Capital of Texas Triathlon - Olympic Course - Triathlon

The swim start was chaos, of course. Lots of kicking, grabbing, etc. People were passing me left and right. About 250 meters in I found my rhythm, but couldn’t believe how far toward the back of the pack I was. About halfway through I got passed by a few people from the wave behind me . . . not too encouraging. I did, however, start to pass a few people from the wave in front of me, and one guy from the wave 2 in front of me. I felt good in the water, never tired, always plenty of energy. Almost every stroke resulted in my hands coming up with some weeds or other crap on them. Not great water for a swim.
I was all over the place. My sighting is absolutely terrible. I probably added 100 m to my swim just by not swimming strait. I finished up the swim about 3 minutes behind my goal time, which all in all isn’t bad.
Honestly I think I could have pushed more on the swim. I felt great coming out of the water.

Pushed harder, sighted better/more often. Not swim so wide.

A LONG run from the swim to my bike. Lots of mud. That wasn’t cool. I had decided at the first to take my time in transitions to make sure I didn’t make a mistake. My bike was very close to the bike out, which was lucky. I got to my bike, put on my headband, sunglasses, and aero helmet. I sucked down 1/2 a gel, drank some water, and headed out.

I mounted fine, shoes attached and got into them without much of a problem. The course was fun. A little windy, and a couple of hills, but fast. I alternated drinking at 10 minute intervals, and switched between water and Perpetuem. I took in a salt stick at the 30 minute and one hour mark. During my first drink, I dropped my stupid water bottle on the course. I stopped, laid the bike down, and picked it up. Cost me probably 1:30. Idiotic.
On the last lap the course got really crowded. Uncomfortably so. People were riding 5 wide at points. On my last lap I took my foot off the gas a bit to save some for the run. Coasted into the end without a problem and did a flying dismount without a hitch. Quick run back to my rack.
My bike goal was 1:30, which I crushed. Despite my back of the pack ranking, I am happy with my bike. I am still least familiar with this aspect of the race and I have a slow bike. I am ok with that.

Not drop my water bottle.

Another slow transition. I opted to wear my Sauconys instead of my PI tri shoes. I rubbed Body Glide on my feet, and threw on my socks and shoes. I had the rest of that gel, took in another salt stick, drank the rest of the Perpetuem, then some water. I toweled off and sprayed sunscreen on again. I might as well have been having a picnic. I grabbed my visor and number and jogged out.

Moved faster, more organized.

Started out slower afraid of what the run course had in store for me. The good news was (hydration wise), I had to pee almost immediately. I swung through a port-o-potty at the beginning.
About a mile in I fell into a rhythm. It was humid, but I felt good. At every aid station I would drink some water and dump some on my head. About 1.5 miles in I saw my wife and friends. That helped tremendously. I felt great after that. I hit the first mile marker right about 9:23, which was surprising.
As I crossed back over the bridge (about 2.5 miles in) my right quad started locking up. At the halfway point I was going to have my last gel but I couldn’t stomach the though of more sugar. I reached back to grab my last salt stick and the bag was empty. What a mystery. I think it probably dissolved in my pocket after maybe getting some water on it that I was dumping on myself. I finished the first 5k well ahead of my goal pace of 10 mpm, but knew I would have to run a 5k PR to break 3 hours for the course. I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Still, I felt good on the run. Really good. The quad pain came back 2 other times, but went away after pushing through. I finished the run strong, and felt terrific afterward.
I am extremely happy with my run. I ran a 9:13 pace, which is well above expected.

Nothing.

Saw friends, got water, coconut water, and got my stuff out of transition.


Familiarity with this course/distance. Overall, nothing really.


For the amount of money that this race costs, I don't see what the hype is outside of the fact that pros are running it. The race was not organized well. There was never a word on when transition would close (they announced it on facebook the night before). The expo and packet pickup were average, at best. I have run more efficient races with better swag for half the price.
Saying that, it was a fun race all-in-all . . . I just expected a little more for a race of this caliber.