This is my strong area. I am a swim coach. Me and kevin both had identical times and we figured we had about 6 minutes of actual pool time so we both guessed accurately. I was one of the fastest overall and i still had alot left over at the end. I am all upper body and didn't really kick. Just a light 2 beat kick. I got stuck behind 3 people in a row and it just ate up my time. The girl seeded behind me got frustrated and more agressive and passed us and ended up doing rather well. I wish i would have just passed more aggressivley instead of waiting 50-75 yards to overtake all 3.

Be more aggressive. I think i could have done this about 30 seconds faster if i would have been more aggressive at passing people. I should have seeded myself alot closer to the front because i can keep a 1:20 pace per hundred but wanted to take it a little easy on my 2nd tri.

I came out of the swim running and full of energy but i am slow at getting everything together. I need to start riding clipless so that i can just hop on and go. The toe cages are not my friend.

Practice, practice, practice.

man that was just not good. My tiny chicken legs cant handle that. I can ride fine in the flats and downhills and keep up ok but on the hills i move at a snails pace. Its embarrasing. At about mile 5 i felt funny and then ii just tasted the raspberyy hammer gel and then the gatorade i sipped at 5:45 and i lost it. I yacked. All over my arm. I kept riding and just washed off with my water bottle. Then at mile 7 i slipped my chainand had to stop and put it back on. It took a few seconds but it was still valuble time. On the second half i felt substantaly better and just rode the best i could on the flat land to make up for horrible horrible speed on the hills.

Practice. I need to build up the muscles to do this. I can ride for a long time but i can;t ride fast. I am also going to ride clipless form now on so that i can capitaize on the upstroke of my leg. Oh did i say practice and practice.

This was slow. I took my time. I knew i just did crappy on the bike and now had to run. I wasn't sure how my back was going to hold up so i walked a bit to get my legs under me and stretched my back out a little.

Move faster.

UH OH...here we go again. At stonebridge i had back problems and rana 11:30 minute mile pace. I had been to the chiroprachter and the back doc and thought it would be ok for that race. I was wrong. This time it felt better while training but still ached at times. I started the run this time and my legs didn't get under me fast enough. I finally started to run and then BAM..it hit me. all the pain and spasms were back. Crap. i just started. How was i going to pull through this. It was intense. I ran/ walked all the way to the water stand and then i saw number 201 and we had talked in line for the swim. He said just focus on something else and follow me. I sucked it up and ran at his pace for almost the whole second half. He ran at about a 8:45 mile so i was happy about that. At the end it just kept hurting. He took off with 1/4 mile to go and i just sucked it up and tried to finish. Stupid back. Always ruining everything.

Fix my back. Get a new one. I dont know. I have never been a strong runner but i am much better than this. I did the White rock half in a 9 minute mile and that was with 6 weeks of half ass training. I think went to a bar the night befroe too. I know can still do that but my body wont let me. I figure with more trianing and this problem sorted out i should be able to keep a sub 9/mid 8 minute mile pace which would be fine with me.

clean up my crap, eat some food and talk to some people. Met aaron. And yes i did start with the ever present "are you the flag guy, i saw you at..." question. Also met a few other dfw BTers and thats why i signed up.


Chicken legs and crappy back.


oh well better luck next time. Im going to train and hopefully my time will come down significantly. I havent really trained for the 2 tri's i have done. Just a swim here a ride there... and the occasional run, back permitting. I think if i buckle down and train and get some muscle on my legs i can do ok. Ill just keep swimming like normal because that doesn;t seem to need much work (for pool swims anyway)...see ya'll next time...
-b