Jeff & Brede’s Houston Racing Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I easily lost 30 seconds due to a big pack of slower people in front of me. It takes so much energy to pass when people don't stop at the wall that I had to sit back and wait. My head was pretty clear when I got out of the water, so maybe it helped to save a little energy for transition and the bike start but it was more than a little aggravating.

I may just have to seed myself higher to avoid the pack. My swim times have been steadily improving in practice.

I'd like to pretend that I'm much faster in transition and this time was a disappointment to me, but really it was pretty decent. I can shave off more time with practice and preparation, but I did okay. The biggest "fail" moment was when I realized I did not undo the Velcro on my bike shoes before the race, so I got a 6 second stupid penalty by having to take the time to undo them.

Undo the Velcro on my shoes before the race. At this point the investment in Tri shoes for my bike may be worth it. I currently have mountain bike shoes with three velcro straps and it would not feel good to ride without socks.

I didn't feel as comfortable on the bike as I expected, but I trained the least on the bike segment for this race. I also tried to pace myself a little more towards the end of the ride to be better able to transition into the run. I still had calf cramps and shin splints but they weren't near as bad as the prior race.

Train more on the bike.

I ended up with one shoe left on the bike and one shoe on.... weird. I un-clipped the one shoe out of habit even though I had unstrapped the Velcro and was ready to jump out of the shoes. Overall I got to my stall and got the shoes on quick with a quick sip of Gatorade.

Well, I'm going to work on perfecting the dismount with no shoes, but otherwise I was pleased.

This was almost a one minute/mile improvement over my last race in May and a minute and a half from my pace in this race last year, so I can't be displeased. I beat my best triathlon run segment pace by 4 seconds per mile and I know I can do better. The brick training helped, but I still had calf cramps and shin splints. My splits were much better for the final half of the run once everything loosened up.

I didn't do much after the race but talk to Dave Tessin and snack a bit. The My Fit Foods fare was really good.


As far as obstacles out of my control, the swimmers ahead of me did affect my time, but that is part of the challenge. Mentally, I was determined to pace myself a little so that I didn't have such a hard time on the start of the run. I think I backed off a little too much and will adjust for the next sprint race. My next Tri is an olympic distance and the pacing may be just right for that one.


As always I really appreciate the organizers and volunteers who make these events happen. This is a good race held at a nice venue. I'll be back - as long as they promise to change the shirts. The tech T-shirts were day-glo yellow last year and day-glo orange this year. They are awful. I look forward to getting new tech shirts at these races, but not this race. I guess the positive is that they are good running shirts because no one driving could say "I didn't see you", but you just can't wear them anywhere else. Seriously.... hideous shirts.