Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

The swim was cancelled due to high winds and a very rough bay. Ended up being kind of a buzz kill because I was ready to race. I haven't open-water swam in many years and was looking forward to seeing what I could do after training in the pool for the past four months.

Get some open-water swim time before the next race.

No transition time because the swim was cancelled. We had a time-trial start on the bikes.

Continue working on mounting the bike with shoes already attached to the pedals. I had already decided, prior to swim being cancelled, that I was just going to put my shoes on and run the bike out.

Started out fast on the bike with a nice tailwind then had a crosswind the entire time on the seawall. Made some passes which made me feel really good and I thought I kept a good pace throughout considering it was my first race.

Continue training with headwinds and work on getting cadence up into the high 80's. I'm going to start riding with the 18+mph group at Bike Barn on Saturday mornings.

Pulled my feet out of the shoes about .1 miles from the Bike In, but had to stop abruptly at the line because some people were having trouble getting off their bikes. Jogged through the transition area and racked, slipped on my running shoes (Yankz made this take no time at all). Took a shot of Hammer gel, grabbed what was left of my Gatorade bottle and jogged out of the transition area.

Nothing, I couldn't have been happier with my first Triathlon transition. I was in and out faster than I thought I'd be.

Took off running at a descent pace but almost immediately started getting cramps, both in my calfs and in my side. Continued pushing through and never stopped jogging although I was going very slow for a lot of the run. Started to get blisters on the inside of the arches on both feet about half way through. Sprinted the last 400 yards, passing about 8 people on my way in. That was one of the most exciting moments of my life.

I made two mistakes in the run, doing two things I had never trained for. I took a shot of gel just before heading out, I'm pretty sure this is what caused the cramping in my side. And didn't put on socks for the run, I've never trained without socks but wanted to speed my transition. Obviously this was the cause of the blisters. I will continue training without socks and will work on improving my race nutrition to avoid the cramps, both muscle and side.

Relaxed with some friends who competed with me and some that came to watch. Enjoyed the moment for a little while and drank some water. I really wanted a BLT (I have no idea why) so we headed to Denny's right after the race. Next time I will stay for some of the post-race activities and meet some of the people.


Made two mistakes prior to the run that I think added about 1.5 minutes to my regular pace, but it was a great learning experience. I will spend more time in the pool (a very weak point in my training for this race) and will spend lots of time doing Bricks every chance I get. For my first race, I'm very happy with my performance and I believe I have become a triathlete for life.


Everyone was great during the race; the volunteers, the crowd, and the other athletes. I felt like I belonged and had a great time. I wish the expo on Saturday would have been a little bigger with more sponsors showing off the goods.