Lone Star Triathlon Festival - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

I started of faster than normal to see if I could catch the feet of a speedster in my wave. One guy took off fast, obviously a good swimmer, and I tried to hold on for a minute or two, but he was just too fast. My breathing was strained at that point so I slowed the pace and fell into a more comfortable pace. Unfortunately there were few candidates remaining to draft off. I saw a guy about my speed about ten yard to my right, but I decided not to go after him as it seemed like too much work to go out of my way. While I was 2nd in my AG (M45-49; the speedster won by a large margin), we swam with the M40-44; I finished just a few seconds ahead of one and 30 seconds behind another -- those were two potential draft candidates I missed.

The course was definitely long (last year I measured it at 540m) and we might have had a wind-caused current going against us. No way did a swim at a 1:54 pace! A few of the better swimmers and I clocked in at about 15 sec per 100 meters slower than last year also....

I'm not sure I like the strategy of starting out extra fast to find good drafting feet. I don't like that out-of-breath feeling during the swim. Maybe I'll go with my old strategy of starting slower and building speed.

Ran faster than I usually do out of the water. Good. The wetsuit strippers had to tug a couple of times the wetsuit off my calves/ankles. Lost maybe 5 seconds. Had some trouble identifying my bike and fumbled getting my helmet clicked in. Lost maybe another 5 or 10 seconds. Flying leap onto the bike was good, but somehow the rubber bands on the shoes broke before my feet were on them so the shoes flailed around for a bit before I could get pedaling. Lost a few seconds on the bike.

I was 2nd in my AG but 20 seconds behind the guy who won the AG. I beat him by about 20 seconds on the swim but he somehow managed to beat my by 20 seconds in T1! He was racked in a completely different location from me (late sign up?) so he might have had better location.

Cut the bottom of the wetsuit slightly to make removal easier. Do something to make my bike more visible (red wheels?). Prepare better mentally to find my bike without hesitation. Make sure to use the same rubber bands in the race that I use while practicing (they were the same size and brand, but probably older and just broke too easily).

The ride felt strong but I wasn't going as fast as I had planned. The Seawall winds were mainly crosswinds so one direction of the out and back didn't feel much drastically different from the other direction.

I passed a lot of people, including the swim speedster who was ahead of me. I was fairly sure at that time that I was second in my AG. It was fun passing all the slower riders (I was one of them not long ago!); I got passed only by two people, both in the 40-44 AG.

I think the winds did play a part in slowing us down a good bit. While I was .3 mph faster than last year I was still about .8 mph from the low end of my goal. I noticed that two of the faster riders in my AG were .4 and .5 slower than laster year so I don't feel too disappointed with being only slightly faster than last year.

I was happy with my effort even though not thrilled with the time. When I got home at night I noticed that the rear tire pressure was down to 30 psi and I had a small leak at the valve stem. I'm not sure if the leak sprung before the race and I was losing pressure before and during the race, or if it happened afterwards.

All good except that I couldn't find my spot, again! Lost maybe ten seconds in finding my spot (I had passed it!). Lost a few more trying to rack the bike correctly on the brake levers. 3rd in AG, about 10 seconds behind the fastest.

Mark my spot with a ribbon or something. With no other bikes in the transition area it's difficult identifying mine.... Need to prepare better mentally so I can find my spot without much searching.

First mile in 6:40 which was a bit fast as I had hoped to even split the run at 6:50. Second mile in 7:10. I was convinced that the mile markers were off, not that I was slowing down.... Last mile apparently was way slow (7:30?) even though I thought my pace was OK....

I got passed by a guy in my AG with about a quarter mile to go. I tried to stay with him but he was just way too fast so I let him go. I was pretty sure I was in 3rd place at that time so tried to save something for the end of the race in case someone else in my AG tried to pass.

Not sure. I was happy with the effort but no so much with the time.

I felt well prepared and race ready, so no excuses.

I need to practice transitions even more than I do. I missed second place by 20 seconds and I could have made up much or all of the difference with well executed transitions. I need to be able to visualize beforehand where I spot is so that I don't spend so much time looking.

I need to work more on the bike since I was still 1.6 mph behind the faster riders in my AG. I need to figure a way to keep a strong run at the end of the race.


Great organization, great reace, great volunteers! Live internet broadcast was a great touch.

For the swim warmup, hop in from the docks, don't walk in from the beach. I (and I'm sure a lot of others) cut their feet on rocks or oysters. I found a nice cut on my heel and a large blood splotch in my running shoes.

This is my 3rd year doing this race and will continue it as my season opener next in the coming years. It was fun to finally get on the podium!