The Austin Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

What can I say? I need a wetsuit? When I first jumped in to the water I could hardly breathe. I felt like an asthmatic having an attack. The two minutes I got to spend in the water between our wave the first wave wasn't enough to get acclimated to the temp. The gun went off and I stuck my face in the water to start swimming. After two strokes I looked back up gasping for air. My chest refused to expand to allow any oxygen to enter my dwindling lungs. I tried this a few times before I realized it just wasn't going to work.

Then, I switch to survival mode. I flip over to my back hopefully to collect my thoughts as to what I should do. This worked pretty well by allowing me to acclimate and get my breathing normal, but I knew that I couldn't do this the entire 1500 meters. My legs would have been toast.

After probably 300 meters or so my breathing starts to become more regular. I'm getting used to the water temp. I flip over and start doing the breast stroke. I actually notice I'm not the only one having problems in my group. There were a few other red caps in the distance. Also, by this time I was swimming in a rainbow of swim caps. I don't know how many groups had passed me, but it was a lot. After about 500 meters I finally get used to the water temp and start into my crawl. Boy was that a relief. I started covering some ground.

Then, at about 900 meters, as I’m cruising along minding my own swim cap, I get a sound WHACK across the back of my head. The next thing I know it feels like Ric Flair has me in a head lock and he's just ripped off my goggles and tried to remove my nose plugs all in one fail swoop. Luckily I had read somewhere to put my goggles on first, THEN my swim cap. That little tip saved my goggles from coming off my head and sinking into the murky abysmal bottom of Town Lake. That being said, I also passed this one guy swimming sans goggles. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask what happened. He said “I’ve never swam with goggles. They put too much suction on my eyes and are uncomfortable.” Interesting...

The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful other than going way off course a few times and almost hitting the opposite shore line. I've found that I'm definitely not a candidate for the Polar Bear Club.

Get a stinking wet suit! Who would have thought that water could be that cold in the middle of Texas, IN SEPTEMBER!

I felt surprisingly good after the swim. I had some slight chaffing under my right arm from the repetitive swimming motion, and I was only slightly wobbly, but my heart felt low and I wasn’t exhausted. It was quite a haul from the swim exit to the transition area, but that was fine with me because it allowed me to get my land lubbers feet back underneath me. I probably spent a little too much time cleaning the mud and grass off my feet, but little did I know I was cleaning something a little more special off my feet too. To find out what, you must continue reading the rest of the saga.

Also, I got behind some slow pokes slowly jogging their bikes out of transition. We were on this narrow sidewalk and I wasn't sure if I should pass, so I didn't. It's not like it would have made a big difference any way.

Nothing.

Fun bike course. The downhills were quite thrilling for someone used to flat land. I got up to a whopping 36 mph on one. I felt pretty good on the bike. I did slightly better than my goal pace of 20 mph.

Nothing

T2 is where I discovered a little surprise. Remember me wiping my feet in T1? Well, when I looked down to put on my running shoes I noticed DOG POOP all in front of my bicycle. I had smeared it, smudged it, and I know my feet had to just wallow all in it when I came out of the swim. So, that’s why I’m thankful I wiped my feet off before putting on my socks and cycling shoes.

It was too late for my cycling shoes though. They had already fallen victim. One thing I would like to know is, was it on my shoes while I was riding? If so, did that enable me to pass more people as they fell back from the daunting smell? The world may never know.

Watch out for dog poop while choosing my spot on the rack.

Nice run. I got into a nice pace from the beginning. Whenever I would try to speed up I would get a side stitch so I just stuck with a steady pace instead of negative splits. My goal split was a 7:30, so a 7:34 wasn’t that bad off.

I talked to lots of people during the run. I bumped into a guy that did the Pearland triathlon with me. I remembered him because he was the guy I watched take a wrong turn on the bike and he went barreling off onto a neighborhood street. I slowed up a little bit to talk with him and introduce myself. I met another lady who had some pretty cool wounds on her back that were healing from a previous bike wreck. And yet another lady whose friends call her Pony. I couldn’t keep up with her so our conversation was short. Every time I went passed my pastor I got to cheer for him too. I think meeting all these people was one of the best parts of the race.

Also, by this point in the race I was getting really hungry and my stomach was hurting. I didn’t eat much granola for breakfast, so it was gone. And my quads were trying to cramp on the run. Next time I should probably take in more electrolytes on the run. I drank mostly water.

Eat more breakfast.

Walked around and talked to my pastor and one of his friends. As it turns out there was another guy from our church who had done the race as well.

Drank some Mountain Dew, went to the massage tent and got my quads worked on. Boy was that nice. Met a guy from Tennessee living in Austin, and another lady who had an asthma attack on the swim and got a DNF.


The swim, as usual. I know that I can swim faster, it's just a matter of doing it.


Awesome race. Plenty of nice volunteers, live music on the run and in transitions, good food afterwards. Since I am not from Austin I was a little concerned about navagating the bike course, but it was clearly marked and there were plenty of people to point you in the right direction. I can't wait till next year.