Capital of Texas Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The swim beat me in my first and only previous attempt 2 years ago. I signed up for this event 8 days ago, attended an open water swim clinic Saturday and just went for it. I really think NOT training for (read obsessing over) this event kept me relaxed and able to get through the swim. Lots of little things, I was so intent on NOT worrying about the swim start that I nearly missed my wave. I now know I tend to stray to the right on the swim, I sight well though and corrected before going way off course. I nearly fell back into the water when a swim exit volunteer grabbed my zipper and tugged! Gratefull for the assistance, just didn't expect that one!

Now that I have proven to myself that I can swim, I can train to swim faster. I intentionally stayed well inside my comfort zone and now have plenty of room for improvement.

Since I did not train for this event and did not complete the swim previously, this was my first transition. I'll be laying out things a little different in the future. I was so pumped at just completing the swim I forgot to take any gel or drink during T1 and nearly left without sunglasses. Easily a good minute to take off here.

Practice transitions and get a better layout.

The ride was pure JOY! I was still high from completing the swim, talking to riders that I knew and spectators that I recognized. I had thought I could average around 22mph and was a little disapointed with 19.24. A little bike training ought to fix that. Probably 3-5 minutes to gain here with some training effort on the bike.

Train on the bike. I rode slower than expected and used up a lot more energy than I should have which cost me on the run.

Again, not having trained for the event, I was just winging it here. Sunglasses were tangled up in helmet straps and I nearly left without my bib for the run.

Put a little more thought into my layout and practice transitions.

Since I was in the last wave of the day, it was blazing by the time a got into the run. The biggest problem was not having looked at the course I had trouble figuring out how fast to go. I am capable of running 6:50s and did not really have any problems getting off the bike but just couldn't mentally push myself. Another 2 minutes to pick up here in the future.

Inspect the course and get off to a quicker start. I finished with a 6:30 mile so the first mile had to have been 8:40 or something. Maybe thow in a few brick workouts before the next event?

Found the family, they were HOT and the little one was getting grumpy so we hugged, got a pic or two and I headed back to get my stuff.


Not training for the event.


2006 has been a good year so far. I qualified for Boston and my Pikes Peak training is going well. But getting over the mental block of the swim in this race may be the biggest acheivement. I can now look at the triathlon as another event to work on and push the envelope. Who knows, maybe an Ironman is out there somewhere with my name on it!