Texas Man Oympic Race Report

I headed up toward Denton knowing rain was in the forecast.  As a matter of fact it was pouring rain in Houston as a I was packing up my equipment.  Jonathan reminded me that if it rained, it would be just like the Redman Half Ironman last Septmember.  Fortunately the rain stopped when I got to The Woodlands on I-45 and I didn't see any more rain the entire drive.  They were still predicting rain, although less of a percentage, for race day.  I had met up with my brother-in-law, Greg, for the race.

We awoke to cooler, drier air--quickly packed up and head to the race site.  I was feeling good about the race, now.  I went and picked up my packet (being I was from out of town, I was allowed to pick up my packet race day).  Quickly went through body marking, set up in transition, stopped at the bathroom, did a short warm up run, stopped at the bathroom again, and headed down to the lake with goggles, cap and wetsuit in my arms.

The swim--The lake was calm and with the clear skies, siting was easy.  I didn't feel like I zigzagged too much.  I do hate when I start drafting someone and decide I should pass them.  That sudden slow down when you go out of the draft makes me feel as if the guy actually accelerated just to spite me.  So this time, I decided to try to kick hard when I attempted to pass.  Kicking well in a wetsuit takes some focus due to the buoyancy in the wetsuit.  But it seemed to work!  I excited with my fastest Olympic distance swim to date!

The bike--I was quite slow getting out of T1 and onto the bike.  After finally getting my shoes, helmet, number belt, and sunglasses on, I was off and riding.  The bike was well marked.  Although, I do have to pay attention to signs.  Since there was also a Half Ironman going on at the same time, I rode right past a sign that said "Olympic Bike Turn Around Here".  All the other cyclists kept going straight;  it took me a couple of seconds to process the fact that I just missed the turn around.  At least after I turned, I had to climb a hill to try to make up the time!  The remainder of the bike was somewhat hilly and uneventful--for me anyway.  There was one bike that had hit gravel and the rider was down.  He was laying on the ground beneath a cop whining in pain (it still hurts me even thinking about it now!).  And we were only about 3 miles from T2. 

As I entered the park, I was confident that T2 was just around the next corner, so I slipped my right foot out of my shoe and started riding with it on top of the shoe.  Well, upon rounding the corner, I thought, "I feel dumb."  T2 was still about another mile away.  So I rode with one foot out of a shoe and one in a shoe.

The run--T2 seemed to be just as slow as T1.  I struggled getting my socks on (I tried the "no socks" routine last year at Clear Lake...a 10K run without socks put not just a blister, but a hole in the bottom of right foot).  I felt like I was flying coming out of T2!  Passing people, my leg turnover was incredible.  A quick left turn, and I found out why.  I had been running down hill.  Basically from here you ran up hill for about 3 miles, turned around and came back.  Half of the run was shaded, so that helped tremendously as the day was starting to heat up.  A guy I had passed earlier in the run eased by me with less than mile to the finish line.  I encouraged him by saying, "Good job."  His reply surprised me, "Come on man!  Let's kick it in for the finish."  I tried to hang onto him to the finish line, but could not. 

While it was not my fastest Olympic distance race, it was close.  I was pleased my performance.  The race venue was great, too.  Nice after race party right on the lake beach.  Maybe I'll try the Half next year?

Train safe!

TKC JCC Family Tri done

Yesterday, I assisted race director Charles Moser with the TKC JCC Family Triathlon.  I was the swim starter and my son was carted the race official around on a motorcycle.  The triathlon is geared for a bit older kids than the other local kid's triathlons.  It was designed to give them a bit more distance (age appropriate of course) than the very short courses for the younger kids. 

We had nearly tripled our numbers from last year, and part of the proceeds go towards Achieve Houston, the camp for which I'm Head Coach.

Train safe!