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 Swim
Comments: I swam ok, although my goggles fogged up a bit even though I spit in them like usual (and they don't usually fog up) and I lost sight of the finish after rounding the last buoy. I looked up and took my goggles off for a second and spotted the finish, and noticed I was about 50 yards off course. OOPS. What would you do differently?: Stay on course maybe? :)  Transition 1
Comments: T1 was a little slow, this was the first sprint I've done with a wetsuit. But I think I did ok unzipping and getting the arms out while running towards transition, and then pulling one leg off and stomping on the wetsuit to rip the other out. No flying mount though, as I tried to practice it a few days before in my driveway and had an EPIC FAIL. Missed the seat entirely and landed on the back of my leg on the brake/rear tire. So I may need to practice that a bit more... and possibly get some tri specific shoes that are a bit easier to get in/out. What would you do differently?: Not much, just move faster and try the flying mount sometime.  Bike
Comments: I could have/should have (yeah yeah, I know) ridden much faster. I was just hurting for some reason, maybe it was the headwinds. But those hills were deceiving, that's for sure! What would you do differently?: Come out and ride the course a few times to know what to expect. Transition 2
Comments: I thought I did ok here, running with Look cleats back to my spot. I had a longer run than most, both in and out of the bike in/out. Just threw on the Kinvara's and took off. What would you do differently?: Learn the flying dismount!  Run
Comments: Overall good run. There was one dude in front of me for the first 1.5 miles or so (which were mostly uphill), so I stayed behind him until the turn around and then just let the legs go on the downhill and let gravity do its job. Overtook him and a few other guys for a pretty good finish. Talked to that dude after the race and we had a good laugh about what a cluster the course was. What would you do differently?: Not much, felt pretty good. Post race
Warm down: Nothing really. Got a warm bottled water that they handed to me. What limited your ability to perform faster: Not sure what happened on the bike. Just need some more TITS I guess! :) Event comments: Overall there were some things I liked that HITS did. The transition area was cool. And the RD was really friendly and was doing his best. I don't really care for the single year AGs, nor that they take your birthday as of Jan 1 of this year. Just stick with normal USAT rules that work fine. The course was a cluster, and it was poorly marked. Being mis-directed didn't help my feelings about the course any either. I'm also wondering about the results. I was counting the people at the run turnaround, and I was in 10th place at the turn around. I passed 3 people from there, putting me in 7th. They originally had me listed at 9th, and then the next day at 11th. There were only two waves, male and female. I did get chicked by two females, but that doesn't account for the 4 place discrepancy from 7th-11th. No big deal, I just think its weird. After reading all the reviews on this series, I'm not really surprised about how this race turned out. But I don't think i'll do it again, especially with the high entry fees. Last updated: 2012-04-18 12:00 AM
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United States
HITS Triathlon Series
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 11/198
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 1/
Came into Marble Falls the day before with family. We stayed at the HI Express which looked new and was pretty nice, only about a mile from the race start. We checked in, went down to pick up our packets and checked out the "Expo". Not much of anything really, but I wasn't expecting that much. The transition area was pretty cool though, everyone had an assigned spot and there was lots of room. They provided a little stool to I didn't use it for anything. Seemed like a waste of time to me. Drove the race course, which helped a little to see the hills and terrain on the bike course, but didn't matter for the run course because they changed the course at the last minute, putting it on the same course as the bikes! What a bad idea and potential huge Charlie Foxtrot. More to come on that... Anyway, we swam at the hotel pool with the kiddies then ate dinner at the Blue Bonnet Cafe, which was supposed to be THE place to go in Marble Falls. Not so much. Food wasn't great, service wasn't great, and wifey found 3 hairs in her food. Won't be going back there anytime soon. Next time we come to Marble Falls in July for a trail run and tri, we'll stay at the Hampton Inn on the lake near all the other resteraunts.
Opened the race packet later that night and found everything was a bunch of stickers! Race number, ID bracelet, even a "tri tattoo" for numbers (there was no number marking at the race except for those who didn't get their number tattoo on). The tattoo thing was kind of cool and different, but having to assemble all these stickers was a huge PITA! Another swing and a miss for HITS. Went to bed around 10 once we got the kiddies all wrangled up.
Got up around 5 am, put on my number tattoo and got ready. Went out to the transition area around 530 or so. Traffic wasn't too bad, parked just down the road from transition. Got everything set up and saw Rachel walk up. We chatted a bit, shared some smack talk, and then got ready for business! Put on the wetsuit and went into the water for a bit of a warmup swim. Water felt great and the wesuit was good, no restriction in arm movements. When it was time to race, I got in the water and we waded/treaded water for a few minutes until the gun went off.