Austin Triathlon Race Report

  It was a great day to be a triathlete on Labor Day in Austin, Texas. I just completed my first Olympic distance triathlon and it was awesome. I swam 1500 M, biked 40K and ran 10K. Here's how it all went down.
  The day before the race I drove down the the Hyatt to pick up my race packet and pick up some extra things for my race. I needed new sunglasses and a race belt to hang my bib number on. There is a booth at the expo that sells pretty good sunglasses for under 20 bucks so I wanted a pair of those. In the expo I ran into Jack from Jack and Adams and thanked him again for the great deal he gave me on my wetsuit. I also extended my compliments to his store for all of the great service I have gotten from them during this whole racing season.

Me and Jack at the Expo

They really have a good store and are always very helpful. I even saw Jack, the morning of one of the other triathlons, directing traffic into a parking lot to get everybody into the race on time. Thanks again Jack.
   On the morning of the race I woke up at about 4 a.m. to start my race day preparations. I had a cup of coffee and a smoothie. I get anxious on race day so no solid food for me. I packed and repacked all of my gear. This race I was bringing along a wetsuit as well as all of my other junk. My bicycle was already parked in the transition area the night before so I didn't need to worry about bringing that. I kissed my dog Oskar on the nose for luck and I was out the door.

Oskar of Course

I parked my car on the west side of Lamar and walked over to transition to get my body marked and set up. I needed a bike pump to top off my tires. As I was looking around I saw a friendly face down the rack from my bike. His name is Matt and we met after the couples tri a few months back. If you had read that race report he was the cyclist that I almost ran over as I was starting the bike section of the race that day. He saw my blog and while reading it he realized who I was and as it turns out he runs with Rogue as well. He directed me to the bike maintenance tent where they let you use their air pumps. Thanks again Matt.
  I finished setting up my transition area, laying out my helmet, sunglasses, shoes, race bib and GU's. With just a few minutes to spare I realize that I had not familiarized myself with where all of the entrances and exits for the different portions of the race were. So I asked one of the volunteers and he quickly pointed them all out to me. Ooops.

Baton & Me in my superhero costume

I left transition and found my good friends Paula and Barton before my wave started. Barton is my swim coach/message therapist/kineseo tape specialist. He was undertaking the swim portion of the race as part of a relay and he was stoked to be there. We chatted for a bit and he helped me zip up the back of my wetsuit. I wished him luck and headed for the starting dock. On the way I saw my friend Tanner who is competing in the age group younger than mine. He is 5th overall in his group and he run's with Rogue as well. Check out his blog at http://thewavingrunner.blogspot.com/. He is real fast too.
  They called my wave to start and I walked out onto the dock. I joked again about a cannonball entry. This time the guys around me thought that it was funny. Either that or they were as nervous as I was and needed an attention breaker. We all jumped in the water and the guy next to me came up without any goggles on his head. They were just on top of his swim cap when he jumped in and they popped off immediately. I tried helping him find his goggles by diving under water where he jumped in. Every time I came up for air the announcer was counting down closer and closer to the start. Finally a race volunteer on the dock spotted them right as the starting horn went off. What a way to start a race?
  I started out ridiculously slow as per the last minute text message advice I got from Amy. I eased into the swim allowing my arms and shoulders to warm up. It wasn't too crowded and I slowly started passing other swimmers along the way. I eventually started to catch the wave in front of ours. Well I caught the guys doing backstroke. I got to hand it to the guys that will do a triathlon and can't even swim. They've got guts that's for sure. Before I rounded the first buoy I started to notice that there were some shallow parts to Town Lake. The first thing my hand hit was soft and malleable. I thought it was a body and then almost choked from laughing so hard at myself. A body in Town Lake? Haha!!
  I rounded the buoys and I noticed about halfway through that I wasn't tired at all. So I started to pick up my pace ever so slightly  and began passing all of the guys that I was drafting off of and all of the guys that went out too fast at the beginning. I got out of the water and said HI to my friend Chris who was again volunteering at the race by pulling people out.  This was my first wetsuit race so I was a little shocked when hands started grabbing my wetsuit. They were unzipping it and helping me out of it as I was running towards transition. I wish I would have know in advance that this would be happening because I think I tried to give them the slip instead of using their help.
  I got to my bike and sat down to take off my wetsuit. The timing chip they gave us for the race was pretty bulky and getting the wetsuit over it was a little annoying. Other than that little complaint the race itself was awesome. I slipped on my pointy helmet (Thank You Mark), strapped on my shoes, clipped on my race belt and put on the new sunglasses. I was off for my favorite portion of the race, the bike!!!
  I loved the bike course. It was 3 loops through downtown Austin for a total of 40K. The first section of the ride takes you up Congress to Mary which is a little bit of a climb compared to the rest of the course. When I started there was only about 4 waves ahead of me so it wasn't crowded yet. Going down Congress was fun because you get to really fly down that hill. I'm not afraid to go fast so I use the downhills as much as possible. I averaged close to  21 mph which isn't slow. But about 2/3's through my first loop the guy that got 2nd place overall passes me like I was standing still. It was amazing. His name is Richie Cunningham. No seriously, his name is Richie Cunningham.
  When I got into my second loop is when all of the fun started happening and at that point a lot of triathletes changed their game plans. It started to RAIN!! I was just at the top of the Congress hill at Mary when it started to dump. I turned the corner and had to make a decision. I could either ride the brakes and play it safe or I could go all out and if I could hang on I might cut into the lead of one or two of the guys that were ahead of me in the standings. I went for broke. I blazed past everyone on the downhill section and I figured that all of that riding in the rain as a bike messenger in Manhattan last summer is finally paying off. Thank You Breakaway Couriers. I noticed that a bunch of other riders were starting to slow down. Good for them but that's not my style.
  On my third lap another rider and me kept leap frogging each other. She would pass me going uphill and I would pass her downhill and on the flats. We kept this up for most of my third loop when all of a sudden she turned too sharp on the wet pavement at Mopac and slid out about 10 yards in front of me. I saw her skid about 15 yards grabbing her arm in pain just knowing her race was over. At the top of the hill another guy came unclipped from his pedals and just stops his bike right in front of two other guys who go around him on both sides. All three of them are yelling, "Look Out, On your left, and On your Right!!" It was starting to look like pandemonium. It was fantastic.
  While on the bike course I could hear all of my friends who showed up to cheer me on. Thank you Amy, Heidi, Jenn, Scooby, Joe, Carolyn, Tony, Mandy, Oscar, and everybody else that was there screaming my name while I was going by. It really does help.
  I finished the bike very happy and almost got stuck again being clipped in right at the dismount line. I trotted through transition to park the bike, drop the helmet (albeit gently Mark), toss on the shoes and head out for the 10K run. I was tired, out of breath and had over 6 miles of running ahead of me.

    The run was two 3 mile loops through the park, Riverside, S. First bridge and back. I averaged about 8:24 minute miles which was faster than I thought I was going and faster than I thought I could go. I was expecting 9 minute miles so I am happy with my pace. If I am just running I am a much better runner. But with adding in swimming and especially cycling my running pace definitely takes a nose dive. About halfway through my first loop my friend Tanner was finishing his run. He passed me and we both shouted encouragements to each other. I need to train with that guy. He's fast. All my friends were out on the run course so it was a real mental and emotional boost to hear a bunch of people scream your name out as you passed. I felt like the popular kid for sure.
  I got a big surprise on my second loop when the girl who had fallen on the bike right in front of me passed me by. I yell out, "Hey, didn't you fall?" Without missing a beat she turns her head and nonchalantly states, "I got up." Wow. I love triathlons. By this time in the race all of my work leading up to that point was adding up. My legs and lungs were spent. Whatever stung me on my chest on the first bike loop is really starting to bug me (pardon the pun). I am ready to finish. My strong point in my running is that I have a pretty strong kick at the end of races. Not this time. I had a little bit of a kick that let me distance myself from the people behind me but that's all. I crossed the finish line with absolutely nothing left in the tank. It was over, and I couldn't have been happier. A few minutes after I crossed the finish line I heard the announcer call out the name of the guy that is third overall in my age group. I am fifth and after the race I did the math and realized I took 8 minutes off his lead. Woohoo!!!
  The biggest lesson I learned about myself that day was this. Whenever things are tough, hard or miserable you sometimes try to escape to that Happy Place in your head. I couldn't escape to the Happy Place because in the middle of the race when I was swimming in Town Lake, hauling ass in the rain, or struggling to finish the run I am already in my Happy Place. It doesn't get much better than that. So even though I may look like:

                                  I really am Happy!!!! Thank you everyone for reading this, cheering us all on and supporting me and all of my fellow triathletes.