It’s been a while since posting a race report so here it
goes. Trevor and I raced the CapTex
Triathlon this past Memorial Day in Austin.
Jenn and Summer suffered through the day with us. Trevor did the
International Distance(1500/24/6.2) while I did the Sprint Distance
(750/12/3.1).
Swim: The swim took place in Lady Bird Park Lake, right in downtown Austin. After some internal debate, I decided to go with the wetsuit, even with the temperature at 76.5. Overheating in races tends to be my Achilles heel, so the water temperature (w/ a wetsuit) was a concern but it actually felt okay. My swim wave started at 9:10. I ended up hitting a lot of traffic about halfway through the swim, which probably slowed me down by at least 30 seconds. My final time was 11:58 (3rd AG). As a side note, I was reading yesterday that there was some concern by race officials of e. coli breakout in the lake due to all the rainfall. A few people decided not to do the race. I had some stomach issues yesterday but I think it was just the Doritos Locos taco I had the day before.
Bike: First off, this bike course was probably the
most fun and interesting course I’ve been on.
It was also the most packed. The
course took on two laps right through downtown, right next to the Capitol, and
over a bridge. The roads were fairly
smooth and fast. Although with all turns
and crowdedness, there wasn’t much chance to really flip the switch on the NOS
boosters. I kept leapfrogging with two
or three guys, one of which was in my age group. The ride overall felt great and I turned in a rate
of 21.1 mph (11th AG).
Run: In a word, my run was frustrating. I know the heat and late race start affected me a little but I can't really blame it on that. The first mile was pretty horrible even
though I felt great coming off the bike.
Usually it takes me about an eighth to a quarter mile to get in the
groove but I couldn’t shake off the cobwebs.
It didn’t help when we had to pass the nasty warm coconut water table at
the quarter mile marker. Finally at
about the mile marker, I saw one of the guys in my AG about 100 yards up ahead
of me. I went into zombie mode and began slowly chipping away his lead. I
passed him between mile 2 and 2.5. My
overall pace was 7:04 per mile (5th AG).
This is the part of the season where I start to focus on intervals and the run was a reminder that I needed to start hitting the speed more. One bright spot was I also able to keep running while simultaneously throwing up a gel pack I had taken in about 45 minutes before the swim – in the past, I’ve had to stop for a few seconds to clear out my gut. I try to eat my last food at least 1 to 1.5 hours before the swim and this was one of my mistakes on the day.
This is the part of the season where I start to focus on intervals and the run was a reminder that I needed to start hitting the speed more. One bright spot was I also able to keep running while simultaneously throwing up a gel pack I had taken in about 45 minutes before the swim – in the past, I’ve had to stop for a few seconds to clear out my gut. I try to eat my last food at least 1 to 1.5 hours before the swim and this was one of my mistakes on the day.
Overall, I loved the course and venue. I came in 2nd in my age group out
of about 90 racers. The guy who got
first was 25 seconds ahead of me.
Interestingly, after looking at results, he raced the Texas State Triathlon in April and I
beat him by about a minute. The only
unfortunate incident was after my award, I walked over to transition to grab my
gear and realized that my Rudy wingspan helmet had been stolen – a stark
reminder that some people are evil and that one should remove their gear from
transition as soon as transition opens.
It looks like I’m back to my sweet commuter mongoose helmet for awhile. Hope to see some of you at echo!
