Lone Star Triathlon Festival - TriathlonOlympic

Actually swim!

Started off frustrated because of the format. I was #1277, which put me as the 27th person out of a 748 person field heading out. I knew from the start I would be out front, while the rest of the field would be getting a nice legal draft from the cluster. Heck, if you're starting in the back of the field, you couldn't drafted just about the entire race legally! Nothing I could do about this however.

Passed nearly everybody I was going to pass before I even made it out to Seawall. The road was a bit rough here, so I never really stayed in aero in order to avoid rough areas of road surface. Starting out on Seawall, I noticed we had pretty much a direct crosswind. Gusts were pushing me pretty hard. Hard enough for me to lose my balance a couple times. I saw my HR was hovering around 170, but I wasn't really using alot of muscle to move. I knew my HR was high not only because of nerves but because I was spinning at 100+ probably. But I wanted to do this to save my legs for the run. Figured I have enough aerobic endurance to do so.

About 3-4 miles from the turnaround, I noticed it became much easier to pedal. And I could drop 2 gears at the same effort. This is when the wind shifted to become a bit more of a tailwind, still with a significant cross-wind. I muttered a few swear words because I knew the rest of the field was going to get a little more aid then I did. As I heard people discuss after the race, I heard the sprint people claim cross-wind while the olympic pack claimed tail-wind out head-wind back. I'm pretty sure I got mostly cross-wind out with a head-wind back unfortunately. Still, nothing I could do but keep on spinning.

Finally saw the first cyclist as I approached the turnaround and started counting. Didn't take long. I was in 4th. And I had 3rd place in my sights. But he was moving at a good clip. Considered sprinting to catch him, but knew that was a poor idea. Right around 32:15 at the turnaround. The headwind was noticable, and I started to grind a bit more than spin. But I still tried to keep the cadence around 95-100.

Reeled in #1321 who passed me earlier once we turned to head back to Moody Gardens. He was very lean, so I had a feeling he would be quite the runner. Pretty much entered transition with him right on my tail.

I was very pleased to keep my avg HR at 169. Very surprised as well. But I knew that I didn't use much strength, but rather aerobic capacity to get there by spinning a high cadence. In hindsight, I wish I would've grinded a bigger gear. Probably could've saved a minute or two.

Other than that, not much. I admit I was disappointed with this split, as I thought I had the capability to go 23.5 to 24.0 on this course. Need to start pushing bigger gears during training.

Haven't practiced dismounting fast since I crashed back in '07. Just got off with my bike shoes (I still don't have tri shoes since my dog/goat ate them). Ran to the rack. #1321 passed me running to transition.

This was awesome! Enough racks for ~750 athletes, and there was only 2 bikes. Had no problem locating my spot. Shoes off, helmet off, shoes on. Go. Pretty quick. Passed #1321 back in transition.

Nothing. I'm not going to crash again trying to flying dismount!

Started off wondering how long I could hold off #1321. I knew he was gaining ground, but it wasn't as fast as I thought it would be. HR was in the mid 170's and I was wondering how long I could hold it there. Couldn't really lengthen my stride, but I'm not much of a strider anyway. Just focused on trying to find some sort of early rhythm.

Passed mile 1 around 6:58. My goal was to hold 7 minute miles if possible, so I was doing good. Mile 2 at 14:02. Slowing down, but still hanging on. I was a bit confused by the course early. It's a bit tough whenever you are out there on your own and there is nobody to follow. The two guys in front were long gone, so it was just me and #1321 trying to find our way through.

Eventually I was getting passed by people in the next AG, but I wasn't too concerned. I just wanted to meet my time goal of 7 minute miles. Hit the 2nd loop knowing I couldn't hold it. Kept the HR up, but I was slowing down. By mile 5 I lost a bit of interest. My head kept telling me that it didn't matter. This wasn't a true triathlon with the cancelled swim, so why even bother running hard. Fought through these negative thoughts, although I did let up and start walking aid stations.

By the time I saw mile 6 and knew I had just about a 1/4 mile left, I tried to accelerate into a faster pace. Was able to hold it. Helps with all the people around the finish. Crossed the line and looked at my watch. Low 44. Didn't quite hang on to the 7 minute/mile pace, but I likely had a PR 10k. After seeing results, I did PR!

Not much. After reading 'Born To Run' over the winter, I really started to embrace running. I used to just tolerate it as part of triathlon. I even became so frustrated with running about a year ago that I quit for about 4-5 weeks, just because it wasn't fun anymore. But I somehow managed to find peace while running. I learned that it was myself and my head that was my limiter. After taking a new approach and realizing that running makes me feel free and that I can run faster if I desire to do so, I was able to gain much progress over the winter. So I am very pleased with this split.

Was greeted by Clint and his wife. And William and Adam. Complained about how much my legs and butt hurt! Signed up for a massage, but bailed because it took too long. Had a banana, and eventually a couple slices of pizza and salad.


I didn't intend on doing this race until about 5 weeks ago maybe. I had no intention of doing anything other than sprints this year. But I figured I'd give it a go since I still haven't ever raced an olympic. Yeah, 3 half-ironmans, 2 ironmans, but never an olympic. And I didn't plan on racing until late May. So I pushed the schedule forward to peak for this race. In hindsight, I probably missed a couple of solid build weeks that really would've helped me push the bike better.

Additionally, I was just fit on the tri bike about 3-4 weeks ago to a much more aggressive position. I believe my cycling muscles are still adapting to the new position.

Regardless, while this is a field for excuses, it is necessary to understand your weaknesses in order to focus on them in training. So I do need to work on pushing a bigger gear for extended periods. Overgear work. And I still need to work on run endurance at higher speeds.

Because I am now my own coach, with this being my first race ever writing my own plans, I hope that I can maintain the focus to follow through with them and not stray away with poor quality workouts and workouts that do not address my weaknesses.


Good race. Excellent venue! Moody Gardens is a very neat place to have a race. And while I know safety is an issue, I think the swim was cancelled in haste. It's a tough decision to make with so many athletes competing, but I feel the best decision would've been to wait it out. The weather would've cooperated if we held off an hour in my opinion. Additionally, I feel the sprint and olympic was neglected in favor of the 70.3. This is understandable, given the circumstances.