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....)