Prerace:
I'm very comfortable with the distance and slept pretty well. Nervous energy wakes me up every few hours but I was good. I woke up for good around 5:30 and took a shower. Woke up my wife and daughter, packed the car, they ate some breakfast and then it was off to the race. My son slept in for this one. I ate one Honey Stinger bar. Jeff would like me to eat at least two but one is usually the best I can do. I had one bottle of Skratch Labs and another small bottle of water for dumping on my head to stay cool on the bike. First time to deploy this strategy. Two Honey Stinger gels taped to my tube and I was set. I kept some Enduro Shark salts in my race belt along with a Cherry Lime Roctane GU, just in case. I did take a Shark Salt before leaving the hotel. I found us a place in our rack area and set up my transition area. Timing was good for everything. I hit the portapotty one more time and then we headed down to the lake for the start. We really didn't seem to have to wait around very long for the start. Before I knew it, they were singing the Star Spangled Banner and it was on. This was the second race in a row that my wave was close to the front. I like that. Less time to think. Once you get moving, it is all about the task ahead. Miscellanous downtime thinking ceases to cloud my view of what needs to get done. The start came fast and it was time to get in the water.
Swim:
The space for the start line seemed really small for this race. Usually, there is plenty of room to spread out at this venue. This didn't seem like an abnormally large wave so I'm not sure what difference was for this race. We were in the back to the right for the start. The buoys kind of trail out to the right for the first turn so staying right is ok. I still get some anxiety in the open water swim so I tend to take it easy at first to get a rhythm and then speed things up a bit. The kayaks seemed to be real close to the buoy line and either I was right on them or pretty far off line. I seemed to be with the group for the most part so I don't think it was me. I was able to weave my way through several people to the first buoy and even passed some people in the prior wave. Strange, since there was a 4 minute gap and we were only a few hundred meters from the start. After the first turn, the sun was directly in my eyes since I breathe to the right. I started running into a few breast strokers in the previous wave. I really don't want to be the guy who is clobbering anyone and wouldn't do it on purpose but the water was dark. You can't really see more than a foot or two with your head in the water. I would think I was drafting off someone at times and look up to find no one around. My line was not great from buoy 1 to 2. Right before getting to the second buoy, I swam directly into one of the round marker buoys. I'm sure anyone that saw that had a good laugh. I made a good turn at buoy 2 and headed for shore. My line was horrible. I thought I was right on target but was drifting to the left. I never drift left. I must have been 20 feet inside the buoy line. I wondered why nobody was around. Time to get back in line and swim to shore. I was hoping for about 15 minutes but my time was 18:04. Not bad but not what I wanted. I think my 800 meter swim was probably more like 900-1000 meters. I really have a hard time keeping a good line in that lake. I'm not sure why.
T1:
I saw everyone coming out of the lake so that was cool. I don't know why but I gave my goggles, hat, and ear plugs to my wife. Probably because it's easy to lose the ear plugs in the transition area chaos. It is a long run from the lake to my bike and the transition area is grass with stickers, rocks and mud (from everyone coming out of the lake). I was careful to wipe my feet this time before putting on my bike shoes. Not much to do here so it was pretty fast. I carry my bike off the ground at this location to keep the stickers off my tires which can cause flats. I was in T1 for 2:18 which seemed like more time than I thought. Our designated rack area was a long way from the bike out which was not ideal.
Bike:
I really looked forward to the bike and improving on my last ride from early May. The wind was not too bad and I felt good at the start. My heart rate was a little high from the swim. It took a few minutes to settle down and get into a an easy groove. After a mile or two, I was cruising and started passing alot of people. A few passed me but they were the very fast people in the swim waves behind me. I tried to drink when I could but having my bottle in the cage on my down tube is becoming a problem logistically. I need to get something I can drink from when in aero position. I didn't drink enough and my bottle was two-thirds full when I got off the bike. This may have been a problem. I did have two gels and ate both of them. They were easier to deal with since they were taped to my bike right in front of me. There are a couple of short hills and a long hill on the back half of the course. Since I have ridden this course once this year, it helped to know what was coming. The first steep hill I came to caused some problems. My legs really didn't respond well and I started to get concerned. Downhills and flats were fine but climbs were more problematic. Buffalo Springs appeared to be lingering with me. I was having problems generating the power I needed. Towards the end, I felt a little better but my legs were burning. I was a little worried about the run. In the end, my time was 34:31 at 19.5mph average which was at least 30 seconds faster than the race in early May. I probably would have been faster if I was healthier. I still felt good about the ride considering the circumstances. I was hoping to be at 53 minutes getting off the bike and I was at about 54 which was a little slow but still in the target range.
T2:
At dismount, I didn't feel like carrying the bike so I rolled it through transition as fast as possible. Halfway to the rack, I started walking. I couldn't find our rack. I don't know why it was so confusing. It shouldn't have been. I didn't really lose much time but the disorienting effect was uncomfortable. I may have been behind on my hydration and was having some focus issues. In such a short race, I ignored alot of the principles in play for a longer race. I was in and out in 1:43 which seemed slower than T1. It was actually faster. The transitions were mirror opposites of each other. Very odd. On the way out, they had volunteers handing out Gatorade in the most narrow turn to get out of transition. Kind of a bad place to do this. If anyone stops there for a second, they block the entire run out chute.
Run:
Wheels come off here. This race is a trail run all the way and the footing can be a little suspect if you lose your concentration. I run alot of trail miles so it doesn't bother me alot but it is more taxing physically than running on concrete. My first mile was steady. I didn't feel real fast but not slow either. I could tell this was going to hurt but 5k doesn't seem like much and figured to suck it up and go. You go around this corner on wood chip path for a half mile and then run a power line path down the hill and up to a turn around. The one mile mark was at the power line turnaround. Coming up the hill I sensed problems. I was having problems with anything related to a hill. I rounded the aid station at mile one with a guy who proclaimed the water flavor as the worst tasting water ever. That made me laugh for a minute. I remember looking at my watch and thinking things were still ok but I was struggling mentally with the thought of maintaining pace for another two miles. Mile two seemed easier. The landscape was flatter and some of it was down a big hill that helped with generating speed. Behind the dam of the lake below the spillway the trail hit the lowest elevation. At some point, mile 3 started there. We went around a corner and were faced with a long steady climb up to the only asphalt we would see all day on the run. The hill won this round. My body quit and actually walked for about 10-15 steps. A few people next to me started encouraging each other to keep moving and we all trudged up the hill. I was shot and my legs were too. Once I got out of there and up to the road, there was probably a quarter mile to go. I kept a good pace to the finish but my time was disappointing. My 5k was 26:13 at 8:27/mile pace. Argh! I thought going under eight minute miles was possible at a minimum. If it was flatter, I had a chance but my legs would not respond to the hills on the run and the bike. They really weren't all that difficult and if I would have been better rested it would not have been a problem. My finish was 1:22:53, almost 5 minutes off my target. I lost a minute and a half to the guy in second place for the Texas Tri Series in my age group. I expected to lose some time for this race but I should be in better form for Jacks Generic and it is an Olympic distance.
Post Race: They gave us a cold water bottle and a medal. I found Patty and Meghan. It was starting to get hot so we got our bikes out of transition and packed up for the hotel. I had a late checkout so I was able to get a shower. As usual, we made the obligatory lunch stop at the Oasis on the way home. It rained all the way from Salado to the house. The traffic got bad in Waco so we took the side roads and ended up going through West. We drove right by the fertilizer explosion site. Unbelievable. That's all I can say. Good trip and considering the circumstances of racing two weeks after a very tough half Ironman race, I am satisfied. Great to have the family with me. We finished 5th in what was a very competitive division. We would have been third in the men's division. If I would have raced as an individual, my start time would have been something like 8:45am. Had it been another 105 degree day, I don't know what I would have done. Next is August 4 at Lake Pflugerville. I plan on being ready for that one.
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