TexasMan Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

I took off a little faster than normal to get out of the mass of humanity. After the first 200 meters, I fell into the tempo set on my tempo trainer. I had it set at a cadence of 52. I probably sighted the bouys half as much as usual. The other half I just used the other swimmers as I turned to breathe. On the far end of the course, the water got pretty choppy. I had a few times when I turned to breathe and got a face full of water. Then sometimes you could get in a rythem riding the waves up and breathing. Overall this was a very good swim for me. The last Olympic I did my swim time was the same, but that was with a wetsuit.

Nothing

10/24 in AG, It was a fairly long run from the lake. I actually ran past my rack and a slight panic set in as I back tracked and found my bike. It only cost me 5 secs at the most. I took time to put socks on and everything else went on smoothly. I ran with the bike to the mount line and did the flying leap.

I need to get a flag mounted to a clamp to really make my transition spot stand out. Maybe even a Hawkeye flag.

I wanted to keep my HR between 140-145 for this ride. As usual, it takes me a while to get my HR down. Finally at the first big down hill, I was able to get my HR in the zone I wanted. For the rest of the ride, I was able to keep my HR were I wanted it. On the ride I saw Marcy, Steve, Doug and John. I saw John on his way back from the turn around. All I thought of was "Man, he had a fast swim. I need to haul ass to catch him especially since he is faster on the bike". Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful ride. I did a good job of legal drafting every chance I got and stuck to my schedule of eating and drinking as I had planned.

Nothing

5/24 in AG. I probaly took my feet out a little early but no big deal. As I was running to my spot I hear someone call out my name, I glanced back to see Clint and Aaron. As always, thanks for the support. I got my bike racked, shoes on, visor on, hydration in hand, and I was off.

Leave my feet in the shoes just a little longer.

My legs felt really good right from the start. My plan was to keep my HR at 155 until the turn around and then crank it up from there. It sure was nice running in the shade. What a difference from the Disco Duathlon. I just tried to keep my pace, with good form, and slowly pick off other runners while staying hydrated. Every aid station I would also dump a cup of water on my head. I like doing this to stay cool. On the run I saw Marcy, Jill, Doug, Cliff, and John. I saw John before I got to the turn around and he said something to me about women's panties as I went by. He may have said that he was wearing women's panties and he could not run any faster because they kept crawling up his ass. But, I can not be sure of that. Normally the thought of John in women's panties would totally throw me off my game, but I knew he said it to distract me. So with all my might I erased the image from my mind and returned to the task at hand. I was pleasantly surprised when I came up on two girls that were telling everyone that they were at the turn around. Based in the Disco run, I was expecting it further down the road. After the turn around, I picked up the pace. I wanted to run the second half faster than the first half. So I get back on the road, into the park, and come up on John. When he sees me beside him, he grabs my arm and jumps up to try and deliver an elbow drop to the top of my head. I turn my head to the side and his elbow glances off my shoulder. I then reach around and give him a titty twister that makes him release his grip on my arm. I took off leaving him rubbing the pain out of his mammary. I get to the point were we turned off the concrete trail onto the road leading out of the park. I guess my brain went back to the Disco race and instead of turning left, back onto the concrete trail, I kept going straight like we did at the Disco. There was no sign telling me to turn left or a volunteer directing me to turn left and I do not see any other runners either turning left or going straight. I get about 2 secs past the turn and one of the volunteers yells at me to turn around. Well, I go on a cussing hissy fit telling them that they should have someone there directing the athletes. I feel bad about it now. I should have at least yelled out asking if I should turn there. I get back on the trail and I am having a hard time breathing. I look at my HR monitor to see that I am about 10 beats higher than I want to be. I have to tell myself to calm down and do not blow your race now. It takes about a minute and I feel back to normal. Since we are back on the concrete trail, I know there is not that much further so I pick up the pace a little more. As I get to the home stretch, I go full speed. I turn the last corner to hear Clint and Gina and cross the finish line to the announcer pronouncing my last name wrong for the umpteenth time.

Nothing, this was the best triathlon run I have ever done. I bested my previous 10K, in an Olympic, by 4 1/2 minutes.

Got some hydration and walked over to Clint and Gina to cheer on the rest of the BTers. On a funny side note, when I get back to my truck, I look in the mirror to see that my hair is all wild-assed. As I touch it, it feels like I put too much hair gel in it. Well, I did not put in any hair gel since I took a shower the night before. Obviously, one of the cups of water was not water. I did not even realize that I dumped a cup of gatorade on my head.


The swim. I just need to keep working at it and get the occasional lesson and I will get faster.


The perfect weather sure helped make this a good event. By the time I made it over to the food area, there were only glazed donuts left. I sure hope they had food set aside for when the HIM athletes finished. I would be really upset to spend 5-7 hours racing and not have any post-race food.