The Kerrville Half is the 6th and last race of the Texas Tri Series. I was in fourth place going into this race for the series in my age group. I was behind by 10 minutes to second place (Doug) and 3 minutes to third place (Chuck). The race was on Sunday and we left for Kerrville on Friday afternoon. I was supposed to do a short swim on Friday but just didn't have enough time to get it worked in. I wasn't sure what the water temps would be so I packed a wet suit, my speedsuit, and normal race tri kit. Shelby gave me an Enduroshark jersey so I really hoped to wear that and my wetsuit for the swim. I was going to ride the bike for about 45 minutes on Saturday so I brought some bike gear. I still have Justin's aero helmet so I took that with me. I checked with the bike shop and we decided to stay with my Zipp 404s on my bike for this race. My Speedfil was properly mounted this time so everything looked good. My wife and I left shortly before 5pm and headed out. We passed little town after little town on the way down and seemed like most of them were playing football on Friday night. The towns were empty with the exception of those little stadiums which was kind of cool. We took the US281 route towards Burnet, headed to Fredricksberg and then south to Kerrville. The hill country is really pretty and is a much better ride than 35 to Austin. Kerrville is every bit of 5 hours but it didn't seem so bad going the scenic route.
The closest hotel to T1 and the swim was the Inn of the Hills, which was the official host hotel of the race and packet pickup. Rooms weren't exactly as nice as they look on line but you really don't have alot of options in Kerrville. We were able to sleep in on Saturday and grab a late breakfast at the hotel. It was overcast, a little rain, and very humid on Saturday. I went for a 45 minute ride on part of the bike course at noon to check things out. I ran across this very cool spot on the Guadalupe. The guy named Mark had been working on his spot on the river for three years.
He tiered the land down to the lake complete with hammocks, giant wind chimes, rope swing, and now he has my sunglasses because I left them there. I took them off to take a picture when he invited me over to take a look and I left them behind. The summer of lost gear continues for me. When I got back to the hotel, Patty went with me to pick up my packet and cruise around the expo. It wasn't very big but they did have some good sales. All of my stuff in transition had to be enclosed in provided plastic bags. I had a sticker to apply with my race number (188). We dropped off my bike in transition at T1 with the empty bag to be used for holding my swim gear. The race officials would deliver my swim gear bag to T2 for me. T2 was downtown and I loaded my run gear in a bag and had to hang it in the T2 area overnight. After my gear was sorted and dropped off, we ate lunch/dinner at a local mexican restaurant and then headed to Ingram, Texas. There is a Stonehenge replica and Easter Island statues in Ingram. It was maybe 10-15 minutes from the hotel. Kind of cool actually.
On the way back, we tried to drive up some of the hills surrounding Kerrville to see what the view was like. Deer were everywhere and they didn't seem all that afraid of us. It is really pretty in Kerrville.
Alabama was playing Ole Miss at 5:30 so I watched the game and fell asleep as best I could.
I spoke with Jeff that evening about race strategy. It was supposed to storm all morning on race day. He suggested taking about 10 pounds of air out of my tires so I would have more traction on the road in case of rain. I took a Shark salt that night and drank lots of water during the day. He gave me some advice on pacing and nutrition intake. I was ready to go.
Pre-Race: Slept ok but not great. Started waking up sporadically around 2:30am. I finally got up for good at 4:30 and took a shower. It was no more than a few minutes walk from the hotel to T1. It's great to be that close to transition. At 5:30, I set up my transition area for the bike. I took some toe socks and had them ready in T1. I also had a pair in my run bag. I felt going 13.1 miles without them would be catastrophic so I decided to give myself some options. If it was raining like hell, I would use the socks in my run bag. Otherwise, spend the time in T1. I put 110 lbs of pressure in my tires, filled my Speedfil with Accelerade and took one small throw away bottle of Skratch. I had plenty of GU and put lots of Shark salt in a M&Ms tube in my bento box. I could carry the salt with me on the bike and the run. I ate a honey stinger protein bar and waffle in the morning. It was all I could really get down. Wasn't much to do now except go back to the room, grab my wetsuit, swim gear, and head down to the river for the start. They dammed the Guadalupe river in the swim area so it is more like semi-wide river. Kind of like Town Lake in Austin. The water felt warm but the race was classified as wet suit legal. Many went without a wet suit.
Swim: My wet suit has been hit and miss on fitting just right. Patty helps me with it and she always does a good job with it. We got my wet suit on and headed down to the Guadalupe for the start. The race started at 7:30 and my wave was going off at 7:36. Everything felt good and I was ready to go.
My wave was the 50 and over group and it wasn't a huge group. We had plenty of room in the water. When I jumped in the water, my suit had me floating like a bobber, which always feels good. They counted down our wave and we took off. For the first hundred yards or so I was with the leaders but the range of motion in my arms was not great and I could feel the suit pulling on my neck. Not good, not good at all. The course was a counter clockwise rectangle so I swung out to the right and tried to figure this out. I really needed a Kayak to hold on to and try to loosen up my suit. I yelled at one but he went charging off in another direction. Thanks alot. It was probably 20-30 yards to the bank so I swam to the bank hoping to be able to stand up and fix my suit. My heart rate was way too high and panic was starting to set in. I knew a good swim was absolutely a must if I was going to close the gap on the two guys in front of me. It felt like getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way to an important job interview is the best way for me to describe the feeling. I could feel it all slipping away inside the first 10 minutes. I loosened the velcro on the back of the suit and started swimming again. I couldn't calm down and ended up heading to the bank one more time to try and settle down. I could still feel the suit tugging me around my neck. I really had to just bear down and fight through this. There wasn't really any other option available. I took off once again and still didn't feel great. I came up on a Kayak and tried to loosen the suit one more time. This time it felt better and I started to swim again. Once the choking sensation around my neck went away, I just swam. I hate counter clockwise swim courses. I breathe right and it's hard to maintain a good line. The tightness of the suit around my arms and shoulders never went away and added some unnecessary fatigue to the swim. I couldn't seem to fall in line with the buoys at all. The long swim down the back side of the rectangle was a test of will. I just kept fighting. The red turn buoys never seemed to make an appearance. Once I turned and started to head to the finish, it was a big relief. I could see and hear the finish line. The wet suit strippers did a great job and I started the monster climb from the water to the transition area.
I didn't even bother looking at my watch. I just hit the lap button to start the T1 time. I really was more in shock over the melt down than anything else. I should have been out of the water in about 35-37 minutes. My time was 46 minutes. Brutal. However, based on swimming all over the place, my Garmin reports I swam 1.5 miles instead of the requisite 1.2 so I added alot of unnecessary distance.
T1: My rack spot was close to the fence and Patty was waiting. I saw her face and knew the damage was bad. She didn't bother to tell me how far behind I was which was a humane thing to do. I really couldn't say anything either, it was crushing. I decided to put my toe socks on in T1. The rain was holding off and it would save some time at T2. Toe socks are much harder to get on wet feet but so worth it for running so I took the hit.
My T1 time was 3:47 which wasn't bad considering the long run up the hill from the water to transition. I had to put all of my stuff in my empty swim bag for transport to T2 and I was off.
Bike: A cold front had come through overnight and the wind was blowing from the north. The course headed southwest out of town on highway 27 to start so we were being helped by the wind. Jeff wanted me to take it easy for the first 10 miles or so. I was easily hammering out 22-24 mph with the wind and not really pushing it at all. Due to my crappy swim, I had alot of traffic to deal with. The roads were smooth for the first three quarters of the ride out to the turnaround. The crunchy chip seal made an appearance at the end of the highway 27 section and you really only had two options. There was a small groove on the shoulder that was smooth or ride on the actual road which was far better than the shoulder. I was passing quite a few people and ended up using both strategies. The road was scary as it was open and the cars were whizzing by at high speeds. At the turnaround, we made a turn on FM1350 and started working back to the northeast. On the first lap, I really didn't feel much wind for the first half of the return. However, I have never ridden on chip seal this bad. It felt like my bike was going to fly apart at any moment. The road vibration was terrible. I saw one guy drop a chain. I'm not sure if it was from the rough road or not. I thought for sure there would be plenty of flats but I really didn't see many. Finally, we got to some little town and turned off of 1350. The roads were much better but there were several short but steep hills and one 180 degree turn down a road. I remember at an hour into the bike, I was at 23 miles and was feeling really good. Of course, I really didn't see anyone I recognized because that train left the station without me at T1. My legs were responding really well. Once we got closer to Kerrville, the north wind really started to kick in and there were some more bouts with really heavy chip seal on the way into town. Turning off of Highway 16 on to Water Street marked the turnaround for the second loop and we passed through the finishing area. I saw Patty downtown and it was great to see a familiar face. Somewhere in here I checked my Garmin and I had covered 32 miles in an hour and a half. Still on 20+ pace after fighting the hills and wind on the return section of the first loop. I have never been this fast for half iron distance and that was encouraging. I wasn't really worried about anyone else at this point. I didn't want to burn out my legs for the run but I didn't really feel all that fatigued. The next 12-14 miles down highway 27 was to the southwest again and the wind was really pushing me. The race traffic had also dissapated. There were a few people traveling at my pace and most of the quarter distance people had exited the course. I passed a few more people the rest of the way but it was kind of lonely out there. I didn't know what to make of this. Was I way behind or sort of in a no mans land between the fast and the not so fast? The chip seal on FM 1350 was a real shot to the kidneys. It was mentally tough to power through this section a second time because I knew it was going to be long and arduous. I remember reaching 41.5 miles at the 2 hour mark. I wanted to break 20mph for the ride and the bad roads were not helping. I handled the few steep hills really well. My legs burned after the climbs but I recovered quickly. The downhills back into town going north were tough. I couldn't seem to maintain a pace any higher than 18mph. When I got back to downtown, I slid my feet out of my shoes and got off my bike at the dismount line. I just missed a 20mph average. I ended up finishing the ride at 2:48:54 and averaged 19.9mph. I was really happy. My legs didn't feel drained like they did at Buffalo Springs either.
T2: My rack was very easy to find and I had plenty of room to work with. I racked my bike and untied my bag. I had tried to seal the bag with hockey tape in case of rain. I didn't want my towel, socks, shoes, and visor dripping wet. It cost me a few seconds but my stuff was dry. I changed and took off really quick. I was in transition for 2:07 which was one of the fastest times in my age group. I didn't need to change socks so it all worked out.
Run: When I left transition, I think Patty told me I was about 10 minutes down to Doug. I had basically had the same bike split as Doug which hasn't happened in a single race to date. I figured to be way out of it so this was kind of inspirational. The course was four loops and you could see the guys going the other way at least three different times on each loop. Patty would also be able to tell me if I was closing the gap and I would be able to see whether I was making up ground as well. I am a much better runner than Doug and pretty even with Chuck. My goal now was to beat Doug, if only by one second. I didn't see him on the first section going out of town. I did see him on the section that turned south where you have to run down a hill and back up the other side. After you go down this road and back, you hit the main road back to downtown where the turnaround/finish line is located. I probably made up 2-3 minutes on the first loop but had to dodge into a portapotty and gave most of that time back. I started a little slow and actually got slightly faster as the miles went by. I was taking shark salt every 45 minutes to an hour. I had three cherry lime GUs with me and didn't eat anything at the aid stations. I did drink water, gatorade and dumped water on my head at each aid station. I walked the aid stations for the first 6 or 7 miles and ran right through from there on out. The aid stations were in great locations. We were able to hit them twice going out and coming back which meant there 5 aid stations per every 3 miles. I gave Patty a bottle of Accelerade and asked her to keep it with her. This was a good plan. She could run along side me and I was able to get some extra calories and electrolytes each time I passed her. On the second lap, Patty told me I was down 7 minutes. I could see the gap dwindling but I didn't know if I had enough time.
I was feeling better as the time passed and never felt a need to walk. I just tried to keep a consistent pace. I never walked a hill and stayed the course. After the third lap, the gap closed to 3 minutes. At mile 11, I was close at one of the turnarounds. I know he could see me as well. Mile 12 had the hills in play and when I hit the top of the first hill, he was in sight. I also saw Chuck rounding the corner for home so that was a lost cause. Coming down the last hill, he was probably a couple hundred yards ahead of me and had to walk halfway up the hill. He looked back at the top of the hill and started running. He was running fairly fast but I continued to close the gap. I caught him close to the 13 mile mark and kept going. I could hear him trying to keep pace and slowly heard him fade away. I ended up finishing 15 seconds ahead of him. It was a minor victory for the race but didn't change anything for me for the overall standings. Chuck beat me by 8 minutes. If I just would have had a decent swim, I would have definitely gone to third and may have jumped to second. I finished the race at 5:41:16 and really can't complain. I have never done a half iron under 6 hours. My half marathon was 2:00:27. Considering the dive into the little blue room, this was probably the fastest half I have ever run. Very encouraging. I had alot to be happy about and know there are some things to improve upon.
Post Race: Patty met me at the finish line and we found a table to sit down at. I ate a few bananas and drank water and gatorade. I never cramped at all. My nutrition was dialed in really well. I was afraid of taking too many shark salts but that was a good thing. My Speedfil on the bike was awesome. I never had to reach for anything, was able to put the hand ups straight into the reservois and stayed in aero position. We walked over to the results table and found out I was 6th in my age group and 96 of 297 finishers. It was a long ride home so we picked up my bike at T2 and headed back to the hotel. The hotel wouldn't allow a late checkout which sucked so I had to pay them another $75 to stay until 4pm. We really wanted a shower before heading back to Dallas. I was sore but never had any issues on the way home. It was another 5 hour ride back to Dallas. Kerrville is a cool little town and was a fun event. I am maxed out from all of the travel this year. It was hard on everyone, especially my wife. She was a big help this year. The banquet for the Tri Series is on November 22 so there is one more trip to make and I'm looking forward to that. No swimming, biking or running. Just having a good time. Aloha Texas Tri Series, it's been fun!
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