Stonebridge Ranch - TriathlonOlympic

First time in my wetsuit this year. Probably wouldn't have worn it, but I wanted the practice for Longhorn HIM. The wetsuit felt kind of tight and it took me awhile to relax in it. I think I might be just a hair to small. Anyway gun goes off and we start swimming. Now before the race I was talking to my buddy Keith about how I have never had a problem with my wedding ring before...fore-shadowing...About 500M into the swim I was feeling great. Heart rate was down and breathing was normal, and I was about to start pushing. This is when I felt the ring slide off the first time. I was able to catch it by the last knuckle, Phew. But now what I have no pockets and I am in the middle of the lake. I swam 200m meters with my hand basically in a fist. Now for mishap #2&3 turned the last bouy and headed back towards the now risen sun. I forgot to spit in to my googles which were now fogged up and it didn't even occur to me that my clear goggle may not be the right ones for this swim. I looked up to find the next bouy and couldn't see anything...at all. I am swimming totally blind. NOw this is when I forgot about my ring issues and relaxed my hand. Sure enough I felt the ring leave my finger again. Instinctually I just reached out and luckily I caught it. Obviously I was gonna lose this ring if I didn't find some place to put it. I looked up and saw a Kayaker, he made eye contact with me and asked if needed help, well sort of...I gave him my ring to hold for me. Thanks kayaker guy, you saved my butt! Now I can get back to swimming. of course I still can't see. Swam off course a few times and had to stop twice to clear my goggles. Over all the swim felt great.

Next time I think I will not be racing with my ring. Also need to get some of the anti-fog stuff or just remember to spit. Not a fan of the clear goggles on a sunny day.

First time with wetsuit strippers, and I approve. Great practice for Longhorn. Long run to transition. Down the crazy hill, through parking lot. Sort of stalled out leaving, I felt like I was missing something.

Just relax. All you are doing is putting on shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and grab the bike. Not that complicated.

Bike was the best leg of the race. Crazy tough hill right out of transition and as you get to the top the wind starts. I seems as though the first half is up hill and into the wind then it is downhill all the way on the second half. Felt really good on the bike, but wasn't pushing it too hard. My legs seemed to not really be under me yet.

Ride more

Worst mistake of the day. Made a last minute decision to run without socks. I ran past the exit and had to double back to get out.

Pay more attention to the transition area In's and Out's Come up with a decision on the socks the night before the race and stick with it.

Run started out on the same tough uphill that we had to bike up. The same abdominal cramp returned for this run and didn't really ever go away. I had to walk the water stations and started to feel a little bit better by mile 3.5, but this is were the no socks decision started to bite me in the butt. I was working on 2 nice blisters on the arches of my feet. By the end I was having trouble running without a lot of pain.

WEAR SOCKS.

Warm down? I stretched a bit. Had a banana and some water. Then I was off to play my soccer game.


Lots of factors. It was a B race so I am still training, no taper. I had to deal with my ring, goggles, and poor visibility with my googles due to the sun and fogging up. The bike was alright. The run I gotta figure out why I am getting these cramps and I only get them on race day. Probably do more bricks to figure out what is causing them. AND WEAR SOCKS! That part really sucked.


I always have fun at this race and will probably do it again next year. To bad they ran out of food of the Olympic people. The sprint guys were pretty hungry I guess. And there was no pizza, I thought there was pizza last year. GREAT RACE!!!! I have learned a lot from this one.