Austin 70.3 Race Report

Before I get into the nitty gritty of the race report, I have to say that this was by far the most challenging event I have ever done, both mentally and physically. I wasn’t under any delusions of grandeur of coming out on the other side with a PR because, let´s face it, I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. With 5 of the past 8 weeks on the road, that really left only 2 weeks for heavier training and 1 taper week. I also didn’t have my head in the game as much as I normally do because the season was officially over at the end of this race, I am getting married in a week, I have a big week this week with work, and life sort of piled up. However, I could never have planned for what I experienced. This course humbled me in so many ways. Most of the mental issues were so minor that they normally wouldn’t have gotten to me, but after the day I was having every little thing was piling up. And that whole saying that you need to expect 5 things to go wrong in an ironman and check them off 1 by 1? I think in the future I will expect 10 things to go wrong for the half ironman distance. Luckily I wasn’t the only one who really suffered out there. I saw more pukers, walkers and people who were “quitting” triathlons for good out there than ever before.
For those (crazy) people who are thinking about this race in the future:
The good – great organization, great volunteers – they were dressed up on a lot of the aid stations, a great course to spectate (3 loop running course), the aid stations – I had aid station parties starting at mile 1 and they were great buffets at every stop; and a great city to visit.
The bad – I will caveat this with the fact that I am from Houston, so overpasses on the freeway are big mountains to me, but this was the hilliest course I have ever been on. I waited all day for a flat, and I don’t think I ever got one except for about 100 yards on the run. The wind sucked. I felt like I was riding in Kona and never had a tailwind. The heat – it was 115 the week before, so we got “lucky” with 90 (in October. Really?). The bike course was not sectioned off for a lot of the race, and was pretty dangerous. There were about 20 miles where you were so close to cars that passing was dangerous. The hills. I’m putting that twice, because they sucked that bad.
Pre – Race – we drove to Austin on Saturday morning early and as soon as I got in the car, I realized that I had forgotten my bike. I should have known then that it wasn’t going to be a good race. We got to Austin fairly quickly, found the expo, checked in and then I went back to the car to pack my transition bags. I got on my bike to do a quick check up and noticed some brake issues. So this meant an hour wait in line for mechanics. A first for me, so I wasn’t too bummed about it, but again, sign #2 that I should have packed it in and gone home. Next time I am following my gut. The rest of the day was spent at Whole Paycheck and shopping for Chris’s wedding present.
Race Day – No problem here. We were running a little bit late, and had to catch the shuttle, but I had about 15 minutes to get my bottles filled in T1, which was plenty of time. Then it was a waiting game for all of the other waves to start before us. 1:35 to be exact.
The swim –We had the biggest wave with 205 people, and it was a washing machine. I did manage to get a good line and follow about 6 other girls out in front. They went on ahead at the turnaround and I flew solo on the way back and came out in 8th. This was the best part of the day.
Sausage time


Getting into the water finally.

I think I am the one with really bad form.

The bike – This is where things got bad. A week ago someone told me not to fall because I didn’t want road rash to get puss and blood all over my wedding dress, and I think this went through my mind the entire time adding to my very fun day. I knew it would be rough when the first mile out of the transition had a huge climb. The first 10 miles I had two problems. The first one was going up a hill and my foot came off the pedal. I almost crashed and then realized that my clip was actually falling off my shoe. So I fixed it and started to walk my bike up the hill. As I was cursing myself for not finishing the season with the sprint the weekend before, I saw a dude haul by me and fly out of his pedal too. So we walked together and agreed that if the support vehicle came by we would drop out of the race together. No such luck. The second time I dropped my chain (apparently my bike is ready for an off season as well). Going uphill. I had to walk it up again and guess what – no sag wagon. I then decided that since I wouldn’t have to swim, bike or run for 2.5 weeks, I should just make this a really good last workout. I came into T2 with a PW bike at 3:33. I wasn’t the last one in even though it felt like I was.

Gotta love those tan lines


God bless the volunteers. Especially the ones who put on sunscreen. But as you might guess I have some nice hand prints all over my back now.


The Run – the best part of the run was watching a guy puke on a sign that said puke and rally. And he did just that. After I left T2 I realized my hair was flying in my face. I had started the race with two rubber bands and now had none. Good thing my visor was able to hold up my hair for the most part. Then I realized I forgot my nutrition. Which normally wouldn’t matter, but today it was enough to make me cry. The run was a fun game of trying to get from one aid station to the next. When I was running, I was running between 9 and 9:15, but then I would stop and chat at the aid stations knowing that when I left I would have to run again. At 1 point I started getting some bad IT pain so I started to shove ice down my shorts. Then the ice would move around and I looked like I had crapped my pants. There were lots of fun people to talk to on the course, which sort of made the last miles fly by. And then the end came and I couldn’t even muster enough strength to pick up the pace at the finish line.

I dont remember this. All I remember is that Chris had a nice huge bag of food waiting for me when I got in the car.


Although I will never do this race again, I am glad I did it because it probably will come in handy when I am doing IMTX. It was good training for what to do when you feel like ass and want to pull out of a race, but you cant because the only way back is to finish the race.
Now it is the off season. There will be another post about what I plan to do during this time. It will include a whole lot of eating, drinking and sleeping. Oh, and getting married!