This year my triathlon race season ended on November 8th at Ironman Austin 70.3. We elected to undertake the relatively long drive to Austin for the race knowing that we'd need to have a car either way and that we could avoid shipping my bike if we just saddled up and completed the 13 hours down south. We weren't that brave however as we spent nights in Lubbock both on the way down and on our return trip. Buddy Holly and Texas Tech welcomed us to the Texas plains town and the people were as kind as they come. This is mainly a race review but we did have good food on this trip at Triple J in Lubbock, and Black Star Co-Op in Austin.
First off, Austin is a cool, active, and fun town. This race is not in cool and fun Austin. It is 15+ minutes NE of town where there isn't too much going on. Open land and ranches mixed in with some concentrations of town like density made up this race course. Staying for the event was easy but you'll need a car for this race (no staying downtown and just walking everywhere). This is an event with 2 transitions, T1 down by the lake, and T2 by the arena where you finish indoors on the run. The event transports your items from T1, such as wetsuit, googles, etc., if you shove it all in a marked bag before you run off with your bike. Not really a big deal, just know what you're doing and expect an extra 30 seconds in each transition.
Pre-race and race day was WINDY with a strong 20+ mph torturing everyone from the north as it was much colder than expected due to the cold front and rain storms that were ravaging the area for weeks up to the race. I was happy to see no irreversible damage to the area while we were there; it didn't seem like we were too huge of an additional burden to the town. The main problem was the mud in T1 as bike drop the day before and transition set up the morning of pretty much destroyed the grass.
The Swim:
Unfortunately, my day didn't start till 8:15 am while transition closed at 6:45 that morning. Jess and I hid from the wind and begged for the sun for a few hours in the morning and I put on my wetsuit for warmth about 90 minutes before my start. In hindsight, that was a poor choice even though it kept me warm, because it is hard to go to the bathroom when bundled in skintight neoprene. Due to the wind, the swim was choppy, the roughest water I have swam in for a few years (since ocean swims back in Virginia). I had my fastest half ironman swim of the year despite dodging and swimming around a range of swimmers performing breast stroke, back stroke, and even elementary side stroke. This was kind of a shame since I felt it slowed me down significantly to swim behind many slower age groups as I felt great but had to take longer lines at times. The design of this race had men age 30-39 in 4 waves all starting at the back of the race, which turned out to be absolutely unsafe and terrible. The swim was safe, but a pain catching many slower swimmers from what in general are slower age groups. It's not really fair to those swimmers who have competitive males trying to get past them while they are uncomfortable in the water, nor to the competitive age groupers who have their race in-proportionately affected by their start time to other competitive male age groupers competing for top finishes.
The Bike:
+I'll preface this by saying I think I'm a rather positive and patient guy, because this review will look like the case is otherwise+
So I wasn't too happy having to start behind what amounted to pretty much every athlete in the race for the swim. Where it really became unfair and a burden was on the dangerous and shameful bike course that was put forth by this race. The course was bumpy and rough, which is fine enough if that is it, the problems come from when large gaps of broken road and dirt accompany the bumps as well as a large stream of athletes. A cyclist couldn't pick their own line and people you were passing were swerving and endangering everyone else as they tried to avoid getting stuck or having to replace a flat. ... It didn't stop there. After the first 10 miles of the course, the course is open, and in this case that means cars driving slow paces between cyclists going the same direction as well as cars coming the opposite direction down the road. You had three choices to pass the massive sea of athletes you were catching. 1. Play chicken on narrow roads passing a car in your lane while another approaches you at uninhibited speeds and a vast majority in inertia. 2. Wait behind the car in your lane hoping you can pass all the cyclists along the right side of the road when that car can. 3. Pass illegally on the right dodging between cyclists and a car heading in the same direction. It was disgusting to be so focused in a race you identified as an "A" race on trying not to die from the terrible road combined with terrible congestion. So, yes it did get worse. After you passed the roughest sections of roads you would see a few athletes the next mile all replacing flats or waiting for support. Ambulances were whizzing by us in the opposite direction every few miles. You cannot get nutrition because all of those much slower athletes you are catching are clogging up the flow of the stations as they wobble on their bikes. I started going to the full opposite side of the road in aide stations and screwing my chances to do well by becoming dehydrated so I wouldn't be involved in a wreck as I saw two people in misery from aide station crashes during the first part of the race. I carried 62 oz of water on the bike, which is a good portion but not enough even on a cool but humid day. My final concern is this, I love that the city police come out and support us/help us stay safe, but there was not real evidence that they knew what was expected of them for this race. I was traveling at 32 mph down a -finally!- flat and smooth stretch when an officer controlling traffic turned a van directly in front of me and a female competitor. We both violently swerved into the other lanes small shoulder as not to run directly into the side of the van at which time the van threw it into reverse while blocking the whole road and barely missed my rear wheel as I squeeked by screaming. No I could not have stopped in time unless I bailed and I would have likely slid under the van, so I consider myself very lucky and Ironman very lucky they don't have a lawsuit from a few competitors. As I looked back at the officer, who I didn't like at that moment, I saw that over 10 cyclists had stopped on the course and had to wait for the van to turn around.
The Run:
Boy, was everyone happy the ride was over. One pro female (who started and came into transition a long time before me) had quit at T2 calling the bike course what it was and ripping off her timing chip rather than continue. I don't blame her. The run was very boring. Out and back on a road and around a little section of park 3 times. It was overly congested and once again I had to play chicken with either bikes which were on the same road or runners coming in the opposite direction multiple times as the hoards of walkers/joggers took to the course. I'm not against anyone completing a race in any time, I am against my race being limited by it and potentially also their race as neither had a clear path. On the 3rd lap my severe lack of fueling on the bike took effect as the day heated up. I had a full water bottle of Skratch waiting for me in T2 which means I felt well at first in the run. To be honest I was so done with the race that I just struggled in the last 4 miles and was ready to leave. It was easy to leave this race as the indoor finish and after party was severely lacking and minimal anyways for such a big and expensive race. Good riddance, Austin.
Race Recap:
I wish you best in your training if you choose to race a 70.3 distance race, but I will simply warn you that your training maybe completely wasted if you head to Austin to reap the fruit of your labor. I don't dislike Ironman; I really enjoyed their Boulder 70.3 course and Boulder Peak. In the future, however, I will give weight to race reviews as I read many negative ones on Austin and a few "it wasn't as bad as people say" reviews.
With the completion of Austin, it is officially triathlon off season for me, and I look forward to many small and local running races with Jess. Life is good, but only because I survived Texas. (barely).
Happy training and stay warm this winter!
