LoneStar Half Ironman • March 2008
Clay T

General Comments: The Half, and for that matter the Tri-Festival, which also featured a Sprint & Olympic race, truly lived up to the website hype. The venue was a fantastic for racing, the accommodations were excellent, and the event was superbly officiated and managed. The Sprint was held on Saturday, 29 Mar 08 and closely mirrored the Olympic and Half which were held on Sunday the 30th. The races featured saltwater swims, flat bike courses, and the run was set in and around the Moody Gardens Hotel Resort. The bike and run courses were 2-loop courses – excellent for spectators. There were a number of Elites & Pro athletes at the event including both Lavatos & Simon Lessing There were approximately 2,300 participants in all three races (560) in the Half.

The races featured a deep water swim start based on age groups or groupings (ie Males 40-49) and were staggered 5-minutes apart. For Sunday’s Half & Olympic, the Half Race started approximately an hour before the Olympic. This meant that the second loop of the bike course would be busy with Olympic participants. The run course was 2-loops 6.6 miles through the Moody Gardens complex on improved roads and sidewalks and featured numerous switchbacks and turnarounds – that part was actually confusing and made for long miles. .

I highly recommend this event if your interested in a professionally run event early in your race year.

Race Conditions: The conditions were typical for Galveston in March with temperatures hovering around 80 degrees and 70% humidity. Water temperature was 69/70 degrees – wet suit approved. The sky was overcast for the first part of the race (Swim and Bike), until around 10 am when the sun came out and burned off the haze.

Swim: The swim was a deep water start approximately 1/3d of a mile from the transition area and finish line. Participants jumped from a dock into the water because race management did not want swimmers entering the water from the breach – this was a safety call due to the numerous oyster beds lining the beach – they didn’t want Athletes to cut their feet etc etc. The race started at 07:30 with subsequent waves 5-minutes apart – I was in the forth wave (M40-49) which started at 07:45. There were about 80 people in each wave. I thought the water was quite comfortable in my wet suit and I am glad I elected to use – buoyancy was not a problem.

I was surprised that there wasn’t the expected meat grinder mass start swim effect usually experienced in these kinds of events. There was a little leg and face hitting and body jamming but only for about the first 300 yards until everyone got into their swimming rhythm. The water was brackish and murky – I could only see the distance of an arms length. At water level the buoy markers were hard to find – I am glad I use major land marks to mark my swim heading – that paid off.

The course was a 3 leg swim course with legs one and three either against the current perpendicular to the current. Leg one was against the current which kept pushing me into the inside boundary of the swim course. To compensate I swam a more direct line to the first buoy which took me away from most of the swimmers which were being pushing into the interior of the Olympic swim course by the current. I used a huge Home Depot Sign and large white boat on the far side of the Bay as my swim reference to buoy #1 – it worked fantastic. As I rounded the first buoy, I noticed that there were only a few “white cappers”, my swim wave, I hpe that wasn’t a cruel job for us Joes that are "graying", with me and that we had actually closed the distance on slower "yellow cappers" the swim wave that had started 5-minutes before us. That’s when the swim course started to get alittle busy.

Leg 2 of the swim was primarily with the current to some extent – it didn’t push you all over the place. It was busier as stated earlier and I thought went fairly quickly – nothing too eventful. I did notice that my swim goggles started fogging up or got a saltwater film on them because my vision diminished greatly. To mitigate this effect I sighted in on a huge ferry and did the buoy search stroke every 5 strokes. I also kept pace with another swimmer or he kept pace with me – who knows, to keep me on course. Towards the end of the leg two swim I started catching the swim group that started two waves ahead of me - the swim course was definitely busy now.

Leg 3’s swim (the home stretch) was against the current sideways. The current kept pushing me to the right and my sight was really distorted from the goggle fogging as well. I noticed my mind wondering – I think I was getting board in the water. I realized I had been swimming stroke for stroke with another age grouper and could not shake him. I realized that I had had choppy swim stroke and decided to stretch out my stroke and focus on rotating my body. I made it a point of each stroke to enter the water in the "mail slot", "belly to the wall", and stretch my stroke. Believe it or not I lost the guy that I had been swimming with and felt faster in the water.

I exited the water feeling fantastic. The transition was about 100 yards from the water exit along an Astroturf runway. I utilized the wet suit strippers to help get my wet suit off and spent an extra 10 seconds washing the salt water off my body (recommended) using the fresh water showers available – and into the transition area.

T1: The transition area was huge, 14 rows of 100 participants each sorted by race distance, age group, and race number. There were approximately 1400 participants in the Half & Olympic – extremely busy transition area. I got to my bike, did my transition routine, and ran to the Bike Out gate which was another 100 yards away.

Bike: Exiting T1 on the bike, the course led through the Moody Gardens complex and on to local roads which headed toward the seawall road – the main portion of the course. There were a lot of turns and speed bumps and to a large degree the road was not well maintained (pot holes and improvements). Once on the seawall road – I settled into a cycling groove. There were not very many cyclists out on the 1st loop – the Olympic distance race had not yet started. The course was definitely windy – I got pushed around and once went off the road in a gust. I was generally all over the road due to the winds coming off the Gulf so I had to concentrate on keeping good bike form. Additionally, I had to get rid of my sun glasses because they were so fogged up by the humidity - I could not see the road. Overall, I though the first loop went extremely well, I fueled right, took water at the bottle exchange sites and was definitely in the groove. As I described earlier the course was a two loop course which returned to the transition area so I had to negotiate the speed bumps, holes, etc etc four times (out and back, out and back).

The second loop was more complicated – there were a ton of cyclist on the road and local vehicle traffic had picked up. Of course race management and volunteers effectively mitigated the traffic hazards, but there were numerous instances that I had to encroach into the vehicle traffic lane to pass slower cyclists which were sometimes three abreast. At mile 40 I noticed that my rear seat bottle holder had loosened and had swung down below my seat in the back - which made fueling with my Perpetum that much more difficult. At some point between mile 40 & 50 I lost my aero-bottle sponge – Note to self – rubber band that thing down for Boise! So I started loosing water every time I hit a bump or undulation in the road – this was a source of angst, but I knew I only had 6-miles to go to get to transition.

Overall, I think I fueled right, 4-scoops of Perpetum, electrolyte tabs at 2-hours into the ride and a GU each hour. I felt great, was fast, and my HR was in check 146/147 – a perfect tempo pace.

T2: Coming into T2, I used the last 2-miles to get out of the saddle a few times, stretch my back and to get the blood flowing which Pete has suggested. T2 was again a long run back to my transition number spot. Quickly changed shoes, put on my race belt and ran through the run course matts.

Run: The run course meandered through the Moody Gardens complex and surrounding attractions. The course was primarily on roads or sidewalks and was flat, additionally; the run course had a lot of switchbacks and turn-arounds – which made for really long miles. It was also hard to judge space and time with all those turn-arounds and switchbacks - nonsense. The sun finally burned off the overcast around 1000 am and intensified the claustrophobic heat and humidity. There was very little air movement and a lack of a breeze due to tall hedges, infrastructure, and landscaping which acted as natural wind barriers. This, plus the humidity made for a physically difficult half marathon for me. I got into a good groove for the first 3 miles – HR was in the high 140s/low 150’s. I had a good pace, and felt fairly good. The heat really started affecting me at mile 5. I could not cool down. I grabbed water at each aid station in efforts to cool down and started sponging water on my head, chest and back – to no avail. By the second loop, I was "not well". I remember my wife Angela asking me if I was alright at mile 7 – I responded with "hell no", but kept going. After the race, Angela told me, that she had asked that question because I had gone from pink in color to pale white – obviously I was not doing well.

By the mile 8 aid station, I was really hurting and felt bloated and heavy legged. I had drank water and/or Gatorade at each aid station in efforts to cool my body down, but that fluid just sloshed around in my stomach – which made for a really uncountable to run. I was also incredibly hungry and thought that eating potato chips would help to get salt into my system. If it worked – I wouldn’t know because the last 5 miles were a gut check run for me. Eventually I did finish in 2:18 and change – I must have walked a good 20 minutes of the run trying to cool down - brutal.

Lessons Learned & My Take-Aways:

1. Find that long stretched out swim stroke early in the swim – it conserves energy and ironically is a more efficient faster stroke.
2. A rear mounted seat water bottle holder does not work for me – I only need the Aero-bottle for water and one bottle for fuel. I can get water at the aid stations and dump it into my aero-bottle while riding. Stick to the nutrition plan – eat and drink when your not hungry – I did that well on the bike – not so good on the run.
3. #@%^ will happen during the race, your water bottle will get launched if you hit the right bump, you will get a flat, the Aero-Bottle sponge will magically disappear etc etc… don’t worry and continue to enjoy the ride. I wish I had taken my own advise on the run.
4. If your swim goggles fog up – find another quick reference for direction (another swimmer, a huge marker, something).
5. Take a few minutes to walk and cool down rather than over doing it by drinking too much and trying to run. A few extra minutes to calm down and cool off over a 5 plus hour event is insignificant.
6. On the run, throw-up if you must too to get that excess liquid out of your system – I didn’t do that and probably should have.
7. Man, I love biking!! That was a fun fast bike course.
8. The Advil I packed in my Bento-Box was a life saver.
9. The investment I made for a custom fit bike is immeasurable.
10. Take an extra 10 seconds to wash off the salt water to minimize the discomfort later in the race.
11. Don’t underestimate you own ability to endure pain. (Everyone preaches this guidance, but sometimes you just got to experience it to fully understand)

Overall, I really enjoyed the race – it was a fantastic experience (50 overall fastest swim split, 80 something fastest bike split….. and "finished" the run. Plus I learned some valuable lessons along the way.