It was a deep water start so we were treading water for a while. That doesn't really bother me. It was a little rough at the start. It seemed like everyone went for the same line so there was a fair amount of bumping and grinding until things spread out. I didn't find a good person to draft off of. Everytime I thought I had found a good set of feet the woman would start breast stroking. I didn't push too hard since I had not been in the pool since I got back from Saint Anthony's.

It was rather fun swimming under the bridge and seeing all the people standing on the bridge. I've never swam under a bridge before during a race. Since there was 10 minutes between the previous wave and ours I didnt get to chase down many from that wave. I did find myself getting passed by a number of fast women from later waves.

Swim more between races, but so not into swimming right now!

I'm still wearing my "fat wetsuit". Even though it's old (1997) I love it because it comes off so much easier then all my newer ones. I made the change pretty quickly but this was one of these transitions with a long run. People talk about transitions being free speed if done well, but I get killed when it involves a long run.

Find races with short transition runs :)

This was the first time I've done an Olympic distance race with multiple loops on the bike course. I was a little concerned about keeping track of the laps. The first time one crosses the mat she hasn't done a complete circuit yet. I counted the number of times I climbed the hill by the Capitol to keep track. I knew once I did that 4 times I could turn off.

The first lap wasn't too bad crowding wise. Being in the first women's wave helped somewhat. Though even on the first lap I was getting passed by hammer head guys from later waves. I tried staying out of the guys' way, but at the same time I was passing a lot of people so I had to come left to make my passes.

My cycle conditioning has improved since Saint Anthony's, but I still needed a little something to get me pumped up. When a guy on a hybrid with upright handlebars passed me I'm thinking to myself, "No way I'm letting someone on a hybrid beat me. I don't care if it's a guy who's 10 years younger then me. That is not gonna happen." Sorry if I sound like a bike snob, but I ride too much, and spent too much money on my carbon fiber tri-bike to get blown off by a hybrid. I cranked it up a notch and blew by the guy. I didn't see him again. *evil grin*

By the third and fourth laps the crowding was pretty bad. It was very hard not to draft at times. I won't deliberately sit on a wheel during a race, but as I was making a bunch of passes I didn't have much choice since this guy and I were taking the same line around slower riders. Finally I was able to find a spot where I wasn't right on his wheel. I was glad the officials weren't near by when I made those passes. I'm glad the entire street is closed to cars. It made dealing with the crowding much easier. There's one race I've done a few times that's 2 loops, and it gets really crowded with bikes and cars! (I'm skipping that race this year.)

Another hybrid rider tried going around me, but again I wasn't letting that happen. This one did have aerobars on, but even so..... The hybrids usually would try their pass on the down hill strech on Congress. I guess the extra weight on the descent helps. :)

I was certainly happy to get off the bike course when I did. Too much traffic!

Not much. It was one of my best Olympic bike splits.

I had noticed when I was on my third a loop a guy on his fourth got out of his shoes even before crossing the mat for the fourth time. So when I came around for the last time I did the same thing. It was a good spot to put the feet on top of the shoes. The road surface gets a little bumpy once one comes off the main street portion.

My rack was close to the bike entrance so I didn't have as far a run as I had from the swim exit. Still the run exit was at the other end, so still had longer transition then normal.

See T1 note.

Running continues to be a major challenge. I'm still running slowly, and I wanted to make sure I paced myself well in the heat. Considering that the week before I arrived I was wearing tights and a windbreaker while riding, the Texas heat was a factor.

I adopted the same run stratagy as Saint Anthony's. I ran as much as I could, and then walked through the aid stations. I had problems with my shoe laces coming loose. I've been using the old style lace lock thingys instead of the elastic laces. But the loop I made with the extra length came loose so I had to stop and redo it. However when one is running 11 minute miles and not worrying about placing these minor annoyances can be dealt with.

I had worn my BT gear but in some ways I wish I had my TNT singlet on. The energy from the TNT crowd really helps, but unless I was running with a TNT'er I didn't get the full effect. They didn't really notice my TNT hat. Besides it would have been fun to have the Texas TNT'ers see the Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter name on my back.

Even though it was much hotter then I'm used to the heat didn't bother me that much. I drank a lot, and at each aid station I made sure I dumped some water on my head. The ice cubes in the water was a nice touch. I love my water cold. At one water staion I took the cup of ice and poured it down my bra. That felt great!!!

Trade in my feet and shins for younger ones. :)

Walked around some, and found other BT folks.


Not enough swim training, and nagging heel problems.


I really enjoyed this race, and Austin is a geat city. This race definately merits a return trip.

It was great meeting everyone.