Cap Tex Tri Weekend

Down in Austin this weekend on Memorial I got to compete in the Cap Tex Triathlon which consist of a 1500 meter swim in Town Lake, 40k crazy bike course near the Capital and a 10k run all in downtown Austin. I stayed at Papa Joe's a.k.a.'s Mark Saroni's grandparents house (guy on right) also Keith Yoho stayed as well. He was the overall winner in the sprint triathlon (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run). Leaving for Austin around noon on Sunday I had a hard time trying to stay off my feet when I got there. I finished out my workouts with a 20 minute easy ride down the Capital of Texas Highway, it was my first time to ride in Austin and it's true about what they say that Austin drivers are courteous of their bicyclists. Then me and Mark went to the expo to pick our packets off and hand over our bikes and review the swim and transition area.

Mark and I were both in the invitational wave that started off at 7:00 a.m. As always I was nervous about my swim and I find out at the last minute that the swimmers in the elite wave are very fast. I bought some new goggles a couple of weeks ago so I could see this time unlike Galveston and I got right in a pack and started drafting and holding on as long as I could. I was letting other people site me. I figured they could site better than I could so might as well let them do it. I started with the third pack in the swim and they dropped and I was by myself for awhile and finally the last pack caught up to me and I held on to the very end of the group until the end of the swim. I came out of the water with a new PR on the swim in 23.29. Thank goodness with help of several people I was able to improve over the last month, if not I would have brought up the rear of the swim real bad. I finished 35th out of 38 elites (including women).

Out into T1 my wetsuit zipper was stuck. I was running through transition yanking on it wandering what I was gonna do next. I almost asked a spectator to help me out, regardless if any penalty was given. Figured a penalty would be better than a dnf, but then I saw an official and asked him to help me. He struggled a little with but finally got open for me. After that I got my wetsuit off easily because I caked my legs with lotion and body glide since I got big calves I have a hard time getting the wetsuit down over them. The bike out part was long seems like we were running to the mount line forever.

This photo is probably when I realized I might not make it to the bike.

The bike out part of transition. My glasses were fogging up so I pulled them down just a little.

On the bike was a 4 loop course which totaled 40k (about 25 miles). There were lots of turns which consisted of a couple of 180s. It was hard to build some speed up since we had to turn so much. There were only a couple of straights where I could really get going but then have to slow down. I didn't really start to feel good on the bike until the last loop and by then it was too late, but I hammered that last loop the best I could. I even helped the first overall female Peggy Yetman prevail by letting her stay with me ;) we took turns going back forth and neither of would drop back. I didn't want to get beat by a 41 year old woman. I finished the course in 1:02.26 about 23.8 mph which put me 18th out of 38 elites. The top guys were going over 25 mph on this course.

Up out of aero way too much because of all the turns.

The run went ok, it was a 2 loop course and it got hot and humid. I had some side stitches the first 4 miles or so. I could see Mark was way uphead of me early in the course, then coming back the second time around Mark was maintaining the distance but I could tell he was tired. I tried my best to hammer away the last 2 miles and he started to come into site and I kept giving myself self talk motivation. I finally caught him with probably less than a half mile to go and I knew I couldn't slow down now, I chased another guy down and used my former cross country/track speed to edge him out right at the line. I finished the run in 37.08. Not my best 10k at the end of triathlon but hopefully it will come down later in the year. Which put me 6th overall out of the 38th elites on the run section. Now you know I was up against some serious competition since I usually rank in the top 3 on the run.

As an end result I finished with a PR under my new triathlon Coach Brent Poulsen in 2:07.14 14th overall out of the elite wave and 19th overall out of the whole thing against 1300 other competitors. With a PR on the swim. I was hoping to go under 2.05, but with the technical bike course and stitches on the run and long transitions it didn't happen but we'll have a couple more chances later this year in the intermediate triathlons. After the race a few of loaded up on some mexican food at Chuy's near downtown Austin. Thanks to everyone helped me out this time! Much thanks to Jesus Christ for my abilities, Papa Joe and his wife, Mark Saroni, Brent Poulsen, Chuck Burr, Kelly Harris, and Michael Dawdy.

After the race we stayed around and watched the Men's ITU (draft legal) Pan American Cup Series race. (We missed the women's) New Zealander Callum Millard pulled off a victory with a run away surge at the end to beat USA's Kevin Collington.

Watching the swimmers draft as they swam in Town Lake under that famous bridge in Austin.

Out onto the bikes they come.

Here is one of the chase packs.

Local pro triathlete from Austin Brandon Marsh on the run course. Typically known for the non draft races.

Callum Millard from New Zealand wrapping up a victory in downtown Austin.


I don't race again for another month. This week has been focused on recovery before we begin another build before my next race at BSLT Ironman 70.3 where I will attempt to qualify for World's 70.3 in the 25-29 male age group.