Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

I went to the First Timers open water swim clinic the week before the race and during the practice swim I was passing and trompling over people. So, I knew that come race day, I wanted to place myself near the front of the pack. The swim was well marked and I navigated the bouy's very well. I swallowed a bunch of salt water then it was time to get out and run about 200 yards to T1. Overall, the swim went very well. However, I was a little dizzy when I came out of the water.

Practice in the open water with wetsuit.

"OH CRAP" I ran right past the wetsuit strippers! I got excited when I saw my wife and kids and started waving at them. My wife was pointing behind me and yelling, "your wetsuit, your wetsuit!" So I turned around and got my wetsuit stripped which took like .003 seconds to get off. (Wetsuit strippers are awesome). Got to my bike and put on socks (tried running without socks in training and it was less than comfortable). Put on helmet and shades. I had my shoes already clipped in and rubberbanded to the bike. Grabbed the bike and took off. Once I passed the Mount/Dismount Line I jumped on the bike and my feet slid right into my shoes just as planned. WHEW!

Try to find some running shoes that I can go sockless in. And for God's sake, don't run past the wetsuit strippers!

The bike is probobly my strongest of the three diciplines although my time doesn't reflect that. About a 1/2 mile into the bike, I went to pick up the front big chainring and my chain came off. So, I had to stop, get off the bike and put it back on. Then I got back on the bike and when I went to clip in, the chain flew off again! "Son of a..."! The second time it stayed on. The couse was nice and flat. I had ridden it the weekend before so I knew that I didn't have to slow down much to take the two speedbumps that people had written about in the previous years race reports. I drank just about all of the gatorade that was in my Aero Drink and had a gel at the turn. I only got passed by 3 people. And, I probobly passed 50 or so. Overall I was pleased with my performance.

I've had problems with my front shifting ever since I got my bike. But I guess if I would do anything different it would've been to leave the bike in the big chainring from the start (even though you're supposed to leave it in an easy gear). Oh well.

Had a little trouble getting the bike to stay on the rack. My wedgie bag was getting in the way.

Get rid of the wedgie and find another way to carry necessities.

It took me about a mile to get my legs under me after the bike. But from then on, I was good to go. As a matter of fact, if those mile markers were accurate, I ran a 7:30 split on the last mile. That's by far the fastest I've ever ran a mile. There were people playing music and cheering you on out along the run course which helped keep you motivated and pumped up.

Nothing. No wait. Don't drink the Gatorade Endurance. That stuff tasted like someone took a bucket of sea water out of Offet's Bayou and mixed Gatorade powder with it! Nasty.

Some stretching.


Running past wetsuit strippers, putting on socks, and chain falling off bike.


Endorfun Sports put on a great race weekend. Everything was well organized including the informational e-mails leading up to the race. I'm probobly going to be spoiled now since this was my first race. I will hold all other races to this standard.