Okay swim for me. I was unsure about wearing the wet suit, but decided to go with it at the last minute. I'd guess it took about 2:00 off my swim time. No wet suit strippers, but the improved swim time more than made up for it. I'd say this was probably my best swim yet for sighting and swimming in a semi-straight line.

Start a little closer to the front of the pack. From force of habit, I'm still starting in the very back on these swims, which doesn't do anyone any good.

Smooth transition. Wet suit just added a couple seconds. Decided to bike & run with no shirt, which was a first for me.

Nice ride. My goal was to average 22, so I'm happy with this (for now). Felt good about the speed, since I have not done any speed or interval work. Last year, I didn't carry a bottle. This year I used the aero bottle and was glad I did.

Go hard early!

Smooth transition. Don't think I could be too much quicker.

Good run for a slow fat man!

Compared to my average pace, I lost about 30-seconds in the first half mile. Probably should have tried to push a little more early on.

Walked around with the wife for about an hour, cheering on the later wave finishers. Ended up riding the bike home for a nice end of the morning.


No speed work is a definate limiter. With I little speed work, I should be able to get down under 1:15.


I think this is one of the best sprint-distance races in the Houston area. It's a bigger race than most, but it's very well run and the course can accomodate a lot of people. You don't notice the crowds at all.

This race usually starts cool, but warms up as the morning progresses, so earlier waves have a definate advantage.

This was the first tri I did, back in 2008. For my age group, I came in 64 out of 71. Now, I'm at 20 out of 100. I feel pretty good about the improvement.