TriWaco Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

There were 95 people in my wave based on the race results link. The starting line was about 15 yards wide. I ended up close to the left edge but had a row of people in front of me. The start was very chaotic. Arms and legs everywhere. Not unusual at the start but this continued just about the entire swim. I had a few hundred meters on the return without anyone to impede my progress. Rounding the buoys was a cluster. Lots of people and seemed like they were stopping. Open Water Swimming is a contact sport but this was more than expected. I passed lots of people in the wave before mine and was passed by a couple of people in the wave behind me. I think the swim was very good for me overall. I have put alot of time into my swim in the past 3-4 months. I was not really all that tired when I got out of the water.

Try to find more space although I don't know how that would be possible.

It was a fairly long run from the Brazos river to the transition area. Since this was an Olympic, I decided to go with socks so this cost me a few more seconds. Took a shark salt and took off. My bike was racked close to the bike exit so I had a really long run to my bike.

Figure out a way to take my Shark Salt once I get on the bike.

I thought the bike went very well for me. I have been very close to breaking the 20mph average. It was slightly uphill on the way out with some wind at my back. Coming back was downhill but wind in the face. My pace was very good. I got my nutrition in and drank a little over one of the two bottles of Acclerade I took with me. I was a little low in my age group for time. Everyone in my age group was between 18mph and 22mph so I wasn't very far off the fasted people in my age group. I don't know how the times would have varied if we had covered the full 40k. I felt really strong during the ride so I am confident I could have kept this pace the entire distance.

There were a few times where I had to get out of my aero bars and catch my breath. I need to stay with it as long as possible and keep my speed up.

Right about the time I jumped off the bike the first raindrops hit me. I got out of my bike shoes a little too far from the dismount line and lost a little bit of time. Getting into my running shoes was quick and I sped through T2 as fast as I could. The fastest in my age group was 1:09 and I was middle of the pack. I can't figure out what would have made me significantly faster except running like hell on the way out.

Not much.

The rain was killer. It was warm, raining and the humidity was obviously 100%. I don't think I drank near enough when I had the chance. The humidity was sucking the life out of me. My first two miles were slower than I wanted but as soon as I hit the hill, everything went south. It was very intense getting up the hills. I still managed them pretty well. When I got down the hill we had navigate a switchback to reach the bridge over the river. Mile 5 was very tough even though it was flat. My body wanted to quit but I kept going. Mile 6 was a little better with the finish line in sight. I was really exhausted when I finished.

I don't know. I think it would have been better to have the heat and no rain than the conditions we ran under. I just did not make any plans for this type of weather. I know I should have been a full minute faster per mile.

Not much. I was so exhausted I had trouble keeping my feet. I held onto the rail next to the mist fans for about 5 minutes. Drank some water and had a banana. Really suffered on the run for this race.


The rain and the humidity. I don't think I got enough liquid in my system and am surprised I didn't completely shut down in the last mile and a half.


Jack runs a very organized race. You can always count on that. I don't know about the post race activities. Everything was soaking wet and I just wanted to go back to my room and sleep. I wish the conditions were better.