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!