Buffalo Springs 70.3 Race Report

Well, the first 70.3 of the season is under the belt. I can say one thing about Lubbock, TX. IT'S HOT!!! The day of the race it hit a high of 110 degrees!! Luckily Meg and I were done before it got to that temp.

After setting up our transition, Meg and I headed to the start of the swim and put our wetsuits on. I was a little nervous, which is normal. My friend Chuck was also in the race and in my age group. He is a stud. He won our age group. I figured I would try and stay on his heels in the swim as long as I could. That lasted about 200m! After about 5 minutes of the swim, my arms didn't feel that great. This usually happens, but tends to get better as the swim progresses. I was left in no mans land for the first half of the swim, then I caught the heels of a group with about 1000m to go. It is so much easier to swim in the draft of someone else and conserve some energy. I got out of the lake and was a little disappointed with my time as I thought I had just swam 28 minutes. Later I would learn it was 26:52, which is not bad for me.

I had a bit of trouble in transition getting my wetsuit off my left foot, but finally did and ran the bike to the mount line. I was off on the bike. We had a pretty steep and long hill right off the bat.
It was a hilly and very windy course. The wind was blowing 15-20 the whole time. I felt like I was doing okay on the bike. I was getting passed by a few of my age groupers, but was trying not to let them get to far ahead. There were 2 out and back portions where you could see how far behind you were. Right before the 2nd turn around we had to go up a winding hill. About half way up I heard a hissing sound. I knew exactly what it was and I could not believe it. A flat!! Especially since I was borrowing wheels from a friend and they were tubulars. I had never ridden tubulars. It was supposed to be an easy fix with some Pit Stop fix a flat, but I couldn't seem to get it to work right. I put one cartridge of air in the tires and it seemed to hold. I made it about 6 miles and I realized I was still losing air. I put a 2nd cartridge of air in the tire and took off, praying that I could make it the last 15 miles on what I had left. It seemed to work, but I know the air in the tires was not what it needed to be. To make matters worse, the last part of the course was right into the wind. I grinded hard to make up for lost time, but paid for it. My legs started to burn and cramp. I tried standing up, but that didn't work. After the one last hill, I was so glad to see the transition area.

I jumped off the bike and was hoping to make up some time on the run. I started out and my legs were sore already. I figured I just had to shake out the bike and I would feel better after a mile or so. 2 miles past and I wasn't feeling better. I knew I had pushed too hard and was paying the price. There was a brutal hill at mile three and I felt like walking, but didn't, although I think I would have gone just as fast. After a second big hill and 2 miles into the wind, we hit the half way point. With the wind at my back, I started to feel a little better and my pace quickened by 30 seconds per mile. I felt okay, other than my quads were begging for mercy with every step. I was starting to catch some of the people that had passed me on the bike and it was giving me energy. The last 2 miles, were the longest ever! I made my way to the finish in a time of 4:36. I ended up getting 5th in my age group which wasn't bad considering my poor bike split.

I had to get an IV after the race as I was just too gone. I felt much better after, although the lady had to poke me in both arms to get the needle to work. Not sure how that was as you can basically see my veins in my arms. Two days later I am still feeling sore. It was a tough, tough race and I learned a lot. Thanks to all the people that spent the weekend with us, it was great!!

Father's Day

Once again its been too long since my last post. Since last time I have been swimming, biking and running...A LOT!!! The routine has stayed pretty steady, 4 swim, 4-5 runs and 4 bikes. Meg and I have gotten up to a whopping 5 hour ride in which I covered 100 miles! My first time ever!

We also got up to a 2:40 run which covered 24 miles. Let me tell you that was a long weekend and my legs were super sore.

Today we did a 2:20 run and I covered 22 miles. We have been using hydration backpacks during our runs, as it is the only way to carry enough water. They are great and a life saver.

Next Sunday is our Half Ironman in Buffalo Springs, TX, so we are pretty excited. Hopefully it will go well!