Thursday, May 29, 2014

Cap Tex Triathlon Weekend

Calley and I made the long trip down to Austin a couple of days before the Cap Tex Triathlon and we stopped at the world famous Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas for excellent coffee and delicious gluten free baked goods.

             
World Famous Bakery
We got to Austin and got ready for our date night out on the town. We had researched this cool Ethiopian place to eat.
Austin Date Night

We rolled up this fancy place called Aster's Ethiopian Restaurant.

Tasted better than it looks 
This place had the feel of an Ethiopian restaurant if I only knew what that was like. Huge plate of food here for both of us and a friendly and cool atmosphere. 

                                      

Pre-Race morning wouldn't be right without proper fueling. A big breakfast plays a key role the day before the race so we found Kerbey Lane offering the right fuel of apple cinnamon pancakes with a line flowing well out the door. 

Pre Race day breakfast 
  Calley has a pro crush and still does on Andy Potts. It was her first time to meet him and she was like a  school girl, blushing, and getting flustered.  I hope she was this excited about me on our first date. 
                                                
Calley's first time to meet Andy Potts 
                                       
Calley and all the pro's - Hunter Kemper, Sarah Haskins, and Andy Potts.


We finally made are round to do a little race prep swim at the YMCA of Southwest Austin. 

Love outdoor swimming in the sun. 
Quick trip and relaxation time at Starbucks we played a game of Chinese Checkers.

Chinese Checkers at Starbucks! 
Our pre-race dinner was nothing special but it may have been just what I needed, we were the youngest people there at Souper Salad.

With New Orleans 70.3 behind us last month I spent a good amount of time on the drawing board and decided to get back with my swim instructor Andrew Ha of Sigma Performance Swimming since moving to Tyler I haven't had a chance to make my way back DFW until recently to get in some lessons with him. After 3-4 weeks of swimming I was finally able to drop my 1500m open water time to 24:58. That's slow for the elite amateur but about 1-2 min faster than my average times of lately. This would have equated to a 29:48, 1.2 mile swim for a 70.3 triathlon and my average for the 70.3 distance is 32-34 min.

The start of the swim was pretty rough but I was ready for it with a lot of tester-one swinging arms fighting for position. This year we went the reverse way compared to how we usually swim this course due to the construction they had to move transition 300 meters from the swim. I  ended up swimming beside a much improved triathlete Michael Barney from his Houston days, he came in from altitude of New Mexico. We would later do most of the race back and forth.

Onto the bike I managed not to run over anything on the bike like in New Orleans and improved my positioning.  I stayed upright despite the wet conditions and had my fastest split on this course with a missed turn. This course is 4 loops with sharp turns and turn arounds  I ended up riding with a pack for 4 or 5 guys and nobody could separate themselves from each other. I stayed back as much as I could then someone would cut in front of me and I would have to slow down to allow room between us. The drafting out there was definitely questionable. The first loop I was in the lead of the group I was riding in and couldn't decipher where to do the turn around. I saw the other riders turning behind me and turned back around. I was able to catch back up to them relatively easily but could never get away.  By the last loop it was Michael and I who and finished about the same time.

Starting the bike at Cap Tex Tri
Onto the run I knew the training I had been putting in on the bike and run I was destined for a good run finally. The past couple of years I've been struggling with stomach cramps during HIT (high intensity training) with some adjustments in nutrition I think we finally got it figured out, I hope at least.  I enjoyed the variety of the new run course this year. My run wasn't super speedy but it was there and I felt pretty good if it was a half ironman distance.


Cap Tex Finish

Cap Tex Finish

Calley and I had a great weekend in Austin! I am forever thankful for her love and support! I'm thankful to God for a good race and helping me learn more from this.  Thanks to the support to the Cobb Mobb by Cobb Cycling, Team Extremus, and Sigma Performance Swimming!  I also a shout out to the Tyler, Texas Pain Train Tuesday night has helped me improve my riding a lot. We are gearing up for Kansas 70.3 next.

Calley and I post race - pre storms 

                                             

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Wiki Wiki Man Triathlon


Wiki Wiki Man where Dallas triathletes meet the East Texas/Tyler area Triathletes. While my the race I put together was sub par it was still good enough to put 3 Tyler triathletes in the top 5 in the olympic distance. What we didn't have numerically we made up with quality. Clay Emge stole the overall win after a near 4 min deficit in the swim, came back on the run. Seth Cooke blitzed the bike and held on for 3rd overall on the run.  I was slowest I've ever been on the swim, so-so on the bike and  run but was good enough for 5th.                                                  
Sandy swim exit area.  
Seth was going to draft off Clay and I was going to draft off Seth. Well I didn't last too long on Seth's feet and I don't think he lasted too long on Clay's.  It took me awhile to get going on the bike it started with a straight out headwind I had guys Shawn Bonsell and Peter Strickler in questionable proximity behind me on the bike. Coming back in was nice with the tailwind we were easily hitting speeds 30+ mph. I had no legs for the run period starting out into the wind I was hanging on. Even though Shawn was in a different wave he edged me out by 10 seconds for the fourth spot.

Small section on the run. 



Thanks again for reading and all the support! I am thankful that God protected me out there and that my Bride, Calley came out to watch along with Extremus, OutRival Racing, Cobb Mobb by Cobb Cycling!!  In a few weeks I'll be racing down in Austin at Cap Tex.