Austin 70.3 Triathlon:  17 October 2010

 

This would be our first foray into the World Triathlon Corporation’s 70.3 series. In 2006, the WTC started to rebadge select half-ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) races as official WTC-endorsed qualifier events for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships held in Clearwater, Florida. For 2011, the championship venue would migrate to Las Vegas and the newly rebadged Austin Ironman 70.3 race would be the first qualifier! Previously, the “Longhorn Half-Ironman” was governed by USA Triathlon which would have allowed the use of wetsuits if the water temperature was below 78°F. However, effective September 1 2010 (the start of WTC’s 2011 competition season) this USAT regulation was overruled by WTC to only allow wetsuits up to 24.5°Celsius/76.1° Fahrenheit in the interest of fair competition without technical advantages. In Texas, both water and air temperatures would be a major concern. We had been acclimating to heat by training indoors with no fan and outside with additional layers of clothing. In addition, the swim would be situated east of downtown Austin at Walter E. Long Lake, a reservoir fed by water that also cools a nearby power plant! So we came prepared for a hot swim with hydrodynamic swim tops by De Soto (which were legal when wetsuits weren’t) just in case! Nevertheless, the unusually mild weather which greeted us when we stepped off the plane foreshadowed cooler conditions for race day and indeed wetsuits would be allowed as the water temperatures dropped to 73°F.

 

The bike course is best described as undulating with technical, twisty rough sections sprinkled with serious bumps that would launch many-o-water bottles. Thankfully, the race organization did an exceptional job marking the hazardous areas and indeed it seemed much faster on the bike than in the car during our recon.

 

We had read that the three-loop run was flat with only 2 miles of off-road. Instead, we found out that the run was two loops, almost 50% trail with a good share of hills! The off-road trails proved to be tough as the uneven bark and wood chip surface challenged the footing of even the most adept. The trickiest section battered tired legs with a long downhill featuring tall grass hiding the underlying surface, not unlike going down stairs in the dark! After two laps, we would finish indoors inside Leudecke Arena at the Travis County Expo center, which would surely be a welcome haven from the blistering Austin heat!

 

 

“Give me liberty or give me Coke!”, Jami’s race:  Having visited Austin for work the last six years, I felt at home for this race!  The swim was a counter-clockwise triangular course that was extremely well marked and easy to navigate! I lined up on the inside of the front row and sprinted to the first buoy holding 2nd place to the 2nd buoy. At that point, I settled into a rhythm and started my hunt for a draft as faster swimmers came through. I found one, but unfortunately it soon disappeared as she veered off course! I exited the water in 9th, sprinted up the hill to the wetsuit strippers, then ran the remaining 50m to my bike at the direction of Sherwick, who was just outside the transition area as his wave (the 17th and very last) would start close to an hour after mine.

 

T1 was a ‘clean’ transition which meant anything on the ground was forbidden - all our gear had to be in our bags with only our shoes on the bikes. With no distinguishing transition towels to mark our spot, all the bikes blended together! Given the hills and rough terrain, I expected my pace to be much slower, but by two-thirds of the bike my average speed had already surpassed my goal. Unfortunately that average began to drop as the headwinds increased even though the hills became less frequent. Unlike other races, my age group started in front of the faster men who repeatedly passed us throughout the bike. You can let it wear on you or you can use it to fuel your performance. I chose the latter and it pushed me through the headwind. In the end, I managed to eke out an average of over 20mph for 56 miles, good enough to match my best! But I had a lot of work to do having lost 3 spots to come off  the bike in 12th place.

 

My legs felt extremely tender underneath me as I trotted through T2, but thanks to Mark Allen’s 58-second transition tip, I blasted out onto the run. My legs didn’t come around as quickly as usual but somewhere between miles 1–2, my form and pace improved. Unfortunately, that pace was still 50 seconds/mile too slow. During the weeks leading up to the race, we had eliminated caffeine from our diet reducing our tolerance to make us more sensitive for the race. So at mile 2, I started to alternate cola with Leppin (a very liquid gel suggested by Mark Allen). When I felt cramps creeping into my legs, I took a couple of shots of Gatorade for the additional electrolytes and my legs responded by allowing me to start passing athletes- I was back! With the cramping under control, I called out for cola again at the next aid station but only water or ice seemed to be offered! With no more cola or Gatorade, I went two miles with only water, a potential recipe for disaster when combined with mid-80’s heat and a hilly course. Just after mile 11, I came upon a woman in my age group who had passed me on the bike. Even though I was suffering, I was closing the gap and chose to make the pass…unfortunately a little too soon! I was still suffering so when she responded I could not follow. In the end only forty seconds separated us and for the first time in a long time, I had no “kick” for the final meters of the race. I ended up 6th in my age group, just out of the awards. Now, it’s time to rest, soak up life and recharge until the curtain are raised for twenty-eleven!

 

Jami had a great swim, solid bike but difficult run

 

“Blind Man Racing”, Sherwick’s race:  Starting the race from the back was a new experience. Due to the size of my age group, we were split into TWO waves and as luck would have it, I was dead last. This presented some benefits (I could visit the port-o-johns one last time) as well as some challenges (lots of “moving chicanes” to negotiate on the bike), but at least I would have a trail of bread crumbs to follow throughout the day! The swim did not begin very well as my goggles were completed fogged even before the start. So I resorted to a trick we recently learned and let a little water leak into each lens. By dropping my head slightly before sighting I gained a few seconds of clear view! However halfway through the race, the water had mysteriously leaked OUT of my goggles (into the lake ?!) and my vision vanished for good! I managed to bump my way through buoys and over slower swimmers (sorry!) to come out of the water in the top five, which was deceptively optimistic as I knew there was an entire wave of M40-44 men ahead of me.

 

I was actually in 9th place but I had no idea and simply concentrated on getting through traffic safely. Like a black cloud, my luck followed me out of the swim as my Garmin lost its GPS signal and “rebooting” my watch on the fly did not help. With no odometer or speed, I dosed my effort based on heart rate and wattage. The course was quite fun with lots of elevation and surface changes with scenery to boot! My legs felt surprisingly fresh throughout the bike and I was in a good mood…until I got stung by a bee! Although I lost count of how many people I managed to pass, most of them were not in my age group and I came off the bike in a dismal 28th place!

 

In the “clean” transition area, only identical red & white bags greeted me, their numbers blurring together as I sped along my rack in search of my spot. It took me some time to finally locate my shoes and my haste was answered with a major cramp in my left hamstring! I knew better than to stretch it out lest the opposing quad cramp as well and stormed out of T2 limping on one leg. I was well past mile 3 before I finally regained my composure and started to work on my deficit. The course was challenging and I met it with ever-sharpening focus. On the ascents where others gave in, I attacked. On the descents where other were unduly cautious, I released control. I soon saw 12 in my age group fall behind me...the last one in the last mile. Somehow the 40 seconds that Jami lost came into my possession and I managed to secure the last qualifier spot to Las Vegas by exactly 40 ticks!

 

Sherwick rebounded from a slow bike with strong run

 

Results

Jami: 6th, W40-44

Sherwick: 16th, M40-44 [qualified for 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Championship]

                 

Going to Vegas!

 

 

Enjoy the ride!

–- Team JaS

 

2009_Jami_bday_JaS.jpg

 

Special thanks to:

Motowheels Performance Parts

Vortex Racing Components

GoPro Camera

Suomy Helmets

Rudy Project Eyewear

Mark Allen Online