Capital of Texas Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

While I didn't go fast, and I thought I'd be under 27min going by how I felt. I felt great in the water and had no problems, never felt bad like I always have in the past. So as far as that goes, it was a great swim, would of liked to of been a minute faster, but I'll take what I can get though! :)

I wanted to draft on this swim and I did for the first 300-400m. I just kept getting boxed in and finally just went out on the inside and fell into my groove and started passing people. So I swam to the turn around points on my own and was feeling good. I had to rejoin the traffic at the buoys and so had to take a few more slaps on the head, but no big deal. Got in a bit of drafting till I figured these guys were too slow and went around them. I could tell I had a bad start(position probably) because I passed alot of people on the swim which isn't normal.

Stood up, check my watch saw 27: something, a little bit dissapointed but nothing to get upset about. My goal was to be out of t1 in 28-29min, this made it a bit hard. :)

Go out on my own for the first 200-300 and then find some feet or someone to work with on the swim. Try to avoid getting boxed in.

So I debated a long time if I should go with shoes on the bike or put shoes on in t1. You had a long, long, LONG run with the bike so going with shoes on the bike would yield some decent time gains. Then again right when you mounted you went down and then right into two turns then you climbed, turned and climbed a bit more over the bridge. I didn't want to climb with my feet out of my shoes nor did I want to be going 10mph before that first turn getting my shoes on. I ride Shimano SPDs which are GREAT for running in and is why I usually just toss on my shoes in t1 instead of already having them on the bike.

I still ran by a ton of people and went by 3 people trying to get shoes on while on their bike. So I think it worked out pretty good. Still not sure which is better, but I think the margin for me between both is small.

Nothing, I was pretty quick.

The only thing is maybe cut my wetsuit at the bottom so it comes off from stomping. I have to finish it off with my hands, wastes 5-10seconds or so.

Besides the course being just a bit short, I went into this ride expecting it to be a mess. Well.. it was. Though I don't think it was the directors fault, besides the point that he made it a 4 loop course that is.. I think it was well spaced out and with plenty of wide roads. What made it bad was the participants. I've never, ever seen so many people just sit on the left for no reason. We had 2, sometimes 3 lanes going one way. You could be passing someone and still have a whole extra lane. I just can't think of a reason why people sat on the left. I got passed once and I was always on the right or passing. Which means I basically rode on the left, but I always double checked behind me when I had to go into the other lane.

I pushed on the bike pretty good, more than I have in the past. On the hills I would be out of the saddle with my tongue dangling out. I felt great on the bike. Made sure I drank everything I had, lost my gu, but that's really ok. I was however a bit worried about cramps since I was right on the edge of how hard I could push the bike and still be able to run. ;p It's amazing how well the bike handles with a disk, I can't see a reason to ever not ride a disc.

The bike part, like silverlake last weekend is the only thing bad about the race.

Nothing, I was pushing as hard as I could without giving up my run.

Couldn't get my left brake on the rack bar, slipped like 3 times. Everything else went great.

Rack bike faster!

Far from what I could of done. I thought I had a 2:14-2:15 something wrapped up when I got off the bike. Which wasn't the 2:12 I really wanted, but with those transitions and the course I was going to be very happy with a 2:15 time. If everything went perfect I knew I could run a 38:00, like I did at Lonestar. I think the weather alone took that way out of the equation. I was never able to get in a groove, I was passing a ton of people but I had no one to chase down(I guess I was already in the lead in my age group). So my head kind of got out of the game and the run just sucked.

At the end my first loop Peggy(teammate) caught me from behind she was about to finish. I jumped on her feet and felt smooth and was like I can hold this(6min or under pace)! But she was finishing up and we hit a downhill and she just hammered it. I was a weenie and thought about my 2nd loop and let her go. She went on to 2nd OA female about 1min down and she is 40!

I did the first loop in 20:15, already off pace, but not horrible. Still not sure what happened the 2nd loop, as I did finish the last mile strongly. But I went from 40:30 pace to end up at 41:50.. really don't know what happened.

In the end it was hot and windy and it seems I was far from the only one melting on the run. I was just due for a bad run after several very good ones as of lately.

I think my lead up was flawed, normally I do 12mile runs every saturday. I only got 1 long run in before this race and I think that really played a big part in the reason my run went south. One of those runs was because I did a 5k, which I knew was a no-no, but I'm weak for a good race. The others were because of life and couldn't of been helped.

Walk around and cheer on friends. Never saw any BTers that I knew till JeepFleeb came up to me a few hours later.

I came here wanting to put out a 110% effort on the course, due to having no one to chase on the run I think I didn't go 110%. I just couldn't kill my self for nothing at the time.



Weather played a small part, but I think lack of long runs and being a crappy swimmer played the bigger parts. :) A tough course usually plays in my hands but not this one I suppose.

Not a bad day, it will make me tougher. Next big goal will be HiFi triathlon back in Galveston. 2:0x will be the goal for that day since it's a fast course. Not much going on in the summer here. It's really too hot to do too much anyway. First season of 08 complete. :)


Besides the lines at early packet pickup and the bike. This is a great race, which anyone in Texas I'm sure has heard about. :)