Wanted to see if anyone knows this new Waco course, maybe locals around the area.
Check the thread about the end of the Austin 70.3.
The swim and run will essentially be the same as the tri Waco Olympic that’s held every summer. Swim is in the Brazos river. It’s a pretty dirty river but no real current. Run will feature 2 trips through Cameron Park which is incredibly hilly, especially for Waco. Probably 1.5 miles of hills and ~200-250’ of elevation gain per lap. Not sure about the bike, apparently it will be a completely different course. FWIW the tri Waco Bike course was extremely fast.
I hear it is very hilly, to the point where if you are running less than 8:15 min/mile you maybe faster walking up hill. I am in The Woodlands, so i ay drive up there for a weekend trip and check it out.
They use this run course for several races in waco. I think the elevation I have for this is overly smoothed there is a bigger dip and climb over the first climb, but my wife used this for a 10k a few months back and felt pretty good with the paces up the hill. I ran this at 40 min - 10k just to show the difference on the up hill.
Link
wow, so if i am reading this right it looks like you slowed by about 1:30 min/mile go up the hill! My last IM70.3 avg was about 8:30 min/mile … so that would put me at 10 min/mile (yikes!). I am in Houston and we don’t have any real hills to run, I will definitely head out there for a couple of weekends and get some hills in!
Thanks for the details.
James
Yeah, I’ll probably be walking that, certainly on the second loop. 
Ah this is not what I actually did, just an algorithmic pacing plan on what you “should” (or might want to slow down) for that gradient assuming a flat Graded Pace.
Looking at my wife’s details from the race she averaged 8:02 and slowed to right around 10:00/mile on the climb.
I had a 45 min run split at Tri Waco and found myself walking during parts of the hills. My biggest problem was I had no idea they were coming, I just figured it was Waco and it would be flat as a pancake…wrong!!! I probably wouldn’t have taken it out at sub 40 min pace if I knew what lie ahead.
I am 45 and have been running for 2.5 years - I just ran a 1:31 HM. Do you have any advice on how to train for hills?
Not sure how qualified I am to give training advice…I’m not a coach and just happened to be a decent runner, but I’d say unsurprisingly there’s no substitute to running hills if you want to get better at running hills. When training for races that I know have hilly runs I will typically throw in a hill repeat workout each week. If you live somewhere flat get creative. Find a parking garage or overpass (with a sidewalk obviously) to get some hill repeats in.
sounds like a good idea, I will also ask around my local running club.
Thanks! James.
Yes also not a Coach though there are plenty that use our platform! I do tend to prescribe to the train for the event, so if it’s a 6% hill for 250 meters try to find something you can do to train in similar conditions (even if that’s cranking the treadmill up and seeing how different paces feel for those gradients). Also course recon is crucial for pacing. As mentioned earlier if you shoot out at sub 40 then hit the literally gradient wall it can really have a big impact for the rest of the race. You might see some of the same people you passed coming back by in the back half.
Not doing this race but also in The Woodlands. Treadmill is your friend for hill training. I’m lucky in that my office is just under 2.5 miles from the house. I’ll routinely run to the office as a warmup, jump on the treadmill for a hill set and then run home for cool down. I’m usually back home by about 6:30 to get ready for work.
Swim is in the Brazos river.
I researched this river and found that it is has alligators. How can swimmers possibly be safe in this water?
Alligators don’t like hanging in the faster moving main channel of the Brazos. They like the still water of the lakes and ponds. There’s virtually no chance of there being a problem. And gators get spooked by large numbers of people. The most gator you’ll see around there is a basket of gator nuggets and fries at a local restaurant. Gator doesn’t taste great, btw. Kinda blah.
The Woodlands and other races around Houston have way higher gator count than what you might get near Waco, and there’s never a issue with those.
The Woodlands and other races around Houston have way higher gator count than what you might get near Waco, and there’s never a issue with those.
How many gators have you seen in Lake Woodlands?
The Bayou has hills to run in HTX
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How many gators have you seen in Lake Woodlands?
Maybe few over many years. They caught an 8 footer just one lake over right before IMTX 2015. https://www.thewoodlandstx.com/...ds-pond.php?p=241671
Here’s another in Conroe, just one city to the north. https://www.click2houston.com/...od_20151123142830173
And the lake north of that in Huntsville State Park is chock full of gators. Can see them all day long. When they get too big (over 10 foot?) They move them south to Brazoria County where they can chill with the monster size ones in peace.
Since it’s colder to the north, if there’s gators north of you, there’s definitely gators where you are. And with all the flooding, the big boys have been shuffled around and there’s certainly some big ones were people thought there weren’t any before. Always smart to keep your eyes open and don’t walk your dogs along the shoreline. Gators love dogs. 
Swim is in the Brazos river.
I researched this river and found that it is has alligators. How can swimmers possibly be safe in this water?
I just assume every body of water in TX has gators.