2007 = 6:58
2008 = 5:46

The swim went OK but I seeded myself too slow and probably lost a few seconds because of it. The guy in front of me swam down the left hand side of each lane and made it hard to pass since I was trying to get around him before I caught up to the next guy on the right hand side. I wound up doing breaststroke for about 15 meters while deciding how the heck I was going to get around them both. I finally just put my head down and shot the gap between them. I passed 5 people and no one passed me. I still haven't been passed on the swim yet but my day is coming I'm sure.

Seed myself faster. I put down a 5:54 and did a 5:46. I'm sure I could have hit a 5:35 or faster if I didn't have some of the passing issues. Next time I will take 10 seconds or so off what I think I can do to get in a little faster group.

2007 = 3:27
2008 = 2:16

I had a good transition for me but I still take too long. I was 184th on T1 - I can do better.

I need to get tri shoes instead of using road shoes. That way I can try the whole "shoes clipped on the bike already" thing. I also should look into getting a tri top or full tri suit so I have that taken care of before I get to transition.

2007 = 48:24
2008 = 39:52

This was my fastest bike split to date - for a ride of any length. My bike computer showed 12.76 miles but I think they were computing our averages based on a 12 mile course. I talked to several other people and they all said it was longer than 12 miles as well. I really hammered on the bike and was really happy with my speed. Now I know I can go that fast, I just need to do it more.
My brother caught me on the last hill at Main Street and North Colony on the second loop. He told me as he blew past me that he started about 30 seconds behind me on the swim. Nice of him to tell me but there was little could do about it right then - I was tapped out. I did manage to negative split my loops somehow, probably from trying to catch him.

I left it all out there on the bike. Other than continue to train and beef up the engine, I had the best possible ride I could have today.

2007 = 2:02
2008 = 1:06

I got into transition right as my brother was leaving. I knew he started about 30 seconds behind me on the swim so I really tried to spend as little time as possible in transition and got out on the run as fast as I could. I knew I had some ground to make up on him and I wanted to keep him in my sights if possible.

I need to work on having smoother bike dismounts. I keep forgetting I am clipped in and I was just lucky I didn't have a repeat performance from last year where I wound up flat on my back at the dismount line. Tri shoes should help since I can get out of them while still on the bike. The road shoes with the ratchet strap is just too much to mess with while trying to ride and maintain control.

2007 = 33:35
2008 = 25:15

Amazing what a year can do for a run pace. I wanted to hit something in the 7 minute -ish range for the first mile and I think I did since my average worked out to a low 8 minute pace. I caught my brother right at Memorial and Paige but we stayed pretty close for the rest of the race. I got a little ahead the last mile and a half but it just wasn't enough. What can I say, he has youth going for him.

Run 15 seconds faster so I beat my brother by 1 second.

Drank a case of water and ate a banana and bagel. Talked to some BTers and people on my masters swim team that did the race.


Nothing. I had my best race to date and knocked 20 minutes off my time from this race last year. I'm just going to continue training for Longhorn and hope it pays off there like it did for me today.


After all that time droppage from last year I still lost to my brother by 14 freaking seconds. 14 Seconds.....I wanted to get under 1:20 with a stretch goal of 1:15 so I am very happy with how this finished up.

Did I mention I knocked 20 MINUTES off my time from last year? I also lost 20 lbs since that race. 1 minute per pound so I guess if I just loose another 20 or so pounds I will win the thing next year, right? I better loose 25 just to be safe.