Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

many people were saying this was a long swim. my untrained eye says it looked longer than 500M but who am i. i chatted with DereckL on the beach before we got going, he was a few waves in front of me. once he was gone i saw this kid who was 1000% obviously a swimmer. so we talked alot. told me he swam 100 in 46.9. i was way impressed. he is planning to go to college swimming and told me he practices twice a day and does about 14000 yards. A DAY! to me that is pure insane but 46.9 is very good. there was some mixup at the start. there were some similar swim caps and all of a sudden there was a guy coming back to the beach from the starting bouys. he made it back suffering some cheers and good natured ribbing from the huge crowd, what sucked worse was that another guy realized from the beach that he was missing his wave. tried all he could to get there, ran, swam......the horn went off when he was about halfway there. i felt sick for him. he made it to the bouys and was breaststroking within 20 yards. then he turned over on his back and started backstroking. i couldn't watch anymore.

then it was our turn. i realized i didn't know how to fasten my wetsuit. i had spent a lot of time getting it up really far into my crotch so i knew it was ready but when i pulled on the string it didn't zip well. i quickly asked another guy to fix me up and two fellows got me straightened out. we were meandering on out and the starter announced "90 seconds" so we hustled on out. when he announced 30 it took me about 25 seconds before i got scared and then the horn went off. the water was murky green and of course i was looking for the stripe on the bottom. of course it wasn't there. i fell into a nice smooth easy stroke. there were lots of people in my wave and i had made a bunch of space so there was very little bumping.

i immediately went off course. i probably took 20 strokes before i sighted and found i was to the right of the pack by about 10-12 yards. i corrected and swam about 8 strokes and was still way right. this frustated me so i paused, re-oriented and went at it again. this repaeated multiple times. at one point i was out by a lifeguard on a surfboard and she tells me "you need to go that way" and pointed. i knew what way i needed to go but i just couldn't get there. i never would have imagined that i pull so hard to the right. is must be because i breathe on that side. i found a good landmark and headed towards it. knew i would waste time trying to get back to the pack and dreaded swimming with them anyway so i followed my line and finally got back in when 75% of the swim was done. i was happy because i wasn't tired and swimming by myself i could hear the water accelerating past me everytime i took a stroke. i started getting a little fatigued so i went slower and i could still hear the water so that was super encouraging. that and i could see i was making progress. best of all, i was passing people in blue caps so i knew i had caught the stragglers from the wave in front of mine. thats a first. in the past i would site and the landmarks would never seem to get any closer. this time that damned paddleboat was bigger everytime i looked up. got to the bouy and turned around it and fell into stroke right behind this guy. i hit his toes several times and i knew i was drafting. it got easier and i was catching him everytime i stroked. i didn't want to follow that close so i paused and i could still feel myself getting pulled a bit. i appreciated the free ride but i could see the exit now so i passed him and got out.

didn't see anyone resembling a wetsuit stripper at the exit. there was a guy trying to get his suit unzipped so i did it for him. he felt me and stopped then took off. i was like "dude, do me" and he unzipped me. i came out of that thing so fast and then i heard people calling my name from two different places on the run out. they had laid a long carpet of green astroturf for a path and it had to be 70-80 yards. i have never ran so fast after a swim. thank you for the cheers because if you can yell for me, i can perform for you! i was all smiles when i made it to transition and got ready for the bike. a sudden downpour started but it only lasted about 5 seconds....a warning for what was to come.



sight alot more. a lot

after the run out of the water i sat on the ground and kinda took my time getting my wetsuit off. it wasn't bad. i think i started thinking about how bad i got killed on the bike in my last race and i was kinda not wanting to start. i was walking my bike out and then the volunteers inside T1 started cheering and i took off.

i think as i get more conditioned i will be able to go faster. as it is though i am happy with this. only 5 guys in my age group had faster transitions and four of them had better overall times so i think 6th out of 51 aint so damn bad.

this bike ride was fun. a guy with a fancy intimidating bike caught me at the turn onto the seawall but i had already passed 20 people on the road out. i passed him back with in 100 yards and never saw him again.

this ride was fun. the wind was blowing but it was kindof a cross wind that didn't affect me that much. i could feel it but i just stayed aero and started crushing the field. i was passing people like they were stopped. to add insult to injury i would speed up more as i passed them just for the satisfaction. its cool how people don't look at you as you go by, they look at what you are riding. one not-so-satisfying thing about the Zipp clincher disc is that it doesn't make that demoralizing whoop whoop whoop sound so people can't hear you coming.

i must have passed 100 people on the bike. i started looking for the turnaround so i must have been getting tired because i wanted to be done. i kept seeing this mirage of the turnaround but suddenly i really could see it. there was a group of about 6 people all heading for the curve, i passed them all and took off towards home.

now the ride back was a little different. the wind, which was coming from the side, must have been hitting me from a slightly different angle because now i was affected by it. i was happy that i hadn't come up out of aero except for turns but i sat up for a second to see what it was like and yep, it was blowing. it knocked me over a couple feet a bunch of times but it was controllable and i just had fun with it. the people i was passing now looked like they were working hard and that made it more fun to pass them. now i have been talking all this shit about how good i was riding. suddenly i heard something behind me and it wasn't a car. as the bike went by i saw it was a girl. all i could do was shout "awsome" and watch her pull away. incidently, she came in 11th place overall and beat the next girl finisher by 8 minutes. i don't feel bad that the one person that caught me was her. anyway, her name was printed across the back of her suit. poetic, they let you know who they are as they whip your ass. as she pulled away i noticed that the view was magnificent so i found some power and enjoyed it for about 45 seconds before i let up. the turn to head back in was coming up in about three-quarters of a mile so i let her go because now i had to start thinking about the run.

after the turn, i couldn't help but get back in it because there were so many bikes to pick off. i wanted to get a few more because i knew they were gonna come back and get me on the run. i liked this course alot because it was very clear the end was near, i didn't have to worry about getting surprised by the dismount line. i started taking my shoes off and finished the last half mile on top of them. down the stretch there were tons of spectators who were cheering. couldn't let them down! sniped a few more people10 yards away from the line, jumped off running and almost couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

nothing

over thirty people in my age group had faster T2's than me. thats sad. i was not feeling the run though and was dreading getting started

get faster.

i was a punk on this run. my legs were bitching and i was having a hard time telling them to shut up. everything in me was screaming stop. i felt like i was moving slow as molasses. of course, my same friends had changed position and were screaming for me so i had to keep it up. about 600 yards in the run course turned into this avenue with high walls, protected from curious eyes and i gave in. i started wallking. as soon as i did though i regretted it and resumed. i probably walked 8-10 steps. people were not passing me as fast as i thought they would so i figured that it lonly felt super-slow, that i must be making some time. i wasn't really catching many people either though. a few guys here and there would get me. if i had to guess i would say 12 to 15 guys came and got me.

after mile one my legs started to loosen up and i was able to run comfortably and faster. i was happy now, re-passing some of the ones (2) who had gotten me and not getting passed anymore. never saw a marker for mile two so i consulted my stopwatch that i had turned on in T2 as i sat on the ground and tied my shoes. it said 20:00 so i knew i had about 5 more minutes to go at my now usual off the bike pace. i had looked up the run course and knew the finish line was near a certain building that i could see. i just didn't know exactly how far i would have to curve around before i could see it and i was deathly afraid of kicking it in too soon. i saw my coach Bonnie and she told me i was almost there and to go go go! i waited about 10 seconds and then i could hear the announcer so i took off. i took the final hundred at full throttle. i love spectators, i could hear them yelling and it made me go. i finished strong, almost an embarrasment to myself because i had too much left and should have left more out there on the course. i was extremely pleased that i was done.

suck it up and run, BUTTERCUP!

none, i sat down and waited for Sara and Bonnie who were all smiles.


lack of run base


this was my best performance ever and the best run race i have ever seen. i will definately do this race again.