Capital of Texas Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

This was the only part of the day I wasn't suffering from the heat. I love the swim portion of triathlons. I do need to get a new wetsuit as mine chafes my arms horribly, even with body glide (which I forgot to pack!) Thinking about getting a short sleeve/pant suit.

Practice sighting in open water more often - that's really the only way to get better. I can't simulate open water sighting in a swimming pool well enough to make any progress. Also, pack body glide.

First of all, I get into my shoes before I get on the bike. I'm not that good - yet ;)
Secondly, I didn't rush through this transition. It was HUGE and all sandy dirt mixed with gravel. I had to sit down and wipe the inch of crud off my feet before I could put my bike shoes on. Hated it - gross. Also, I had one of the worst rack positions. Horrible.

Nothing. Maybe bring a bigger towel to wipe my feet on, and a bucket to sit on while I did all this nonsense.

This is where I'm confused. I mean...I know I was passed a lot, but I thought I'd averaged at least 15mph. I did pass quite a few people myself, but who knows what lap they were on? lol! Oh well, I guess the super strong wind slowed me down more than I thought. I also have to remember that this was a hilly course.

Nothing. Maybe lose some more weight so I don't have as much fat to haul around. Now, if my hubby would buy me an aero bike I'm sure that would help my times tremendously.

Again, I do not ride with my feet on top of my shoes, nor do I jump off my moving bike. I value my life, and don't want to get injured. Perhaps one of these days when I'm a badass.

Of course I was racked by the swim in, so my run in and out of transition was a long one - with bike shoes on at that, so yeah....it took me a while.

Nothing. I went as fast as I could.

They had zero ice, zero sponges, and the water cups were tiny. This pissed me off as my strategy involved ice.

I'm slow and the only way I'm going to get faster is to lose more weight and practice my run a LOT more. Who knows if I'll ever get faster....I'm sure I will at some point.

Nothing. I didn't push it due to overheating concerns.

I collapsed into a chair underneath a tent.


Inexperience, slow runner, HEAT, wind, and still 20lbs overweight.


I won't be back to this race. It's like the organizers didn't care about anyone but the pros/elites (who had carpet down around their sandy transition area). They also ran-out of finishers towels before I could get one. But mostly, and I'll quit complaining about the race organization, the heat in Austin is just too much. Maybe if they held this in early April. But the final straw was the horribly huge transition. It was just awful. Horrible. Nasty. Crowded.

It was fun swimming in the river and riding the streets of downtown Austin. Next time I return to Austin it will be to enjoy their music and art scene, though. Very hip city.