Kerrville Triathlon Race Report

Kerrville was such a fun race last year and I was only 1 minute from my half iron PR, so I was really hoping for a good day and a PR this year. I went out to Kerrville on Friday to make the most of a fun weekend. I felt great on race morning and Kristen, Ingrid and I executed our pre-race parking strategy perfectly. It wasn't as cold as I was afraid it would be, so I waited until about 30 minutes before my start to put my (borrowed from Coach Jen) wetsuit on. I got it on, went to zip it up and it broke, so the zipper was only attached to one side! I asked 2 random guys beside me for help, they worked on it for a minute, but I quickly realized they couldn't fix it. Then I saw Julie, Kay, Vanessa, Rey & Miguel so I ran over to them to ask for help. Julie had worn the wetsuit for the sprint on Saturday and she knew how to fix it. I took it off and she and Kay went to work. Now it was less than 20 minutes til my start. I knew I didn't need the wetsuit to stay warm, but I knew it would help me swim a little faster, probably 2 or 3 minutes, not a huge deal, but enough that if they could fix it, I wanted it. They kept working frantically while we walked toward the swim start and with about 5 minutes til my start the zipper broke completely out of the wetsuit! By the time I lined up with the rest of the girls in my wave, it was only about 30 seconds til they let us in the water.

SWIM
BRRRR!!! The water felt cold without the wetsuit, but once I started swimming it wasn't bad. I forgot that the river bends so the course isn't exactly straight, I sighted, swam straight, then realized I was off course. Unfortunately, I forgot about the bend in the river until I was about halfway through the swim, so I kept getting a little off course. I did the same thing last year. Other than my slight issue with sighting/navigation I had a good swim, I felt strong, and I didn't feel like the lack of wetsuit was an issue. I remembered enjoying the sunrise last year during the swim, but this year it was cloudy, overcast and drizzly so no seeing the sun rise. I passed quite a few people from the waves ahead of mine (I was in the second to last wave this year). I got to the ramp and the awesome volunteers helped me out, I crossed the timing mat at 46:23  just over 3 minutes slower than last year, that's probably mostly due to lack of wetsuit (of my 8 total half irons this was my first wetsuitless swim), so I wasn't unhappy with it, even though it's one of my slower half iron swim times.

T1
I ran up the big hill into T1 got to my bike and had a really hard time deciding what I wanted out there. I was sorry I didn't wear my arm warmers last year so I planned on wearing them this year, but after the swim I decided I didn't want them. It was still drizzly and I hate wearing sunglasses when they get foggy or wet and I wasn't sure they'd stay in the pocket of my new tri top. So I threw the arm warmers and sunglasses into the bag and headed out of T1. My bike didn't seem to be rolling quite right so I stopped to make sure my brakes weren't rubbing (I have issues with brake rub on my Mavic wheels), nope, both were spinning fine, it must have been the mud in transition. T1 was 3:57 a little faster than last year since I didn't have a wetsuit to strip.

BIKE
I got onto the bike course and felt good, my lower back hurt a little (the hotel bed didn't quite agree with my back) but I figured it would loosen up in a few miles. I hit hwy 27 and felt the tailwind. The wind was forecast to be pretty strong, and I'm generally pretty awful at riding into the wind, so I really wanted to take advantage of the tailwind as much as possible. My average speed was right around 17.0 mph for the first 12 or so miles until I turned and hit the newly chip sealed road and the headwind- YIKES! Chip seal always slows me down and this was really awful super rough nasty chip seal! I'm also pretty terrible at riding into a headwind, so I watched my speed drop. Coach Jen had given me some tips for riding on chip seal, so I tried really hard to "power through it" but I felt like I was working super hard and getting nothing for it. That road was only 2 or 3 miles but it felt like forever! I had a hard time recovering and getting my speed back, my back was still hurting a little and my legs were feeling a little tired already- not good! I couldn't remember if I had used my Mavic wheels with an 11-25 cassette last year or my Eastons with the 11-28 "climbing" cassette. Jeff thought I'd used my Mavics so I went with those, but as soon as I got onto the 1 steep climb on the course I knew I'd used my Eastons last year! It wasn't really an issue, that steep spot just felt significantly harder than it had last year. I made it up the climb fine, and then turned onto chip sealy, headwindy 173- YUCK!! Then it started to rain on me, between the headwind, the chip seal and the rain, I was NOT happy. I also knew I had already lost any chance at a PR and I really didn't want to go out and ride that loop again. I actually thought about stopping and DNFing, I didn't want to DNF the Texas Tri Series, but I knew Stacy or Dan would give me a volunteer job for my tri series credit if I asked. I made it to the corner where everyone was cheering, I saw Becky, Linda C, Emmie, and Lynn, they all cheered like crazy and were super encouraging! It gave me enough of a boost that I went straight out for a second loop instead of turning into the finish and DNFing.

I gave Tom a fakey half smile just after deciding I was really going to go out for a second loop instead of DNFing. Photo by Tom Marek

The tailwind on hwy 27 felt great! But instead of trying to really push and make up for my dismal first loop, I tried to recover and save my energy for the rest of the loop. By the time I got to 173 again, my back and legs were really hurting and I was REALLY ready to get off my bike! Of course the wind had picked up even more- so it was even harder the second time. I was super frustrated and I wanted to cry, at one point I just let out the loudest scream I possibly could- good thing no one was around me! It made me think of a story Ingrid shared with me about Ultraman Canada this year, and I smiled. Eventually I finally made it back to town. I was SO happy to see the dismount line! I went to stand up off my bike and thought my legs might buckle. I was certain I would not be able to run at all, I was considering my options- a DNF or walking 13.1 miles- neither was appealing at all. Bike time was 4:10, my worst half iron bike ever!

T2
I slowly walked into T2, still thinking about whether I wanted to DNF or walk an entire half marathon. I started getting my run stuff together and thought maybe I could find June on the course and walk with her (she power walks) walking with someone would make it feel better. I got up and walked out of T2, and saw Bob H. I didn't even smile at him, but he said something encouraging to me. T2 was 4:07, which is pretty fast considering I wasn't trying to hurry at all.

RUN
I got onto the run course, saw Betsy & David, told them I had the worst bike ever and I was going to retire from half irons. Then I decided to try running a few steps just to see how bad it felt. SHOCKINGLY, it didn't feel that bad, actually it felt kind of GOOD! I decided I would just run as much as I could, I might even be able to finish before 4:00pm. I had told Kristen I would finish around 3 if I had a great day and hopefully before 4 if things didn't go great. I have no idea how my legs and back could hurt so much on the bike and then feel fine on the run- but I'm not complaining! The run was 4 loops, all my teammates and friends were ahead of me, but because of the loops I got to see all of them. I was really starting to have fun and enjoy this race again! I finished the first loop and told the Tri Zones & TWCC spectators near the finish that I still had 3 loops to go, their reply "Don't worry, we'll be here" That was really nice! People said I looked so happy and smiley, I was back to my normal self!

This time the smile was real! Photo by Tom Marek

I remembered the trail part of the run being pretty hilly, but it didn't seem as hilly as I remembered and I was able to run all but the very steepest of the hills. At the beginning of loop 3 I saw Betsy & David again and Betsy asked "are you still going to retire?" I laughed and said "I don't think so, I think I'm over it already". Just like last year, the volunteers on the run course were awesome, super encouraging and nice, even though they had been out there all day and I was toward the back of the pack.

3rd loop and still smiling for real. Photo by Kristen Carey

I felt awesome and 100% enjoyed the run until about halfway through the 3rd loop when my legs started to get a little tired. I walked the uphills on the trail and then ran back toward the finish line to start my final loop. As I started my last loop I realized I had run each loop in 40 minutes or less and if I could run the last one in 43 minutes I would finish the run in 2:40, which was my original goal for the run! I really hadn't thought that was possible after having such a tough ride! Of course I was getting more tired so 43 minutes was a little challenging on the last loop, but I was still having fun, talking with other athletes still on the course, and thanking the volunteers. My original goal was to finish the race by 3:00, before the awards ceremony (I almost always finish during the awards ceremony), I finished around 3:30 during the awards ceremony, so Logan wasn't there to announce, but as I got close to the finish line, I saw that all the TWCCers had run over to high five me as I finished- cool! :) Run time was 2:40:07, 10 seconds slower than my fastest half iron run, I'm ecstatic with that considering I almost DNFed instead of even trying to run!

Overall time was 7:45:09, not my fastest half, but not my slowest either. As disappointed as I was with my bike, I was just as happy with my run- so even though it wasn't the race I wanted, it sort of evened out in the end. Plus I was pretty pleased with the mental effort I put in to keep going when I really didn't want to. Betsy posted on my facebook after the race "Way to keep patient and let your race come back to you!"

Julie must have gotten all the fast antelope this year. Photo by Katherine Mudge

Kerrville Half Iron Triathlon Race Report

Pre-race
The alarm went off at 4:45, we planned to leave at 5:45, but we were ready at 5:30 so we just left then. It was COLD out, I had a jacket and Jeff's watch cap, but I took a big heavy blanket too, the jeep ride over was really cold, but once we got to transition I wasn't too cold as long as I stayed wrapped in the blanket. I got my transition stuff taken care of and hung out with all the Tri Zoners and Del. Jeff and I pre-race
Theresa in her pajama pants and me wrapped up in a blanket
Me, Del and Julie pre-race, Del put his wetsuit on early since he didn't bring a jacket

I went up to Julie's hotel room instead of waiting in the porta potty line and borrowed the spi belt she wasn't using- Perfect, Thanks Julie! (I planned to use my spi belt for the run, but I couldn't find it, so I was just going to use my race belt, but I forgot to pack that, so Kristen was going to bring me one to use, but Julie's extra spi belt was even better) I stayed wrapped up in the blanket until it was time to put on my wetsuit, but I kept my jacket, hat, wool socks, and shoes until just before the start, luckily I had Jeff to hand that stuff off to at the last minute. Getting into my wetsuit while still wearing a hat, jacket, wool socks & shoes

I lined up to get in the water and Kim E was right by me! Then I realized Emmie was videoing us getting in the water so I hammed it up for her a little.Swim
I usually wear a digital watch in the swim, but I forgot that too (anyone counting how many things I forgot for this race?) So I was just planning to swim at a moderately hard effort. The water felt great and was clean and clear! I started toward the outside, but still had a lot of contact at the start. Within the first few hundred meters I felt a sharp pain in the top of my foot, I was pretty sure someone had scratched me hard and probably cut my foot (it looks like that's exactly what happened, I have a fingernail sized chunk of skin gone from my foot). I thought once I got around the first turn buoy it would clear out and I'd have more space to swim, but one girl kept running into me (she's probably saying the same thing about me) I just couldn't get away from her, I'd pass her, or slightly change direction and get away from her, but a few minutes later, there she was again! The last time I saw her was right before I turned to go in to the finish, so she was with me off and on the entire swim. Other than that I had a really good swim, I felt great, the swim was beautiful, I really enjoyed watching the sun rise as I was swimming toward the dam. I feel like I probably could have pushed the pace and gone a little faster (might have been an easy way to make up a minute). My swim time was 42:58, my second best swim time for a half.Pretty swim course

T1
I got dragged out of the water up that steep ramp by the awesome volunteers and before I realized it I was at the wetsuit strippers and I hadn't even unzipped my wetsuit yet! They did it for me, pulled the top down, I plopped down and they yanked the bottom off and handed it to me as I jumped up and jogged up the big hill. I saw and heard the entire Tri Zones More Cowbell Corps as I went up the hill, it was great motivation for getting up that hill! I got into transition and saw that my feet were covered in mud, I sat down on my towel and cleaned my feet before putting on my socks & shoes, it took FOREVER! I looked at my arm warmers and decided I didn't need them since I didn't feel too cold standing there in transition, so I shoved them into the gear bag too. I got the rest of my stuff on and took off. I was sure it was a super slow transition, but when I got on my bike I saw that swim + T1 was under 50 minutes, so I was happy with that. T1 ended up being 4:33, which is actually really fast for me (I think faster than I usually transition at Decker) so I was shocked (in a good way)!

Bike
I was originally worried about the bike course, in Kerrville, they could have made it really difficult, but Shayla and I drove the course a couple months before the race and saw that it was definitely doable. There were a couple of steep hills that concerned me, but I knew I could do them. My biggest goal for this race was to have a good bike ride and come as close to 16 mph as I could, I knew that would be tough for me on a slightly hilly course, especially one I hadn't ridden before.

I started the bike and immediately I was FREEZING! I rode by Jeff and yelled "I should have worn my arm warmers, I'm FREEZING!"Starting the bike and telling Jeff I'm freezing.

Even though I was cold, I felt strong and fast, it was a great feeling! My shifting seemed to be working fine. Del passed me and I wondered how he had gotten behind me, I'm still not sure, but it was good to see him. I flew down highway 27, my average speed was 17.5 mph even with a few rollers, that's amazing for me! I assumed I had a major tailwind, but I kept looking at the grass and leaves and they didn't seem to be bending with the wind. Some of the road was nasty chip seal, but for the most part it was smooth or there was a narrow strip of smooth road between all the chip seal.

I turned off highway 27 and thought I'd get more hills, but it stayed pretty flat with a few little downhills. Then I turned and saw the first river crossing and knew I was about to hit the first of the steep hills I was worried about, I downshifted like crazy before the hill so I wouldn't get bogged down on the steep part especially if my derailleur decided to have issues right then! I heard someone yell my name and talk to me from behind, but I couldn't tell who it was. I started up the hill and realized it was NOT that steep at all and I had NOTHING to worry about! I don't know why I make hills so big and bad in my head! Just past the hill Kathleen passed me, it was her behind me on the hill.

Around mile 20-something a guy in arm warmers passed me and I thought, "yeah, I still wish I had worn mine, I'd still be a little happier if I had them on", but I wasn't so cold that it was a big issue. The view in this area was beautiful- similar to our campsite, I could see the river and all the trees. I couldn't believe how much I was enjoying this ride! Then a bug flew into my mouth! Hack, cough, spit- YUCK! Ok, so maybe it wasn't the perfect ride :)

At the U-turn of the out & back I stopped to fix my speedfill straw, I have only used the speedfill for a couple of rides, and Jeff and I put it on last minute before taking my bike to transition on Saturday so I didn't realize that something was messed up making it almost impossible to suck Infinit through the straw! I had my aerobottle too, so I had been fine so far, but I needed it for the rest of the ride. I pulled on the straw and adjusted it in a couple of places and it seemed better, so I took off again. It worked perfectly the rest of the ride (I'm not even sure what I did that fixed it).

The big hill on Wharton is the one I was most worried about, when Shayla and I drove the course I had said "ok, maybe I don't want to do this race!", but again, it was no where near as bad as I made it out to be. It was tough, but totally doable. There was a family cheering halfway up the hill which was perfect! I thanked them for being in the perfect place! I got out onto hwy 173 and the chip seal was almost unbearable! I knew it wasn't very far, but wow, it just hurt! Just as the chip seal ended, Coach Gina was on the course NOT cowbelling, but she did cheer for me :)Coming into town after lap 1

Coming through town was great with all the spectators! I started lap 2 and saw that I was still averaging just over 16 mph- awesome! I got out onto Hwy 27 again and felt a little headwind, not bad, but enough to slow me down a little. I tried hard to keep my speed up. I leap frogged with a few other girls and even rode beside one and talked for a few minutes. I knew where all the hills were and what to expect on lap 2, which is part of why I love multiple loop courses. On the short out & back, I finally saw Kim E. I knew she had to be behind me out of the swim, and she's a faster cyclist than me so I knew I'd see her eventually.

This time when I passed Coach Gina on 173, she saw me coming, ran to her car, pulled out her cowbell and ran after me cowbelling like crazy as I rode by! Highly entertaining! Thanks Gina! Kim was right behind me when this happened and on the run she asked "who was that woman chasing you with a cowbell?" Kim finally caught me at mile 53, I was pretty proud of myself for staying ahead of her for that long :)Coming into town after lap 2

Riding into town was awesome the second time too, still lots of people out cheering. As I passed Jeff and Kristen, Jeff yelled "Kim Evans is right in front of you! Kim Evans!!" I said "I know, she just passed me" so he said "Well Go Get Her!!" I pulled into transition right behind her. Spinnaker did great, not a single shifting issue! I guess I must have a good bike mechanic :)

My official bike time was 3:31:43 for a pace of 15.9, my garmin said 16.1 mph, I have it set on auto pause, so I'm pretty sure the stop to fix the speedfill made the difference. Still it's my fastest bike pace at a half by over 1/2 a mph!! I guess antelope really does make you faster!!

T2
I got into T2 and couldn't find my spot at all!! I knew where my rack was, but there was no opening! I asked a volunteer what to do, she asked if my bag was tied onto the rack, Yes! I found my bag, someone had racked their bike right on top of my bag! The volunteer found some space a couple of racks down, so I put my bike over there and went back to get my bag. Ugh! I chilled out, got my stuff together, put on my compression socks and stuff and headed out. Kim was still putting her shoes on, so I asked if she wanted to run with me. Normally Kim is a MUCH faster runner than me, but she had an ankle injury and was planning on doing a slow lap or 2 and DNFing. Sandra cheered for me on the way out! T2 was 3:31, a lot faster than it felt!

Run
I decided to try running without my Fuel belt and Infinit for this race. It's a pain to mix Infinit along the way (especially in a full Ironman) and the fuel belt chaffs my back. So I was going to experiment at this race, and if it worked out I would think about Ironman without the fuel belt. I had some Honey stinger gummies and planned to use water and if I needed it Pure sport. I knew things could go badly, but I didn't think they'd get too bad since I used Pure Sport and water on the run at the Austin Tri last month.
Over half the run course was on trail, it was a little harder to run on, but it was really pretty.

I started the run, and Kim caught me pretty quickly. We chatted and enjoyed the run, we got to the trail section and decided it was not "a very technical trail" as Kim had heard, but it also wasn't a groomed crushed granite trail like Lady Bird Lake Trail. There were a few steep hills, but it was really pretty on the trail. I'm not really very good at trail running, but I don't mind it either. The trail was harder on my feet, but easier on my knees, it slowed me down a little, but it was pretty. Overall I guess I was indifferent about part of the run being on trail.
I finished my first package of Honey stinger gummies and decided my stomach wasn't 100% happy with them, I've used them before, but not during a race and my stomach is extra sensitive during races, so I switched to Pure sport. We saw everyone out on the course, I kept having to interrupt my stories to Kim to yell "Go, Theresa, Red, Kim G, Julie, Nicki, Laura, Jill, Andrew"etc, etc. It was really cool to see everyone so much! I think every time we crossed the bridge we saw Mohamed! We ran the first lap fast (maybe a little too fast) and Kim decided she'd do a second lap. At one point I looked at my Garmin and saw we were doing a 10:20 pace, that's WAY too fast for me for a half marathon!
Near the end of each lap Katherine, Kelly, Linda, etc were cheering, they had a white board and wrote messages for me each lap. I think the first one said "you ROCK Heather".

Jeff and Kristen had come out to the trail to spectate so we saw them before the turn around, after the turn around Julie passed us, then saw Kristen with the camera and told me "hey come up here so we can get a picture together" Instead, I decided to run right past her! So I really was faster than Julie for about 2 seconds! Look, I'm faster than Julie!
I even stayed ahead of her for a second or two! As Julie said, I must have eaten more antelope than she did!

At the end of lap 2 Katherine's sign said "Heather, Cozumel is Calling". Kim stopped after lap 2 and I kept going. I knew if I could keep up that pace I'd definitely PR! But, I noticed I was more salt crusted than normal and started to think...my Infinit has almost double the sodium of Pure sport and those gummies had almost none, this could be bad. I wasn't feeling too bad, my stomach was getting just a tiny bit upset from the Puresport and I was slowing down, but nothing major. I saw Del and I think I actually said "how are you not finished yet?" Come on Heather, have a little tact! He was having nutrition issues and feeling awful- Sorry Del!Me giving Kristen a hard time for standing at the top of a steep hill taking pictures of people walking!
Proof that I started running again a the top of that hill

Almost halfway through lap 3, Kim caught me! She said "the race staff wouldn't let me quit" cool, I got some company again! :) Toward the end of lap 3, I encouraged Kim to go ahead, I knew she wanted to be done, and I knew she could run a lot faster than I could at that point (she ended up finishing 10 minutes ahead of me). My legs were feeling heavy and my stomach was getting a little more upset. I still felt good enough to have fun, but I was definitely slowing down and my breathing was getting bad. Without my fuel belt, I also didn't have an inhaler- oops!

At the end of lap 3 Katherine's sign said "Almost BEER Time!" so I said "you know I still have another lap to go, right?" And with major "Momma Mudge Attitude" Katherine replied "I KNOW THAT, HEATHER!!"Turn around to start lap 4

I made the turn around and started lap 4, I passed Katherine and company again and this time the sign said "We Know you have a Lap to Go HO!" hahahaha! Jeff was out on the trail (without Kristen this time) and I ran by and said "I thought you were going to be at the finish?" he said "don't worry I'll be there too" I had no idea there was a little bridge that made it easy and fast for them to get across the river from the finish to that spot on the trail! I got close to the turn around and saw Connie, I walked with her a little and told her how happy and proud I was for her, she was going to finish her very first half iron!

I saw Jeff one more time and he asked how I was doing without my fuel belt, "not so great, I really need my Infinit" Experiment Failed! I will be using my Fuel belt and Infinit for Ironman Cozumel! By this time I was super salt crusted and getting a little dizzy, I had less than 2 miles to go, so I wasn't really worried, but I was ready to be finished. I knew I was really close to a PR time, but I just couldn't force myself to go any faster. I knew if I finished by 3:00 pm I would PR by over 3 minutes, it was 3:03 when I turned to the finish chute! I was so close that I had no idea if I PRed or not, I had to wait for the results to be posted. Turns out I was 57 seconds off! My run time was 2:52:57 and my overall time was 7:15:53, just 57 seconds slower than my best half iron at Longhorn 2009.Post race
I got congratulations hugs and high fives from everyone and drank some of my Ultragen. I couldn't eat or drink anything else, my stomach took awhile to settle down. I was very happy with my race, I told Jeff I definitely want to do Kerrville again next year! I had a really fun race, I liked the course, I loved the spectator support, and I enjoyed the weekend in Kerrville.

***I forgot to mention how nice all the volunteers (and spectators) were at this race! Obviously all the volunteers and spectators from Austin and Jack & Adam's staff know what to say and do and as always I really appreciate it. But some of those people from Kerrville were out there, probably at the first triathlon they'd ever seen just killing it with awesome encouragement and support and it made the race just that much better. So THANK YOU to all of you!

*** all pictures by Kristen Carey or Jeff McMahan

Lonestar 70.3 Race Report

I know it’s now the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas, but to me it will always be Lonestar. I’m also really sad they retired the armadillo logo I love so much (so I just used the one from last year here).

My original goal for Lonestar was a PR and possibly a sub 7 hour half, pretty big goals for the first race of the season, but it’s a flat course and with strong training I figured I had a good chance. Then miserable March hit, I got sick twice, I tried to train through the first illness, but it didn’t work all that well, after 2 weeks of feeling tired and sluggish, I got really sick again and missed the Champions Tri relay Ingrid, Kim and I had planned, and then Coach Jen strongly advised me to take it easy and make sure I recovered well so I wouldn’t get sick again and miss Lonestar entirely. By Lonestar time I was feeling recovered but a little undertrained after missing quite a bit of training. My new goal was just to have fun and enjoy the race, although I still hoped to PR if conditions were perfect, of course you never know what the conditions might be at Galveston.

Moody Gardens, transition, and the team tailgating area

Jeff drove Red and I to Moody Gardens early and I got my transition area set up with no issues.

I borrowed some sunscreen from Red, I don’t usually worry about sunscreen for races, but since it was a long race and early season I figured I should (unfortunately it did me no good after the saltwater swim).

Julie and Sandra trying to keep me warm before the swim, my teammates huddling together to keep me warm is becoming a pre-race staple.

I was one of the last swim waves to start so I had about 3 hours to hang out. I saw pretty much everyone pre-race and wished them luck. We watched the pro waves start and then all the men, the water looked a little choppy but not terrible.

Cassie and I hanging out pre-race

my swim wave getting in the water

I felt good at the start, but about 2 or 3 minutes in the left side of my goggles started to leak and that stings in saltwater! I figured it was from the sunscreen I put on my face and if I tried to adjust them it would probably just get worse, so I started breathing only to my right side since that kept the water mostly out of my left eye. I am definitely a bilateral breather so breathing only to one side was a little annoying for me. I noticed the chop but it didn’t seem bad. Then we turned into the headwind for the long leg of the swim and I definitely felt the chop then! A lot of times when I’d turn to breathe I’d get saltwater instead of air- YUCK! I had to stop and cough up saltwater a few times. Sometimes when I’d look ahead to sight I’d get hit by a wave. Red said it felt like whiplash- yeah that’s a good description. I even started to chafe on my underarm which has never happened before- ugh! I still felt like I was having a fairly decent swim, I looked at my watch a few times and knew it wasn’t fast but it didn’t feel terrible until I hit 40 minutes and hadn’t even made it to the last turn buoy yet! Yikes! That’s pretty bad, I was hoping for 40-43 minutes for the swim. I ended up at 52 minutes and I was not at all happy about it. Through transition I tried to relax and forget about the tough swim, I figured if I had a really good bike I could maybe even still PR.

Coming into T1

I got out on the bike course and had a head/cross wind which I completely expected. No big deal I had planned to keep the average speed as close to 15 as I could and then go fast after the turn around when I got a tail wind. I know a lot of people think it’s boring to ride in Galveston, but I enjoyed seeing the ocean and the beach houses and seeing the pros, then the fast age group men, then the fast age group women, etc. coming back on the out and back course. I played with my gears on the way out- faster cadence easier gear for 5-10 minutes, lots of resistance for 5-10 minutes, just changing it up. And I stuck to my nutrition plan well. I was really looking forward to riding over the San Luis Pass, but when we got there the cross wind was pretty fierce and I couldn’t really look out over the water too much in the wind. Volunteers along the course were all telling me how many mile to the turnaround and “you get a tailwind after that” I hit the turnaround feeling pretty good, but as I got going I realized I definitely did not feel a tailwind. I know from experience that sometimes in Galveston you get a headwind heading out and nothing but crosswind coming back- YUCK! Some people say crosswinds feel like headwind, maybe I agree. I was disappointed to see my speed only slightly faster going back and I knew my chances for a PR were quickly diminishing. Photo by Tom Marek

Around mile 40 or so my legs started to feel a little tired. I knew I was a little undertrained from being sick so I wasn’t surprised, just a little disappointed. With about 10 miles to go I did finally feel a little tailwind which was really nice, and I tried to take advantage of it even though my legs were tired and I was way off of any goals. Coming into transition I was just happy to be finished with the bike. I finished in 3:50 and I was hoping for 3:30-3:40. I was disappointed in my race so far, bad swim, bad bike, but I decided there was no need to be negative I could still try for a half ironman run PR.

At the last minute I decided not to wear my compression socks on the run (I know I know “nothing new on race day” and trust me NEVER AGAIN) As I started the run, I felt really thirsty, that seemed weird since I did a good job with nutrition (Infinit) on the bike but I didn’t realize how dry the air was. Galveston is usually very humid, but it was dry on Sunday. My first loop felt pretty good, I stopped at all the aid stations for water and drank my Infinit, but it felt hot and I felt like I was already fading a little after just 3 miles.

I may have been fading, but I still looked happy to see Tom! Photo by Tom Marek

85 isn’t really hot but in April after a very cold winter when you’re used to running in 60-70 degrees 85 feels pretty darn hot, heat doesn’t usually bother me much so I really hate to think about the people who are more heat sensitive than me. Last week I read an article in the Jan. issue of Inside Triathlon called “Heat Shield” it said that holding ice in your hands was more effective at cooling your body than putting ice in your hat or shirt, so I tried it and held ice in my hands until it melted or they were numb and it seemed to work pretty well.

I saw Nicki on my first loop and she said she had a terrible swim and never felt like she got a tailwind on the bike, it made me feel SO much better to know I wasn’t the only one having a tough day! The run course was 4 loops which I know most people hate, but I love it, I can look forward to seeing friends and spectators more than once on the course and this course was great for that. I saw pretty much everyone I know racing and there was lots of spectator support all over the course- good thing since I really needed it! By loop 2 I started to feel blisters forming from my socks and my knees felt a little sore- man I wished I had worn my compression socks! That chaffed spot on my armpit was really killing me by loop 2 of the run, my underarms have never chaffed before so that was a whole new pain for me. You can’t imagine how happy I was to see a volunteer with a big jar of Vaseline, I grabbed a huge handful and gloped it in my armpit- problem solved! Photo by Tom Marek

By loop 3 I could feel the tops of my shoulders burning and I could see they were getting red, so much for pre-race sunscreen. I even have my race number left on my arms from the sun not getting through the marker- that's a first too! My pace pretty much spiraled downward on loops 2, 3, and 4 but I didn’t feel that bad about it, it was hot and everyone around me seemed just as or more miserable than me. I encouraged other racers and thanked lots of volunteers and spectators. I told lots of volunteers things like “if you spray me with that hose, I will love you forever” and “you have ICE in your water! You’re the best volunteer EVER!”

Very happy to be almost finished! Photo by Tom Marek

I tried to pick up the pace as I came in to the finish and Adam Reiser said “Austin’s own Heather Herrick out of
Tri Zones Training” what a great finish announcement! But I didn't really give my signature "Heather Herrick smiley celebration finish pose" this time.

My run time was 2:51 and I was hoping for 2:40 or less. I was 10 minutes off of my goals in all 3 sports and I finished in 7:43, almost 30 mintues from a PR, but most people I know were way off their goal times too, many 30 minutes or more, considering my training didn't really go as planned and it was a tough day...wait a minute didn't I say my only goal was to have fun and enjoy the race?!?!

After the finish I hugged Jeff and said hi but didn’t hug Tom and Judy (Jeff’s parents) which they seemed perfectly ok with since I was disgustingly sweaty! Ingrid and Del both agreed that it was a tough day. Even Coach Jen said tough day. I can't tell you how many times I heard the words "tough day". At least it wasn’t just me! At the Tuesday workout when Coach Tracy asked who PRed at Lonestar, Coach Jen replied "it wasn't a PR kind of day" well said Coach Jen.

At our post race celebration Drew asked how my race went and I said “I had a tough day, missed all my goals, well except to have fun” and Nicki replied “are you kidding? You actually had fun out there??” and I said “well yeah, even though I was pretty miserable it’s still really cool to be out there doing it and see people cheering and everything, so yeah, even when it’s miserable it’s still a lot of fun at the same time” Nicki said “yeah, I know exactly what you mean”

Longhorn 70.3

Longhorn weekend started on Friday after work when Del picked me up and we went over to packet pick up. I’m really glad we did that Friday because the lines looked long on Saturday. We met Richard there and they both stayed at my house Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday morning Richard and I did a short ride and run and it was a COLD morning, I think it was 50 degrees and I was hoping it would be a little warmer Sunday morning. We all went out to Decker for the Jack & Adam’s pancake breakfast and met Ingrid out there.We also hung out with Kendra and Chris at the breakfast. Then we did run bag drop off, bike check in, a quick swim in the lake which felt cold but I got comfortable after about 5 minutes, and pre-race meeting.
We were some of the first people to check in our bikes at transition
The swim course looked calm and beautiful on Saturday

I wanted to be heading home by 1:00 and we were pretty close to on schedule. Pre-race dinner was the typical grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and roasted tomatoes. Ingrid had decided to stay at a hotel and before she left our house after dinner she said very sternly “all athletes in bed by 8:00!” About 8:15, I was packing up some stuff for in the morning and Jeff said, “Ingrid said you should be in bed by 8:00 everyone else is already in bed” So I went to bed at about 8:20 with lights out at 8:30 and somehow I fell asleep right away. Turns out Del and Richard were in their rooms by 8:00 but they didn’t go to sleep until about 10:00.

We got up at 3:25 am to leave at 4:20 and be to the race site in time to drop off special needs bags near T2 (this was important for me since we couldn’t get into T2 in the morning and I use my Fuelbelt with Infinit for the run) and catch the first bus over to the lake and T1. I got body marked by Kristen and got my transition set up and then just relaxed. I ran into most of the Tri Zoners doing the race. We also went by Greg Bruehler’s transition area which had been set up as a memorial, because he and his wife were killed by a driver in San Antonio while riding their tandem bike, very very sad…

T1 at 5:30 on Sunday morning
Richard and Del setting up transition
At my transition
Del and me pre-race
Jeff and me pre-race
Coach Jen and me pre-race

The race started at 7:30, but my wave didn’t start until 8:20. The Star Spangled Banner was really cool this year, there were 2 parachuters who flew into the race start with a big American flag, so while the anthem was being sung the flag was way up in the air and kept getting closer and closer, the parachuter with the flag landed just before the anthem finished, it was really cool.

Ingrid came out to spectate again this year and she was "super longhorn fan" again this year with foam horns, cowbells, signs, and tons of encouragement! Photo by Tom Marek

I was pretty cold all morning and I had to turn in all my warm clothes to be transported to the finish line, so Ingrid let me borrow her jacket before the start, but my feet were still really cold. When it was finally time to start I lined up with Nicole and I was not excited about getting in the cold water, but it actually didn’t feel bad since I was already cold. The first 10 minutes of my swim was awful. Lots of contact at first (which is to be expected) and someone hit my goggles just right so they started leaking, I tried to reposition them to stop the leaking, but they kept leaking. I think I stopped, treaded water and tried to fix them 5 times in the first 10 or so minutes of the swim, the water in my eyes was really annoying and for the first time ever, I got a little anxious/upset while I was in the water- not a good feeling. But I told myself I just needed to deal with it, I love the water and can swim just fine and a little water in my eyes won’t kill me. After that I just dealt with the water in the goggles and had a pretty decent swim. My eyes are really red today from all that lake water. My swim time was 43:10, my goal was 40-45 minutes, so that was right on target even with all the stopping in the first few minutes. I got out of the water and running up the hill to transition I saw Jeff, Ingrid, Vickie, and Kenneth. I got my bike stuff on and was out of transition in 4:49.One of my biggest goals this year was to improve my bike time from last year. I got out on the course and saw Annette, Emmie, Elizabeth, and Kim in the first few miles, I was feeling really good. I was pretty happy with my average pace of 14.2 after the first 10 hilly miles around Decker, I knew I could bring that up on the flatter sections of the course. Taylor and Littig went really well for me, and I had my average speed up to 15.0 before I turned onto Monkey road. Just like last year, Monkey road was windy, but I dealt with it a lot better this year and didn't have any real issues with it except that I couldn’t keep my speed where I wanted it. We headed into the wind on Upper Elgin and Hogeye some too. Since I was one of the last waves to start, I assumed everyone I knew was ahead of me on the bike course, but Richard passed me, I guess he ended up behind me in the swim. We played tag a few times on the Upper Elgin and Hogeye section. When I made the turn onto Webberville, I knew I would still have some wind, mostly cross wind, but I knew I should have a tail wind in spots and I only had about 15 miles to go, so I really pushed at this point, I got my average speed back up above 15 and I was feeling great. I finished the bike at 15.3 mph and in 3:40:10. The one mistake I made on the bike was only drinking 2 bottles of Infinit instead of 3, my stomach felt a little upset the entire ride, probably from drinking/inhaling lake water on the swim, so I was really worried if I drank too much it would upset my stomach even more for the run.

I saw Ingrid as I was coming in to transition, and of course she was cheering like crazy! I got my run stuff on which took a long time because I decided to wear my compression socks for the run. T2 was 5:58.

Photo by Tom Marek

I ran out and through the arena, which was cool, but I knew it would be 100 times more fun when I ran through again to the finish. I ran out of the arena into the team tailgating area and as I got close to the Tri Zones area the cheering was insane! I told Ingrid later, “last year it was super super fun and cool to run by the HRTC team tent, but the Tri Zones tent this year was just indescribable” Every single person at the tent was standing up and cheering like crazy when I came by, it was so cool it made me laugh out loud and almost cry a little too. I wish there was a picture of everyone cheering from the vantage point that I saw, it was just amazing! I think I will forever remember that as the spirit of Tri Zones. A few of the Tri Zones More Cowbell Corps watching for the next Tri Zones runner. Photo by Tom Marek

I was actually surprised by how good I felt on the first loop of the run, I saw Amy and Lynn at aid stations and Nicki, Julie and Red running. Starting the second loop I got to run by the Tri Zones tent again- awesome! Photo by Tom Marek

On the second loop my stomach got a little upset a couple of times, but if I walked for a minute or 2 it got better. I saw Richard, Sandra, Nicole, Stacy, Maggie, and Vanessa running and of course got to go by Lynn and Amy’s aid stations again, I also saw Ron and Roger and they cheered for me like crazy too. It was starting to feel pretty warm so I was happy to get ice water and get sprayed down by water guns and hoses at the aid stations. Starting the third loop I got to run by the Tri Zones tent again and I was still feeling pretty good. Kenneth, Bob, and Jeff relaxing while waiting for the next Tri Zones runner at the team tailgating area. Photo by Tom Marek

Just after starting the third loop, I realized I was definitely going to finish between 7:15 and 7:20 even if I slowed way down, so I was really happy. I saw Sandra, Richard, Nicole, Stacy and Lynn again. By mile 10 I was starting to get tired, my legs still felt good, my stomach was doing ok, but my breathing was tough, I just couldn’t catch my breath unless I walked, so I decided I would run the flats and downhills and walk the uphills for the last 3 miles. Amy’s aid station was at about 12.4 miles and when I came through she offered me a beer, I thought about taking it, but instead I told her, if I take that now I might puke before I finish. Coming into the team tailgating area just before the finish was awesome, I couldn’t stop smiling, the Tri Zoners had all come across to the other side to cheer for me and then I got to run into the arena, it was really awesome, people were yelling my name, I guess from seeing it on my number, and then they announced I was finishing- it was just amazing. Keith Jordan wasn’t kidding when he said you’d feel like a rockstar finishing in the arena! I got my medal and stuff and hugged Jeff and Ingrid and told Ingrid I had finished in 7:15, she was super excited for me! Jeff asked how I felt and I told him “the only thing that hurts is my cheeks from smiling so much!” and it was true! Then I really wanted to go right back outside to the team tailgating area to cheer for my friends who were still running, I really wanted to be part of that Tri Zones cheering section that had made me feel so good!

My official finish time is 7:14:56, last year my time was 7:59 and if you account for the short swim last year it really should have been about 8:10 so I got an official improvement of 45 minutes, but it’s really more like 55 minutes, I took 28 minutes off my bike time and 24 minutes off my run time! I owe it all to Tri Zones and especially Coach Jen and the peak performance workouts!

finisher medal, hat, and towel, an icee pop, and big smile post race! Photo by Tom Marek

Photo by Tom Marek

Peggy and Mike hosted a post race party complete with a hot tub and a champagne toast! And Cindy brought an Ironman carved pumpkin.