CapTexTri

This morning I raced in the CapTexTri here in Austin. I'm still feeling really, really good from my performance at the race so I'll just get into it.

Pre Race

I got up this morning and got ready. This was a B race, actually more like a C race for me. I wasn't focusing on it at all. Hell, I rode 50 miles and swam for 2 hours 2 days before the race. I should've been resting. I wasn't too worried about doing well in this race. Over the last few days, I've been eating crap. Not crap, but not well since there were so many Slowtwitchers in town. I had a lot of ice cream, Salt Lick BBQ on Saturday night, and even beer on Saturday. Sleep was also lacking as well.

On the morning of the race, I got up at about 4:30am. I just like taking my time to get ready. For breakfast, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, yogurt, a granola bar, and an apple. For the rest of the morning, I drank 32oz of Gatorade. I ate about half a Clif Bar and half of 20oz of Gatorade right before the race. My stomach was full this morning. Also, I didn't carb load because I find it more painful than what it's worth. So, no more carb loading for races Oly and below.

As usual, my stomach was a little upset and I had 5 RP's this morning. I tied a record. I doubt I will ever beat my record of 5 RP's because this morning my entire GI tract was empty by the time I got into the water. I had two problems this morning. The first one started a few days ago. I lost my HRM strap so this race was going to be based on effort and not heart rate. Then, I left my HRM watch at Lauren's place yesterday and this race was going to be interested. I had no HR to go off of and then I had no clue what my time was either. This was the first race without any feedback on how I'm doing during the race so we'll see how I do. The second thing was that I had put my Gatorade bottles in my gym bag. Well, they leaked. Everything in my bag was sticky with diluted Gatorade. Messy.

The race started at 7 but my wave didn't go off until 8:20. It was a pain in the ass waiting around the entire time. The waves were messed up this year. Last year, my age group was near the end and it was the same thing this year. The first few waves were males under 19 and over 40. The ladies were next and then it was men 35-39, men 30-34, and then males 20-29. Everyone wasn't happy with that. I didn't get my wetsuit on until 8. I had my knee taped up so I was good to go. Like I said, I couldn't finish eating and drinking all of my stuff.

It was about 15 minutes before my wave started staging up for the swim. It seemed like we were waiting to get into the water forever. Just a bunch of guys standing around. I started getting nervous about 30 minutes before the start of the race. I usually get nervous, so it was good that I only got nervous that close to the start of my wave. We were staging up, and then they gave us the signal to get into the water.

The Swim

We got into the water and it was about 73 degrees. It was cool enough to feel good. I had my sleeveless wetsuit on and it was perfect for the race. I lined up in the front, where I should've been, but in the middle. We were in the water for about 3 minutes before the gun went off. I was talking to people about how fast everyone was going to go. No one answered about their intended pace so I decided to make people try to swim over me. And if they tried to do that, then they would get kicked a lot. The gun went off and the race was on. There wasn't much bumping and grinding at first. There was a bit, but not much. I noticed that there seemed to be 2 packs that formed up on the first stretch. Of course, the fast A pack was on the inside of the buoys. There seemed to be a B backed that formed up on the far left of the course. As I swam, I moved closer to the buoys to get a better line. I tried to find some feet, but I couldn't find too many. I found one pair of feet and they seemed slightly slow for me, but I stayed behind them. I think I went out a little fast and I couldn't get my breath, but staying behind the feet allowed me to slow a bit and rest a bit. The first turn came up pretty fast and I took it pretty well. I veered to the outside and added a few yards on while making the second turn.

I then found a pair of feet and I stayed on them for awhile. At this point, I felt really good in the swim. I was taking good strokes, not dropping my elbows much, but breathing was a problem. I developed a breathing pattern. Right, right, left, left. Basically, I was taking two breaths on a side, taking 3 strokes, then two breaths on the other side, 3 more strokes, etc. That worked for me much better than breathing only on my right side. I have no problems on my left side, but I just needed air. I was pushing myself on the swim.

I stayed with my feet for awhile and then I wanted to push myself more. So, I left my feet and passed that guy. I got in front of him and I was looking forward sighting for buoys. I couldn't see anyone. Well, I ran into a few people, but they were other waves that I was passing and getting in the way. At this point, it seemed like I was in the lead of the B pack of swimmers. I felt like I had people behind me, no one drafting off of me because I couldn't feel hands on my feet, but I just had that feeling that there were others behind me. I just kept putting one arm in front of the other and trying to get nice, long strokes. I had problems sighting because my goggles fogged up a bit. Not bad, but enough to be annoying. The swim was overcast so I should've had my clear goggles on, but I opted for the tinted ones in case the sun came out. This was important because I almost missed a buoy. It was underneath a bridge in the shadows and luckily I was swimming straight enough that I didn't completely get off course. I was zig zagging a lot today, but not that badly. Ok, ok, I need to work on swimming in a straight line. I got the buoy under the bridge and kept going. After that buoy, I lost all sense of direction. I overshot the buoy for the last turn around because it wasn't a normal turning buoy and I had no one to follow. I was about 25yds further than I should've and I turned and swam to the other buoy. The rest of the B pack caught up with me and I turned it up a notch to beat them to the buoy. I got turned and I was now in the home stretch.

I was still having problems. I almost hit a canoe. I was wondering what the fuck the canoe was doing so far in the path of the swimmers. Well, the question was why was a dumbass swimmer so far in the path of the canoe. On the far right there was a bridge support. To the left of it was a buoy and to the left of that was another bridge support. There was maybe 25 yds between the buoy and the left bridge support. Well, I swam to the left of the farthest left bridge support. Yeah, I was a dumbass. My 1500m swim was more like 1600m between the missed turn around and then the missed bridge support. The zigzagging helped as well.

I kept going and I finally had the last turn buoy in sight. Since I wasn't going to use my arms anymore and I was pissed about being so far off course, I picked it up a bit. I turned the buoy and sprinted to the ramp. I swam up pretty far to the ramp and when I tried to stand up, the water was up to my mid thighs. Some volunteers pulled my left arm but I was still extremely dizzy. I reached out my right arm and it took a few seconds before someone grabbed it and helped me up. I was out of the water. I was looking for a clock and there was none there to check my time. Since I had no watch, I had no clue how I did. I felt like I did really well though so I felt happy. I went up the steps and I was in the grassy chute to the T area. I was in almost a fullout sprint. Why jog through the T area because it's still a race? I passed like 8 people but I was really winded when I got to my spot on the rack. I need to perfect getting my wetsuit off. I had to sit down and take it off which costs a lot of time, but I was winded and still dizzy. I threw my cap and goggles down and had my wetsuit off. To get ready for the bike, I had only 2 things to do: sunglasses and helmet. I unracked my bike and started running out. A shoe fell out the pedal immediately so I took the other out shoe and I was off. I ran through the T area pretty quickly with my bike. There were some sandy areas that were a PITA to run through. I took a right out of the T area and passed like 5 more people who were either walking or just doing a light jog with their bike. I almost hiked my bike over my should and ran it through the area that way. I would've spilt my aero bottle though. I crossed the mount line and got off to the side. I had to put my shoes on and then clip in. I didn't seem to take me too long to get in the shoes and I was then on the bike.

The Bike

Geoff, the new assistant coach for Texas Iron, told me about 2 days before to take the 1st loop slow, go harder on the 2nd and 3rd loops, and then slow again on the 4th. I was worried about my running off the bike since all of my bricks are very painful and I'm always running at about an 8:30-9:00 pace for the first couple of miles. Well, I threw that advice out the window when I got on the bike. When I was on the main course, the first half loop I absolutely hammered it. I needed to get my legs going and I was pushing myself. I knew I was pushing but it felt good. After doing the hairy part with all of the turns around Congress, I took a left onto Congress (more to come about that later) and it was a slight downhill. I got up some speed, kept my cadence around 95-100 and got into a groove. I took the right onto Cesar Chavez and kept my rhythm going. I felt really good at that point. I was in a groove and kept it up while settling down. I was heading out on Cesar Chavez and saw Lauren heading back in. That was the only time that I saw her.

The first couple of loops were fairly uneventful. The course was really, really crowded and it seemed like corners were more scary this year than they were this year. I lost a water bottle when it was ejected from my rear bottle cage. I felt bad about it, but I avoided that bump after that. Also, I took my other water bottle and put it in my jersey pocket. I felt good on the bike. I knew I was pushing myself, but I didn't know how hard since I had no HRM. After the second loop, I checked my time and I was done in about 33 minutes. Not too bad. I was out for my 3rd loop now. My legs were feeling it a bit, mostly in my quads. I was worried that I pushed too hard and my run would blow up, but I still had 2 loops to think about that. On my 3rd loop, I was heading south on San Jacinto, took the right onto 11th, and I was building up speed to make the fast left onto Congress. I noticed an older guy on the right where I was lining up to take a hard line through the turn. He was only going 14ish while I like taking that turn at 20+ because I can. He cut across me so I decided to go on his outside. Well, he was taking a pussy line through the turn and started to drift way to the outside. I yelled, "On the outside, on the outside!" and he heard me and reacted accordingly. But it was almost too late. His handling skills weren't that great so he still tried pretty hard to run me into the curb. At this point I'm fucking freaked out. I'm doing 20+ mph. On the left, I have some old guy pushing me to the right. On the right, I see a curb that is quickly approaching. Before I hit the curb, I see a major crack in the concrete that is much bigger than the width of a bike tire. Seriously, I'm expecting to crash, but I'm looking for ways to get out of it. The old guy is backing off a bit, but is still leaving me very, very little room. Enough to get through, but not without some magic. At this point, I'm out of my saddle and I hit my brakes. This causes my back tire to lock up and fishtail to the right to the curb. Luckily, my right pedal is coming up to top dead center and I push my weight forward. By pushing down on the right with my weight forward caused the back of my bike to kick out to the left and clear the curb. I hit the crack in the concrete at an angle so my tire didn't get stuck. Through all of this, I remember hearing some either gasp or say "Oh my God!" while watching all of this. I put you it looked like a high speed wreck was about happen, but due to my bike handling skills and fucking lightning fast reflexes, I missed it. Once I passed the old, slow, dangerous guy, I yelled because my heart rate jumped up about 30 bpm because of the adrenaline rush. I yelled "Woooooooooo!" in excitement from saving my ass from that close call. I got out of the saddle, hammered it some more and kept going totally pumped up now.

Another event on the 3rd lap was that I was passed on the bike. I only was passed maybe 5 or 6 times and most of them were at the beginning, but this was the first time that I got passed on the bike by somebody in my age group. Some guy in a yellow jersey. I'll remember him later and get my revenge. He passed me and I kept going. 4th loop wasn't eventful either and I was taking the turns much more conservatively. Going out on Cesar Chavez was still a hammering point, but coming back I upped the cadence and as prep for the run. I had downed 2 Gu's and 2 bottles of diluted Gatorade and Nuun. I felt well hydrated. It was still overcast, but not cool. My quads were feeling it and I was getting worried on how the run was going to turn out. My speed on the bike was fast and I don't even want to know what my heart rate was for the ride. One thing that I was practicing on the 4th loop was drafting. Not blatant drafting but I would ride up behind someone in their draft zone and when I got about 2 feet from their wheel, I would wip over. I should've stayed on a wheel for a few seconds to get rest, but everyone was going so slow. I did this on the 4th loop because the headwind picked up a bit. There were some good things to this. I benefitted from a draft for a second or two, but it was scary. I was doing this to a lot of people that weren't great cyclist and they seemed to weave a lot. I was also in areobars making quick motions. The good thing was a lot of time I would yell "On your left" and the person would move to the right without my jerking around them.

Ok, I was coming into T2 now and I was spinning to get my legs ready. I made the turn into the last chute and got out of my shoes. I rushed the dismount line and passed 2 people right there. I didn't run as quickly through T2 as I did in T1. I racked my bike and took off my helmet. Socks and shoes went on and I grabbed my hat, my race belt, my water bottle, and my Gu's. Having that much crap was a problem. I couldn't run that fast because I felt like I had too much crap. I was running through the T2 area, but not fast. My sunglasses were bouncing, but I was having fun. I crossed the mat, heard the beep, and I was on the run course.

The Run

I passed up the first aid station right away. I didn't have any free hands anyways. After the aid station, I stopped and got everything situated. I put my Gu's in my jersey pockets, put my hat on, put my race belt on, and kept going. I was expecting to be trashed on the run, but I really wasn't. I was somewhat tired, but I usually feel that way on bricks. I kept going and putting one foot in front of the other. Man, I was happy too. Last year, I DNF'ed after I got out of T2 because of my peroneal tendonitis. This year, I was so happy to actually be running. I was feeling better and kept going. Since I had no heart rate monitor or anything, I kept running off of perceived effort. I felt fine, like I was pushing, but not too much. I felt like I was at a pace that I could run for the rest of the race. At a turnaround point, I saw Eric Gilmore behind me. I knew I would beat him out of the water and I thought he might catch me on the bike, but I knew I had no chance on beating him on the run. Well, this confirmed that I got him off the bike. But that didn't last long.

The first water stop was at about Mile 1 and it was sponsored by Jack and Adam's. My plan for this race was something that I learned from Lauren's race at Ironman Arizona. Every water stop, I walked, I had at least one cup of water on my head, at least one down my shorts, and then I drank at least 2 more. This stop had some ice water so it helped out quite a bit. I was feeling really goofy so Jack gave me a cup of water and I threw it right back at him. He looked like he needed to cool off a bit. That cheered me up a bit. And I kept running. I had no clue the pace that I was running at, but I wasn't getting passed much. Just kept plodding along. I was Lauren turn in to finish her race after I stopped at the J&A's water stop. She looked strong.

I turned left on Congress to go up pretty much the biggest hill on the course up the Congress Ave bridge. At that point, someone else in my age group passed me. I was down 1 spot from the bike and 1 spot from the run. Not much else happened. I saw Leary and Suzanne at the turn left onto Congress and they cheered me on. Eric Gilmore passed me at that point so I guess I held my ground pretty well to that point. I high fived some TNT people and kept it up. Barb and Ron cheered me on near RunTex. After that, I finished my first loop. Only 1 more to go.

I got water and did my usual routine. I think I took my last Gu at that point as well. I think I threw a couple of Gu's away at some point as well. They were in my jersey pocket and I had too many back there. They kept bouncing and annoying the shit out of me. I was feeling pretty good when I hit the J&A water stop the second time, but I was starting to get slightly fatigued. I walked about 10yds after the water stop just because I like walking a bit. I think my form was good, but I would notice that I quickly lost it and then I would have to think to get it back again.

I kept trash talking people kinda. Someone would pass me, I would check out their age group, and yell stuff like "The only reason I'm letting you pass me is because you aren't in my age group." I was just joking around, but I was having a great time. I absolutely love racing. I didn't have fun at the Texas Tri, but pretty much every other race has been absolutely enjoyable. I was thanking volunteers and high fiving people from time to time as well. I felt great and I was enjoying the race. Having a spectator friendly course is great. Once again I turned left on Congress up the hill, the race got really interesting for me. I found someone in my age group. I think it's the guy that passed me on the run earlier. I was thinking on how I should pass him. If I caught up with him, I should be fine for the rest of the race. He was looking somewhat tired. I tried passing him once up the hill, but I was pushing myself too hard. I backed off and held on. We turned right onto some other street and there was another surprise for me. The guy in the yellow jersey that passed me on the bike wasn't doing so well on the run. Shit, I caught up with him! I'm about to pass 2 people in my age group. I never do this. I was running my pace and I think I was slightly faster than them. I picked up a burst of speed and left both of them. Once I settled back into my pace, I just get going. I kept giving them "The Look". I was looking back at the guy in the blue that was actually keeping up with me fairly well. I kept checking to see how he was hanging on. A water stop came up and I walked it. Blue Jersey Guy passed me and I was pissed. I wanted to drop him, but I've been feeling sluggish since the turn onto Congress. I just sat back, kept an eye on him, and bided my time. We took another left onto Congress and I saw Leary and Suzanne again. I said to Leary "That guy is in my age group and I'm going to run him down!". Suzanne said something like "Pick someone out and run them down!" Hell, yeah, I was about to do this. Well, that turn onto Congress has a slight downhill. I've been practicing my downhill running where I pick up my pace quite a bit and then recovery. Well, time to pass this guy who was at this point about 5 yards in front of me. I hit the downhill and put almost 15yds on this guy in no time. Seriously, over the course of maybe 20 seconds I had passed this guy and put a decent amount of time on him. There was still a slight downhill so I put my head down, concentrated on form, and kept up my speed on this downhill.

On the Congress bridge, I passed two more people in my age group. Well, they had numbers on their calves that were in my age group, but I have no clue if they were on their first or second lap. Either way, I kept up the pace and was picking people off left and right. This was feeling good because I felt like my pace was fairly constant the entire race. I picked it up at the end, but instead of the last 100yd dash, I had picked up the pace for the last 1.5 miles. And I kept it up. I had to keep it up to make sure no one decided to try to run me down. If they were going to pass me, they were going to freaking work for it. I turn onto Barton Spring and passed that water stop. I was less than 1/2 mile away and I didn't need water. I saw Adam and told him that I had just run down 4 age groupers in the last mile. I high fived Ron and Barbara and I kept going. I was hurting now, but I kept it up. I saw the finish line ahead of me. I couldn't sprint the last part, but I could keep up my pace up. That's a good sign that I paced myself well and that is really good because I have no feedback this entire race. I was about to take the turn to the finishing chute. I turned my race number around to make it look good. As I crossed the finish line, I took of my hat and sunglasses with my hands in the air.

The Results

I checked the time and it said 3:42:ish. Taking into account I started 1:20 late, I had an unofficial time of 2:22 and change. Holy fucking shit, man. Before this race, I had no expectations. I didn't feel like I was in great shape because I've had an elevated heart rate lately and my running has suffered due to injuries. My swim has improved, but I haven't been training for hard fast stuff like an Oly distance race. Everything has been HIM and IM focused. Crossing the line that quickly shocked me. I would have been happy with something under 2:30, but I can't believe I beat it by that much. I finished and I felt great. Ok, a little tired, but not to the point where I had trouble walking or anything hurt, including my knee. I taped up my knee for the race and it was fine the entire time. Now, it sounds like a bowl of Rice Crispies, but during the race it was great.

Once I got the official results, I PR'ed St. Anthony's by 2:43. This is great for many reasons. 1) St. A is a salt water swim 2) The transition areas were much, much smaller and therefore much quicker 3) The bike is a single loop course with fewer turns, fewer people, and much flatter and 4) The run was flatter as well. Today was hotter than St. Anthony's and more humid, but wind wasn't bad and it was overcast. Either way, I just totalled rocked the house today. Compared to last year at CapTex, I was 2 seconds slower on the swim, but the swim was about 100-150yds short. On the bike, I was only 36 seconds slower. That's big because last year I was maxing out my heart rate since I knew I didn't have a run afterwards. Average heart rate was maybe 165-170 range so I was moving. My transitions were also much quicker this year as well. I had no comparision on the run since I DNF'ed, but compared to St. Anthony's, I felt much more comfortable and I didn't walk at all except for the aid stations.

I learned a lot today. I think I'm not going to race with a HRM anymore unless I'm doing an IM. I went totally off of perceived effort today and it showed that I did better. I normally keep my pace throttled back because I look at my HRM and my heart rate is too high. I *KNOW* I was pushing it on the bike. I could just feel it in my chest and legs. I was worried that I would suck ass on the run. Nope. I can hammer it on the bike and be OK on the run. I also just ran my race instead of looking at my watch every 60 seconds to check my time and my pulse. Lauren's method of water station worked well. I was soaked after every water stop and I came out feeling great. My shoes were soaked though and that felt weird, but I didn't develop any blisters. I ran with my white hat and I think that helped. I need to work on my open water swimming and sighting. Having the shoes on my Bebop pedals isn't such a good idea. I need to chill out on the turns at CapTex next year to avoid wrecks and stupid people. I only need to take as many Gu's as I need and not carry any extra. Well, one extra so for the run I should've had 3 instead of 4.

Finally, I feel like I'm almost there. You know the point where you think you are fast. I'm not quite there, but I'll be there some day. I finished 10th in my age group so it's a big deal to break into the top 10. There were 76 people in my age group so I did very well. I have room to improve as well. My swimming is progressing well and my bike gains are slower, but I'm still improving. I have a lot of work on the run, but that'll come with weight loss and time. I'm really looking forward to Buffalo Springs now to see how I do at completing my first Half Ironman event. I should do pretty well since I feel like I'm better at longer distances. I have a mental edge to keep my body going. Most importantly, I had a blast today. I tried to have a smile on my face the entire day and I was chatting with people and having a good time. I still feel high at 3am from my race today. And speaking of, I need to go to bed now. I just feel so good.