Lonestar Quarter Ironman Race Report & Video

My race report for the Quarter Ironman that I did over the weekend is up at http://www.team464.com/lonestar08/

My girlfriends 6 year old son also caught a video of my finish line crossing which we didn't even know about until today when we were pulling the pictures off the camera.   Great video for a 6 year old!   http://www.team464.com/lonestar08/finishline.wmv

And lastly this picture (http://www.team464.com/lonestar08/images/swim1.jpg) really puts the swim into perspective and why I was so 'concerned' about jumping in the drink pre-race.   See the little orange things way out in the water?  That's the buoys for the swim course. :)

Have a good one!

Chad.

Looking Good, Kyp!

That's the way to keep in shape. My all time high was only 305, so I can only imagine how much work it must have taken to lose from 464 to the condition where you're able to do multisport.

Keep up the great work!

Best Wishes,

Dave

Great job, Chad. Another checkmark for your goal list! By the way, any of you guys out there that haven't seen Chad's 464 website, you need to check it out. It's extremely well done and one of the best personal web sites I've seen. By the way, your speed on the bike is impressive -- 20mph for nearly 30 miles. Excellent work, man! Boner

Yeah Boner you probably would have caught a chuckle if you would have seen me fall over from not unclipping when I got to T2.   I got my left foot out, the bike leaned right, I forgot I was clipped in and I just toppled over to the amusement of the crowd.  Heh heh.  I've been told it happens to everyone.  I just wi**** could have happened to me when I didn't have an audience around.  

Reminds me of the time when I first climbed Left Hand canyon out here in Colorado. Brutal climb up to Ward and all the hard core bikers stop at a general store in Ward to rest, then resume the climb up to Peak to Peak highway. Anywho, I'm feeling pretty studly for successfully making the climb up to Ward, "the city on the hill." After a brief rest, I get on my bike and start heading uphill then immediately fall over in the middle of the street. Damn cleats!! All the hard cores got a good chuckle but one guy came out to the middle of the street to see if I was ok which was cool of him. Unfortunately, he couldn't resist making the obligatory comment, "Geez, that must be embarrassing!" It was of course but quite frankly, I was just happy my bike didn't get damaged and that I had made the climb. Hang in there and keep in kickin' ass, Chad.  Boner 

Heh heh.  That sucks man.  I got the "Oooooohhhhh" from all the volunteers at transition and at least a couple of the women had their hands over their mouth.  Funny thing was I was good and locked into the bike because I was STILL clipped in when I hit the pavement.

So being a road biker what's your stance on drafting?  It seems like such a hot topic in the triathlete and biker community.   For some reason the bikers around here hate the triathletes and the triathletes hate the bikers.   I could give a **** really.   :)

To draft or not to draft.....that is the question. I typically don't draft since my goal is to improve my fitness and drafting lowers the amount of exertion by upwards of 20%. On the other hand, I don't mind pulling since it increases the amount of exertion by upwards of 10% or so. In a timed racing competition, of which I don't really participate in, by all means draft. It's crucial in a tri since drafting will preserve energy which will be needed in the running stage. Out here in Colorado, there is no riff between the cycling and tri community. Lots of respect for both groups since everyone knows how much effort it takes to tackle either one of the sports. Quite frankly, the competitive juices flow whether you are "racing" against either. No special feeling for blowing away (or getting blown away) by a person on a road bike or a tri-bike. Boner 

Drafting is illegal in all USAT sanctioned events and most of the non-USAT events don't allow it either.  I guess I can understand why even though I'm too scared to draft anyway.   The whole thing about triathlons (at least in my case) is it's you against the course and I guess they consider drafting an advantage.   It is allowed in the Olympics but that's the only time that I know of.   If you get caught drafting by one of the officials they usually hit you with a 5 minute penalty on the first offense, 10 minutes on the second offense and disqualification on the third. 

Funny thing is you CAN draft in the swim.   I never even knew there was such a thing until I tried it in the pool with a training partner.   I couldn't keep up with the guy in front of me in my last race but I did stay in his bubbles for at least a couple hundred meters.  

I didn't know it was illegal to draft cause it seems like there's a lot of it going on based upon the limited number of tri's I've seen on tv. Seems to me that drafting would be a hard thing to police especially in the "crowded ones" but I guess they've figured out a way to do it. It's also interesting that it's allowed in the Olympics but not in the USAT events.  Boner