Play Tri Festival

I never heard my alarm went off Sunday morning as I was wide awake an hour before I had it set. I enjoyed a cup of pre race cup of joe out on the balcony of the new place at Austin Ranch while I caught up on the World news and of course the latest in the triathlon world, only to knock my favorite coffee cup off the arm rest to shatter it on the concrete. 

I jammed out on the way to the race and had a good warmup. I was about to jump in the water to warmup when me and a 64 year ageless (it says so on her leg) lady was chatting it up on the stairs that went into the water when the race patrol told us we couldn't get in the water yet. She said she was just getting her hair wet and I said, "oh yeah, I was just getting my hair wet too." 

I got off to fast start on the swim as I was hanging with the front pack for about 15 seconds which included a college All American swimmer Adam Duey and Play Tri's Egyptian olympic swimmer Ahmed M. Zaher was in the main group. I had a horrible swim and somehow  led the second pack out of the water. The swim was short, I came out in 19:36 but the top guys came out in just over 15 minutes. My T1 was slow as my helmet strap messed up as I was trying to buckle down my helmet. I scooted on out of there before the rest of the pack had a chance to catch me. However, RBM's speedo wearing old man David Jones was in  fast pursuit. I knew he was a strong biker and my legs were still getting warmed up as he finally caught me I stuck on him as he past and not long later McKinney Velo's Pedro Trinidade has improved his cycling skills and we were all together. It was so tight between us 3 that the race officials were monitoring us pretty much the whole time. I was hoping we could close the gap that the top 3 guys had on us but we ended up making no ground. My split was 24.4 mph for the 25 mile bike or 58:55. I threw down a couple of 5:30 miles the first couple of miles hoping I could close the gap again on the top guys, only they had same thing in mind. I closed the time by a lot but it was still not enough to reel them in. I did ended up catching the All American swimmer Adam Duey in the last mile, to scramble my way to 3rd overall, but I had nothing left after that. The run was only just over 5.5 miles, my watch said I ran 5:58 per mile. It was a solid race, not what I was going for but apparently it was a bad idea to race within 7 days of each other. Congrats to Ben Morgan and the old guys who made me work for it today, Ahmed, Pedro, David, and Adam. 

A big praise to the Lord for keeping us all safe out there in the super hot weather. Thanks again to my super supportive sponsors this year!!! Bicycles Plus, Nathan Villa, Richard Miller making sure I make it to the starting line with a bike that fits. Blueseventy, Matt Embry, Shirley Greene, ONURLEFT Sports!!! It was great to see everyone out there and make some new friends. 

pre-race warmup. Todd Brinkley Photography 

No face plant dismount this time. Play Tri Photgraphy. 

Enjoying a post race massage by Dynamic Touch Massage. Loc Ly I Phone Photography. 

In a few weeks, I will be making the scenic drive to Lubbock to compete in one of my top goal races Buffalo Springs 70.3, I've set my goal high for this one.  It is also a very busy month as I strive to finish 1 of 3 classes left in grad school and other exciting oppoturnities that awaits. Thanks again for reading. 

Cap Tex Tri

It was another OUL weekend and Moxie weekend, last weekend it was down in Austin. I love the city of Austin, for the obvious reason, so much good food. In all seriousness, I was down there for business.  I stayed with my favorite comedian and also a fast Jack & Adams Ironman athlete Kevin Russell, just right down the road from the race. The Cap Tex triathlon has been going on in Austin for nearly two decades I believe and the last three years I know there always seems to be some glitches, and it's unfortunate what happened to pro race this year, when a mis informed volunteer told the pros they were all swimming the wrong way. Andy Potts was confident that he was going the right and swam under the kayak while the rest of the pros turned around and then had to turn around again when they found out they were mis informed. Potts came out of the water 3 minutes ahead of everyone else and held on to a 13 second win. 

I race in the open/invitational division with some of the best amateur elite athletes in the region including Ben Hall an 18-19 year old national champion who would later to go on to win the race and Brad Pigage who dominates the Houston/Bay Area racing season. There was also Andrew Montes a former division 1 runner from A&M and Mark Saroni out of UT Tyler, plus many others. I started off the swim with my signature move of swimming way to the left, luckily I wasn't too far back when I got back in the pack and found some feet to draft off and stayed on his feet until the end. I came out of the water at 22:59, just a few seconds behind Keith Kotar and ran him down out of transition. It took me awhile to get going on the technical bike course but once I did I was feeling good, but by the last lap it was heating up real good. Off the bike, I started the run clipping sub 6 pace feeling relatively strong. Jenn and Bella were super supportive giving me updates on how far back I was on certain people. At mile 4 I caught a real bad stomach cramp which almost put to a walk, but I somehow with enough determination stuck it out and it went away and caught Austin's Frank Sarasody about 4.5 miles and all I could see up the road was Montes. At mile 5 I knew I was closing in on him but I wasn't quite confident I was going to be able to catch him by the finish. With a quarter mile to go I was coming up on him and I distinctly heard Jenn telling me to get on him, I surged past Montes with a finishing kick I didn't expect to have, which left me almost puking and bent over at the finish chute. I finished at 4th overall just shy of 3rd overall Mark Saroni. I think it came down due to taking too long to get my wetsuit off. 

I'd like to thank my Lord for helping me get through the race with a super strong effort, Jenn for being there and being extra supportive. I couldn't have done as well without her there. Not to mention my amazing sponsors Nathan Villa, Richard Miller, and Bicycles Plus for helping me get to the starting line with a bike. Also, Matt Embry,  ONURLEFT Sports, and blueseventy! 

Enjoy my small pics! 

With up and coming pro Alexander Ramsey! 

Trying to hold it together on the run. 

Me w/ Andy Potts

ONURLEFT Sports dinner @ Whole Foods 

Next up literally is tomorrow's Play Tri fest in Las Colinas. Which reminds me I gotta start getting my stuff ready!