Metroplex Sprint - TriathlonSprint

A strong south wind made the water was extremely choppy. I watched the first waves go off. Many athletes were having problems on the swim - stopping, breast stroke, hanging on the bouys and kyaks. Because of the tough conditions, many swimmers from previous waves were strung out all over the 400 m course.

I started on the right and in front. Went out full sprint to the first bouy which was only about 35 m out. At the bouy I ran into a pack of swimmers from the previous waves. I couldn't find anyone leading my wave. The rest of the race was the same - swim fine for a few meters then run up on a pack of swimmers from previous waves.

This was a slow swim for me and turned out to be the difference between 1st in my AG and 2nd in my AG. The winner of my AG, James Mosley, swam ~6:00 and beat me by 2 minutes. That ended up being the difference between 1st and 2nd. I've seen James' name in many of my races around DFW. Next time I'll mark him.

Stay to the outside of the course. Round the bouys about 5 feet out from the bouys. Start to the outside instead of starting on the inside.

1/19
Decent transition. Just moved through quickly, calmly and smoothly. Finally found the fastest way to get my helmet on without tearing my ears off.

Nothing.

I had trouble getting into my shoes. I've practiced this a hundred times and done it smoothly in races. But in this race my wet feet wouldn't go into the shoes. Eventually got there after about 2 minutes.

My plan was to go as hard as possible, work HR to LT and keep it there.
Headed out with a tailwind. Nice 30 mph speed. Right turn onto the dam and had a 20 mph crosswind. This was my first race with a disk wheel. The crosswind on the disk wasn't bad at all. In fact, it wasn't any worse than a cross wind on my 90mm HED. Off the dam and turn into the headwind heading back to transition. Was able to maintain speed into the head wind.

No one passed me. I guess being in the last swim wave facilitated that.

John had warned me about the 'jetty' out on the dam. It's a large structure that sticks up above the dam. It blocks the wind. When I rode passed this point and back out into the crosswind, I swear the wind grabbed my bike and skipped me sideways about 10-12 inches across the dam. That was a wierd feeling.

Overall a good bike ride.

Remember in a short TT to maintain good form and keep my head up and aligned with my body.

9/19
Good dismount. Missed my bike rack. Had to U-turn. Cost a few seconds.

Not miss my rack.

I needed about a half mile to get my HR and breathing under control while still running at a good pace. After that, settled in at my LT HR. Just before the half way turn around, a guy in my AG passed me. He was running slightly faster than me. I got on his heels and hoped I could stay there. This worked well. With the strong winds, the draft I was getting off of him helped. I stayed on him until about 100 yards from the finish then made a move around him and hoped that he didn't have anything left. He didn't. I glanced back to make sure he wasn't on my heels. He wasn't. That move was the difference between 2nd and 3rd...by 4 seconds.

Moral of the story, if you are going to pass someone in your AG, make the pass hard and fast. Don't let them stay on your heels. This guy passed me too slowly.

Good run. I don't think I could have run any faster. In fact, I think drafting that guy made me run a bit faster. My avg HR is well above my last LT test. Although, my pace is slower than I expected; probably because I haven't trained much during May.

Nothing.

Head between my knees and gasped for air.

Hung out with Steve, John, Marcy, Brian, Aaron, Bonny, Gary, et al.


Rough water in the swim. Bad decision about the line to take during the swim.


Had a great time at this race. The closed race venue is nice...no traffic to deal with. They should make the run longer.