texas triathlon
start - swim - bike - run - finish
all photos by j. buntz photgraphy
man, i was champing at the bit all week for this race. i felt like i asked myself "is it friday night yet?" every time i got out of bed or stepped away from my desk at work. certainly different from other pre-race emotions, this feeling was more giddy than aggressive/fearful. i will admit however, that i had trepidations whilst in bed about the 300ft descent in the bike route advertised as having coast speeds of 45 mph. my training has come full circle: i fear more for my own soul from sitting motionless on a bicycle than being told to swim across a large body of open water.
the water was 77 degrees--just cool enough to be wetsuit legal. i borrowed k's wetsuit for the race, on the condition of restraining from urination at all times while in the suit. "for the 10-15 minutes that this puppy's gonna save me on the swim," i though "i'll abide by whatever rules you wish."
[never once did i stop to think why k would request that, and what she does while in the exact same suit that i intended to borrow. curious.]
slap-gorgeous morning for a race: 60 degrees at sunrise. indeed, the suit was worth its absence-of-weight in gold as i stayed loose and relaxed in the swim. however, everytime i looked up to spot on the counterclockwise loop, i was facing off to the right, swimming away from the course. it seems that the wetsuit has some degree of an alignment problem; i have since advised k to take it into the shop at first opportunity. this issue added a good 1/10th of a mile to the distance covered. i was somewhat okay with that; my imperial upbringing being perturbed from the start that the swim was a 0.9 mile route.
given a trip k and i took in march, i knew the lay of the bike course from a tough 23-mile boston training run. i planned to be conservative with the gears and keep the torque low and cadence high. i even had prepared a special bottle of electrolyes and salt to help keep from cramping on the run, knowing what the hills would do to my legs. however, a small pothole in the first mile shook the bike harder than expected; for one brief moment i saw my bottle silouetted against the morning sunrise. a bounce, a splash... and then it was gone.
the rest of the ride was challenging, but i stayed in my seat and got back home. the march run was sooo helpful as i recognized climbs and landmarks; who would have guessed what i was really training for back then?
i hit it hard on the run, holding a 40:00 pace through 5k, but slipping a little at the end due to some cramping (flashback: bottle!) and the prior 2.5 goddamn hours of physical exercise. the wind off the lake was heavy, the sun was hot and the climbs were non trivial, but i found a good kick in the final 800m and finished strong.
50 hours later, and i'm still beat. nevermind the fact that the overall winner ran a faster 10k than my 10k PR by over a minute--i did damn well.
[seriously: someone take a urine sample from his wetsuit and do a drug screening...]
texas triathlon
canyon lake, texas
0.9 mile swim, 26.2 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
===========================================
2:55:11 (8/16 in age, 61/139 overall)
0:34:38 (13/16, 120/139)
0:03:50 T1
1:33:51 (10/16, 82/139)
0:01:25 T2
0:41:27 (1/16, 9/139)
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