Texas 70.3 2016

This was the race I've been training for through this spring and the winter. Training went really well. '

The family, Calley, Rylan, and Evan came with me on this one. We had an awesome dinner view at Pier 21 with a few of the athletes I coach.   Here  my is my pre race dinner meal that that turned out well.  

With the 30-34 age group being one of the later waves not starting until 8am, I didn't have to rush around getting set up, warmed up, and over to the race start. I was still pretty pumped up though while staying super relaxed.

In the swim I got off to a great start and I got right behind someone who was making me work to stay on his feet. I lost him at some point before the first turn buoy and I didn't have any fast feet to follow. Coming out of the water I kept swimming until my hands could touch the bottom, doing so a I had to squeeze by a couple people who accidentally hit while taking my strokes for them to push and whack me back. Running through to the wetsuit strippers  my watch had fell off when I was getting my wetsuit off, but I was able to grab it and put in my transition spot.   I swam a slow 34 minutes, I thought it was faster with  my new Roka wetsuit as it allows me to rotate and not fatigue my shoulders. However, I was feeling good so I wasn't discouraged.

On the bike since I was ridng blind without my Garmin I was constantly being aware to make sure I was drinking and taking in my fuel. It gets hot and humid in Galveston. It was relatively "cooler" this year though on the bike. I was still drinking a lot.   I had missed the last bottle hand off when the volunteer had left the seal on the bottle, I couldn't get it off without risking a wreck, so I tossed and finished what I had and took an extra gel instead.  I was prepared to troubleshoot my nutrition if I needed too.   I was flying by people too.   I thought maybe I really was flying since I was feeling pretty good, but then someone near my age group would go by me and I'm like dang, well maybe I'm not.  

Onto the run I was running pretty good averaging a few 6:11's in the early miles without a watch,  it had felt slower. I faded some later but still was feeling reasonably strong and it was getting warm out there. I was staying on my fueling plan and I had no GI issues during the race. I did the run the half marathon in  1:27 for a sprint finish with a guy in my age group to claim 6th place in my age group. I was just over 4:30.  I wasn't spectacular in any discipline of the three but solid across all three. The fueling plan and guidance from AJ Baucco helped a lot.

Thank you my family for coming with me! Unfortunately Evan was sick they were spending all morning in the ER. I kept wandering why I was seeing everyone else but them out on the run course. It still was definitely a fun weekend with Calley, Rylan, and Evan getting to go and also having my Fly Tri Racing athletes and the Cobb Mobb team there too.

Since Galveston, I haven't done any swimming, biking, or running. Call it a loss of motivation? Time to "retire" from triathlon? Let the body rest? A strong desire to go back to competitive running?   I'm not sure - at this time I'm letting an upper quad strain heal that's been "bothering" me since Fresh 15. It didn't get worse leading up to Galveston but it wasn't getting any better, in fact, I tried to run a week or so after Galveston and I could still feel it after a couple of strides so I stopped immediately.

Until next time you might see me and Evan cheering you on at the next race.

Evan and I cheering on women at the Diva Du.