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TEJAS TRIATHLON - TriathlonSprint


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Sugarland, Texas
United States
92F / 33C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 15m 52s
Overall Rank = 133/621
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 26/65
Pre-race routine:

Got up early... forgot to set up the alarm clock last night.. but I woke up in time (internal clock rocks). Made myself a cup of coffee and ate a power bagel. Re-check things for the race, check the air of the bike, loaded it my car and headed to the race site.. No traffic but I alreay could feel the weather heating up... and the humidity... I knew it was going to be alooooooong day today.

Arrive to the site and walked my bike to the transition area... My number was 316 and happened to be the last spot in a rack.. right under a a tree... (great spotting stuff).... My little piece of realstate was premium... or so I thought, but somebody else had already taken it (more on that later)... I knew I had rights to it... my number said so... so I just parked there... and hope for the best... Took out my shoes, and everything else...

I also met some fellow Bt's Phil (TigerPhil), Bill (RGRBILL), (CSGOMEZ), Brant (oldag92), and Joe (Freeswimmingfish). Nice to put faces to the names in the site.. They are pretty cool guys...
Event warmup:

I did not know, but this was a national triathlon short distance championship race.. Lots of fast people were on site... The bikes were amazing and I realized that my dreams of placing top 10 in my age group will not be happening in this race.

No warm-up.... I was sweating already just by setting up my transition time... By time I arrived to the swim start I was drenched in sweat, and I was not the only one. Even the water felt hot... No warmup.... I was hot already...

Swim
  • 14m 7s
  • 880 yards
  • 01m 36s / 100 yards
Comments:

The swim was great... I enjoyed a whole lot.. I decided to swim with my tri-top on.... which happend to be white...well... not anymore. It is brown and i don't think I will be able to wash it to remove the brownish color. My wave was composed of about 75 people and I made sure I was to the very right of the wave to avoid the chopping, and blender effect in the middle... I learned my lesson last time. I made to the first buoy and then decided to pick up the pace... I started to pass people and in more than one ocassion I had to swim over people doing doggie style swim.. Slow swimers from previous waves.. I knew I was being drafted, as I was swiming I thought I must have a hand imprint on my legs... this guy just stayed with me for the whole swim. I could not find anybody to draft from, I definitly need to get some practice on that. After a while looking forward (since my navigationw was done looking at the shoreline), i picked up my head and saw that I had litle less than 100 meters to go... I thought... ok.. now the hardt thing starts.... The heat is going to kill me....
What would you do differently?:

I think my top had some sort of drag effect on me. I could feel that it was taking water, kind of like when you are swiming with an oversized shirt on. well.. not much like that...but it kind of felt like it.
Transition 1
  • 01m 27s
Comments:

Remember I mentioned that when I got to transition someboby else was already on my little piece of real state... well... As soon as I left the water I started to think about it and hope that I was not going to have a confrontation of some sort... As soon as got there I knew that it was going to be invitable... the fight was about to begin... It turns out that my spot was under a tree, under the tree ants made it home.... and they were not happy with everything going on. They were on my towel, on my shoes, on my hat. I started to clean my bike shoes and finally decided to put them on. I did, many bit me.. but I killed lots of them... they were not going to stop me. I was so into the battle that I put my helmet backwards... and as soon as I was leving the transition area they stop me and told me that my helmet was backwards... i was embarrassed about it... oh well..
What would you do differently?:

Not much... I think I did a pretty good job at winning the ant war... This is the first time I am biking and running sockless, so I was afraid that the ants will have a field day with me.. but I shook them well.


Bike
  • 37m 38s
  • 13 miles
  • 20.73 mile/hr
Comments:

Ok.. this is my weakest leg.. I went on a 2:30 hour ride yesterday and I wonder if it had something to do with the fact that I know I could have gone a little faster, but I did not. Most people rest the day before except Charles81.... :) I guess I just wanna be like him...

As soon as I got my helmet issue fixed, I started to hammer. Since my wave was the the last one, I started to pass lots of people... most of them in mountain bikes and lots of women. I managed to pass some with nice bikes and I got passed a couple of times... This guy in a beautiful javeline bike, with a disk wheel and aero helmet just flew by me... I thought... oh man.. i wish i could ride like that. It must be the helmet... or something.. When I reach the turn around I saw a crash, tow women just fell to the ground, I felt bad and I just zig zag to avoid them and just kept on going. I should have stopped and see if they were OK... but what would I have done.. .. nothing... right? So I just kept on going.. comming back I ran out of water and I hope I had enough energy to finish the bike.. You must think... what...it is only 13 miles... but i was dripping man.. The heat was bad and I was drenched....
finally saw the entrance to park again and i felt a great relief..
What would you do differently?:

Not goin biking the day before a race... not matter how small it is. I knew i could have gone at least 1mph faster... but oh well...
Transition 2
  • 01m 34s
Comments:

Got to the transition area, took my helmet and my bikes shoes off and shook my tennis shoes to clean of any ants that might have gotten into them. I ate a energy gel and drank some gatorade I had in transition and took off.
What would you do differently?:

Not much really... I think most of my time is getting into the transition area... the actual time from racking the bike and leaving was pretty good. But again.. transition is transition... right.
Run
  • 21m 8s
  • 3 miles
  • 07m 02s  min/mile
Comments:

This was my first time running without socks... it felt good, not major issues. I've been having some issues with shin=splints and the plan was to run as fast as I could without any discomfort... If any, i would slow down in order to avoid injury.. Happy to report that I could run the whole thing. After the transition I wanted to take the same strategy i did last trithlon, find someone to pace me. At the beginning I was flying and passing people, then I caught up with this guy that I did not want to attempt to pass, I notice he was going at a pretty good pace... so I follow his heels all the way to the end. A couple of times I knew I could pass him, but I did not want to run out of fuel for the end so I just decided to stay with him to the end. I sprinted to the end.. and felt really good... I look like if I just took a shower..... drenched in sweat... but happy I finish withou major mishaps... except for the ants of course..
What would you do differently?:

Be more confident aboout my pace and just go for it...
Post race
Warm down:

Found the ice water and pour some on my head to cool down... drank lots of gatorade and water, ate a banana and just find some shade and let my body cool down a little. I got a massage, met some fellow BT's (Tiger phil) who beat me by 7 seconds.. ha ha .... He is a stronger bike rider...)



What limited your ability to perform faster:

I think that biking yesterday had some sort of impact in my ability to bike faster today.... or not... I will never know. I swam faster than the last time, but biked slower by 1.5 mph, and ran slwer by 20 seconds/mile... well.. not bad for a guy with a cracked melon huh?

Event comments:

This was a USA triathlon national championship.. Therefore lots of really fast people were present. The times some of them posted were impressive.. It was a really nice race... lots of food, drinks and pizza.... massage overall... a great race.




Last updated: 2005-06-12 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:14:07 | 880 yards | 01m 36s / 100yards
Age Group: 20/65
Overall: 157/621
Performance: Good
Suit: none
Course: A man-made lake in a residential subdivision... YUCK!!! It looked like a oversized pool, the water was warm and murky.... the bottom was just mud.... the curse was ok.... Navigation was great cuz All I needed to do was to look to shore which was never too far away and kept on swimming..
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 78F / 26C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:27
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:37:38 | 13 miles | 20.73 mile/hr
Age Group: 40/65
Overall: 202/621
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Nice and smoth... they closed half of the road just for us... it was nicely organized..
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:34
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:21:08 | 03 miles | 07m 02s  min/mile
Age Group: 19/65
Overall: 104/621
Performance: Good
Course: Running trough the neighborhood.. The run was mostly on the sidewalks which was bad.. Lots of up and downs, driveways, very tight cornering.. I kept bumping people and the driveways and steps really slow you down.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2005-06-12 6:19 PM

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Expert
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San mateo California
Subject: TEJAS TRIATHLON


2005-06-12 7:37 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Extreme Veteran
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Singapore
Subject: RE: Tejas Triathlon

Great splits IMO

The ant war was alittle funny though..hehehe

Glad that your shin held up

2005-06-12 8:03 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Subject: RE: Tejas Triathlon

Nice work, Luis!  Sorry to hear about the ants...I would have been freaking out.  I have had some pretty bad reactions to ant bites before..not good.  Awesome run in that heat.  I find when it is so hot, the toughest part is starting that run.  On the bike at least you have the breeze, but when you reach T2...Shower time. 

Glad you enjoyed the race, now back to work!

2005-06-12 8:31 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Pro
4507
20002000500
Simpsonville, SC
Subject: RE: Tejas Triathlon
Great race! I would have been freaking out about the ants. I carry Benadryl at all times because of my reactions to ant venom. Way to win that battle.

Pam
2005-06-12 9:23 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Master
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Chicago
Subject: RE: Tejas Triathlon

Way to go guy. I would have stopped right there at the ants. Ughhhh. It's creepy just thinking about it. But way to go with the finish. Ovetta.

2005-06-12 10:25 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Master
2005
2000
South Florida
Subject: RE: Tejas Triathlon
Nice job!  Impressive times. 


2005-06-13 11:49 AM
in reply to: #173404

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Extreme Veteran
456
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Dana Point, California
Subject: RE: TEJAS TRIATHLON

Aloha...Great race.  I am sure you could have gone even faster without the ride the previous day, but who cares, the BIG PICTURE is Florida, Right?    Right! 

Solid performance with a lot of tuned athletes....

Way to go dude!

2005-06-13 12:46 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Expert
615
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Littleton, CO
Subject: RE: TEJAS TRIATHLON

Really enjoyed your report.  I've never heard of someone battling the ants during a tri!  I'm sure it sucked, but it was really funny to read here! LMAO !

Excellent race, imo, you look really fast!

2005-06-13 5:39 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Elite
2706
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Hurst, Texas
Subject: RE: TEJAS TRIATHLON
Great job, Luis.  I was glad to meet ya....kick some serious ant tail in Florida, bro!
2005-06-14 10:38 PM
in reply to: #173404

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Expert
916
500100100100100
San mateo California
Subject: RE: TEJAS TRIATHLON
Thanks for reading my race report...  I really enjoyed this race for two reasons..
a) Got to meet other BT's, and they are really cool guys
b) I had fun doing this tri.... 

Thanks to all of you for the encouragement....

cheers
 
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