Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Quarter - TriathlonOlympic

I was pretty disappointed that the swim was cancelled due to wind. This would have been my first Olympic, so I guess I'll have to wait until Clear Lake to finally do one. By the time we started it was beautiful out, but I guess it's important to err on the side of caution. Funny thing is, the conditions in Galveston Bay were 10x worse for the Gateway to the Bay sprint I didn't hear about any mishaps there. Oh well.

N/A

After the swim cancellation I was ready to give the bike and run everything I had. I said forget pacing, I'm gonna hammer this thing out and if I bomb the run then so be it. Heading out to the seawall had lots of bumps and the pavement was tore up. My water bottle came loose from it's holder after hitting one of the speed bumps. Thankfully my aero bars caught the fat part of it and I was able to save it. I didn't want to stop and readjust so I just lowered my grip on the bars and held it in place with my wrists for the entire ride.
The first portion of the course along the seawall was newly paved, and the wind was off our hind quarter which helped push us along a bit. After the turn around the wind wasn't helping any more and the pavement got rough, so needless to say my average dropped considerably. I was hoping to average 20.5 for the ride so I was pleased to see it at 21.3 coming into T2. Overall it was a good, strong ride.

When we hit the seawall I thought the wind was a complete crosswind. If I would have known it was going to help on the way out, and hurt on the way in I would have pushed much harder on the way out. I really struggled to keep 19-20 mph on the way back, and could have used a higher average on the first half to help my overall pace.

I racked my bike by the handle bars, vice seat, for the first time. I don't know why I haven't been doing this all along, cause it's much faster. No issue getting my shoes on. Turned my race belt around so my bib was in the front as I was heading out of T2. Good transition.

Nothing.

I had run the 10k distance many times in training, but never done an actual 10k race, be it stand-alone of in a tri. My best time in training was 46:00 min on a treadmill, but I had never done an actual time trial to see what I was capable of. I figured I would perform well during the race with the adrenaline and all, but wasn't sure how the 25 mile bike would affect me. I told myself I'd be happy if I came in at no less than 45:00 minutes.
Coming off the bike I was sure my legs would be full of lead, but once I started I was pleased to feel unusually light on my feet. I settled into what I felt was about a 7:30 or so pace. When I hit the 1 mile sign I looked down at my watch and had to do a double take to make sure what I was seeing was correct. Apparently my pace estimate was a little off, and I had run the first mile in 6 minutes. I felt good, so I proceeded to run the next one at about the same pace. After that I figured I'd better pull it back a little and came to the half way point at exactly 20:00 minutes. The second 5k proved to be a bit more trying, as my legs started screaming at mile 4. At that point I knew it was gut check time, managed to struggle throgh the last two miles, and was pretty happy with my finishing time.

I really wish I could have HTFU and pushed a little harder in the last few miles, but I can't really complain, seeing how I crushed my target run time. I now know that I'm probably capable of running a sub 40:00 minute 10k, which is something I'm going to work towards by training harder in the run discipline.

Legs felt super tight, and I hobbled around for a while like a lost, drunken sailor.


It sucked not getting to do my first Olympic Triathlon after putting in a lot of work in the off season in preparation for it, but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and I had a good time and managed to surprise myself with a great run.