Texas State Aquarena Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This is the coolest swim ever! In Aquarena Springs, a beautiful clear-water "lake". The water is so clear you can see all the way to the bottom. During warm-up I saw plenty of fish, and lots of plant life. An extra bonus is that you can see people's feet long before you reach them, and can easily avoid the breaststroke kick to the face.

The start is a TT type start, with each person leaving about 5 seconds apart. Its a surprisingly good way start a race given that you're almost never swimming in a crowd. I started #241, but the wait after the first swimmer entered was only about 20 minutes.

I dove in and just tried to maintain a long stroke and an even pace. I may have picked up the pace a bit on the second half. I'm sure I lost some time while enjoying the underwater view and not concentrating on the race...

I seemed to be swimming fairly straight so I didn't worry about sighting very often.

Not much. I was happy with the result.

#5 of 21 in AG, #54 of 298 overall. My suit got stuck for a few seconds on the timing chip, but the removal was fairly fast. Most competitors weren't using wetsuits, so I lost some time to them.

My rubberbands didn't break on the first few pedals out of T1. Broke them with my hands. Ouch!

Experiment with shorter rubberbands.

It rained on and off the entire ride, which was actually quite nice as it cooled the air temperature and me. I tried to keep my cadence between 85 and 95 most of the ride. My training seems to be paying off as I passed far more people than pased me. Unfortunately I got passed by a few in my age group...

The only negative on the course was that car traffic would go slow behind some riders, not wanting to pass. So I had to pass a few cars on the right. :(

My HR monitor was beeping non-stop, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I unfortunately never glanced at it, so I really don't know what it was reading. My breathing was under control, other than on some of the hills.

I didn't know the course beforehand (map not published!), and I had forgotten to reset my bike computer after the last ride, so I really had no idea where I was on the course. The turnaround at 8 miles seemed to take forever to arrive!

Note to self: Always reset bike computer before racing!

#7 of 21 in AG, 104 of 298 overall. I'm normally better in transition than this compared to others. I'm not exactly sure how I came out in only the top third overall..

I lost maybe 10 or 15 seconds by putting on socks (one of which I ripped while pulling it on!). Normally I wouldn't wear socks on a sprint, but I wanted to practice for longer races. (A 10 second drop in T2 would have placed me #4 in my AG.)

Not much.

My running is still poor compared to the other disciplines, but getting better. I ran at a 7:48 pace, a bit better than my last sprint of 8:08 three months ago.

My HRM was going nuts, beeping the whole run. Each time I glanced at it I was at about 170 or 171, just off the 180 that I calculated two months ago as my LT. I was pretty much going all out and couldn't seem to pick up the pace, breathing fairly heavily throughout. Oh, and it was hot and sunny (maybe at 85 degrees by then?) and I was starting to feel the heat too...



Figure out how to turn off the HRM beeping.

Nothing really.


Lack of any taper.


The great thing about this race is the swim. The race is worth doing just to swim in such clear water! Lots of volunteers on the ride and run, so mistakes were hard to make.

No security in the transition area. Guys with expensive bikes were probably worried.

Plenty of food afterwards, though I'm not sure people knew where it was. In the food area there was only warm soft drinks to drink.

The race benefits the Texas State University Triathlon Club. I think the triathlon was organized by college students this year (previously by Seidel Productions). Overall, I think they did a good job.