austin tri race report

woke up feeling tired but pretty rested...had breakfast...grabbed my new transition bag...and was off to town lake...parked easily at one texas center though it was 7$ to park in my usually free spot...oh well...i had exactly 7$ so that seemed like a good sign...and walked towards where transition was...

got body marked and started to set up my stuff...the day before jackie (from cap tex group...i think she spells it differently but i don't know how) and i set up next to each other and i was glad to see that our bikes were both where they should be...i set up and was ready to go so i got myself out of the mayhem and up to the t3 tent...it was still empty but i was able to put my stuff down...and close my eyes and breathe for a few minutes...helped set up chairs in the tent...hit the port o potty and then down to the water for pre race meeting/wiggle into wetsuit...i was going to hop in the water but just as i was getting ready to do that they were calling everyone out of the water...oh well...ate my gummy things and sipped on some water...

standing on the trail with a bunch of other triathletes waiting to jump in the water is usually the part that makes me nervous...or at least that is when i notice my nerves and start getting freaked...but that just wasn't happening...i was happy about that...my wave was up...and walked out on to the dock...and hopped in...got a spot up towards the front....there were maybe 45 girls in my wave so pretty light...i was on the buoy line...and we were off...no bumping at all....just swimming...really not much to say there...caught a swimmer and was on her toes...but felt slow so i went around...we were right next to each other...and i thought ok i will slow down and drop back on her toes...but every time i thought that...she did the same thing...so i just said screw it and sped up...didn't feel any toe touching so i guess she didn't hop on...started catching up to the tail end of the group ahead of me...then started catching up to another color cap...hmm...that usually doesn't happen...i was feeling good...but i also was feeling like i was pushing myself harder than i usually do on the swim...it was a comfortable hard...then i was done...what? cool...swim felt _much_ better than cap tex and much shorter...got yanked out of the water by some t3ers (it was really hard to see where to step) finally took a step or two on my own...looked down at my watch and saw a 28 (!) wow! i was happy....looked up and saw husband! even happier...then i was off into transition...

put the bike shoes on and ran for what seemed like forever to get to the mount line...and got on no problem...it wasn't very crowded around me...so it all was pretty smooth...and was out onto south congress in no time...my legs were tired since there had been no taper leading up to this race...so i could feel the lactic acid building up as i hit the hill on soco...but i knew coming back down i could spin it out...up to the capitol then out on to cesear chavez...took my first gel...saw chuck and amynotcoach! yeah!...and was feeling good...the next two loops were just the same...no gel on loop two but one on loop three...and then i was getting onto the 1st street bridge and off the bike...flying dismount...and a long run to the other side of transition to rack my bike...shoes on hat in hand and a little water bottle...

in my head i wanted to take the first run loop easy...just feel it out and get a rhythm going...got my legs together about a mile into the course and just kept it steady...it was getting hot and lots of people were walking already...i was actually feeling really good...so i was thinking about things like keeping my arms relaxed and where i was going to pick it up for the second loop...and what flavor pure sport was going to be at the water stop...got back around to the transition area and just decided to pick it up there...and just kept going...saw j :) on the little off road part of the course and kicked it in...finishing really strong on the out and back from congress...shake and bake as coach logan says...finishing in a 2h and 39 minutes...7th in my age group and about 20 minutes faster than cap tex...

all in all it was a really good day...i hoped to finish the race 5 minutes faster than cap tex but was pleased with where i was...i was also hoping to break the 2.20m per 100m pace on the swim...i ended up with something like a 1.54...so accomplishing both of those things was great...lots of great cheering out there...by j and friends and teammates and coaches...a good race...