Longhorn Ironman Race Report

Phew. It's done.

Going into this race I was very skeptical of my chances of finishing! Not only have I been battling injury (foot), I wasn't training properly (I did less than 100 miles on the bike in the past 5 weeks!) and I wasn't mentally prepared. To be honest, I didn't want to do the work before the race. I figured I'd just "wing it." So... my mindset was WHY I TRI instead of HOW I tri. Get it? It doesn't matter if you do.. I understand what I mean! Haha.

So off I go to Austin with my buds Kelly and Gina. My goals:

#1: Keep things in perspective. It doesn't matter how much time it takes or where I place.. all that matters is that I ENJOY what I'm doing.

#2: Don't hurt myself any more than I'm already hurt. If I feel crappy.. pull out of the race with no regrets. Think of the bigger picture.

Pre-Race:
The day started off crappy. We got up at 4:15.. left the hotel in downtown Austin by 5pm.. and GOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC for 53 minutes. 53 MINUTES!!! There was no one controlling the rush of 2400 athletes and the howevermany spectators into the Expo Center... so we sat there on Decker Road (or whatever its called) for 53 MINUTES. Irritating. Then the busses were not too plentiful... so we waited some more. The stress level was high... because we knew our time in transition would be significantly limited.. even with them starting the race late.

I pottied at the plentiful portapotties (my English teacher would like that use of alliteration) and down I went to the shore for the swim.

I was in wave 10... and it was wetsuit legal. Yah. Right. That water was WARM.. probably 84 degrees or so at the least. But I suppose it's easier to allow wetsuits than to listen to all the non-swimmers complain. I wore the wetsuit (sleeveless) so I wouldn't be at a disadvantage.

My swim time was somewhere around 26 minutes. Smoooookin for 1.2 miles.. but it wasn't that far! Oh well. It was a decent swim.. I felt "ok".. not my best... and getting kicked in the face a few times by the slower swimmers in the pink, green, dark blue and yellow caps didn't help much. One slow guy decided to grab my leg. I ended up with a huge cut oozing blood... what? fingernails in a triathlon? interesting idea (weapon.)

My T1 sucked. I knew my swim time was faster than I anticipated.. so keeping in mind Goal #1 I pretty much walked up to the transition area... and took in the view! haha. There were lots of spectators and that was cool! Many more than Florida.

THen... the dirt. Yuck. Now my feet were filthy. I had to take a little extra time to clean them off. So... my T1 was like 4-5 minutes or something. Oh well! Perspective.

Off on the bike I went. I immediately saw my bro and his wife which was REALLY COOL.No one in my family has ever seen me compete in anything so I was stoked they were there. Especially cuz their kids were there. That was just flat out special.

I realized I had to pee... BAD.. at about mile 1. No lie. Now.. Kris the cycling godess would tell me to pee.. on the bike.. but I tried about four or five times during the course of the 56 miles and just couldn't muster up the strength! I couldn't get passed how gross that was.. and how my inner thighs that tend to touch would burn for miles afterwards. So.. I held it. For 56 miles. 3 hours and 10 minutes. Haha.

The bike course was hella hilly and weallly windy (20-30 mph). Now, in Idaho I'm used to climbing mountains so really these hills were no big deal. but they kept on coming.. which got a little irritating. There were very few straightaways so not a lot of opportunity to get into aero position for long. That didn't bother me though because my left arm rest was bent down so aero wasnt' exactly comfortable. I also had to pay ATTENTION on the bike because the road was mighty shitty. I recall somewhere in the longhorn tri literature of them bragging about how great the roads were. what? no. i don't think so! There was asphalt splatters everywhere.. major road patches.. and cracks that could swallow a bike whole! There were some cracks in the road that lasted for meters... and were 4-6 inches wide! I'd go around them... look down.. and never see the bottom of the crack! Unbelievable! There seemed to be a lot more cyclists than in Florida. The ride never got boring that's for sure. I tried to talk with lots of the people I encountered. That was kind of fun. Some people weren't too prepared for me riding up along side them and creating conversation. Hell.. I was just having fun.. and taking my mind off the fact that I was riding more that day than I had since May and the Florida 70.3! haha. My foot did okay on the bike.. didn't really start hurting bad until about mile 50. By that time I knew I was going to make it.

On the bright side, the number of volunteers out on that course was EXCEPTIONAL. Way to go, Texas! Great aid stations.. good handoffs. Oh. Thanks to that guy on the bike at the last aid station who gave me the rest of his water! Whoever you are.. props!

T2 was fine. Oh. I still had to pee. But there were only 4 portapotties in transition and all of them had lines. So off I went.

The run was hillllly too. I don't like asphalt like that I've decided. The first 3.5 miles absolutely sucked. My foot hurt reaaaalllly bad.. and the asphalt was hot.. and painful. I walked a lot... figured I'd walk up the hills and run down them. So that's what I did. I waited for the pottie at mile 3 and then I felt A LOT better. The last 10 miles was much, MUCH better. I loved the backside of the run.. the dirt was nice on the feet! "Quadzilla" the hill wasn't bad.. of course I walked it.

I do have to give a shout out to the SUPERHEROES at the aid station at the base of Quadzilla! Those guys and gals were great! Their signs were funny, too... "We have Drugs" and "Eagles soar but weasles don't get caught up in airplane engines" or something like that. Thanks for the efforts.. the enthusiasm... and the costumes Batman, Superman, Buzz Lightyear (my personal fave), The Joker, Flash Gordon... etc etc etc.

BTW I was 22 minutes faster on the second 6.5 mile loop than I was on the first half! Cool! Total run time was 2:37.

I finished in 6:23. A minute faster than I was on the flat course at Florida... WAAAAY beyond my expectations. 3rd place Athena. And a sunburn.


I loved the race... especially seeing the family! I still have dreams of doing a full Ironman someday. Not sure if I'm patient enough. BUt this race was good for me. I know that I can break 6 hours someday... I've got to get faster on the bike... and be more consistent on the run. But ... it doesn't really matter I suppose!

Time now for a BREAK from HAVING to workout. I'm going back to WANTING to work out.. just for the hell of it. I have surgery planned for my foot on Nov 12th... then 6 weeks off from running... and then I suppose I'll decide what to do next.

I may try to get in IM Arizona for 2009... and I may just go do Boise IM 70.3. We'll see.

Yay.
Yay for me.