I thought I felt good in it. I think I started getting bad form about 1/2 way through and had to rework it, about halfway down the 2nd long part of the rectangular the sun was right in my eyes and I couldn't see the buoys hardly at all and ended cutting too far right and had to cut back left to go around the buoy, that probably cost me some time. Water was pretty murky today and I'd come right up on people. We were the first women's wave, and I hate passing through the slow guy waves cause their slow guys typically do things like grab ankles, and crap like that. Seriously. I drafted some, but most of them would then slow down too much and I'd have to pass. I don't know what is up with my swim...I should be faster.

Was very grateful for the volunteers at the ramp that basically pull you out of the water.

Better form, I should be doing at least 1:50/100m, and truly faster than this....this is not improving like I want at all. I am very comfortable at the 2:00min/100m pace. Maybe that's part of the problem. I did notice that when I wasn't kicking as well or doing a good hip rotation that I was slowing. I don't know, this is frustrating.

The races at Lady Bird Lake/Auditorium Shores (CapTex/Austin Tri) have horribly long transitions. The Transition area is huge, and the run from the water to the transition area is long. I did pretty decent here. In fact, I immediately passed some of the folks from my wave as I do a decent run out of the water. I got to the bike, wiped feet off a little--there was dusty dirt EVERYWHERE due to the drought we've had here--but the mud wasn't coming off, so on go the shoes, then it was a good 400m run to the mount line, pushing your bike through dusty fine dirt the whole time. Yuck. Thankfully, no quad cramp up like at CapTex. Overall, this was pretty good. 3rd fastest in AG.

Go go gadget copter to the mount line.

So, I started off strong and immediately overtook some gals in my AG. Then I hit South Congress. I should've known better than to not go to the little ring intially, but I forgot how steep the hill actually is, so I had to work up it a bit too hard that first time around and went to slow up it. I made up some on the downhill and after that point, my gearing was excellent. On N. Congress I could easily keep 19-20 uphill, Lake Austin is a little steep, after a turn, but short, so I could work up that decently, and I got much better at S. Congress. On the flats and downhills it was pass fest. Not one woman ever passed me on the bike, and I was passing men like a mad woman. The last lap had sprinters starting to get on the course and it was annoying as all get out to have people on mountain bikes in the left lane. I gave some on your lefts, but some wouldn't budge and they became some fairly mean on your lefts. The turns got congested as well. There were definitely some spots on the 2nd and 3rd laps where the flow of traffic slowed me down. Nothing crazy dangerous with folks, but still it irritates me when people lolly gag on the left.
There were times I was wondering if I was burning too many matches, but I just felt good. On the flats I was holding 23-24mph with pretty much ease. OH, I had one major victory, when I was on the 2nd loop, turning back down Congress after tackling the S. Congress hill, I was shifting back to big ring and it didn't do it, and then it threw the chain, HOLY CRAP, never EVER dealt with that before, but I still knew what to do, shifted back, and boom, I had it!! SWEET! I saved myself on the fly!! Awesome! Slight moment of panic, but I reacted well.
I took in two GUs, one somewhere between 8-10 miles, and the second at 21 miles, and then I had a full aerobottle of water, and 2/3rds of a 20oz bottle of GU2O.

Gear better on that first hill, I bet it cost me at least 1 minute, if not 2. Otherwise, this is definitely a bike PR for me on an Oly course, and that's even after a very flat, fast course at TriWaco in July.

Solid T2, got out of my shoes before dismount, had to push the bike through the dirt of the long transition, but got it racked fast and changed into my running shoes, grabbed the visor, race number, Garmin, and water bottle and off I went--putting it all on as I went. 2nd fastest in AG.

Learn how to dismount the bike better. Otherwise, did this really well considering the length of the transition and the big step you gotta go up just to get to the run course.

I do not run well on dirt/grass. Some folks like it, but I don't get enough push off. The first part was on dirt grass, and the middle part of the loop was as well. Initially I really thought that I had burned too much on the bike, and I might've burned some...but as I got going, I got feeling better, at about the 1.5 mile mark, after coming down from Jack and Adams, I started to get into the groove. It was about there that the gal that took 2nd in the 30-34 AG passed me, and I kept her in my sights the rest of the race. I had my own bottle of GU2O and took a GU at 2 miles and 4.5 miles...just need the sugar. I sipped some water at a couple of aid stations, and dumped it on my head. I missed all but one sponge hand up cause I didn't need it enough to slow down to get one cause everyone else was putting on the brakes. I passed one gal in my AG, and got passed by two in the 30-34AG. I kept feeling pretty good, though at about 5 miles I got a tiny (thankfully tiny) side stitch. I kept that one gal in my eyesight, she had a Jack and Adams tri top, so it was easy. I ended up passing her in the last mile, and the felt good. Once I got to the top of the overpass we ran on, I picked it up for the last .5 mile and then really kicked it the last 1/4 of a mile. I think I could've picked it up a little bit earlier and shaved a few more seconds off.

Not do an 18 mile run 3 days prior. Not train for an IM. Taper. :) I'm glad to be back in the sub-8's here. I did 7:34 pace last year at this one, and I was only training for a HIM at the time and I tapered much more for the race. I am also thrilled to have healed so well from the stress fracture. I would like to be at a better race weight. That's a post-IM goal.

Grabbed water, drank water, walked around, drank more water, walked around, stretched, got some fruit, chit chatted with Aaron and some other racers. Packed up my gear and took it to the car. Went back for the awards ceremony and ate small fajita and a wonderful ice cream cookie sandwich!


Besides that it was a C race with no taper, it was definitely my swim. If I'm going to get better and go sub-2:30 on a regular basis, I HAVE to swim better.


Awesome race. High Five Events (Jack and Adams) do an awesome job. Volunteers were awesome, post race was awesome, events were on time, announcers were great, schwag was good. My only complaint is that they need mats on the bike and run course, at least for the Olympic, to note the multiple loops. Some Olympic competitors have 28-30mph avgs on the bike= 2 loops. I actually received the 2nd in AG award, but looking at the results, the gal that supposedly beat me also supposedly ran a 27 min 10K at a 4:23min/mile pace. Yeah, I don't think so...that's called ONE LOOP not two of the run course. So, I'm claiming a 1st AG win. :) Granted, the girl that beat me last year was a volunteer this year, and the other fasties for my AG raced the Open Wave (thankfully!). So, that's my only suggestion for improvement I think the race needs. you can't really shorten transition, so other than that piece...make it rain so there is less dust--EVERYTHING afterwards was covered in nasty dusy. I guess it was hot out there, but it didn't really play too much on me.