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alf of the bike portion was glorious the temperature was perfect and i had no problems staying in aero position almost the whole way unfortunately at the turnaround i was made to realize just how much of a tailwind i had been benefitting from the rest of the ride felt like i was pulling a mobile home grimacing with miles to go also about that time the temperature dropped by about ten degrees and it started to rain and then my back started to hurt from being in aero position for so long in short the ride back was completely miserable but i managed to break three hours which had been my goal in addition to the lower back pain i got a pain between my shoulders and every time i tried to stand up in the pedals to stretch my legs felt like they wanted to cramp up and my hands were so cold i could barely move them to squeeze my water bottles trying to squeeze out the last drop from my water bottle by the time i got back to transition my hands were so numb that i couldn t operate the clip on my helmet putting on my shoes and tying my laces was equally an ordeal it didn t help that my legs and abs kept cramping up when i bent to tie the laces after a ridiculously long transition i made it onto the run course and my watch died but my legs felt good and i enjoyed the run a lot more than i thought i was going to on the return bike my pacing was a bit off and i came in somewhat slower than i would ve liked but it still felt pretty good victory overall i came in a couple minutes better than the austin ironman 70 3 which i m pleased with although i think my run could ve gone better mugging with the finisher s medal using the r8 recovery roller thing all in all it was a great experience and i d definitely do the race again a big thanks to all the organizers volunteers sponsors and first responders who made the event a success posted by greg leitich smith at 8 54 am no comments labels 70 3 ironman races triathlon thursday march 22 2018 austin ironman 70 3 race weekend okay it s been a while but i thought i d finally post about the 2017 austin ironman 70 3 race weekend like i mentioned in my last post i felt fairly optimistic if anything i was a bit burned out on training the big kicker though was that the weather was forecast to be 38 degrees race morning which resulted in a bit of last minute anxiety mostly due to the mantra don t do anything different on race day that is it is unwise in the extreme to test out new equipment or clothing on race day unfortunately faced with the prospect of a 38 degree swim and bike ride and the fact that it would warm up quickly we had to make some last minute adjustments the week before the race i picked up a triathlon jersey that had sleeves and borrowed some arm warmers from one of my training partners saturday morning i went for a five mile test ride and realized i needed gloves which necessitated a trip to austin tri cyclist where i was not the only one making such a purchase i was still a bit concerned about the swim but i had a wetsuit so i figured i d done all i could do still i was coveting one with sleeves i next headed over to the travis county expo center to pick up my swag bag drop off my bicycle and gear and check out the transition areas our happy faces before we get out of the car into the cold next morning three of us drove out together and arrived in the cold dark of the travis county expo center at around 5 30 did i mention that it was cold eventually we got on the bus to take us to the staging area at walter long decker lake there we put on wetsuits met up with our other training partners and shivered a lot eventually though as the sun started to peak above the horizon we lined up according to our projected swim times and prepared for the start of the race i was still worried about the swim and the cold even though i was wearing socks to be discarded just before start my feet were starting to go numb and my arms were not happy either but then it was time i ran into the water and dived in as soon as i could to my surprise it was actually pleasant the water itself was around 68 72 degrees so compared to the air temperature it was balmy the only real problem was that fog on the water and the glare of the sun were making it hard to see the buoys about halfway through the swim i began thinking that the temperature really wasn t bad if anything it was a bit too warm emerging from the water but then i finished the swim and stood and was confronted by the reality of confronting an air temp of around 40 while being soaking wet i grabbed my glasses from the special needs table and a nice man helped me get the wetsuit off this basically involved lying back on the wet ground sticking my feet in the air and having him pull thank you sir my time was a little slower than i would ve liked but i was fairly happy with it i made it to transition took a big swig of water swallowed the contents of an energy gel pack and put on my winter cycling garb then i was off and it was frickin cold contemplating that wind chill it was this weird catch 22 where you want to go as fast as possible for the race of course but also so you warm up but also kind of are thinking that if you slowed down a touch the wind chill wouldn t be quite so bad i ended up spending the next hour shivering until the ambient temperature and i warmed up now i actually kind of like the bike route it s mostly country roads with little traffic and i rode the route about a half dozen times in training the problem with it is that a number of the roads are not exactly well paved bumps and potholes and patches proliferate especially on monkey road in fact the dip where it crosses a creek is so bumpy that by the time i got there there were at least a dozen water bottle scattered on the ground there were way too many hills however beyond that the ride felt fine although my back began to hurt about halfway through i wasn t used to spending that much time in the aero position so most of the second half of my ride was with hands on the brake hoods i made sure to stick with my hydration and nutrition plan so i felt pretty good by the end of it again my time wasn t quite what i wanted it to be but i was not displeased by the time i finished the ride it was around noon and fairly warm so i took the time to change from my sleeved singlet to a sleeveless one ironman rules require that you wear a shirt starting to feel the legs the run wasn t as bad as i thought it would be although there were again too many hills i was pleased at the number and size of the aid stations water electrolyte drink gatorade iirc clif energy gels coca cola and red bull were all available i was definitely feeling my legs but my quads didn t feel like they were going to seize up like they had when i did triathlons in the 90s all that training paid off i guess i managed to make it through without slowing to a walk other than at aid stations because i can t drink and run at the same time and ended up with a run time that was comparable to my stand alone half marathon times at the finish line my final time was 5 50 36 which i m pretty happy about my goal had been 6 00 00 although i did think that 5 45 00 was not out of the question finisher photo and medal the gang all in all it was a great experience i got out of my comfort zone made some terrific friends learned how to most efficiently change a bike tube and never once thought i can t believe i m paying to do this okay maybe once after the race celebrating the next day with coach peri posted by greg leitich smith at 4 06 pm no comments labels 70 3 ironman races triathlon wednesday november 08 2017 austin ironman 70 3 the training post never actually saw anyone on a horse so after having completed my first triathlon in 20 years i decided to sign up for the austin ironman 70 3 on october 29 it s a half ironman distance race meaning it s a 1 2 mile swim a 56 mile bike and a 13 1 mile run i figured the swim s only a little longer than an olympic distance tri and the bike and the run are only about twice the distance so why not even better the race was just outside austin so i wouldn t have to travel the swim was in decker lake walter e long lake the bike was a 56 mile loop almost out to elgin and the run would be in the park by the lake and up to the travis county convention center i was a little concerned about the hills having run the decker challenge half marathon more than once but decided that that was what training was for that started in june not long after the capital of texas triathlon yes training would be through the height of a texas summer and every time i went out i would remember noel coward s line that m ad dogs and englishmen go out in the mid day sun my training program was based triathlete magazine s week by week training guide and involved nine workouts a week i didn t completely adhere to all of the mileage suggestions some weeks doing more some less but mostly kept to the program of two a days by early august the mileage was starting to pile up but it didn t seem particularly efficient and also was getting a little tedious so i decided to join the triathlon training masters swim group at pure austin gym and really it was the best decision i made in the entire process the awesome coach peri kowal leads two swim workouts a week mostly in a pool but also including two a month in the quarry lake so participants can get used to open water swimming also during the summer the gym does a splash n dash swim 750k then run 2k once a month it s good practice for the whole group of people in the water don t get kicked in the face thing quarry lake somewhat to my surprise the group was a mix from beginning triathletes to multiple ironman and kona finishers everyone was enthusiastic and supportive even when insufficiently caffeinated during the thursday morning 6 am workouts insufficiently caffeinated best of all there were a number of folks for whom the austin ironman 70 3 was to be their first half ironman as well so we fell into an ad hoc training group of the equally blissfully ignorant typically doing our long bike rides and bricks together on weekend mornings it was great having a mutual support group and not just when we got flat tires incidentally if you get a flat in texas watch out for fire ants anyway here are some pics of the process training happens even when you re away on business igloo coolers are our friends monkey road really needs to be resurfaced don t drive off with your cell phone on the roof of your car the gang poses after a long brick starting the run after a 40 mile bike ride kevin and alec hamming it up my first shoes to come with an instruction manual celebrating coach peri s birthday sights you see along town lake more sights about to test out a wetsuit went through a lot of these feeling punchy three days before the race on the whole training took a lot of time and work and there were moments in early october when i was really ready for race day to arrive otoh i m also happy i had that extra three weeks of training in the end i was really glad to have been able to do race distance open water swims in the quarry lake and to bike the race route i think we ended up riding the route about 5 7 times altogether and it was helpful not just for putting in mileage but in learning where the potholes and seams were also the brick workouts were really helpful when i had done triathlons in the 90s the bike to run transition was always terrible this time not so much but that s for another post i finished training feeling cautiously optimistic i d put in the time and the mileage and the bricks and the intensity and worked out my nutrition and hydration requirements and figured out how to change a flat tire without getting bit by fire ants in under ten minutes we had generally accounted for every possible variable and had kept in mind the mantra don t try anything new on race day except that having trained through blistering heat and humidity of texas in the summer and fall the weather was forecast to be 39 degrees at race start so how did that go well i ll do race day weekend in another post posted by greg leitich smith at 7 25 am no comments labels ironman races running triathlon triathlons older posts home subscribe to posts atom about me greg leitich smith author of borrowed time clarion hmh 2015 chronal engine clarion hmh 2012 little green men at the mercury inn roaring brook macmillan 2014 ninjas piranhas and galileo little brown 2003 intoprint 2013 and tofu and t rex little brown 2005 intoprint 2013 view my complete profile borrowed time little green men at the mercury inn now available chronal engine now available in paperback chronal engine trailer the peshtigo school novels new editions of ninjas piranhas and galileo and tofu and t rex now available author web pages and blogs greg leitich smith official web site gregls blog greg leitich smith at twitter cynthia leitich smith official web site cynsations cynthia leitich smith at twitter greg at indiebound us greg leitich smith books borrowed time little green men at the mercury inn chronal engine ninjas piranhas and galileo tofu and t rex santa knows cynthia leitich smith books feral pride coming 2015 feral curse feral nights eternal zachary s story diabolical tantalize kieren s story blessed eternal tantalize rain is not my indian name indian shoes jingle dancer santa knows holler loudly cynthia and greg leitich smith s publishers candlewick press clarion books houghton mifflin harcourt dutton children s books penguin harpercollins children s listening library little brown co books for young readers recorded books roaring brook press macmillan austin authors and illustrators the austin children s literature community is one of the most successful in the country take a look here for a list of books by year of authors and illustrators who call austin home writers and illustrators and other youth literature professionals and dinosaurs for a few months now i ve been featuring blog posts with photos of writers and illustrators and other youth literature professionals with a dinosaur or prehistoric creature of their choice the complete list is here if you d like to be included drop me a note at greg at gregleitichsmith dot com followers blog archive 2018 2 april 1 texas ironman 70 3 galveston march 1 2017 6 november 2 august 1 may 2 february 1 2016 15 october 1 august 1 june 1 may 3 april 2 january 7 2015 18 november 1 august 1 july 14 april 1 january 1 2014 12 october 3 september 1 june 3 may 1 april 2 february 1 january 1 2013 58 november 14 october 4 august 3 july 4 june 5 may 3 april 6 march 6 february 6 january 7 2012 128 december 7 november 12 october 8 september 9 august 7 july 10 june 6 may 8 april 13 march 17 february 18 january 13 2011 160 december 15 november 17 october 18 september 14 august 11 july 15 june 15 may 14 april 16 march 4 february 7 january 14 2010 109 december 14 november 7 october 5 september 7 august 5 july 11 june 14 may 11 a...