I'll try to keep it brief, so I'll just say that this race is a huge production. Over 2,700 athletes raced this year, and for that many athletes, the organizers do a good job. It doesn't have much of a personal touch, but it makes up for in it spectacle.
I swam the morning before at Barton Springs, which is a spring fed pool that feeds Town Lake, where the race was held. Town Lake is really a dammed up river. When I got to Barton Springs, I found myself at the back of about a 200 person line of Team in Training triathletes from all over the country. the group in front of me was in town from NY.
I've raced with TNT in the past, and for all the good they do, I feel like a schmuck complaining, but every time I looked up in the swim and bike course, I found a TNT athlete in the way. I blame this as much on the race organizers sending the typically slowest age group waves first, and the faster ones last. I guess the idea was to clear the roads sooner, but it make for a crowded course all day long.
Swim:
Since my wave left about an hour after the elites went off, I watched them all roll up into transition. I did a 19:06 swim at this race back in '05, and while I was in better shape for the swim last time, I figured I'd be within 2 minutes of that time. well the top guy was out of the water in 20 minutes, Andrea Fisher was out of the water in 20:30, and Desiree Ficker was out in 23 mins, so I knew straight away that the swim was long.
The gun went off, and I took off with a guy and we swam together for the first 5 minutes. I was soon on my own, not feeling special, and about 10 minutes into the swim, I had caught several of the waves in front and was dodging people and getting swatted in the face the rest of the way. The swim felt like it took FOR EVER, and it did. Not happy about it. I need to swim more.
Time: 24:10; Pace: 1:37/100M; Place: 28/1442 (overall)
T1:
Transition started off uneventful. Transition area was all dirt. No grass to be found near my age groups racks, so I made sure to get out of my wetsuit back in the swim swim exit shoot which was on grass.
I grabbed my bike, and headed out. As I made my way out of transition, my aero bottle fell off my bike and onto the dirt, spilling lots of water. It turns out, when I secured it in the mount, I didn't realize the Velcro was facing the wrong way and I never got a 'seal.' threading the Velcro through the holes is a challenge with the bottle in, and I spent a good 60 seconds trying to reattach it. I lost about half of the water, and it was hot, so I was pissed.
Time: 3:53
Bike:
This 4 loop bike course is fun, scary, and crowded. Fun because it has great long downhills. Scary because it is very technical, and many of the turns are at the bottom of hills where you either can take alot of speed into the turns, or have to break alot. And is this thing ever crowded. Luckily they give you 2 and sometime 4 lanes of traffic to work with so you can pass, and avoid drafting by moving over rather than back. With so many people on a 6.25 mile loop, you could stack bikes from front to back wheel, and you'd have more than 6.25 miles of bike.
I did a good job of accelerating at the top of hills, and out of corners. I also did a good job of staying aero when I was going fast or into the wind, and stretching my back when I was climbing.
In the last 4 or 5 minutes of the ride, I was feeling a strange sensation in my front wheel in turns, and realized when I stood up to stretch my back in the last downhill and felt the front rim bumping along the road with no air in that front tire, that I'd flatted. I finished the ride, and was no worse for ware.
Time: 1:10:10; Pace: 21.2MPH; Place: 317/1442
T2:
I don't recall T2, so it must have been uneventful. Transition area was huge, so it was hard to be fast.
Time: 2:46
Run:
I hit the 2 loop run course a little fatigued. I probably pushed a tad too hard on the bike, but I've been worse, and should have been fine. It was just really effing hot. My wave left about an hour after the first, and the race started about 20 minutes late, so it was late morning by the time I hit the roads, and it was steamy.
The first lap started off okay, but I wasn't doing anything exceptional from a pace perspective, and could feel it unraveling. I was able to get ice at some of the aid stations, and I took it with me to pour on my head as it melted.
On the second lap as I climbed Congress up over the bridge towards the capital, I popped and was reduced to a walk. It was demoralizing, and was hard to motivate to get going after the pop. I walked ran the last mile and a half.
Time: 1:02.25; Pace: 10:03; Place: 691/1442
Overall:
Time: 2:43.26
AG Place: 62/178
Gender Place: 275/849
Overall: 336/1442
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