Lonestar Triathlon

I had a chance to participate in the Lonestar triathlon a few weeks ago in Galveston, TX. Without really thinking, I had signed up for two races: 1 on Saturday (a sprint) and 1 on Sunday (a half-ironman distance).

It was a great time and a very well run event! I can't wait to play next year too! I won't bore you with a race report, but all things considered, not only did I have a great time, I raced alright too.

I drove 40-50 miles to and from the race venue each day so it definitely consumed the weekend. I made all the mistakes a triathlete could make, like forgetting equipment, not planning nutrition, failing to test equipment etc. . . . I even forgot my shirt for the sprint race, so I had to use the shirt in the race packet.

But the ultimate triathlon faux paus I committed was failing to shave my legs. Fortunately, I didn't crash my bike, so road rash wasn't an issue, but the drag from the hair on my legs absolutely killed my bike splits - at least 2 mph . . . .ha ha

Really, with the focus of these races being pure enjoyment, it was easy to brush off the trivial mistakes. Overall, nutrition went fine and despite having some pretty funny looking photos, I am probably the only one who knew how disorganized I was!!

As an interesting training note, my work schedule kind of screwed up my "taper" plans, so I did the sprint on two days of absolute rest. Consequently, the swim went OK, but the bike was a little sluggish, and the run was typical for a short bow-legged guy. I think the bike was sluggish for two reasons: 1) the swim was hard enough that my heart rate was probably in the stratosphere, and I never took the time to let it "settle". As a result, I was probably well into or over a "tempo" heart rate range during the :30 or so minute bike ride.

The following day, I went a little easier on the 1.2 mile swim, and sort of "warmed up into it". On the bike, I was a slave to the heart rate monitor and rode 163 bpm whereas - not quite a lactic threshold rate of 167, but above a hard aerobic effort of about 155.

Ironically, the bike split from the half (56 miles) was 1/2 mph faster than the bike split on the sprint (12.5 miles)!!! Go figure. I think there is good reason:

1) It is important to do a few quick, short hard efforts the day before a race. Key being quick and short! I am not a physiologist, heck, I can't even spell it, but such efforts "wake-up" the muscles and perhaps help them top off glycogen storage.

2) Its important to know heart rate/power zones on the bike, so you don't go too hard. It seems like a car in 1st gear at the redline; at the redline, it doesn't pull much, but once you shift to second, there is a powerzone that works. For me, I knew 163 bpm was too hard for an Ironman, but probably OK for a half. My run off the bike wasn't great - I attribute that to my pesky run injury and minimum training volume more than a overexerted bike leg.

In any case, I am just glad to be out there participating. There is always something to improve!

I hope everyone racing in Arizona this weekend has a great time!!!!

All the best