Travel Day: My wife Patty and son Lance left Dallas with me and we headed to Austin on Sunday morning. I was able to get a reservation at the Hyatt, which was the host hotel for the race. The expo was at the hotel but of highest importance was the transition area located a few 100 yards from the front door of the hotel. I can't recommend this enough. It may cost a few extra dollars but way worth it in terms of convenience.
After we checked in, I picked up my packet and we did some shopping at the expo. I didn't buy anything on this day. I did buy a new tri suit at the Trishop the previous day. It is an RS1 suit from Orca which is supposed to include the technology used in speed suits but with a breathable fabric you can use for the entire race. I wouldn't have to get out of a speed suit with this thing. My neighbor Justin let me borrow his aero helmet and he had a Speedfil that I hooked up on my bike so I wouldn't have to reach for water bottles. My local bike shop let me borrow a Zipp 808 for my rear wheel. I also bought a new straw cowboy hat for the run. I was ready with all of these upgrades. Bike check in was on Sunday so I aired the tires one more time and checked my bike into transition. The transition area at Auditorium Shores is in an open grass field surrounded by gravel paths to get to the concrete roads. The grass has stickers in it so I was careful to not let my tires touch the grass at any time and diligently checked them in transition. The rack spots were numbered and I had the spot at the end of the row on the aisle for the bike out and run out. This was getting better every minute. The racks were by age so I could keep my eye on the competition as well. It was really hot on Sunday afternoon. It had to be 100+. I drank alot of water and had a few bottles of my daily Skratch Labs everyday hydration formula. We ate at Threadgill's to get something healthy into my system and then headed back to the room. I was really tired and probably fell asleep around 8:30pm.
Pre-Race: I slept good but woke up a few times. Finally, at 4:30am, I decided to just get up for good. I took a shower, put on my trisuit and headed over to transition to get it all set up. It was only a few minutes walk and I could head back to the hotel to rest until the race started. I forgot bottled water to mix my Accelerade with so I loaded the Speedfil with ice and then walked back to get some water. Once transition was set up and everything was loaded it was time to head back to the room. The race started at 7:00am and my wave was going off at 7:36am. I saw Doug in transition and said hi to him and wished him good luck. He is in second place and I was 1:45 behind him in the standings. I grabbed my goggles and swim cap and headed back to the cool air conditioning in my room. I can't tell you how great it is to relax in the room and then head down to the race. I saw two of Shelby's athletes with Enduroshark at the elevator. They were doing the sprint race. Patty and Lance were just about ready when I got back to the room. I ate a honey stinger protein bar and waffle while I was sitting there. It is so much calmer waiting at the hotel. Standing around at the race site is a bit unnerving at times. I really didn't do anything special to warm up. You couldn't get in the lake and my bike was checked in the day before. We rolled up to the swim start area a little after 7am and waited for my wave.
Every race I write the names of everyone that helps me get ready on a wrist band for good luck. My running buddy Joe lost his dog Kaytee a few days before the race. She would sit in the yard with us before and after our runs. She was a great dog. I wrote her abbreviated name on my arm in honor of her.
Swim: The water in the lake was covered in Hydrilla. Hydrilla is a long plant that grows to the surface almost like an underwater ivy. Once it starts growing, it is a mess. They changed the course to try and find a somewhat Hydrilla free area to swim. They were not successful. There were several people being pulled from the water in the earlier waves after a few hundred yards. I think they were a little freaked out. With the course change, the rectangular course would turn after only 100 meters and would turn again heading down the lake (actually more like a wide river) after another 50 meters. I'm not sure how many were in my wave. I would guess at least 70 and the start area was only about 30-40 feet wide. I dropped in the water off the dock and got a spot close to the front right in the middle. I really didn't want to be in the middle but there was no where to go and everyone was kicking like crazy treading water before the start. They counted us down and the horn went off. It was a mess. Arms and legs were flying everywhere. Bodies were so crammed together I couldn't pass anyone and the people behind me were crawling on top of me. The Hydrilla was getting wrapped around my arms and neck as we went along. At the first buoy, it was a traffic jam and I had to basically stop and wait my turn to round the buoy. Same situation at the second buoy. Good news was it would be a long straight swim for about 800 meters at this point and should open up. Sure enough, the field began to break apart and I was able to find some clean water. We swam under the 1rst street bridge, rolled by our hotel and went under the bat bridge (Congress) before the turnaround. Most of the way I could feel someone touching my feet every now and then. This is a very easy swim to sight because the lake is basically a damned up Colorado river and is narrow. The turnaround was close to shore on the swim exit side of the lake and the Hydrilla was really bad there. Too bad because that would have been a nice line back to the exit. Instead, I had to swim back to the middle of lake. I don't think it really mattered. There didn't seemed to be a good way to avoid the stringy plants in the water. I pictued myself coming out of the water looking like the creature from the black lagoon. I did find someone to draft off for awhile that was basically swimming at the same pace as me. I still felt someone behind me the whole way as well. One thing I did like about the course layout was the distance was on the buoys so I knew exactly how far I had traveled. I took a quick diversion to see who was behind me. It was Doug. He found me early in the swim and was sticking to me like glue. In the last 200 meters, I sprinted away from him a little bit but wasn't able to put much distance between us. I forgot to put my cowboy hat in transition so Patty and Lance handed it to me as I headed to my rack. They told me he was right behind me but I knew that already. I had a great swim. I covered the mile in 29:43 which a PR for my swim at the Olympic distance. It didn't feel fast with Doug on my heels but he had a good swim too. When we were in transition, he thanked me for letting him draft off of me.
Out of the water and picking up my hat on the way to my rack.
T1: It was a long run from the lake to my rack spot. Doug and I ran together for the most part to our bikes. I had no trouble getting into my shoes and putting my helmet on. I attached my race belt and took off. I made it about 20-30 yards and my tire stopped spinning. I looked down and my Speedfil had twisted off my down tube and was wedged between the tire and the tube. This was very bad news. I had a small bottle of Skratch on the back but all of liquids and nutrition was in that Speedfil. In a panic, I tried to lash it back down with the velcro ties. I ran another 10 feet and it happend again. Nothing much I could do but yank the tube out of the Speedfil and pull it off my bike frame. I left my bike laying there on the ground and had to run back to my rack and leave the Speedfil in transition. I had some honey stinger chews and a few gels but that was basically it. The heat was coming. All I could do is try to get this over with as fast as possible and hope for the best.
Bike: As I left transition, my son had a small white board and wrote :45 on it. I had given away almost a minute with the transition problem. Patty and Lance positioned themselves on the corner at Ceasar Chavez and Congress. They would be able to get me an update three times on each loop from there. The race route was a three loop 9 mile course so I would get updates every three miles or so. Going down S. Congress away from the capital and the lake was a fairly steady uphill climb. It was probably 100 feet in elevation gain and a nice leg burner. Coming the other way back down to the lake, I was hitting 35+mph so it was really fast. The road had some bumps in it so you really had to be holding on tight. It was like this for most of the course so it made it really difficult to eat the chews and reach for the Skratch behind my seat. The climb up to the capital is not very steep and much easier on the legs. I was slowly losing ground to Doug as I expected but is was managable. I was doing a much better job on the bike than the last race. Heading down Ceasar Chavez was fairly fast. The road is a mixture of smooth asphalt and a rougher chip seal. The chip seal sucked. When you get to the Mopac for the turn around, you loop under the Mopac and then climb straight up to Ceasar Chavez again. There was a large group of road bikers under the bridge and they were making alot of noise. That was cool. Seemed like it was downhill from the Mopac back to the 1rst street bridge. I was able to hold mid 20s without a problem. It was a little confusing where the lanes split to finish or continue on the second and third loops. I followed the crowd and it went ok. After the first loop, I think Lance wrote -1:30 on the board which was acceptable loss. The second lap I continued to lose some time but I think it was around -2:15. The guy in fourth place passed me on the bike with about 2-3 miles left to go. The third lap was featured by the heat and humidity coming on fast. I was working hard and was something like 3:20 down going into transition. I didn't feel horrible yet but was very worried about being behind on my nutrition. I finished the bike in 1:13:03 and average 20.4mph. Another PR for me at this distance, I have never gone 20+ at Olympic distance. It felt fast but I didn't know it was that fast until later. Doug averaged .8mph faster than me on the bike and it was the closest I have been to him on a bike leg this year. I was happy at this point.
T2: I made a nice flying one legged dismount. Perhaps this wasn't smart. The run from the mount line to my rack had me crossing a sharp gravel rock trail and then running through the sticker laden grass. I probably should have just run with my shoes on. I had a little trouble getting my running shoes on and had an extra towel to wipe my feet. I didn't want rocks or anything in my shoes. I had a pair of socks but opted out again since I was behind. Grabbed my cowboy hat and headed out. Transition was good and I made up almost 30 seconds on Doug so I was right at 3:00 back coming out of T2.
Run: I was way behind on hydration and nutrition to start the run. My plan was to run a very steady, fast pace and stop at every aid station for water, gatorade, and pouring water all of me to stay cool. I hoped to get out of there before it got too hot. A half mile into the run, I knew this was going to be a problem. The course was a strange mix of running across a grass field, onto the street, back on the grass, and back on the street again. After one mile, Lance's board said I had closed to 2:00. My second mile was tough. I slowed from an 8:30 mile (which I hoped to average) to a 9:00 mile. Mile 2 featured a hill that slowed me down some. When I got my update at mile 2, I was within a 1:30. It all fell apart during mile 3. I ran the whole mile but I was dying slowly and it was frustrating. The heat was taking a toll and my energy was fading. At the end of mile 3, I was still about 1:30 back.
I had to walk during mile 4 and felt depressed. There was nothing I could do. At this point, a decision had to be made. I could throw caution to the wind and push this to the limit. It could have resulted in a DNF and my elimination from the series or make sure I finished and try to minimize the damage. I opted for the latter. I ran when I could and walked when I needed to. Right at the mile 4 marker I saw Doug walking and I wasn't that far back. As encouraging as that was, I just couldn't get my body to cooperate. The damage was done on the bike. My last two or three miles were 11 minute miles. I ended up averaging 10 minute miles which is aweful. I should have moved into second place and would have been able to hold off the fourth place guy. As it was, 1:02:03 10k run was going to put me in fourth place for the series. When I got to the finish line, I fell down and tried to get my breath. What turned out as a very good start, was heartbreaking at the end.
Post Race: The medical team took me directly to the medical tent and put me in the ice pool. After 15 minutes or so, my quads and hamstrings started to cramp. They tried to work it out while I was in the pool but the cramps kept coming. They had an electrolyte drink I kept drinking but I was way behind. After another 10 minutes or so, I asked to get up and lay down on a cot. It was really hard to get up and when I got to the cot my legs seized up badly. They probably worked on me for a solid 25 minutes. I have never hurt that bad from leg cramps. It was terrible. I finally drank enough and the cramps subsided. I was able to get up and meet Patty and Lance. We walked to transition and I picked up my stuff and walked back to the hotel. We took a shower and packed the truck. One of my fraternity brothers from Alabama lives in Austin and we were going to meet him for lunch at Chuy's before heading back to Dallas. On the way out of the hotel, Chris McCormack (Macca) was standing by the door. I was like wow, and said hello to him. Really great guy. He asked me about my race and we spoke for a few minutes. I was in a hurry but how often do you get to speak with a Kona winner. I asked him if he would take a picture with me and he said yes. Just when I need something to cheer up, Macca gave me some words of encouragement. Awesome.
In the end, I learned a lesson that I already knew. Cardinal rule of endurance racing: Do not do anything at a race that you have not trained with. Going with the Speedfil without really knowing how to attach it properly to the bike was my downfall. JT at the bike shop asked about the race and I told him what happened. He, of course, told me I broke the cardinal rule which I agreed and told him to stop. I am killing myself over it already. It was great in alot of ways and depressing in others. I gave away time that I didn't have to give over stupidity but PRd my swim and bike. It would have been nice to see where things would have been if I had done this right. I can't change it so it's time to move on. There is one race left and it's a half iron distance. I can still make up some time and maybe get to second or third but it will be tough. I won't break any cardinal racing rules this time. Patty and Lance were really supportive and that helps alot. She drove me home. The ride from Austin is horrible because of traffic jams. I couldn't do this without them. I have three weeks to get ready for Kerrville. September 29 is it for me for the race season and then I'm taking a break.
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