Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Quarter - TriathlonOlympic

I was really happy with my swim performance. Actual swim time aside, I was able to start off with a pace that's relatively close to my standard pace and I didn't blast off with the pack and blow up in the first couple of hundred yards of the swim. I did pass a lot of people in my wave starting around 200-300 yards into the swim, which didn't surprise me as people like to get carried away and push too hard at the beginning of the swim and then poop out in the middle. I also was able to sight relatively well this time and didn't swim very far outside of the buoys.

Not a thing. My swim went perfect in my mind.

Not a bad transition. T1 always takes me a little longer as I'm a little out of it from the swim. I need to try practicing some T1's at the pool by swimming the course distance and then immediately hopping out of the pool and walking a couple of laps around the pool so my body gets used to the change in blood flow. The strippers were awesome! I definitely they're at every race we attend from now on where we have a wetsuit. The rest of the transition went smooth with nothing to comment on.

Not much I could do differently. I need to practice my swim to upright transition to help prevent the light-headedness I feel immediately after the swim.

Enjoyed the bike portion. It did get a little boring out on the flat road, but on the way back I entertained myself trying to find Erin. Turns out she saw me but I didn't see her, oh well. I had a good system set up where I would put up a solid effort for 15 minutes, then eat/drink every for a couple of minutes at a reduced pace to include a minor recovery. After riding this race, I'm definitely at a point when the "engine" is in great shape but the bike needs an upgrade. I was passed several times by people in similar gearing and with a similar cadence but were riding a lot faster than me. Not that I'm surprised, I'm still riding an entry-level race bike.

Not one thing. I was very happy with my bike time, nutrition, hydration and form.

I walked most of the transition area this time and I think it helped immensely. I started my transition by pedaling at a slightly slower cadence about a mile out from the bike dismount so my legs could start getting into a run mode. By walking through the transition it helped me control my breathing and further prepare for the run. I'm not planning on placing and I still have a 6.5 mile run ahead of me so the 10 seconds lost by not running were a welcome sacrifice for a better run. Transition itself went smooth and I was out on the run course with a smile.

Not a thing. I walked the transition this time and I think it helped a lot.

Fun run, but it started getting hot during the run. Not as much music as I had anticipated either, but that's okay. I was glad I that the course wound around a lot so you never ran on very long portions where you could see a long ways ahead of you. While the doubling back was somewhat discouraging to see you had to come back, it was fun seeing everyone coming in the opposite direction, especially as I saw several people I knew. I smiled the whole time and the volunteers were more than happy to cheer me on. Several even commented on my smiling, which they enjoyed I can understand because when I would look at the "on-coming traffic" several of them had very serious, competitive looks, and that's just not fun.

I didn't take the first cool sponge, and I wish I had. They felt so good and I ran better with them cooling me off. After my first sponge I thought, "You idiot! Why didn't you accept these sooner?"

Did a lot of walking and hydrating with some stretching. Then we headed to the food area for some well deserved food.


Nothing that I could have changed. I'm at a point where time will be on my side and I'll continue to get stronger.


I hit the low end of all of my target times/estimates and didn't run into any of the problems that I did with my first triathlon. I am extremely happy with my race and am proud to say that I wouldn't have done anything differently in hindsight.