Capital of Texas Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

The water was pretty cold when I first jumped in and I was very glad to have the wetsuit on. I started in the back right against the inside line and maintained the inside line the entire swim. I got bumped around quite a bit in the first 200 meters because I passed a lot of people. My ankle got grabbed twice. Not happy about that. Next time I need to start near the front.
At the last 50 meters of the swim, heading back to shore, I gave a swift kick with my right leg to cross over the buoy. My calf threw an awful cramp/charley horse. This happened my last Oly race too. I don't know how to remedy this or what to do to prevent it. Two days later it still feels like it is in a state of constant spasm and is warm and swollen.

Not cramp! Maybe I need to take a salt tab before swim?

There was a long run from the swim exit to the bike racks. It was over grass, but there were lots of bare dirt parts, so my feet were caked in mud. I rinsed them off with a bottle of water and threw on my shoes. No problems getting wetsuit off. Shoved a gel in my back pocket, put on helmet and sunglasses and was out of there. Jogged with the bike through all of T1, but should have ran faster.

Go faster.

Great bike for me. I took it easy in the small chaingring during the first lap, because I wasn't familiar with the course and my calf was killing me. After that I just let it go. There was a slight uphill on Congress, then a little hiccup of a hill. Nothing major although I did stand up on a couple of laps. Stayed aero pretty much the whole course except for the turns. Had a couple close calls with people not hold their line on the hairpins.
I just had my aero drink bottle on the bike, and was out of water on the 3rd lap. Also ate 1 gel.
Tracy was at the turnaround at the start of the bike, so I got to see her each lap.

I'm pretty happy with my performance, but there's always room for more speed! I have never gone this fast for a race, so I can't complain.

Did not do the barefoot dismount thing because I've been reading too many horror stories. Stopping all the way doesn't slow me down that much anyway. Jogged through transition, but could have ran faster. Helmet off, shoved another gel in my pocket and grabbed hat and race belt and put on while running out. I got a little confused after leaving the racks because swimmers were coming in from the sprint race, and that slowed me down because I looked around trying to figure out where to go.

Know the course better.

I felt pretty good for the run, just hot. I skipped the first water station because all volunteers were busy and I didn't feel like stopping. At next one took in a gel. Grabbed water at every station after that--took gulp and poured rest over head. It was starting to get very warm out there.
Dennis passed me on the 2nd lap, and I didn't feel like giving chase, though I should have. I didn't chase anyone down who passed me.
My pacing was pretty much dead even for first and second lap. I should have gone harded the last mile, but I didn't want to kill myself out there. This wasn't an A race for me and I needed to leave something in the tank to pick up my training volume for the rest of the week.
I got to see Tracy on 3 times on the run, so that was awesome.

Pick a pace cow and run after them. The run was my weakest event this race, so I obviously need to work on that.

Grabbed water and popsicles. Ate one bite of pizza but realized that was not what I wanted. Found Tracy and met back up with some BT'ers.


Loved this race! Will make it an annual event. This was only my 2nd Oly distance race and I am extremely pleased with my performance, especially on the bike. I feel a little more prepared for BSLT after this.