Austin 70.3 Race Report

This will be our 2nd last race report for 2008. We can't believe it. When we first put together the list of our races, completing them seemed like such a daunting task. It would be taxing on our bodies and our wallets, and our parents worried for our health. Looking back, we both feel it all passed way too quickly, and we would do it all over again in a second.
Longhorn was a bit of a special race. A good friend of ours was making the trip down from Ottawa, and after having such a great finish in Lake Placid in July, she was hoping to qualify for the Worlds. We were also going to be racing with our sponsor and friend, Nick Morales of Trimapper.com. Plus, Austin is the home of this Lance guy everyone keeps talking about, and Brian was extra stoked about that. His map print-outs included directions from our condo to Mellow Johnny's - a bike shop co-owned by Lance Armstrong.

We were going into Austin expecting it to be flat, flat, flat. Flying in, it seemed there was not a hill in sight, but when we picked Laurel up from the hostel she'd been staying in, she said that she had been hearing it was going to be quite hilly. "No way", we thought, "but one thing for sure, it is going to be hot".

All along we had been told Austin was hot and the water was not going to be wetsuit legal. The week before the race, the water temperature measured 88 degrees, a full 10 degrees warmer than the maximum 78 allowed for wetsuits. Prior to leaving Ottawa, Brian asked H if she was going to pack my wetsuit. "Hell ya!" she said. You never know when a freakish storm might hit, and she did not want to be without her body-floaty should the wetsuit ruling be turned in her favour! Austin is a fresh water swim, and Heather had nightmares of her 11 minute panic attack in Florida when she almost called it quits on the whole race.

Because we were 3 for this leg instead of our usual 2, we afforded the luxury of renting a condo. It was a beautiful townhome "loft", with 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and a gourmet kitchen.
Swanky! We had a deck off the common area, and on sight, knew that we would most likely enjoy a few cocktails there. H believes the word margharita was uttered once or twice. Having the condo also meant we would get to have home cooked meals. That's definitely something we consider to be a luxury these days, and with Laurel having seliac disease, it was almost a necessity. We spent our evening, building our bikes, and chatting. We have been away so much this summer that we have missed time with our friends. Laurel was extra excited about being in Austin to race, and we fed off her excitement. It would seem that since this was our 15th race in 7 or so months, it was becoming a habit to us, and it was nice to be reminded that racing in Texas was pretty cool.

We were up rather early on Sat a.m. The expo and race kit pick-up opened at noon, and we had a side-trip to Mellow Johnny's scheduled. We did NOT want to be rushed there. We all treated ourselves to a few wants...Heather picked up a really cool cycling jersey, a few water bottles, a couple pairs of socks, a replacement for her long lost LIVESTRONG bracelet, and of course a MJ t-shirt. Brian.....let's just say, almost one of everything. He kept busy gawking over all of the Lance memorabilia at the shop.

From Mellow Johnny's we headed to the Race Kit pick-up and mandatory race meeting. The expo was small, and Heather had thoughts of picking up a new pair of Newton's, but seeing as how this was a Zoot sponsored event, there was no Newton booth to be found. Good thing too, since if she had purchased a pair, she would have been tempted to race in them on Sunday, and for reasons you'll read later, she would have regretted that decision.

The best sight in Austin for both of us was by far was the nice big sign outside of registration that read: "Water temp 78 degrees - Wetsuit legal". What beautiful words those are when all strung together like that! We would hear lots of talk throughout the day from people who had left their wetsuits at home since they had been told the week prior that there was absolutely no chance that the water temperature would drop 10 degrees in a week. Lesson here would be to always come prepared for any conditions.

Between the Race Kit pick-up and the mandatory race meeting, we took in the Pro Panel. Heather is not big on the names, Brian keeps pointing out people to her that ewe have seen along the way, but for whatever reason, their names and faces don't stick with her. The panel did consist of a couple of pros that she knew though: Simon Lessing, Richie Cunningham, Michellie Jones, and Canada's own Lisa Bentley. Brian chatted at the back of the room with a Canadian Pro Tyler Lord who he had chatted with in Newfoundland...it was nice to catch up! The floor was open for questions, and being anything but shy, Laurel was first with her hand up. She asked Lisa, being a fellow Canadian, how was she planning on managing the heat tomorrow. Good question, and funny enough, she mentioned all the things we'd learned after having raced in several hot places. Drink lots on the bike, put ice in: your hat, pockets, and pants on the run, and think cooling thoughts. Really, what else is there to do?

From the registration, we drove to the race start to check in our bikes. We did a quick test ride to make sure they had all survived the travel ok, and we quickly noted 3 things: one, the wind and heat were killer and would most likely be a big factor on race day; 2- proper hydration was going to be key and that Brian's bike was still making that gawd-awful noise! He headed to the Mavic guys to look at it. Nothing like having TdF guys working on your bike!!! Austin is ALL about being the rock star!
It was a 25 minute drive from the condo to the race site, so with a 4:30 AM wake-up call looming over us, we had an early carb dinner and headed straight to bed.

As we finished off in transition and made our way to the start, we met up with Nick Morales....great to finally meet him and race with him. We also stumbled on to John....a new friend that had shared some pretty dark times in St. Croix with Brian as they both did the "death march" on the run there. His broken back had healed and had committed to us in St. Croix, that he would race with us again in Austin. He came good on that promise and was heading to the start.
Laurel's AG was the first of our waves to go, Heather followed 15 mins or so behind her, and Brian was the very last wave, starting a full 45 mins behind the pros. He feared that it was going to be a long, lonely day, and Heather only hoped that somehow our paths would meet up on the run. Running together had easily become our most favourite moments within any given race.

As Heather does on any start, she hung back from the rest of the pack. This was a floating start and she stayed back and to the inside. Her goal always being to hug the line and stay on course as best as possible. It was a triangular, counter-clockwise swim in Walter E Long Lake, and since she breathes only from her left side, this made sighting a lot easier. The swim felt relatively fast. There was a small current that flowed in your favour after the first turn. She swam well, didn't panic at all, and when she exited the water and read her watch, for a little while, she thought she may have just had the swim of my life. It read 33 mins and change. What the? No way. Surely her watch must have stopped somewhere on route she thought. Heather knew in her head that the swim must have been short, but it wasn't until she saw Brian half way through the run that we both let the dream go that we had a rocket swim. Funny how your mind can go and what you can convince yourself of in the course of 3 or 4 hours.

By the time Brian got in the water, it was wetter IN his wet suit than in the lake!!! Man, it was hot just standin there. Being last to go brings some good things...he got to see all the prod come out of the water, and knew, FOR ONCE.....all he would be doing for the next few hours...is passin people!!! Not a common thing in the Bman's world!!

The bike was a 90k loop that takes you through the outskirts of Austin, past many sprawling ranches. At a few ranches, horses watched curiously, and one even ran in circles obviously excited by the mass of cyclists passing by. Laurel would tell everyone later that there wasn't a flat spot to be found on the course, but from what we both remember, while there were some rolling hills, the majority of the route was flat - at least relative to the course we'd seen over the last few months. The headwind was definitely a factor in the straighter sections, but a lot of the course was protected. The heat hit hard too, but we were blessed with some cloud cover and at spots during the ride, Heather got rained on. Brian was forced into his saddle for most of the day, so worked on the aero again as the noise reappeared 10k into the race. Man, that is annoying!

In the final 2 mile stretch, they throw a couple of nice hills at you for safe measure. One travels along side the run course and you can see some of the runners climbing what has been affectionally called Quadzilla. It's not all that much easier on the bike. A final climb into transition, and you ran your bike through the grassy pathways to the rack before heading out to the run.

As Heather headed out on her run, Lisa Bentley was running by, quite obviously on her way to the finish. She was being led by the "Lead Female" cyclist, a sure indication that she was in first, so she cheered her on. The run was somewhat of a 10.5 km figure 8. The first half was an out & back that ran along bike paths and paved roads. They had a couple bands playing to keep your spirits up, and each aid station handed out gatorade, coke, water, gels, and sponges. At the 2nd aid station, they were handing out soaking wet, ice cold towels. She grabbed one and wrapped it around her neck, keeping it there until the final few meters of the run. They had also put up a sprinkler tent and a "air conditioning" type unit, but they didn't provide enough water\mist to have much effect.

The 2nd half of the figure 8 ran through grassy trails. You ran down a steep hill on one side of the field, so that they could position you to run back up Quadizilla on the other side. They had timing mats at the bottom and the top of Quadizilla and they were giving out prizes to the male and female who had the fastest "split" times. Heather knew she had no hopes of challenging for that prize, but she did vow to run the entire hill. She was quite amazed with the number (and calibre) of athletes who chose to walk it. She was halfway up Quadzilla when she heard her name being called. She glanced over to the road and saw Brian on his bike. She mustered some kind of wave, and immediately went into math mode. She knew he had about 2k left to transition, and had a little over 2 miles. She tried to work out how fast she would have to run in order to catch him on my 2nd loop. It would be a bit of a stretch, but she figured she had a chance, and it was knowing that which helped her maintain any sort of pace. Brian had no clue what the course was like for the run. He could see Heather on Quadzilla and knew that the paths then dipped back into the woodlands of Texas, only to reappear again near the end of the loop. He headed out and was not sure if he was ahead or behind Heather on her last loop...a good incentive for him to dig deep.

At the 2k\12.5k mark, Heather met up with Brian, and we ran together for the next 5 or so k. One of the first questions was about the swim. From what Brian had heard on the bike course, the swim was approximately 300 m short. Heather realized she wouldn't be going pro any time soon LOL! While we ran\walked the next 4k, we shared stories of our day. We were both feeling the heat, and were looking forward to the cold beer they had promised at the finish. With 3 miles to go for her, Heather parted ways with B and carried on to the finish, running up Quadzilla for her 2nd time. We parted at the base of Quadzilla and Brian could see Heather running the entire thing. Brian may not be as fast, but he has the same "push" as she does....so he ran the Quad as well. WHAT a burn that gives!

Laurel was waiting at the finish when Heather came through, and she was handed her medal, a towel and a water bottle. Laurel and Heather then stood together at the fence to wait for Brian as he passed by to head out on the 2nd loop. She knew that he'd only be 5 or 10 mins behind her. He came around the bend and we cheered for him. He looked at us and said "Guess who I just took a sip of beer from." Heather couldn't possibly guess. "Lisa Bentley!" he boasted. Go figure. She leaves the guy for 20 flipping minutes, and he has the experience of a lifetime. Bugger!

Apparently, when he was coming around the corner he saw Lisa and friends cheering the runners on. Knowing she had won the race, Brian stopped to congratulate her on her win. He also told her that her "finishers beer" looked DAMMM good, and figured there was no harm is askin for a sip. Turns out, it was her hubbies beer...so she turned to him and asked is she could share his beer with this guy. He replied...."Hell ya....this is that guy who is doing 16 of these 70.3's this summer!!!!" Beer never tasted so good!!
While we waited for Brian to finish, Laurel and Heather got a massage and made our way around the food tent. Heathers shoes were an absolute mess. They looked like she had hiked through the Sahara and back, and passed through a mud swamp along the way. They were absolutely filthy, and it was for this reason that she was happy she had not been able to buy a brand new pair of Newtons. These shoes were done.

Heading home on his last lap...Brian was teetering on another death march for the last 4k... until he heard a shout out. It was Tyler Lord. His day was done and he was headin to his vehicle. He said " Keep goin' Bri.... stretch out that stride". As Brian waved to him with very little gusto, and stretched it out as much as he could...he could hear him say "much better Bri....". Its odd....those words will stick with him for a very long time.

In the time that she predicted, Brian made his way to the finish, and the sight of him choked her up as it always does. We had done this 15 times over the last 7 months, and we always feel exactly the same way. Relieved and proud is how we both felt...seeing Heather at yet another finish knowing his baby was home safely. Austria crash always flashes back in Brian's mind, racing the day not knowing where or how Heather was.

We never did get the beer they promised - they were all out by the time we made our way to the beer tent, nor did we see the Longhorn that was supposed to be hanging around. We will say however, it was absolutely cool to race in Austin. Being able to share the race with a friend made it extra special - especially since Laurel ended up placing in her AG and getting a spot at the 2009 World Championships! Very exciting!

At the awards ceremony, it seemed that the sponsors of the events had provided too much swag for the numbers who stuck around. So we snagged 6 FuelBelts to give away as door prizes for our upcoming party. They also started to give away Timex Ironman Ipod watched. "Who ran Boston this year" "Who has last years Longhorn T-shirt on"...the watches start flying out!!! The race announcer, who we had chatted over the course of the weekend saw us there. "Ok, I KNOW who is gona win this one....Who has raced the most 70.3's this year?? These Canadians over here have raced 15 of these already this year folks...so pretty sure they get the gear!" Two watches headed back to Otown on the wrist of two tired triathletes.....bring on the World Championships!!!