It's the time of year for race reports!

Texas 70.3 in Galveston

4:34

14/340 in M40-44

	Faves	First Name	Last Name	Rank	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish
		PATRICK	SMITH	143	00:27:15	02:21:41	01:40:10	04:34:24
1689SMITH Category Country Gender Certificate Share Photos M40-44 USA M   Residence Topeka KS Occupation Attorney # of  Participants Race2329 Gender (M)1581 Category (M40-44)340 Split Name Distance Time Pace Race Time Overall Gender Category Time Of Day Swim 1.2 miles 00:27:15 1:24/100m 00:27:15 23 20 1 08:32:15 Bike 1 28 miles 01:04:36 26.01 mph 01:34:46 75 59 3 09:39:46 Bike 2 56 miles 01:17:05 21.79 mph 02:51:51 90 85 10 10:56:51 Bike 56 miles 02:21:41 23.71 mph 02:51:51 90 85 10 10:56:51 Run 1 0.8 miles 00:05:26 7:03/mile 02:59:40 93 86 10 11:04:40 Run 2 1.5 miles 00:05:33 7:12/mile 03:05:13 97 90 10 11:10:13 Run 3 2.9 miles 00:09:47 7:02/mile 03:15:00 100 90 11 11:20:00 Run 4 4.4 miles 00:11:06 7:33/mile 03:26:06 113 101 11 11:31:06 Run 5 5.2 miles 00:05:46 7:29/mile 03:31:52 115 104 11 11:36:52 Run 6 5.9 miles 00:05:57 7:43/mile 03:37:49 118 108 11 11:42:49 Run 7 7.3 miles 00:10:23 7:31/mile 03:48:12 128 117 12 11:53:12 Run 8 8.8 miles 00:11:32 7:47/mile 03:59:44 132 120 13 12:04:44 Run 9 9.6 miles 00:06:00 7:47/mile 04:05:44 132 121 13 12:10:44 Run 10 10.3 miles 00:06:19 8:12/mile 04:12:03 135 124 13 12:17:03 Run 11 11.7 miles 00:11:50 8:34/mile 04:23:53 146 131 13 12:28:53 Run 12 13.1 miles 00:10:31 7:37/mile 04:34:24 144 130 14 12:39:24 Run 13.1 miles 01:40:10 7:38/mile 04:34:24 144 130 14 12:39:24 Finish       04:34:24 144 130 14 12:39:24 Transition Name Time Race Time Time Of Day T1:Swim-to-Bike 00:02:55 00:30:10 08:35:10 T2:Bike-to-Run 00:02:23 02:54:14 10:59:14

Thanks.  Yep, my most disciplined race by far to this point.  The swim was a beast (harder than KS 70.3 two years ago) but I used that to my advantage.  1st in age group and somewhere around 21st (?) overall including the pros.  Extremely rough waves for the first 600-800 meters out to the first turn buoy.  Then difficult to site once we turned "with" the waves.  Then smacking us from the side as we turned to the shore.

Bike was a blast.  28 miles out and back in a straight line.  Tailwind on the way out.  Rain in the middle 20 miles.  But the wind shifted as I approached the turnaround so it was more a crosswind on the way back hitting us from about 1-2 o'clock.  Could have pushed it a bit harder on the bike, but wanted to remain disciplined and not blow up on the run like I did at Worlds.

Run was flat with about a thousand turns.  Kept it interesting.  Not too crowded except for a couple of groups of 50+ yr old women who liked to chat while jogging 3-4 wide.  3-loop run that threw me off in Vegas so this time I treated the end of the 2nd lap as the halfway point.  Worked like a charm.  Kept the splits relatively even.  Only one mental error.  I walked an aid station at the 10.5 mile point thinking a short 10-15 second walk would give me a good rest to make a final push to the finish.  Hadn't even thought about walking to that point and felt good, but let my brain out think my body and made a mistake.  Couldn't really get my legs turning again until the 12 mile mark so that 1.5 mile stretch was about 1:15 slower/mile than my previous pace.  At mile 12 I got the mojo back and flew through the last 1.1 miles in less than 7 minutes.  So I obviously had it remaining and never should have walked that one aid station.

4:34 and a PR by 12 minutes over KS last year.  Could have dropped another few minutes on the bike and a couple more on the run.  Hope to go sub 4:30 in the KS 70.3 if the conditions allow.

Lesson learned.  Now I am pushing the run workouts even harder realizing I can push through those mental points and not slow down.  

Can't wait for the rest of the season!  Starting with a 70.3 now makes the upcoming olympic distance races seem much more manageable than they normally do to start the race season.

Agree with Mark, great race!  Now you have a benchmark from which to tune your training.  The learning curve is pretty steep now that you have one under your belt.