Capital of Texas Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

I was pretty happy with this swim in that I didn't freak out in the water at all. I was comfortable pretty much the whole time. I guess that's a good part of having to wait so f*cking long, I got over my nerves. I need more practice in my wetsuit though, my form was off and I didn't compensate properly. I also can't sight for crap, I probably swam an extra couple hundred yards zig-zagging all over the course. But I was happy with the swim because I was calm the whole time. The only time I got a little freaked out is when I could actually see the bottom of the lake. My brain was thinking "OMG GO AWAY I WANT TO GO BACK TO NOTHINGNESS".

Maybe push a little harder a little earlier, but overall it was good. I might consider a sleeveless wetsuit in the future to reduce arm fatigue.

I'm writing this before I get the results and I can tell you this transition was probably really bad. I had a hard time getting the wetsuit open and I ran off with my bike before realizing I hadn't put my chip back on. The run out to the bike mount was also way longer than I had expected. I'm not losing any sleep over it though, I expected a bad time given how little I've used my wetsuit.

Get the wetsuit off more quickly, put the chip on the first time.

I tried not to eat the paste, I really did. I dabbled in the paste a little though, the long downhill sections were too tempting. The important part is that by the end of the 1st loop I had my HR in a pretty good spot and was able to keep it there for pretty much the rest of the ride. I didn't see Aaron until the 2nd loop, so I decided to try to hold off The Inevitable Aaron Pass as long as possible. I made it to the end of the 3rd loop before he passed me, which I took as a minor victory. I know I had a massive headstart, but let me have this. Aaron was probably setting up a picnic on his aero bars while I'm pondering why my knees hurt and if this is what butt cancer feels like, but I'm laying claim to this moment. Other than that I just tried to keep a consistent HR & cadence. Oh and I was the impromptu bike shorts integrity checker. I say that because in the last lap there was a sprint guy who had an enormous run in his shorts right where his crack is. I caught him on a hill and tried to tell him as nicely as possible, but he wasn't really getting it so I was reduced to telling him that if he farted I could probably tell him what he had for dinner last night. That got the point across.

Not much. I may need to get a refitting to see if everything's in the right spot, but the pain went away after a couple loops so I may have just been sitting in the wrong spot or something.

I thought this transition was quicker than the time says, but I'll have to check my Garmin when I get home.

Nothing, it was pretty good.

I came into the run being somewhat tired, but all things considered I didn't feel that bad. It quickly became apparent that my HR was way too high and wasn't dropping. It was solidly in the upper 170s, flirting with 180s. That's right in zone 5 for me. I wasn't pushing hard, it just wouldn't drop. So I decided I'd walk the aid stations, make sure I got plenty of fluids, and use ice & water to keep cool as best I could. After the first mile, I knew hitting my 11 min/mile pace was going to be tough bordering on unlikely so I focused on trying to keep cool. It was just so effing hot that I really wasn't going to be able to do that well. Of course it was a few degrees cooler about 90 minutes earlier. You know, when I would have been running if I hadn't sat around waiting for my wave for 90 minutes. I only walked once when not at an aid station, and it was only for 10-15 seconds. Otherwise I just chugged along at an 11-12 minute pace, trying to zone out and not think about how obscenely hot & muggy it was outside. That didn't work. I was near the end of the first lap when Craig yelled some words of encouragement. All I responded with was "Aaron can't lap me on the run". Aaron, I'm not stalking you I swear. OK, maybe a little. I'm harmless though; ask Karen. I may start stalking the guys with the water hoses though; running through those streams of ice cold water felt like heaven. I don't like having wet shoes, but it was so hot that I didn't really care. They could have been secretly taping some sort of H2O bukkake film and I really wouldn't mind at that point, I just wanted the hose down.

I'm not sure what I could have done differently during the race, it's just a matter of getting in more training in the heat.

I drank a lot of fluids. A LOT of fluids. I was definitely hurting. I just grabbed a couple bottles of gatorade & water and looked for some shade.

But more importantly: I broke the Olympic distance curse! The third attempt is the charm apparently...or maybe I wasn't the curse after all. You know, Gary wasn't there and there was no rain. Hmmm....


Lack of training in the heat.


Bad:
1) The packet pick-up was chaos.
2) The swim wave timing was a debacle.
3) The runs out of each transition area were way too long.
4) The amount of cyclists on the loops - specifically the speed differences between packs of riders - was bordering on insanity at times.

Good:
1) Plenty of aid stations with plenty of ice.
2) Volunteers were very friendly.

..and that's about it.

I don't blame these guys for last year's rain-out, they can't help that. But given that they were trying to basically make amends, the increased price, suggestion that we body mark ourselves, and the swim wave disorganization, I doubt I'll be coming back for a 3rd attempt. It just seems like a very poor way to try to improve an event.