Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

The swim was my weakest discipline last year. I was consistently in the bottom 1/3 or so of times. Last year, I think my average was around 2:25/100m. I've spent considerable time and distance on fixing my form lately, and I think I'm getting better. My practice swims are down to 1:45 to 1:50/100m.

The swim start was my first deep water start. It was different, but not bad. I just tried to seat myself near the front on the right side. At the start, I tried to find some open space and get into a rhythm. The first 200m was pretty good, just a few times of running into people. The last 300m was much different. I ran into lots of traffic and had difficulty keeping a rhythm. My breathing pattern was not as efficient. When I sighted, I noticed some different color caps. I had actually caught up to the slower swimmers from the wave in front of me! I had never really experienced this before, as the M35-39 group is usually one of the first swim waves, and my swim speed didnt facilitate catching up to anyone. Today, we were the second group. I've never had to swim around people, they're usually going around me. This new experience slowed me up some, as I tried to weave through.

I wanted to get out of the water in under 10 minutes, to make my average less than 2:00/100. I made it out it 9:47, so I got my goal. Not a bad swim for me, so I feel pretty good about it.


Nothing much right now. I just need to continue working on the swim. At least, my work seems to paying off some.

The wetsuit strippers couldn't get my suit off my heels. I should have just removed the suit myself, it would have been faster.

My helmet and sunglasses had gotten knocked off the bars on my bike, so that kind of messed up my rhythm some. It took me a few seconds to find my sunglasses.

This was my first attempt at putting my shoes on the bike and running out. It went ok I guess. Getting into the shoes on the bike was not as easy as my practice runs. It was very crowded at the bike start, so I waited a little while to get the shoes on, and was still slower at it than I need to be.

More practice with the shoes thing.

Just an average bike for me. I never really felt comfortable during the course. I've spent a lot of time lately on the mountain bike getting ready for Xterra season, and my road biking has not improved from last season. I am disappointed overall with the bike segment. I was wanting to average over 20 mph, but came up just short.

I would say I need more practice on the road bike, but my "A" races are Xterra this year, so I can't sacrifice the mt biking time. My next road tri isn't until Sept., so maybe I'll have better skills by then and maybe even an actual tri bike instead of a converted road bike! :) (the wife says no on the tri bike idea)

First time taking off shoes on the bike and jumping off the bike. I thought this went really well. I got out of the shoes good, and off the bike without much problem.

I ran with the bike to my rack, but was trying to avoid alot people from the late swim waves who were leaving transition. I racked the bike, and got the helmet off with no problems. I got my race belt on ok, but had trouble with my socks. The socks I had don't go on well over sweaty feet. I actually put on one shoe, but had to take it off and re-adjust the sock. I figured better to be comfortable than save a few seconds. The shoes went back on well, grabbed the hat to put on while running and took off.

Pick some different socks next time. Believe or not, practice with wet feet to see how the socks go on. You know...its the little things sometimes.

Started off the run feeling a little dogged from the bike. My lack of training bricks lately certainly had its effect. I worked to get my pace in the first mile.

I finished the first mile in about 7:10, and was starting to settle into a pace. I started lengthing my stride and getting a better breathing pattern. I didnt use the lap function on my watch (wish I would have), but my second mile was about 6:45 or so, and last 1.1 was probably around 6:30 to 6:35 pace.

I'm pretty pleased with run, but I might could have pushed a little sooner and saved a little time. I was shooting for sub 23 minutes, so I definitely met my goal there.

Checked my time.. 1:12! I beat my goal time of 1:15.

Met my wife and 2 friends at the finish line. I was more concerned with how my wife was feeling than how I felt (she's 6 months pregnant, and I'm the over protective husband/father). We all walked around a little bit, ate some food, and just chilled out.


My biking!! It needs work.

Continue my current swim and run training. I've improved in both disciplines, so the training regiment seems to be effective for now.

Just continue to improve. It's all about getting faster!


Great race again this year. Enforfun does the best job putting on a event. I've done both Lonestars, Longhorn last year, and will do Austin 70.3 in October. If they come to Texas, I'm doing the race.