Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Quarter - TriathlonOlympic

Had some GI issues right at the start and never got into a good rhythm. Started getting discouraged about my ability to swim even moderately well, and had to work at getting past it. Finally started feeling better, but I couldn't make up much time.

Had to breaststroke at times to get settled down, catch my breath and to sight.

I didn't swim efficiently and my sighting was poor. There were some minor choppy waves, but the salt water in the mouth wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

Swimming is definitely not my strong point and my time showed it. Predicted 21 minutes, came in at ~28.

I was really glad it was done.

Should've had a better swim, but didn't. No excuses.

More OWS practice. Do OK in the pool, but still a LOT of work to do in OWS.

Little bit of distance between the water and entrance to T1, walked for 25 yards catching my breath. Got stripped, and took a few seconds to wash my face off in the shower and get a drink of water.

Decent time, but nothing to brag about. Went smooth enough. Wearing a tri top during the swim and going without socks saved quite a bit of time.

Doing the running tap dance in bike shoes on concrete always sucks.

Nothing today, but warm weather is here and it's time to start perfecting the shoes on the bike mount.

Pretty stiff headwind going out. Mentally, I was totally cool with it; it sucks for everybody, but it's not going to bother me.

About a mile into the ride, hit a bad bump and lost my bottle of Nuun water. Still had my aerobottle with G-ade, so I'm OK.

Had a steady ride going and averaging about 16mph into the wind. Then, at about mile 12, the rear tire flatted. Dang it!

Oh well, I've got my repair kit; after cursing my misfortune for about 2 seconds, it was time to go to work.

Get the tire and tube off; piece of wire big as Dixie stuck in it. Had some trouble with the CO2 inflator and almost blew up the tube/tire. Ended up with the tire at about 60 psi. Whew, close call.

Fumble around getting the wheel back on, but I'm finally back on the road. While my bike was laid down, all my G-ade poured out of the aerobottle. Picked up some water later at an aid station, so I thought I was going to be OK.

Didn't time it exactly, but I lost about 8-9 minutes. Oh well. There were a LOT of flats today, I was just one of many.

Once we reached the turn around, the tailwind made life a lot easier. Was able to make up a little bit of lost time, but the under-inflated tire was costing me some efficiency.

Brought it on in with no further incidents. Loosing the Nuun and G-ade was going to come back to haunt me later on the run.

Predicted 1:28, came in at ~1:38.

Not get a flat would be near the top of any list. You would've thought 4-1/2" of rain the day before would've washed the roads off, but I guess not.

Use a 12 gram cartridge on the inflator and instead of a 16. The 16 is almost too much and kind of tricky to control.

All in all, I'm pleased with the ride despite the flat. Physically, I was dialed in, and might have met my time goal, but today just wasn't the day.

Very good T2. 5th fastest in AG.

Nothing.

I always fly through T2 so fast I keep thinking I'm forgetting something... Haven't yet.

Started the run with a hydration deficiency due to loosing all my liquids on the bike course. Wasn't all that hot, but I've learned that it can be deceiving.

I drank at least a cup of everything at the first couple of aid stations to try to get my electrolytes built back up. Found my pace and got into a good running rhythm.

Around mile 4 started feeling a small, isolated area in the left quad that was starting to cramp; I thought, "Oh crap, here we go."

Took it easy, thought positive thoughts, ate a Carboom gel from one of the aid stations, drank some water and G-ade, and slowly, the cramp subsided and never developed into anything much more.

Wow, close call. I hate cramps more than I do flat tires.

At mile 5, got motivated by a guitar player who was doing a pretty good job with The Allman Brothers' "Jessica" and started picking up the pace.

When I finally knew the finish was actually close and there wasn't yet another loop, I kicked it in and finished strong.

Not much really, I ran to my ability and race conditions.

I had predicted 51 minutes, and I nailed it.

Nothing special; walked around, found my wife, got something to eat and drink, snapped some pics. Chatted with some BT'ers.


Poor swimming, poor swimming, and poor swimming.

Oh, and the flat tire limited it some, also.


A very well run race, you could tell it was a first-class job. Weather played havoc with the sprint race on Saturday and the after-effects were still evident on the course for Sunday, but the RD did a good job in making everthing work.

Really cool meeting Marmadaddy and Ron. Talked with them at the expo and post-race. MANY thanks to those guys and all their work on this site. No way of telling how many millions of dollars of lost work productivity they have been responsible for.

Met a bunch of BT'ers, so many, that their "real names" and user names got all blended together. Luke, Kylie, Bill, The Bear, dodgersmom, Joe, Bonnie, coredump, jcagg90, doughboy, and others that I have missed or forgotten.

Where else in the world can you meet someone in real life for the first time whose blogs you've read on the Internet, and talk about peeing in your wetsuit while floating in the water before a race. ;-)

Good folks, all.

Great early season race and will definitely keep it in mind for next year.