CapTex Olympic Race Report

Josiah and I went to Austin for the Memorial weekend so I could do the CapTex Olympic Triathlon. We stayed with my aunt & uncle who are actually my age and had a blast. We drove in to Austin on Saturday at 1:00 pm when the expo was opening. We picked up my packet and then when down to the bike check as we had to check in our bikes the day before the race. I got my bike racked where I wanted it and we were off. Byt his time Josiah was tired, nap time, and very hot. The heat index was 102 degrees at this point. Right outside of transition they had a sno cone shack set up. Talk about perfect product placement! So I was sucked into getting one for Josiah...and told him he had to share. And then we were off. We arrived at my aunt & uncles and got the car unloaded. We talked them into joining the TriPsy's for a pre-race dinner at Macaroni Grill. I had the best pre-race meal...penne pasta with chicken, chopped up asparagus, sun dried tomatoes with a garlic olive oil marinade. It was awesome!!! We were joined by Ironman Chad, IronWoman Michelle, Ironman PapaBob, IronWoman Tessy, Jen, Joe, Adrian, Chris, Shannon, Pam, Sean, Michelle, and their relatives.

I woke up early at 4:10 becasue I had a 25 minute drive through Austin to the race site. I took a hot shower, body glided, dressed, ate a yogurt and was on my way. I arrived at the race site at 5:10 and there was no traffic. I found an up close parking spoty. I went into the race hotel and used the restroom and bought a banana at the coffee shop. I didn't get coffee for the first time ever before a race. I didn't notice much difference at all with no caffeine. I went to body marking, got marked, and headed into transition. Since I was early I was able to take my time a set up like I wanted. This is something I really need to work on because I think I have too much stuff! Anyways, I was looking for my fellow TriPsy's but could not find them. I finally saw them with 10 minutes until transition closed. it seems tessy was sick all night and they were all late getting down there. When they were ready we headed to the water. Jen and I jumped in for a little warm up. She actually swam a warm up...I just doggy paddled around to get a feel for the water temp. When we got out, I found Pam, Shannon, Chad, and Michelle. As different waves were going we saw a familiar face. Jean Stewart came running up to us...her and Andy forgot about CapTex and had come up the night before because she hadn't run around Lady Bird Lake before! I said hi to her and my wave was called.

Although I have been swimming forever, the swim is my weakest part of my race. This swim was in Lady Bird Lake, formally known as Town lake, which is kind of dirty. I was scooping leaves and limbs the whole swim. I swam better than Lonestar but not much better.

1500 M Swim Time: 47:29
1500 M Swim Pace: 3:10 M
Lone Star 965 M Swim Time: 31:43
Lone Star 965 M Swim Pace: 3:17 M

The bike is now my favorite part. We trained in Chappell Hill last weekend so I really wasn't that worried about hte hills. I was more concerned about 2400 people riding the same 6.5 mile loop and getting run over. The ride was awesome! I love this loop and can't wait to do it again. I felt strong on the hills and had a smile on my face the whole time. I picked it up good this time!

40K Bike Time: 1:36:27
40K Bike Pace: 15.4 MPH
Lone Star 28 Mile Time: 1:54:58
Lone Star 28 Mile Bike Pace: 14.6 MPH

The first 2 parts of the race were under clowdy skies. The sun decided to come out right when I was hitting the run...and it got HOT! This killed my run time. It was a long 10K. The double loop was nice as there were a lot of people out on the course you could see and hear multiple times.

10K Run Time: 1:38:51
10K Run Pace: 15:55 Mile
Lone Star 6.5 Mile Run Time: 1:41:11
Lone Star 6.5 Mile Run Pace: 15:34 Mile

Although I am not overjoyed with my times...I did finish 8th in the Athena category which is great for me. It is higher than I have ever finished. And this is just a stepping stone to my ultimate goal...VINEMAN!

Back on Track

What a great training weekend! It started at 5:30 with a 9 mile run with my running partner Lurlean. We averaged 13:45 min miles. My goal for Vineman is 14 minute miles. When we finished with our run, I went over to the Y and swam 2000 yds. Sunday I woke up bright and early to carpool with Patty, Tessy, and Pam from Finish Line Sports for a great bike ride in Chappell Hill. Also joining us were Jen, Canadian Deb and Joe, Cory, and Chris. Vineman is a hilly course and heaven knows that aren't any hills in Houston. I rode a 41 mile loop in about 3 hours. The weather was beautiful and the wild flowers were in full bloom. Later in the afternoon, I met the others for a swim in Twin Lakes. Tessy and I got in 2 1/2 loops with others doing assorted distances. Thanks to Coach Jen and Kayaker Melissa for keeping us all safe. It was a full weekend of training and I now feel more confident working up to Vineman. This weekend coming up is the CapTex Olympic Triathlon in Austin. I am feeling very confident going into this race of a strong showing. It can only get better after Lonestar!

Dragging Too Much Weight

Ok...so last night I was swimming with Fast Shannon at Twin Lakes. I don't usually kick while I swim because for some reason I can't figure out how I use to do that when I was younger. Anyways, Fast Shannon decided she was going to try to swim like me...only using her upper body and no kicking. So after she does it for a while, she says "That is to hard, I'm dragging to much weight in the water." HAHAHAHAHA First of all, there is a reason I call her Fast Shannon, she probably weighs about 95-100 pounds when she has a lot of clothes on...and she is really fast at everything she does. I on the other hand.... Well, you know what I mean. So I laughed and said, "You think you are dragging a lot of weight, give me a break!!!" That is why I love Shannon!!!!!

Sick Kids

There is nothing like a sick kid to derail your training plans. It started Sunday morning at 3:00 am. Josiah's asthma kicked in from the changing weather and went straight to his lungs. When he came in my room my first thought was, there goes my 40 mile training ride in 3 1/2 hours. Now I know that my first thought should have been all about him, but I was so looking forward to riding my longest ride without a break. So we slept in until 9:00 am and then got dressed and went to the Sugar Cycles Criterium. That was way cool watching the pros average over 31 mph. WOW!!! And not crash!!! Then it was off to see Iron Man (the movie, not the race!). What a great movie...can't wait for Iron Man 2 in Summer 2010. So I have been stuck home until today with not much training getting done. I did get some trainer rides in but it just isn't the same. I also ran 4 miles of hills in the parking garage last night so that was something at least. If the weather cooperates I will get a Twin Lakes swim in tonight which always makes me feel better.