LoneStar 70.3 - Yeah, you read that right!

Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.    -George S. Patton

I had registered for the LoneStar IronMan Sprint distance as my first ever triathlon, and I felt like I was ready... I had been swimming in the pool 2000-3000 meters a couple times a week. The bike was only 13 miles so that was a non-issue. And even I could manage a 3-mile run. I was really looking forward to the event.
Since I was "racing" (I prefer to call it "participating") on Saturday, and then spectating on Sunday to see a few of my friends compete in the Half-IronMan distance, I went down to Galveston early because I had seen on the BT forum that somebody had set up a practice swim at a private lake. I met a number of new faces from the forum. I figured a short 300-500 meter swim would be good to keep me loose. Little did I know.
Friday night we had terrible, strong winds... they announced 75-mph winds overnight while we Sprinters were in transition setting up. A lot of the signage, tents and general infrastructure had been blown over during the night. The winds while we Sprinters were setting up in transition were still 25-30 mph. Even the water on the bay side of the island was kicking up some decent wave action.
Once I got the bike racked and everything set up like I had practiced, I walked down to the swim start area, which is a dock on the other end of the beach in front of Moody Gardens Hotel. Even during the walk to the start we could feel the winds. As we stood around for the next hour, it seemed like the winds persisted, maybe even got a little stronger. They announced a 15 minute delay, and then canceled the swim entirely. I was pretty bummed out about that. My first tri had just become a du, and I wasn't particularly excited about a measly 13 mile ride - never mind the run I didn't care for anyway. So I decided this event was over for me. I was not going to risk getting hurt in this kind of effort and mess up the Triple Bypass ride. Initially the race crew said it would be a time trial start for the bike, but it looked more like a shotgun blast than anything else. With the cross winds and what a number of us perceived as a golden opportunity to risk getting hurt, I was even more convinced I had made the right decision when we saw at least two ambulances roll in, just while we were walking the bike back to the truck. So I said Thanks, but no thanks and turned in my timing chip unused.
So I headed back toward the other end of the island to unload my bike, pretty disappointed. Somewhere along the way, a momentary loss of sanity struck, and I questioned aloud whether they might have any slots open for the Half-Iron on Sunday. At first my friends thought I had really lost the whole cerebral content, but when we actually talked about it, I had already been swimming the distance in the pool, just not all at once and not in open water; the bike was a given in that it was only 56 miles; and as Briana and Maggie confirmed Sunday morning, the thought was that if I needed to, I could walk the entire 13.1 mile run.
So - after l had emptied the truck and a short nap, we went back to the Gardens. I grabbed the checkbook and walked into the registration/check-in tent and asked my questions. Not only did they have slots, but they were willing to credit my entire Sprint registration fee toward the HIM registration - at the cheap (early) price! With one more look at my friends to see whether they were laughing behind my back, I handed over the money. I even bought a 70.3 cycling jersey, knowing that if I didn't finish, I would never wear it.
After that, it was off for a lunch with the BT folks. Because of my questionable decision to register, we were a little late. We got our food and sat down to eat. A little bit into the meal, Kathy, one of the well-known discussion thread posters that I had talked to along with her husband Friday at the swim, asked who all was in the Half-Iron. When I raised my hand, she looked at me with BIG eyes and said "YOU registered for the Half?" -- yeah, I found it hard to believe too. But after I explained how it all went, it was pretty awesome to get a round of applause for attempting the HIM as my first tri.
Yeah, I know - a lot of buildup... I was in the last men's swim wave, and expected (hoped) to finish the swim in about 1:30. Suffice it to say I was very surprised when I looked at my watch in transition after the swim and saw I was in the water for only 50 minutes! I was passed by some of the speedy women, but I also passed a few men in the wave before me, and at least one in the wave before that! I was feeling pretty good about that.
Onto the bike... I was pretty slow and deliberate getting shoes, helmet, gloves, etc so I could get moving on the bike. You wind out of the park for a half mile or so and then up to the Seawall for a 55-mile out and back. Only then did I realize I had forgotten to put my computer on the bike that morning! I had no clue how fast I was moving. So I put it in a comfortable gear and kept the cranks turning. Passed a number of riders, got passed by still more women. I saw a couple of my friends on the loop, so that was nice. Only after the results were posted did I know I averaged about 17.3 mph. In hindsight, I think I could have gone a little harder without beating myself up but I didn't know what the run would be like... remember my goals - finish, and don't finish last. 3:14 total on the bike.
Back to transition, changing into the running shoes, it was on to the final leg. I did walk quite a bit of it, but I knew I would. Once again, because of the way the run was laid out in a 4-loop arrangement, I saw friends multiple times - mostly as they passed me. What little advantage I had on the swim and bike I gave back quickly on the run, but I didn't care. Lots of Gatorade and water along the way, and lots of inspirational people encouraging you the whole distance. There were even some early finishers up near the finish line cheering on us late arrivals. Almost an identical time on the run and the bike at 3:14 and some change.
So -- 7:29:16 later, I was indeed a very proud, very satisfied Half-Iron finisher. A friend even snapped a pic of me at the finish line. I had asked my friends to not say anything about my participating until I had finished, so she then posted the pic to Facebook... quite a few comments, thank you very much.
It makes you wonder sometimes how things manage to work out, doesn't it? If they had not canceled our swim, I would never have attempted this, but I am VERY happy I did. I will never forget all the positive support, during the race from my racing friends and people I don't even know, and afterward from my cycling family. Thank you all !!

Rough Ride, But A Good One

Today, we rode the San Antonio Fiesta Wildflower century ride - 100 miles of almost continuous rolling hills and wind, and LOTS of chip seal. LLS raised almost 60 thousand dollars for the fight against blood cancers, so that was pretty awesome in and of itself.
This was my first century of the season and 10th overall since I started the cycling in 2007. 6 hours and 46 minutes worth of effort on the tri bike, to get ready for the first triathlon next weekend. This was a tough ride, ranks right up there with the top 2 or 3 most difficult I have ridden. And somebody lied when they said this was fairly flat... I drove the first 50 miles of it in the truck yesterday because the elevation map made it look pretty difficult, but there wasn't enough time to drive the whole thing, so I didn't see all the hills that WERE in the second half.
But we managed to get through the whole 100 miles. And last week, two good nights at the pool and a transition practice at the lake followed by a 3 mile run. Tomorrow night a short swim, Tuesday a Splash and Dash (750 meters in the water followed by a 2 mile run), Wednesday maybe a short swim or hill repeats on the bike, and then sometime Thursday off to Galveston. I am looking forward to seeing my friends and a number of professional triathletes doing the Half-Iron on Sunday.
Should be a fun-filled weekend.

What an awesome day! What a great past few weeks !!

I realized today it has been a long time since my last post, and with today's activity -- actually, the activity of this last week or so -- it seemed like a good time to correct that.
For the last few weeks, I have been in the pool at least twice a week. When I started this little adventure, I was lucky to stay afloat, much less swim a decent distance. When I took the swim class with a couple of our Team In Training coaches, I was lucky to make it the length of the pool without stopping to catch my breath. And never mind managing the breathing. A bit of progression in that regard... I have managed to go from swimming a length or two to doing 3000 yards with a pool buoy to managing 1200-1500 yards mostly nonstop and all without the pool buoy. I have also succeeded in teaching myself, or forcing myself maybe, to be able to breathe on both sides. So the water work has been fairly good.
The biking? I think I am okay in this regard. I admit my cycling time dropped off after my string of 5 century rides last year, but I am getting in at least one good ride on the weekends, and hills or training videos at least once in the week.  One of our scheduled pay rides got cancelled because of thunderstorms, but I did get in the Rosedale Ride the week after. That ride supports the Rosedale School for challenged individuals. Lots of wind that day. A number of weekends I have been riding with the Bypass team. Additionally, I have been trying to do a 15-20 mile sprint on the tri bike at least once a week combined with a run afterward. Trying to balance the training for 3 triathlons with training for the Triple Bypass ride gets complicated sometimes, but I think a lot of that has been because I was so unsure about the running and swimming. Things are coming together though. Yesterday I rode a training ride on the north side of town with some TNT alumni, and ended up riding a metric century distance loaded with LOTS of climbs and bunches of wind... the return half was brutal!
And the running... oh, boy, the running. I considered myself fortunate if I could manage a mile, and then feeling totally exhausted. Today, after a very late last-minute decision last night, I ran the Capitol 10K, 6.2 miles, without stopping and without walking. Granted it took me 1:15:00 to do it, but a slow plodding elephant is better than nothing. I don't think I have run more than 6 miles at one time in 30-40 years. But you runners, and for that matter you cyclists, too, know what it is like to be crossing that finish line for the first time in any kind of event. Not fast, not pretty, but finished. I didn't run in the timed portion of the run, but I did check my finish with the timed folks - I would have finished 260th out of 296th in my age group, so that would have accomplished my goals this year - finish, and don't finish last. I am happy with that.
By the way, I am so very proud of my teammates and my inspiration -- they ran an awesome run, and posted great times!
I realized 10 days ago that in the next 100 days I would have to finish 3 metric century rides, 3 full centuries, and 3 triathlons including the Triple Bypass -- before there was any thought of throwing a 10K run into the mix.
Next week, the first century ride, in San Antonio. I am thinking I will do this one on the tri bike since my first triathlon is the week after. I think it is going to be a busy few weeks!
Thanks to my coach for everything she does for me... I know I wouldn't be doing this well without her.