The Austin Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Swim course was definitely a little long, everyone's times were slow and I know I wasn't going 1:27/100m. I didn't push very hard, think I was around 1:20/100m, who knows maybe there was something funky with the currents :) I lead the first 1/2 of the swim for our wave and realized someone was drafting off me, so I slowed down and got on their feet for the rest of the swim. I liked the Zoot speedsuit (thanks to Justin for letting me borrow it!), don't really know if it made me faster or not but I liked being able to wear my run jersey in the swim without it dragging.

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There was a ramp steeper than any hill on the course to get out of the water. Was not easy after having your equilibrium horizontal for ~20mins, I ended up literally crawling up it on my hands/feet. Was a very long T1, some people measured it with a Garmin and said roughly 0.25mi run. I was glad to have worn my socks in the swim, lots of dirt/rocks that wouldn't have felt very good. Speed suit off, sunglasses/helmet on, slipped on shoes and was out of there...

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Yet another race without a bike computer, I had my powertap this time but it was messed up... it would power on, connect, shutoff and repeat. I never saw a single number on that computer the whole ride so I rode conservatively. Was planning on eating a powerbar on loop #2 but talked myself out of it. I didn't think my body would react well to it so I skipped it and thankfully was fine the rest of the race. I could have definitely pushed harder on the bike but who knows how it would have affected my run...

Need to figure out my powertap computer's problem and make sure it's fixed by Longhorn. No powerbars during races, I like them on training rides but HR is lower there. Will be switching back to shot bloks for races.

Thankfully I was only the 4th rack in from the bike entrance so most of my T2 was running without my bike. Grabbed my hat, race # and Garmin.

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I looked at my watch coming out of T2 thinking there was no way I'd hit my 2:08 goal and will be shooting to just beat last years time (2:10). Spent the first mile getting into a comfortable pace and controlling my breathing. Finished the first loop, looked at my watch and thought damn I might be able to pull this off. Tried to pick up the pace a bit on mile 4 but legs would have none of it, quads were starting to cramp so I backed off and maintained for mile 4-5. Mile 6 I knew it was down to the wire so I picked it up and legs were not happy, told them to suck it up. Last 1/2mi I went to a near full sprint for me (looked at Garmin after race 5:32/mi pace for last 0.5mi). As I entered the finishing shoot I saw the race clock at 2:18:42 (started 10min back) and knew I made it. The biggest surprise of all for me was it was my RUN that allowed me to make the time.

Nothing, by far my best run of the year!

Walked around, cheered on friends, drank beer and ate a lot of food :)


Wasn't tapered for the race, just a recovery week.


This is my 3rd year doing this race and so far have continued to improve every year (2:34:18, 2:10:44, 2:08:47). First two years the swim was wetsuit legal and was my taper A-race for the year so I was very happy to still beat my time from last year. This is a very well put on race and would recommend it to anyone.