Houston Triathlon

Its bound to happen. It does to everyone. You think you are ready to go and you feel awesome, and then BAM something knocks you back to earth. Like I said it happens to everyone, and it happened to me this last weekend.

Sunday was the Houston Triathlon. I was feeling pretty confident going into the race because of the recent good showing I had up in Austin a couple weeks prior. I thought for sure after coming so close to the 3 hour mark I would have no problem kicking it up just a half a notch and finish under it this time around. Maybe that was my problem. Maybe I was a little too over confident. And because of that I made some mistakes. Some dumb mistakes that I know better. Albeit mistakes that are easily correctable, but still mistakes nonetheless. I will come back to those in a minute.

The Houston Triathlon has two unique elements to its course. The first one was that the swim course was a two loop course. That is not very unique itself but this one required you to get out of the water after the first loop, run back to the swim start, jump back in and head out for your second loop. It throws you off a little because a big element to the swim portion is getting into a rhythm, and obviously having to get out of the water halfway through effects that.

The other unique element is that the transition area was quite a distance from the swim exit. Normally we are talking maybe 50 yards or so at a normal race. This race is was easily 3-4 city blocks away. Logistically it was the best way to set it up, but of course it contributed to some added time that was going to need to be made up if I was going to break 3 hours.

In a nutshell the race started off as to be expected. I felt pretty good with my swim the whole time. The interruption in the middle was different, but nothing terrible. I made it out of the water in about what I was expecting and made the long jog to transition.

The bike was a pretty simple and flat two loop course around the area, 12.5 miles each loop. About 4 miles of each loop was directly into a headwind which was not fun, but it definitely could have been worse. I actually rocked the bike though. In fact I think this was one of the best bike rides I have ever had. I smoked through the bike course faster than I have ever ridden before and hit transition right on pace to break the 3 hour mark.

By the time I was hitting the run course it was extremely hot. Houston hit record high temperatures on Sunday, and you could tell. It took its toll on everyone. The first mile into the run I was running a little faster than I needed to, and then when I hit mile two things started going downhill and fast. My pace kept slowing, and the faster I tried to run the slower I would actually go. By mile 3 the heat and the effort I put into the bike started taking it toll and causing my legs to cramp up. Long story short, it was by far the worse run I have ever had in a race. The only consolation I have is that I wasn't the only one hurting. With the weather conditions the way they were the run course looked like a battlefield. Tons of people were cramping, walking, stretching, hobbling. You name it they were doing it. I did eventually finish although not near as fast as I was hoping.

 
So needless to say it was a learning experience. Like I said I made some mistakes, but I learned from them. They are easily correctable.

#1 Nutrition- The night before I did not eat my normal pasta dinner, nor eat much for breakfast that morning. I was feeling very confident, and maybe a little too overconfident and thought I could get by without. I could definitely tell heading into the run I could have used some more energy after the effort I put into the bike. Like I said easily correctable.

#2 Pacing- Pacing is key for triathlons. Go out too fast and you leave nothing in the tank for the finish. That is exactly what happened to me. I got excited on the bike and the adrenaline was flowing a little too fast. I had an awesome bike split but it cost me in the run. Even though I probably would not have made it under 3 hours by slowing down on the bike, I would have left something in my legs to finish the run better than what I did.

I would say the other factor here is weather, but I have no control over that. I can only play with the hand that is dealt to me. I just need to know that in hot conditions, mistake #1 and mistake #2 become even more crucial.

With all that being said, overall I am not too disappointed. It was a learning experience and that is exactly what I am going to do. I have just over a month before my next half Ironman triathlon. It will give me some time to work on some longer bike rides and longer runs. I can play with the nutrition and pacing a little bit to figure out a good combination that works for me and head into that race feeling confident.....hopefully not over confident though.

P.S.- I have to throw a huge shout out to two of my friends that made it out to support; JP, and Dr. Kerr!!! You guys rock!! Thanks for cheering me on, it was greatly appreciated!! Next time we will get you on the front page of the paper again!

Pre-race taper

Well race week is upon me again. This weekend I am eastbound and down to Houston to participate in the Houston Triathlon! That means its time to start tapering down the workouts for the next few days to make sure I am rested up to rock it out on Sunday.

Sometimes for me the hardest part is the taper. I am so used of going, going, and going, that when it comes time to tone down the workouts or as in the case this morning, cut them out completely it definitely makes me feel out of sync. But I also know I need to make sure I am rested up that way I can give my best effort. 

So it will be light workouts for the rest of the week so I can make sure I am on my A game come Sunday. Maybe this time I can break the 3 hour mark after coming so close in Austin a couple weeks ago! 

Of course, I was able to scout the competition to see what I am going to be up against. As you can see, this guy is going to be tough to beat!!

Austin Triathlon

Ahhh labor day. A day off work, a day spent grilling out with friends and family, or out on the boat enjoying the lake. Or if you are like me or one of the other 1024 Olympic distance triathletes in Austin today, its a day where you get up before dawn so you can swim 1 mile, bike 25, and run 6.2. I know, sounds relaxing doesn't it?

I was very excited for today. The Austin Triathlon was the first triathlon that I did last year. I can now officially say I have been a triathlete for a year, and honestly what a year it has been. The Austin Triathlon will always be a special race for this simple fact. Last year I did the sprint distance: 1/2 mile swim, 17 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. With already having a half Ironman under my belt, and currently training for a second, I figured the step up to the Olympic distance would fit very well into my training plan. 

Even though I was doing the Olympic distance this year I was still very anxious to compare my splits from last year and see how much improvement there has been. Many of you know I have put in a lot of work over the past year, and it would be interesting to see just how far I have come, and also see just how far I need to go to get to where I want to be. 

Thankfully last night we finally had a break from the heat when a cool front came through. It was about 70 degrees this morning before race time, and it felt amazing. Even though it was still going to warm up some once the sun broke, it still wasn't going to be as hot at the 106 we had just yesterday.

Spoiler alert: I had a GREAT race! I wasn't exactly sure what to expect considering my last race I crashed on the bike. But needless to say there were no after affects and I don't think, all things considering, I could have asked for a better race

Swim: With the drought and the incredible heat wave we have been having in Texas, it caused the water temps to be warm enough that wetsuits were not allowed. Its kind of bittersweet, wetsuits do give you an advantage and you can swim faster in them, but at the same time it is nice enjoying the water and swimming without them as well. I think all the open water swimming I have been doing lately has paid off. I didn't have any sighting problems, kept a good pace and overall had a good swim. My time for the mile swim was 38:12, giving me a 2:33 minute/100 meter pace. Not quite as fast as I had hoped, but considering it was without a wetsuit I will take it. In comparison to last year with a wetsuit I swam a 2:38 minute/100 meter pace for a distance half as long. So there has definitely been some improvement. 

Bike: The Austin bike course has a few moderate hills to it that definitely makes it a little challenging in spots. Today though there was another added element. WIND! It was windy on the bike course. Now the bike course does wind around a couple different directions, so you had the advantage of the wind at your back at a couple spots, but others you were going straight into it.

Most of my training has been in the hill country, and even though my legs hate it at the time it definitely paid off today. Even with the hills and the wind I had an AWESOME bike ride. I didn't crash which is always a plus, but overall I just felt really good on the bike. And it definitely showed when I compared my times to last year. This year I average 18.4 miles per hour on the bike for the 25 mile ride for a total time of 1:20:53. Last year I only road 17 miles, and I only averaged 14.5 miles per hour for a total time of 1:09:12. Definitely lots of improvement there. Its funny because in comparison, the bike is probably what I spent the least amount of time working on compared to the swim and the run, but I guess the work I have been doing sure has been paying off. 

Run: For those of you that don't do triathlons the run portion of it can be quite the experience. I have seen pros that rock the swim and the bike completely implode on the run. There is definitely an element of pacing that needs to be considered. You ride too fast on the bike and you don't leave anything left in your legs. So really once you get off that bike you never quite know what your going to get. You could get a good set of legs to rock out on, or you could end up running on cooked spaghetti legs. My run today was as good as I could have asked for. I felt good pretty much the whole time. I started to bonk with about a half mile left in the run, but was close enough to finish I could dig down and finish strong. I ended up rocking the 6.2 mile run in 56:06 for a 9:03 minute/mile pace which I was very happy with. I was shooting for anything less than a 10 minute/mile pace, and beat that pretty comfortably. In comparison to last year. 3.1 miles in 37:05 for a 11.58 minute/mile pace. So once again I shaved some time off there. 

Overall with transition time my total time for the race was 3:01:15. I honestly never thought I would have been closed enough to actually have a shot to break 3 hours, so I am kind of bummed I was so close and didn't get it done, but at the same time it gives me something to shoot for next race. 

As the Austin Triathlon is in the books this is just the start of my busy race season for the next few months. I have the Houston Triathlon (Olympic distance) in 3 weeks. Then 3 weeks after that I have the Texas Med Clinic half marathon. A month after that I have the Oilman Half Ironman Triathlon. And then I have two months to finish up my marathon training for the Houston Marathon on January 15! Then it is a nice short 2 1/2 turnaround time until Triathlon season fires up again with the Galveston Half Ironman on April 1. 

Thanks to everyone who sent good luck wishes. They definitely paid off! Here is to a great Labor day for everyone, I think I am going to enjoy the rest of mine with my legs in the air and a drink in my hand!

(that's what she said....)