Longorn Half Ironman - Race Report
What a great race! They just need to rename it the Hotter-than-Hell Longhorn Half Ironman. If you read of the closure of the Chicago Marathon yesterday with 88-degree temps (heat index of 91), we had our share of the heat with 92-degree temps and a heat index of 105. This made for a long afternoon and you couldn't skip any of the water stations. Several athletes were seen on the side of the trail or rode with cramps. After the race I saw about 20 people on IVs or covered in ice.
When I ran my first marathon a couple of years back I had doubts during the second half of the race. Why I was out there? Clearly I had overstepped my fitness in that case. Yesterday, even with the heat, I felt as good as I could have. While my legs approached cramps several times, I knew I was going to be able to finish and be just about on predicted time. 38 minutes over the estimate but within reason. I ended up finishing in sub-seven hours and that was my main goal plus I didn't end up in the medical tent as a bonus.
The race organizers and the volunteers were to thank for me not being in the medical tent. Two misting tents, one misting blower, water sponges throughout the course, water cannons and hoses at one stop, and a complete athlete's grocery store at each rest station made it possible to keep the heart rate down and get a boost of energy throughout the day. I had loaded up on about $25 worth of gels and other product and it came down to simplicity yesterday. I've now learned that I do best on pretzels, Twizzlers, water, Accelerade, NUUN and Thermolyte capsules. Anything with too much sugar, like a gel, my stomach went through periods of pain.
During the race yesterday I took in the following;
- Accelerade 40 oz.
- Pretzels 6 oz.
- Twizzlers 2.5 oz
- Pepsi 12 oz.
- NUUN 4 tablets with 40 oz water
- Clif Shot Bloks - 1 package
- Enlyten Sport Strips 1 package of 18 strips
- Thermolyte 3 capsules
- water 30 oz.
The Swim
Other than white swim caps instead of bright pink swim caps, there's not much to report. There was a little bit of a hydrilla problem when we first left the start area. The feeling of entanglement from the hydrilla made it impossible to get any flow going. Once away from the weeds, everything calmed down. This time I didn't swim on top of anyone, nor did they swim on top of me. Compared to the sprint and Olympic distance races, I didn't have a kick.
The Bike
Caliente did great throughout the ride. I'd even bought a multi-tool the day before the race just in case but I didn't need it once. Mavic provided SAG support and they had full bike and wheels for any mishaps along the way. Mavic rode yellow and black motorcycles with four wheels splayed on the back. I also purchased the day before the race a Profile Design double water bottle cage for the back of the seat. This really came in handy as it gave me access to two, 20 oz. bottles of NUUN. I ended up keeping one water bottle cage, of the four, with nothing in it so I could grab water along the way.
The course was tough. Not easy and flat but not all hills either. A good mix of both with some tough hills at the last mile before entering the park. I haven't plotted the elevation changes so maybe I'll do that for homework next week. My bike computer never really got going even though the battery was good. I put it on at the last minute and didn't really give it a good test. I tried once during the race to adjust it but gave up when my fingers glanced the rotating spokes. I thought it better to ride with fingers than know how fast I was going.
Although the road bike felt good, I still longed for aero bars that I could ease the elbows down on. One of the reasons I took Caliente was to ease the work on the hamstrings, which it did but the quads took the brunt and I payed for that choice in the run. So Salsa Verde will be the bike for triathlons and Caliente for more road-type rides.
RANT- A few athletes on the course were tossing bottles and everything else on the side of the road, even when they'd been told to toss it at a station. That's not too much to ask to carry garbage until the next stop. So quite a few athletes turned 56 miles of nice countryside into a trash can, strewn with gel wrappers and bottles.
The Run
One word...BRUTAL. It was just so friggin' hot by the time the run came around. This was at noon and the clouds had parted go from partly cloudy to mostly sunny. I had taken the sunscreen out of my bag but for some reason decided not to use it. I suspect as there was a huge cloud overhead while in T2.
Early on in the run I passed people walking. I soon would start walking myself as the heat coming off the asphalt was just too much and my quads were toast. And so it went for 13.1 miles, walk, run, walk, run, stop for ice, gatorade, pretzels and Twizzlers. I started out stuffing a glass of ice down the back of my tri suit. By the end of the race it was a cup of ice for the front, a cup for the back, a cup of water for the head, a cup of water to drink.
Quad pain, cramps or heart rate; if any of these three were to a certain boiling point, I started walking. Unlike the marathon though, after a couple minutes of walking and some nourishment, I was ready to go again.
One of the best pieces of advice I heard the last few months was from Peter Reid, past Kona World Ironman Champion. When it would get tough in the Hawaiian lava fields, he'd repeat a simple mantra of counting to 20. Once at 20 he'd repeat over and over again. I did this yesterday and it got me through the last ten miles of the bike and through the entire half marathon. I mixed in a few of the "legs feel great" and "no pain" mantras as well. With the race yesterday, it was the first time I'd experience the mental side of triathlon. I got just a taste of the mental mind game that I'm sure goes on with a full Ironman distance (140.6 miles) race.
I did a No No this race that could've proved disastrous. I wore a slightly broken in pair of Brooks Radius 7 with about 20 miles on them. The last time I did something like this I had big blisters but not during this race. The shoes worked out very well and were very comfortable throughout the run. I only did this as my worn out pair of Asics did wear blisters in two places the last outing so they weren't going to make another 13.1 miles.
The Numbers
Bib: 148
Place: 474
Age: 45 - 49
Age Group Place: 34
Gender Place: 332
Swim Place: 343
Swim Time: 44:03
Swim Pace: 2:17/M
T1 Transition: 04:55
Bike Place: 504
Bike Time: 3:19:34
Bike Pace: 16.8mph
T2: 05:33
Run Place: 442
Run Time: 2:39:57
Run Pace: 12:13/M
Final Time: 06:54:04
The Longhorn Half Ironman was a great race! It was the combination of great sponsors and great volunteers that made the race so special. I can't say enough good things about the Jack and Adam's guys. They really know their stuff and how to put on a great race time and time again. I wanted to stick around and camp out until the last bike had been picked up in the racks but I was sunburn and needed to call it a day. I had a blast. Thank you. You know the event was good when you still come away positive, even though the heat index is 105 and there's a bee problem with them covering the park. A last note. More people got stung on Saturday during and after the sprint and Olympic triathlons than had heat-related problems. On Sunday, it was the heat with the bees making an appearance but for the most part behaving themselves.
The Things I Learned
- Keep the nutrition simple. Pretzels and Twizzlers are better for me than gels and goo. And cheaper.
- Don't attach the bike computer in transition.
- Don't try to adjust the position of the bike computer transceiver while moving on the bike.
- A minimum of two pairs of socks are required.
- Cheap flip flops to walk to the swim are nice, even if you never see them again.
- Wear sunscreen.
- Use the tri bike for tris. Aero bars are good things.
- Putting on padded bike pants for the bike portion of the race worked really well.
- Improve lower back strength before the next long race.
- Improve shoulder strength before the next long race.
- Knuckle down and drop those last five pounds before the next long race.
- A beer tastes best after covering 70.3 miles by way of swimming, cycling and running. Even if it is Budweiser.
Labels: Chicago Marathon, Jack and Adam's, Longhorn Half Ironman
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