Buffalo Springs Race Report

After almost being done with my report on Tuesday night and me doing something stupid on the computer to erace the entire report, I've now found time to rewrite the report. Right now I'm watching the Prologue for Le Tour so since I'm sitting on my ass, I might as well type at the same time.

Buffalo Springs was my first half Ironman that I attempted and expected to complete. I tried to do Ironstar last year, but I DNF'ed about 1 mile into the run. Life was really rough at that point and my training wasn't there. Also, during the run, a running injury was acting up so I was expecting to DNF if something bothered me. I was prepared for the race and I wasn't going to risk further injury at a race that wasn't going to be phenomenal.

I was ready for Buffalo Springs. Of course I've had some running injuries acting up back in April, but those are mostly recovered. I left on Friday with Mike Coker. We met up with Meg, Charles, Anna, and Logan. The trip up to Lubbock was quite boring. The only interest things were the trail mix and the FlyingJ. About the trail mix, we stopped at a gas station. I got out my trail mix and left it on the top of my car. I drove off, heard this scraping sound for about 5 seconds and watched the trail mix fall off the back of my new Outback. BTW, my Outback did great on its first road trip. So, trail mix falls off, but it is saved! It falls off and lands on my rear window wiper. And with the joys of modern technology, Mike took a picture of it:

http://tri.phat32.com/photos/Buffalo_Springs_2006/P6230680.JPG

Yeah, that's a one in a million shot right there.

The FlyingJ was interesting. We stopped in Abilene to get some food and we just couldn't find anything healthy. All we could find were various Asian cuisines and fast food. We drove some more and stopped at the FlyingJ which had a Country Market restaurant attached. It was funny watching 6 fit, healthy people go into the restaurant, check out the buffet bar, walk out with their noses turned up, and say "Ugh, I guess I can eat here. There's nothing better around." We discovered an Italian menu that was better to eat from, but we completely stuck out in that place.

We pulled into Lubbock at around 9:30pm. Unfortunately, the only room that they had left when I made my reservation was a smoking room. Yay, it reminded me of my parents' homes and why I don't go home anymore. I think I had withdrawal symptoms for a few days afterwards. Other than smelling like ass, the room was decent.

Saturday wasn't that special. Mike and I got up, went to the race site, did a short swim, bike, and run, and then headed back to the rooms. We picked up our packets and headed back to the hotel room. Mike wanted to chill out in his room so I went to dinner with some Texas Iron folks. I was OK about this race until around 4pm that day. For some reason at that point, I started getting really nervous about the race. I was worried about the descents on the bike and the entire run. I mean, I've done the training and I know I'm ready, but I just got really nervous and anxious, mostly because this is my first race over an Oly where I have a shot at finishing. I had a ton of pasta at the Italian place and then went back to the hotel room. I chilled out and tried to go to bed at around 8:30. I just couldn't sleep. I was up until around 11:30 or so that night. Nerves and anxiousness for the race as well as other stuff going on in my life lately were on my mind. Not a great way to spend a night before a half Ironman.

I woke up the next and felt like crap. Well, I was just tired because the entire night before was very restless sleep. I got up, ate and got ready. I had everything laid out on the other bed so it was pretty easy to pack everything up. From training so much the last almost 2 years now, getting up at 4am isn't so bad anymore. I had 3 RP's even before I left the hotel room that morning. I met mike at 5 and we left for the course. I'm glad I talked Mike into leaving early because there was a long line to get to the parking area for the race. I like showing up as early as possible because you just never know what'll happen. Got parked, got our bikes out of the car, and started heading down to the transition area. Of course, I was still full of nervous energy.. It seemed like it took me forever to get my gear ready in the morning. I just felt rushed and nervous. I chatted with some other TexasIron guys as well. I got ready, and headed out of the T area. I ate my last ClifBar, had my Gatorade, and had my 4th and last RP.

At this point, it was about 20 minutes from the start of my wave and the pros had just gone off. I put on my wetsuit and got into the water. Once I got in the water, I relaxed a bit because I had a way to burn off some of my energy. Got out of the water and queued up behind the wave in front of me. I was still quite nervous though. The wave before us went off and now it was the fast, aggressive, and mean 25-29 men. I was still very nervous, but I lined up in an aggressive swim start position. I lined up on the inside and the second row from the front. finally, though, I calmed down. About 2 minutes from the horn blowing, I became absolutely calm and collected. I knew I could do this. I've done the work and I had nothing to worry about. I wished Geoff from TexasIron good luck and just chilled. The horn went off and my race had begun.

The first 500yds or so of the swim weren't fun. I wasn't comfortable and I couldn't get into a rhythm. I was breathing on almost every stroke on the right side. I got hit in the head a few times, I was swimming on top of people a lot and had people swimming on top of me. I had some guy's chest on my feet but a couple of hard kicks later and miraculously, my feet were clear. After the first left turn, I went to the inside of the course and just stopped. I took off my goggles, cleared them off water, put them back on, and just sat there for a few seconds. I had to catch my breath, scope out the rest of the course, and just regained my composure. I'm glad that I did this because after that I had a great swim. I relaxed, got into a rhythm and kept going. I passed 2 huge packs of swimmers from the previous wave, but I was also started to pass some orange caps, my wave, as well. I tend to do this where I get dropped fairly quickly in the beginning, but I end up passing people after awhile. I took the final left turn and started heading to the swim exit and I passed what seemed like at least 5 people in my age group in the last 500 meters.

I got up to the swim exit and had people help me out of the water. I really like this because I'm always dizzy and discombobulated out of the water. I had people trying to get my pull cord free and I was waving them off. I can do that on my own. I ran through the T area, but not that fast. My platar fasciitis was acting up so it didn't feel good to run on asphalt in bare feet. Also, I was just taking this race easy. It took me forever to get out of T1. I had a ton of stuff to put in my jersey pockets. I came out of T1 and passed the mount/dismount line by a few yards. Everyone bottlenecks up there and I just wanted to get out of that mess. I don't do the shoes on the pedals thing because with my current pedals, they unclip way too easily and I've dropped shoes twice in races this year alone.

I got clipped in and I was on the bike. Turq gave me some advice before the race. He said to not power up the first 2 hills and just to take them easy. I followed this advice pretty well. I got up out of the saddle, but I just needed to get my legs moving, but I didn't spike my heart rate at all. After these 2 hills, we were on some flats in the park with a decent tailwind. Nice! I headed out of the park and then headed back into the wind. Not nice! I tried to ease into the bike. I felt fine at first and like I wasn't pushing too hard. It felt good, but fast. Around Mile 18 though, I started having problems. One thing were that my hip flexors were starting to hurt already. Secondly, I was getting chaffing on some soft tissues in my crotch that don't feel that good. I found out that it is probably the edge of the pad in my shorts that's rubbing. Nothing I could do so I kept going.

Headwinds were punishing, tailwinds were great, and crosswinds were squirrely. I was bombing the straight downhills and taking it strong but not too strong on the hills. My fluid plan was working out well. I started out with a bottle of InfinIT with about 320 calories in it. I sucked on this for 30 minutes and then switched to a bottle of water for another 30 minutes. I kept up this pattern for the race which yielded me 3 bottles of InfinIT with about 1000 calories and 3 more bottles of water. I was also taking in Thermolytes, based upon Jamie's suggestion, the entire race. I was feeling good, but starting to hurt a bit. The first 20 miles took forever to go through, but 20-40 were better. The course is straight and mostly flat, but there is nothing to really look at which makes it very, very boring and therefore mentally challenging. I kept riding and my chaffing pain went away, but my hip flexor pain was growing. Not a good sign. I was actually looking forward to the hills so that I could get out of my saddle and stretch my hip flexors. I was also having lower left back pain which I only get in races, never in training. Weird.

At around Mile 40, I had some issues. I looked down and back and saw that my saddleback wasn't doing good. I should've replaced it before, but I just didn't. The two saddle straps had come off and it was hanging on only by the seatpost strap. I reached down, took it off, and put it in my jersey pocket. About a mile later, I hit a bump and the saddle bag came out. What happened is that my race belt was going around the middle of my jersey pockets which kept the saddle bag from going all the way into the pocket. I stopped, picked up the bag, and kept going. I was passed by about 5 guys and I had caught up with all of them within 10 minutes. I got stopped on hte bottom of the longest hill and I was able to catch up with them by powering up the hill.

I was heading back to the transition area and I was feeling good. My average speed was a little lower than what I wanted, but my hip flexors were on fire. I was also trying to push but yet save myself for the run as well. Luckily, heading back into the race site was a great tailwind. At one point, I saw Eric Gilmore, a fellow TexasIron athlete, ahead of me. When he heard me yell at him, he picked up the pace and of course, I kept up. For most of the race, I was in the 95-100rpm range. At this point, I had nice, flat, smooth roads with a tailwind. I was pusing 80-85rpm in a big gear and doing 25-26mph. I finally passed Eric and kept going. He said something like "I'm just waiting to get my running shoes on!" or something like that. It seems that Eric and I have developed some friendly competitiveness which is good because I push him on the swim and the bike and he pushes me on the run. I turned into the park and hit a headwind. Not fun going back into the transition area. My hip flexors were gone, but I don't need them on the run. Other than that, I felt pretty good.

I came down the last hill and headed into the T2 area. I came in fast and stopped short of the dismount line. Once again, I wasn't in a rush through T2. I didn't have much stuff to grab, but I grabbed it and headed out. I saw Megan on the way out and gave her a high five. This run was going to be brutal and it was going to be a test of my will power and determination to get through it. I realized a few days later that before this race, I had run more than 12 miles at once only twice before. Interesting.

Of course, the first mile and a half hurt. I stopped at the first portapotty and peed. It was the only time that I peed the entire race even with taking in almost 150oz of fluid on the bike. I then stopped at the first aid station. At previous races, I've taken in 2 cups of fluid, poured 1 cup on my head, and poured 1 cup down my crotch to cool me off. Well, this last step wasn't that fun this time. I poured the water down my shorts, and immediately stopped in my tracks because of the pain. Apparently, my chaffing issue got worse even though it really didn't hurt. The cold water mixed with the sweat and completely stung my chaffed area. I was wondering how I was going to keep going because this hurt really badly. Well, I just kept putting one foot in front of another and kept pushing. After about 45-60 seconds, the pain from my crotch went away. I was still hurting getting used to the run, but I eased up at about 2 miles into the run. I got my running legs and did pretty well climbing the first hill. I wasn't pushing myself, but I was still passing people. At around Mile 3, I saw Mark sitting underneath a tree. I also saw Betsy coming in from the bike at this point as well and I cheered her on. I was chatting with people as well and then we turned and hit a downhill. I've been practicing downhills and I try to put some time between me and others on the downhill. Having big quads and being a little heavier than other runners makes this easy. I powered down the hill, hit the Mile 4 rest stop and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

My nutrition plan for the run was to take some gels that have 150cals and 230mg of sodium per packet. I think I took them at Miles 2, 5, 8, and 11. In between, I took a Thermolyte at each rest stop. Because of this, I felt fine, no cramps, but I was a little tired. After Mile 4, there was another big hill. This one, I walked a total of about 10 seconds up that hill whereas everyone else was walking. That felt good. I topped the hill and then took a right turn down the most brutal part of the run. This was a little more than 1.5 miles out and then 1.5 miles back. Going out was a false flat up and then a slight downhill after the midway point. There was absolutely nothing to look at except other runners. I was talking to people and cheering on people I know and this helped me to keep going. After turning around, I started struggling mentally. I was walking the aid stations a lot and actually walking about 10 yards before the aid stations and 10 yards after the aid stations. I shouldn't have done this because it wasn't really giving me that much race. I just need to be tougher mentally next time. I finished the out and back and then turned left to go back down the hill.

I powered down the hill again and was cheering on others. At the bottom of the hill, I hit Mile 9 and it was getting tough. One guy in my age group started battling back and forth at this point. He got a head of me, but I passed him on the last big hill. He passed me on the flat, and I passed him on the downhill. At the bottom of the hill, I think I had about 20yds on him. I stopped at the aid station and he just flew by. I couldn't keep up because my energy was waning quickly. I tried to get some Dr. Pepper at that aid station to keep me going because I've heard of several people that do that. The caffeine and sugar keeps them going. I tried some Dr. P and I didn't like it. Too sweet and syrupy. It would have been great if it was warm and flat, but cold and fizzy is not cool.

I kept going. At some point, a 37 year old woman caught up with me and she and I ran together for about a mile. I was getting really, really tired. At the last aid station, I stopped again and she kept going and put some time on me. Well, I had nothing else to lose so I just kept going. The last mile was very, very tough. I walked maybe a total of 4 times the entire run and 2 of them were in the last mile. I almost stopped a couple of other times but someone passed me or someone cheered me on and kept me going. There was no reason for me to stop. I was still going strong, but I was just getting lazy and tired. I finally started hearing the announcer at the finish line and I was so happy about this. I was almost done. Someone said "100yd to the finish!" and I picked up the pace the best I could. As I was approaching the line, I tried to raise my arms. I couldn't do it; I was zapped on energy. I tried one arm. A little bit better. Finally, as I crossed the line, I put both arms up and I was done. I kept walking and I felt drained. I left everything on the course. I kept walking because I did not want to stop. I walked past the med tent and went to get some food and water. Damnit, no pizza! All I want afterwards is pizza! Bagels, fruit, beer, water and Gatorade.

I saw Andrea, Geoff, and Jamie. They asked my time and I said I think I crossed at 5:08. I crossed at 5:28 minus 20 minutes because of my wave and yep, 5:08ish was what I did. I was happy about this. I kind of wanted sub-5, but 5:08 is amazing and I'm happy with it. When the results came out, my official time was 5:07:59. I had a swim time of 28:31 which is good with a pace of 1:30, but the swim was about 150m short. Put me 19th in my age group. T1 was 2:10 but I knew that was slow. My bike was good with a 2:43:10 which is an average of 20.59mph which is also 19th in my age group. T2 was 1:43 which is OK, but I had a run time of 1:52:25. That put me at an 8:35min/mile pace and I'm happy about that considering this run course was very brutal. That put me at 22nd on the run, but 19th overall in my age group. This race was odd because I'm usually higher on the bike, higher on the swim, but lower on the run. I was pretty consistent in my age group across each leg which is odd. I'll take it because it means that my run is getting better.

I learned a lot this race. I want to run more and get better at running off the bike. My fluid intake technique worked this time and this race is hot and brutal. I need to do something about my hip flexors because it isn't going to be fun in Florida with burnt out hip flexors at Mile 20. I can do well in the heat, and I just need to not worry about the races. I'm sure I'll be nervous for IMFL, but I won't be for another HIM anymore.

Of course, my coaches have been great and they helped out a lot with training. Well, I don't have much to say but it took me almost 2 hours to write this, no wait, almost 4 hours since I lost it all on Tuesday night.

Well, I had a good race, it hurt, but I had fun. Thanks everyone for your support.