley Horses in my right calf intermittently throughout the entire run) my bladder was hyperactive and also slowed me down.  I was eating a lot of PowerGels and I think the caffeine (and it's diuretic properties) in some of the flavors caught up to me.  The "zero mph" dips in the speed chart below were portolet stops (4 of them!).  A few of my more experienced friends told me that I need to learn how to "go" on run, but those "rest stops" were a welcome relief for legs as well as my bladder.

Fairly consistent heart rate on the run - cardio was still strong.  My overall speed was definitely limited by my tired legs.  If I could just build up my legs more, my run time would greatly improve. I'm sure I left running legs on the bike course.  I joked to my tri buddies that I need to either switch to Aquabike or get a tri-bike so at least I'll save my hamstrings.  Or I guess I can just train harder. :-)

Elevation profile (Hardly a flat stretch on the entire route.  Quadzilla at Miles 4.75 and 11.25.  900 ft of elevation over 13.1 miles ... hillier than the bike!)

MotionBased data for Run: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6921404 

Race Review:

Pro: Well-supported race. "Big race atmosphere" with 2,400 registrants. Decent lake for the swim.  Four live bands on the run course (and other music) and great rest stops (8 of them!) - which were all hit twice.

Con: Trail/Dirt run course is knee-friendly, but totally ruined my fairly new running shoes. Didn't like the grass and dirt transition area either.  The shuttle buses from the parking to the race site were totally inadequate so I ended up walking the 1.25 miles in the morning (after the race, I rode my bike).

Stats:

• 1.2 mile Swim: 33:45 (1266th place)
• T1: 03:39 
• Bike: 2:43:34 (20.5mph, 359th place)
• T2: 02:02
• Run: 2:23:29 (10:57/mi, 1042nd place)
• Total Time: 5:46:32 

Overall Place: 735 out of 1929 finishers (1376 M / 553 F)

Gender Place: 581 out of 1313 (age group Men)
Division Place: 140 out of 306 (Men 35-39)

Full Results: http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventLinkageID=89178