I was talked into racing the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 in Austin, TX this fall in preparation for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater 3 weeks afterwards. Going into the race I was less than enthused, my long season was finally coming to a close and I was looking forward to a break. Despite my mindset I left for Austin on Friday night, arriving at the house my local training team rented for the weekend.

Saturday turned out to be a long day. Longhorn 70.3 is a 2 transition race, therefore we had to visit the packet pick up located at the Luedecke Arena, drop off our bikes at T1 Decker Lake and drop off our T2 gear back at the Luedecke Arena. Our group had two cars so it took multiple trips to transport everyone’s bikes. Once we were all settled my friend Thomas found a crack on the top tube of his Trek TTX SSL. After discussing with the bike technicians on site it was decided racing on the cracked frame would be unsafe. We next visited Lance Armstrong’s bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s in downtown Austin to see if there was any help they could provide. The technicians at  Mellow Johnny’s were awesome; they set Thomas up with a slightly used Trek TTX SSL frame and fit him for the race. At this point I had left to meet the remainder of our group for dinner, shortly after I left Lance Armstrong showed up for a public appearance.

Now that all our issues were worked out we were ready to race…

SWIM

I started at the front of the wave, as I took off from the pack 2 girls came with me. I would usually try to drop them, but instead I tried to strategize and draft off the faster of the 2 girls.  This worked out well for the first 400 yards. Once we ran into the previous wave I lost her. I swam the remainder of the swim on my own and actually ended up coming out of the water 1st in my wave.

BIKE

This bike course was amazing, my favorite of the season. There were hills scattered throughout, although no steep climbs. It was a fairly windy day, although somehow the wind was behind us the entire route, making for fast bike splits. I was catching riders throughout the longevity of the ride. At mile 25 2 girls from my age group caught up, 1 of which passed me and took the lead. I stuck with my consistent pace and passed her back at mile 40. I came into the finish of the bike leading my wave and age group.

RUN

The run has been my weakness this season due to injuries. I have now been struggling with shin splints in my left leg since Ironman Wisconsin. I have been running, although haven’t been able to log the miles required to reach my full potential. As expected a runner from my age group caught and passed me during the 1st mile of the run. I tried to stay with her, but just did not have the speed. The course was 3 loops, I held off the remainder of the field for the first loop, although another runner passed me during the 2nd loop.  I was able to remain close behind her for a few miles, half way through the 3rd loop I overtook her and finished the race strong.

My final time was 4:43.1 which was good enough for 2nd place overall amateur.

After the race we went out to celebrate. This was my first time in Austin; I really enjoyed all the live music played on the street, restaurants, bars and even on the run course of the triathlon.  Overall it was a successful trip. I am now re-energized and ready for my race in Clearwater.