The Montoya's

BSLT 70.3

It has been a while since I made the trip to Lubbock, TX, for the Buffalo Springs Lake 1/2 Ironman. In fact, looking through online results, you would have to go all the way back to the year 2000 to find my name in there. Yes, it has been a while. Too long for such a high quality and challenging race within driving distance of me.

The race took place last Sunday under windy and rainy conditions. We left the hotel around 5 in the morning and the trees were already blowing and lightning was visible off in the distance. I traveled with 2 of best (and only) friends, Danny and Robert. Danny is the Ironman veteran with lots of experience and Robert was making this his half ironman debut. I suppose I was somewhere in the middle, answering questions from Robert and still asking some to Danny.

Back to the race... we made it to the lake and it was difficult not to be nervous. You could feel the wind from inside the suburban as we waited in the long line of cars and you could see the chop in the lake building. It was like they were partnering up and having a good laugh at all of us. We arrived a little later than we wanted and were in a hurry to get down the hill to transition, get our stuff ready, use the bathroom, get our wetsuits on and make it to the beach before our waves went off. Being in such a hurry did make things easier as I didn't really have time to be nervous.

The swim was pretty uneventful and I came out in an ok time of 34:38 for the 1.2 miles. I started the bike and made 3 dumb mistakes: 1. I forgot which direction shifts to my small chain ring and I was cursing my bike shop for it not "working". 2. I tried using a little box to store all of my nutrition but was more just flopping around and hitting my knees as I pedaled. I ended up putting everything in my jersey pocket and tossing the box. 3. I forgot to change my brake pads to the ones specific to my wheels so I had limited use of my brakes all day. Otherwise I just rode comfortably hard and tried to take advantage of the tailwinds. Final bike time for the 56 miles was 2:45.

Onto the run and things started very promising. I was using my new GPS watch and I was able to see what my distance and current pace were throughout the race. I tried starting out as easy as possible but I kept seeing 7:3X - 7:4X on my watch. I felt good and just sort of went with it. Like the bike, the run climbs out of and back into the lake canyon 3 times. At the turnaround I was averaging 8 minute miles. Not bad at all since I only had one more climb left and 2 long downhills. Unfortunately, things didn't really keep rolling. I felt like I was running just the same but the pace slowed and I started to fade. I finally walked a little during the last mile and had to gather myself for the finish. I could hear the announcer calling out the finishers names and I looked forward to sit and have a beer. Final run time was 1:52 for 13.1 miles.

Final race time was 5:16, good enough for 167th overall and 29th in my age group out of over 800 total finishers. All in all I was happy with my race. I know that I have lots of room for improvement and I look forward to getting there. I feel like I just sort of go comfortably hard and I want to get where I feel like I'm racing it. Also, I think my nutrition is what cost me my sub 8 minute pace on the run. I had a plan for the bike but not so much for the run. More than anything I just had a really good time with my friends. I learned a few lessons and I came home with a desire to keep working at it. My next major triathlon is in September and I have another half ironman in October. The month of July is going to be spent waiting for baby Grace to get here and yard work. I started cross country practice this last week and I also finished my professional dossier finally. That stupid thing has been a 3 year process and will mean a 33.3% raise next year (not so stupid). Danny joked that I have been working on that thing since he met me! In three years I'm going to have to do it all over again!

Thanks for reading and have a great 4th of July!

Steven