TriRock Austin - Olympic Course - Triathlon

This lake was a mess. It was overgrown with Hydrilla. I don't mean a little Hydrilla. There were sections that were clean but it did seem that half the swim involved shaking plant life from arms and neck. Next, making the first turn 100 meters away was not good. I think the original course was to head up the lake for half the distance and return. The plant overgrowth may have created this problem. It was bedlam at the first two turns. About 100 meters after the second turn, I was able to get in a good rhythm without much traffic. There were actually several people lifted from the water in the first few hundred meters. I think the Hydrilla freaked out some people.

I am always too conservative on the longer distance swims and should pick up the pace. However, I did PR the swim going under 30 minutes for a mile swim so I am not really all that disappointed considering the fight with alien body snatching Hydrilla.

Everything looks good from my response. Not so fast. Cardinal rule #1 in triathlon. Do not change anything on race day that you haven't trained with. I borrowed a speedfil to use during the race and had not trained with it at all. I get my bike and start the run out of transition when my stops. My speedfil has rolled over and is wedged between the bike frame and the tire. The speedfil is attached with velcro straps. I try to fix it and run another 10 feet and the same thing happens. I lay the bike down and tear off the speedfill and run it back to my rack. What this means is I have no liquid for the bike portion of the race and hose dangling at my feet while I try to ride. Whole thing cost me at least a minute in transition.

Stick with what you know from training.

All I had on me were some honey stinger chews and a few gels. I ate the chews and one gel. The course is really crowded and the streets are rough in sections. I hit at least 35mph in stretches on Congress and Ceasar Chavez. Averaging 20+ on this distance is a PR for me. Good news to this point with the exception of falling woefully behind on hydration and calorie intake.

I needed my Accelerade and should have stuck with my traditional bottle set up.

The transition area is in an open fiield. You dismount the bike and have to walk across a gravel area before getting to some grass. I had a graceful one legged dismount and then realized I had to make my way barefoot to my rack. I may have liked a redo on this. Perhaps running in my bike shoes would have been a better alternative but it really wouldn't have made much difference. Shoes went on well, grabbed my cowboy hat and took off on the run.

Nothing much. Maybe stay in shoes considering the transition area was hard on the feet.

Here is where the wheels come off for me. I am racing the tri series and was third going into this race for my age group. My wife and son had a white board and let me know how far behind or ahead I was on the guy in second place. He typically passes me on the bike and I get him back on the run. I was about 3:15 behind out of transition. I really only wanted to stay within a minute of him considering the circumstances. My first mile was ok at 8:30 and I closed to less than 3 minutes. My second mile about 9 minutes and the gap was 1:30 but I was struggling. My body gave out during the third mile. I had to make a choice of pushing the limits and potentially not finishing which would end me for the series or play it conservative. I opted for the latter. The heat and humidity was working on me big time. I tried to drink and pour water on me at every aid station to keep me going. The bottom line is I was too far behind in my hydration and nutrition to maintain the pace for 6 miles. It was probably in the high 80s on the run but the real feel with the humidity had to be mid to high 90s. I ended up walking portions of every mile from there on out. The last three miles were at 11 minute pace. I ended up averaging 10 minute miles which is ridiculous. If I stayed on track, I should have easily been able to maintain around 8:30 minute miles. Nobody's fault but mine. It really stings to put alot of time and effort into training and let it all go downhill because I fouled up attaching a Speedfil.

Considering what happened on the bike, I did the best I could. I certainly would have really liked to know how things would have turned out if my nutrition was right.

When I crossed the finish line, I collapsed. The medical group put me in a cold pool. After about 10 minutes, I started cramping. they tried to work on my quads and hamstrings in the pool. I couldn't stand up. Finally, I got out of the pool and asked to lay down. They wanted to stretch me and then fired the cramps in my hammies and quads again. I spent the next 30 minutes with medical working on my legs and getting electrolytes in me. Worst cramping ever. On the good side, we went back to the hotel, took a shower and checked out. On the way out, I ran into Macca (Chris McCormack). He stopped and talked to me for a few minutes. I got a picture with him. Great guy so that was fun.


Failing to stay hydrated on the bike due to equipment failure.


Considering my medical issues, I can't really comment on the post race activities. The volunteers and medical staff were great. I really like racing downtown. The lake was a mess but that isn't the organizer's fault. The bike leg was really crowded. They had the entire road for the most part but is was dicey at times working your way through the pack. Wish the weather was better but everyone konws what they are asking for on Labor Day in Texas.