Tejas Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I waded in planning to stay behind the wave and outside during the start. I didn't execute that plan so well because I found myself in the middle of the wave immediately after the gun went off. I decided to just go my pace and not worry about others around me or those on top of me. The floating lake grass was sort of annoying especially the clump that got caught in my timing chip band.

I reached the turnaround buoy still in the middle of the wave but I didn't see it at first. So, after making a wide rounding I finally found myself on the outside and sort of by myself. Then the breathing got a little out of control and a mild panic feeling set it. I am extremely comfortable in the water, a lifeguard many years ago, and a scuba diver. This was a new experiance to me. I decided to go to a breastroke which didn't help much, considered rolling on my back, then my foot scraped the bottom. Oh, that's nice, I am only in 3 feet of water. That and the fact that I decided to just continue concentrate on swimming (freestyle) to the exit point got me through it.

My swim time surprised me. I thought I would be much slower. What I thought to be my weakest event turned out to be the strongest.

Train to swim 600m continuous non-stop at a higher heart rate. Also do some open water swims before the next event.

I didn't attempt the transition with shoes pre-clipped to pedals. Maybe that is for the future. Since I didn't have a tri-suit, I pulled on a jersey which was a bit difficult being wet.

Learn to do the transition with shoes clipped in pedals. Get a tri-suit.

I thought this would be my strongest event due to lots of biking experience in my past. But that was the problem, it was in my past and now I am old and slow. I passed almost no one, and I was constantly being passed by much faster and fitter triathletes. It didn't seem to matter if they were on tribikes or mountain bikes. All I heard was "Left...Left...Left".

The ride out was into a slight headwind. I picked up a high cadence which was comfortable and allowed me to get my breathing under control again. But my pace was agonizingly slow. I was down to 15mph at times - no good. At the turn, the tailwind allowed me to pick it up to 20mph or so and I started feeling better. I actually caught someone from the wave in front, and then swapped positions a few times with a guy who was old enough to be my father.

Opposite to the swim, what I thought would be my fastest turned out to be my worst event.

Ride, ride, ride, ride.

I thought I did good here but the keeping the shoe thing in the pedals has its obvious advantages. Again, I didn't try it here.

Again, learn the shoe in the pedal thingy.

I didn't expect too much from the run. I just wanted to trot through it without walking. That didn't happen because just after leaving the transition area, I grabbed a cup of gatorade from the water station, and the act of trying to drink it put my heart rate at max. On the other side of the lake, and hopefully safely out of sight of my family, I decided to walk for 100 yards. That helped, and I started running again which I continued to the end. The only problem with my pace was at one point I was behind someone walking and I didn't overtake him.

I guess I didn't study the map too well because I thought the course went around the lake twice. Well, after meandering east of the start area, I came to the Mile 2 marker, looked at my watch to see that my goal of 1 hr 30 min was still acheivable, and I decided to pick up the pace a bit. I made it to the finish at this pace and came across with just over a minute to spare.

run, run, run, run

Found water, hugged the family, gathered my stuff and walked back to the car.

Funny story here...the night before, my daughter and I got quite a laugh out of watching the youtube video of Lance Armstrong finishing the Galveston Half Ironman and totally ignoring his daughter trying to give him a medal. So, my daughter tried to test me by yelling DAD! DAD! DAD! just after crossing the finish line. I never heard or saw her.


I only trained for this for 10 days and my results show it. I think it is obvious that more training is needed. I am extremely motivated to do another, and I signed up for my next event in 8 weeks.


I can't wait for the next event. I will be back to this one next year.