Capital of Texas Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

This was my second open water swim, however the first one was only 200m - this one was (supposedly) 750m, so a big difference. I was pretty worried. Swimming (in a pool) is my strength, but I have fear/anxiety issues in open water. It was a bit chilly for me, but not cold. Didn't have much chance to warm up before, so I knew that I was just going to consider the first 100m or so as my warm-up and concentrate on working on getting my breathing under control in the cold water. It was tough at first, almost hyperventilated a couple times because lungs were constricting and I couldn't breath out in the water, but I kept it slow and easy and reminded myself that the feeling will go away - and it did. I'm sure when, but all of a sudden I realized I swimming. And I wasn't panicking either! I actually enjoyed the whole rest of the swim quite a bit. By far my favorite part of the race, I was actually sorry when it was over!

Finished dead middle of the pack for my age group, passed quite a few in the wave in front and only passed by one from the wave behind.

I would have had a much better time if I could have warmed up completely before the gun went off. The course seemed long, my time was WAY slower than I expected (a full 10 slower than I do the same distance in the pool) I know the olympic was long, but I'm not sure if the sprint was too or if it was just the lack of warm up and the open water that slowed me down that much. But honestly, I could care less about my time - my huge victory was making it through the open water thing with no panic attack!

Way too long. Twice as long as my first tri. But the run from the swim exit to transition was also really, really long. And the run from the bike out to the mount line was very long too.

I guess be faster, but I think a lot of it had to do with the distance we had to cover

The course was fun - over 1st bridge, down to Congress, up to the capital, around and then back to ceasar chavez. I loved riding up Congress to the capital, lots of spectators. I guess the course was crowded, but only being my second tri, I don't have much to compare it to. I didn't bother me, my main goal was just to stay as far to the right as possible and out of the way because I am SO slow. There were two significant hills (to me) on the course right by the capital, its a two loop course, so you had to do each one twice. Training in Houston I have never been on any hill. I was petrified I'd have to get off and walk and be so embarrassed. But I made it up them...then realized I killed my legs completely. They were just shaking after the last time. I took it easy the rest of course, but I knew that I blew my run.

I hate admitting it, but I was dead last in my age group on the bike. Yeah - I said I was SLOW and I meant it.

Train more on hills, but that's tough in Houston area. Somehow learn to be faster on the bike, more time, miles and training I guess.

Almost got nailed from behind by people coming in too fast at the dismount line. Another long walk/run back to transition. Felt like this one went fast, but again, time was twice that of my last tri. Got confused for a minute because someone put their bike where my stuff was, so I just put mine in the next closest spot.

Yikes. Toughest 3 miles of my life. My heart rate was WAY higher than usual coming off the bike (thanks to the hills I'm sure) And it was around 11am so it was already pretty hot. Worst 5K time ever, by far worse than training bricks or my other race. But I didn't stop and walk, I kept going, that was my goal. What motivated me was seeing people out there who were doing the oly. They started almost a full 2 hours before me, and there they were - still managing to keep going. If they could do that, then I had to keep going too.

Time was around middle of the pack for the run, but being last on the bike still meant I finished back of the pack overall.

Not kill my legs on the bike.

Got a water bottle and my medal, my husband took my picture, used the porta potty...then waited in the longest line ever to get back into transition for my bike. Didn't eat anything there, thought it might upset my stomach, just drank water.


I loved the race. I was a huge event (3 races) but I thought it was well run and well organized. Great swag - t-shirt, hat, socks, two water bottles, medal. I loved the venue and will definitely be back to do it again next year!