Ironman 70.3 Austin

Friday night Timo and I, were about 3 miles from our hostess house in Leander, Tx. It was 12:30am and I was starting get tired after a couple of swerves of trying to stay in the lane, after the second time, I saw the blue and red lights in my rear view. I knew what I was getting pulled over for. The officer asked questions like if I had been drinking or texting. I wanted to tell him I was so far behind the 21st century that I don't even have texting on my phone. Then he asked if we had meth, then I wanted to say no, but I am from Cedar Creek Lake, then he proceeded with asking if we had steroids. I almost laughed. He also asked what we were up to and what we were doing. I told him we were 3 miles from the house. Fortunately, I kept the conversation straight and got off with a verbal warning.

Pre-Race morning me, Timo, and Jenn we were staring at a tri-spoke wheel that Timo was borrowing from Cam. Where does the air go? I called Cam "Hey buddy, where does the air go on this thing." "Oh just peel back the white sticker". Apparently, a white sticker on a black surface was too much for all three of us to figure out. Timo, had to get some work done on his bike and me and Jenn proceeded to "soft pedal" down the high way. Then I did a pre race swim putting on my wetsuit my arm sleeve just rips. I was pissed!!!! But, there is a positive, my buddy Eric Trelz just happened to be getting out of the water the same time I was about to go in and I told him what had happened he actually had another wetsuit with him, so I got to borrow his. Later that night we hung out with Cam and his family and had a wonderfully cooked spaghetti dinner with beef and we saw the Rangers whoop up on the Yankees.

Race morning started with the National Anthem while a parachute guy held up the huge American flag and landed at the end of the song.

Me and my buddy Travis from Dallas were hanging out before start. I find it good to be loose and joke around with your buddies. I also met some guys from Connecticut and California, they were crackin' me up.

I had my fastest (legit) swim time of 32:24, the swim continues to make improvement. I have knocked off around 3-4 minutes since the beginning of the year. I didn't draft off anybody very long. I found this one guy speeding along by me, I got on his feet but he was zig zagging really bad. Then I found another guy in the middle of the swim but lost him towards the end. I felt sluggish but midway through started feeling better. I got out of the water and felt like a chain smoker trying to run up the hill into transition. I was literally worried about my legs there.

Starting the bike.

The bike course I thought was so much fun minus the bumps. It had lots of rolling hills, turns, and a few steep climbs. I built into the bike, unlike I did at Prairie Man where I basically hammered from the start. I did average near 25 mph the the first hour, the last hour got hard as I tried to maintain some speed. It was more crowded than it should have been because people don't stay to the right of the road. I found out of you say On ur left then their name, it gets there attention better. I finished the bike course in just under 2:16. for a 24.7 mph.

The run was hard!!!! It was 2 loops and it was hilly. I came out of T2 not looking at my watch but running with what felt comfortable, it would later turn out to be 5:45-6min pace. That slowed quick later, especially once we hit the grass. Half of the run was cross country, which was fun and offered a good challenge. There was a huge hill on the back side that slowed me way down. However, I was running my best ever off the bike on the road. I did the first half of the run averaging a 6:21 pace but blew up the last half and only averaged 7:01 pace. I managed to find a sprint at the end of the run and sneak under the 4:20 barrier and finished in 4:19.49.

Half way through the run taking in a gel.

At the finish I was hanging on Jenn trying to catch my breath the official photographer wanted one of those finishing photos. I told Jenn I gotta get out of here. I knew I was about to puke. However, I realize my fitness has been getting better as the year goes along. It took a lot longer for me to puke and I don't think it was as much either, although that is arguable. Instead of needing 2 or 3 IV bags, I only had one.

It was fun weekend. My traveling buddy Timo finished 1st in the college division with a time of 4:16. My coach Brent Poulsen finished 6th among the pro's and Eric Trelz set a PR of 5:35. The day before they got rear ended by lady going 50 mph and then again when she hit the gas instead of the brake. Brent spent most of his pre race day in the hospital with as stiff neck. Thank you to Cam and his family for hosting us and letting us eat all their food. Thank you to Jenn and Tiffany for coming out and supporting and also to the many other volunteers. All those sponges I stuffed in my shorts and top saved my run. Thanks to my generous sponsors OnUrLeft Sports, Retibol Vril, Blueseventy, MonaVie (Brandon Perry) and Brooks I.D. and Brent Poulsen for the excellent coaching. Most important.y thanks to Jesus for keeping my friends safe and letting us have good races!

So, In a few weeks me and Timo are doing this little race in Clearwater, Florida.

Rock on!

William