The Rookie Tri Race Report

Before I get into the race report, my workouts the last 2 days weren't anything special. I did a 40min run on Thursday morning with 4 strides. I didn't do the bike workout that I was suppose to do because I got hung up at work and I needed sleep more than I needed to work out. Friday was a short swim. I weighed in at 187 on Friday morning so I lost a pound last week.

I volunteered for the Shiner Ride last weekend and since I volunteered, there was a party at someone's house last night. I ate way too much very, very good food such as ceviche, toasted whole wheat tortilla chips, amazing tortillas, grilled chicken, and this cream sauce that was amazing and I have no clue what was in it. Oh, there was beer, sangria, cookies, and some Mexican style cinnamon pastry. Let's just say that I didn't exactly eat properly the night before a race, but man that food was good. And the best part was this very dumb but completely lovable yellow lab named Dude. He was so soft and he was just funny. He had one kinda bad habit though. When he wanted to play, he would put your hand or arm in his mouth and pull. He wasn't biting you, but he was just letting you know that he wanted to play. He was a very sweet doggie and makes me want to get one. At the party, I realized that I forgot to pick up my packet for the race. Luckily, one of the race coordinators was there and she told me that there was packet pick up in the morning.

I got up and gathered my stuff this morning. I was very, very tired and really didn't want to race. However, I got my butt out of bed and drove the 45 minutes to the race site at the Texas Ski Ranch. I didn't pack anything for this race until this morning. Got there and got into transition and got set up. I saw Rachel and it was her first triathlon and she was pretty nervous. I got my packet, chip, etc and went out to the water. The race is really short with a 300m swim, a 11.1 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I swam the 300m swim course and that was my warmup. I was in the wave behind the open wave so we got an early start which is nice. The gun went off and we were in the water. There isn't much to say about a 300m swim but it was one of the most violent swims I've been in. I usually get into a groove and get away from people, but I was swimming within 3 feet of someone the entire swim. I got out and checked my time across the mat. It was 5:22. Not bad, but my official time was 6:35.7 because it included the T1 time as well.

I took my time running through T1 because the last time I was here, I ended up hurting my feet running on the asphalt. I set up near the bike out because I don't like running with my bike. I think it slows me down. I had a pretty minimal setup this time for T1. I just had my helmet and my bike. I had my shoes on my pedals already and I wasn't racing with sunglasses or gloves today. I crossed the mount line and I tried to get my bike. I was having problems wit the shoes on the pedals this morning. I screwed up 3 times before I got going on the 4th try. What would happen would be that my foot on the left pedal and push down to get rolling. Then the right pedal would come over the top, come down, and then the shoe would hit the ground and throw my moment completely off. I finally got it but it was annoying because I've done this before. I was passed at least twice while fucking around with my damn pedals. I got going and I started going pretty fast.

The bike wasn't much either. Wasn't much wind, but it was slightly hilly. One guy and myself kept playing leap frog with each other for awhile and he happened to be in my age group. At one point, he got in front and kept going. We passed Jeremy who trains with Texas Iron with me and he was in our age group as well. So, I gained a spot on the bike so far. My legs were hurting a lot during the bike but I just kept going. Jake from Texas Iron passed me on the bike but he's a much better cyclist than me. I passed a couple of girls from the open wave, too. I came into T2 hard and fast with my feet on top of my pedals. I swung my right leg over the top tube and took off running through T2. As usual, my legs were Jello and I almost stumbled over. My official time was 31:55 for a speed of 20.9mph.

T2 was slow for me. I put on socks and I had to tie my shoes. Other than that, I just had my hat and race belt. I really need to get some quick laces for my shoes but I just haven't done it yet for some reason. I also probably could've ran without socks but I just didn't do it. I ran out of T2 and I was on the run. I was hurting from the first step but I kept going. Not much to write about on a 2 mile run either. I wanted to puke the entire time though. I really can't stand sprints because they hurt just too much. I kept pushing though and ran through it. I dropped a spot on the run when Noah passed me about 1.5 miles into the run. I knew that was going to happen. I crossed the line and I was so happy to be done with this race. My total time was 54:13 so I did about a 14:27.9 for a pace of 7:14min/mile. Not bad.

I ended up finishing 4th in my age group of like 54 people. I came out of T2 in 2nd, dropped to 3rd and then passed Jeremy to pick up 2nd place again. I came out of T2 in 3rd and then dropped to 4th on the run as I expected. The guy that I was playing leapfrog with on the bike ended up winning my age group. I had the 2nd fastest swim, the 2nd fastest bike split, and then the 14th fastest run time in my age group. I really wish I could run faster because as usually, it's holding me back. I'm working on it though. I finished 36th overall with 800 people in the race. Overall, I'm quite happy with the race. I mean, 4th place in my age group isn't bad at all.

Shoe mileage: 353 miles