Old College Tri - TriathlonSprint

I wasn't sure how well this would go since it's a 50m pool and my time is significantly faster than previous races. My race number was 75, by far the lowest number I've had. To put it in perspective, I think my race number at my first pool swim was like 335 or something. I got in the water and took off when they said 'go', and I started swimming far too quickly. Between the nerves & the fast start, I nearly horked in the pool less than 100m in. I tried to concentrate on just gliding and that helped bring me back to reality a bit. I also got a boost when I realized I had caught up to the guy in front of me. He was kicking away and I passed him using just my arms(which is my usual stroke). That's always a nice feeling. All told I passed 2-3 people and was passed by 2 people, so I was in pretty much the right spot.

Maybe not start out so quickly, I was starting to fade a little at the end.

This would have been quicker if I had practiced. Being that it was my first race of the year, I was a little scatter-brained when picking everything up and my time suffered. Still, my T1 is always long so the fact that I kept it under 4 minutes is a good sign.

Maybe bike without socks on; if I had confidence my chest strap would stay on in the swim I would have put that on beforehand.

I had recently adjusted my bike seat but hadn't tested it out since...you can imagine how the rest of this story is going to go. The angle was all wrong, like severely wrong. Any man can understand the pain I was dealing with, not to mention the mild terror that losing feeling in Man's Real Best Friend can invoke. It was a bad situation, one that would have been untenable in a longer race. Since I only had 12 miles to go I just pushed through it as best I could, but I have no doubt my time would have been faster if the seat was in the right spot(or even a reasonably close spot). The ride felt so short(in miles, not in pain) that I had to ask Karen near the end of the 2nd loop if there was another loop. For some reason 20k wasn't adding up to 12-ish miles in my head.

Get a working trainer so I can test out the new bike seat configuration.

It helps when your spot is close to both the 'bike in' and 'run out'. Combine that with the lock laces and I'm in and out pretty quickly.

Nothing.

All I wanted for the run was a sub-10 pace, and I wasn't convinced it would happen prior to starting. I was going to let my HR dictate the pace, plus I wasn't sure how long the bike pain would stick around. I was fortunate on both counts, my HR stayed solidly in Z3 even when I was hitting a 9 minute mile so I went with it. I got passed by an Aggie who said "Gig 'Em" as he passed(I was wearing my UT jersey). I briefly thought about going after him but I was only on my first lap around the pond so I stifled that pretty quickly. Not 2 minutes later I was passed by a Longhorn who said "Hook 'Em", to which I replied "Go get that f*cking Aggie". He chuckled and sped up a little. I have no idea if he caught the guy, but I think he tried. Anyway the run went well, I kept a solid pace and my HR was doing well.

Not much.

There should have been more pancakes. They were doing a good job of making them, but a greedy Aggie(a different one, but a much bigger douchebag) decided as I was getting ONE he needed a THIRD(which was also the last one that was ready). This wasn't a case of him not seeing me, we were standing shoulder to shoulder and he told the cook to give him the third AFTER I got my first. He then mumbled a half-hearted "sorry" and walked off. I hate Aggies. None of that is DA/DSU's fault, I just wanted everyone to know how big a d*ckbag Aggies generally are.

I liked the course overall and will probably do this one again next year. It's a fast course and I bet I can drop a couple more minutes off my time in '09.