Lonestar Half Iron Report

I came across the finish line, a volunteer removed my timing chip from my right leg, another volunteer handed me a towel and a third placed a finisher’s medal around my neck. I grabbed a Gatorade, walked to the food tent, sat down and felt completely satisfied.

I had just completed my first Half Ironman, it was a great experience, even though I really did not know what to expect, I was able to beat my goal time by about 10 minutes. Coming into the race I felt I would complete the swim and be on the bike in about 30 minutes, I felt I could finish the bike in about 3 hours and complete the run in about 2 hours. That would put me at about a 5:30, plus maybe a little for T2.

Swim. Going out towards the first turn I had a little trouble seeing the buoys, so I was zig zaging a little. I think I would have been better off with clear goggles instead of the tinted ones that I used. But once rounding the first buoy I had caught up to people in the waves ahead of me so I was able to follow packs of people on the course. After the second turn it was very easy to see the flags at the water exit so I was able to swim pretty straight and fast on the last leg of the swim. My swim time was 27:03 which turned out to be the fastest swim in the Half.

T1 was nice and easy, put on my bike shoes, helmet, Garmin 305 and put a bottle of Hammer Gel in my shirt pocket, and took off to the bike course. T1 was 2:49.

Bike. This was a 2 loop bike course and for the first loop I was just making sure that I was comfortable. I took Hammer Gel every 20 minutes and drank about 1.5 bottles of Gatorade every 14 miles. I averaged about 20.1 mph the first loop and kept it pretty consistent until about 10 miles to go and I picked it up a little and finished the bike in 2:45:23, averaging 20.3 mph.

T2 was casual...I took off my bike shoes, sat down and put on my socks, running shoes, race number and hat and headed out for the run. T2 was 2:24.

Run. I took a look at my Garmin and it said I was running at an 8:15 pace, way too fast for me so I made myself slow down. I walked a minute through each aid station as planned. I completed the first loop in just over 1 hour and was feeling ok. I continued about the same pace until about 3 miles remaining. At that point both my sides were hurting; I tried to keep the same pace but fell off a little and ended the run with a 2:02:51 for the half marathon.

Total time was 5:20:33

Finally bought a wetsuit

Since I have my first Tri of the year coming up this weekend, I finally picked up a wetsuit. I struggled trying to decided between a full and a sleeveless, but after swimming in the full, I decided to get a 2007 Blue Seventy Helix. Jack and Adams only had a few 2007's left over, but they happened to have my size at a great price. In a test during my first swim in the suit, I was about 7 seconds faster for 100 yards in the wetsuit. I tried to keep the effort the same with and without the wetsuit, but I think the lack of needing to kick in a wetsuit will even help more over longer swims. I am doing my first Half Ironman this weekend in Galveston Texas.

Back in the Pool

With my first marathon completed a few weeks back, I have been getting back in the pool and getting a little more consistent with my swimming. Looking at my workout log, I have logged just over 60,000 yards this year, much of that in the past few weeks.

Coach Mike had a surprise for us this morning. After a warm-up we had a 30 minute swim. Many of my pool buddies started suggesting alternative sets so we did not have to swim for 30 minutes straight, but Coach Mike would not let us off the hook. In my mind I was trying to calculate how far I could go. I felt I might be able to handle 500 yds in 6 minutes, so I settled on a goal of 2,500 yards, a 1:12 per 100 yards average.

I was not really sure how realistic this was since the longest straight swim I have done in practice was maybe a set of 500’s. My first 500 was right at 6:00, I was feeling pretty good. I was at 19:25 for my 1650 and completed almost 2,550 yards in the 30 minutes. I was pretty happy with the distance, but I could feel my stroke falling apart at the end. Coach Mike says we will periodically do timed swims like this one, we will see how it goes….

Marathon Results

Well, it has been several weeks since the AT&T marathon..It did not turn out the way I had planned. My goal was a 3:45, but I was not even close. I cramped up at about 15 miles and basically walked the last 11 miles and ended up crossing the finish line at 4:47.
I just uploaded my data from my Garmin and have just taken my first look at it. I was at 1:50 at the half, just hanging with the 3:40 pace group, my heart rate was in check and I felt very good. It looks like at 15.3 miles I started walking. I would periodicaly stop and stretch, then try to jog some more, but I could not get rid of the cramps in my legs. I remember at about 22 miles I was going to stop, but I had come so far, I figured that I could make it the last 4 miles, plus I wanted to get the finisher shirt......
Even though it did not turn out as I had planned, I was happy to finish. My half marathon time at 1:50 was 22 minutes faster than the half marathon that I ran about 4 years ago.
I signed up for and trained for the marathon because the run leg of Tri's were very poor in my first 2 triathlons last year. I do feel like I am much more of a "runner" now then before training for the marathon. I will see how this translates to the run leg of my triathlons in 2008.

AT&T Marathon this Sunday

I will be running my first Marathon this weekend, the AT&T Marathon in Austin. My long run was 28+ miles 3 weeks ago, so I was feeling pretty good. That was until last week when me and the family went snow skiing. I twisted my knee a little on the last day. It actually feels pretty good right now, but I have not run in almost 2 weeks. I think I will be OK for Sunday.

Looks like TriBoomer and maybe some other members of the Tri Blogger Alliance will be in Austin for the race.

Good luck to you all and I will be looking for you at the Expo....

The Long Run

I am currently training for the AT&T Marathon in Austin, Texas on February 17, 2008. It will be my first marathon and yesterday morning was my longest and coldest run to date, 23 miles. I was dreading this run because I knew it was going to be cold. I had to start early because I needed to be home by 10. I woke up around 5, checked the weather, it was 27 degrees, put on several layers of cloths and headed out to Brushy Creek Park for my run. Now 27 degreees might not seem very cold too many of you, but I have lived in Texas for over 20 years and this was my first experience running in cold weather. Three weeks ago when it was cold I ran my 20 miles on a treadmill…..

To help keep me warm and motivated during the run I listened to In Transit: 2 Triathletes Take on the World with Elizabeth and Cara, thanks for the company, keep up the good work. And yes I did add myself to your Frappr Map.

Besides learning that Yes, I can run in the cold weather I also discovered that my IPhone touch screen does not respond very well to gloves. I did though become pretty proficient at using my nose to select podcast episodes……

Gota geta Garmin...

I received an early Christmas present today, a Garmin Forerunner 305. I have it sitting on the charger, I should be able to take it out tomorrow for a ride. I looked through the manual and it seems like it is a pretty serious piece of equipment. I think I got a pretty good deal on it, I ordered it from Costco.com for $179.99….I will post my thoughts after I use it a few times.