Lone Star Olympic Triathlon Duathlon Race Report

Swim canceled due to high winds .....


Yep, that is what happened.  The wind was so bad in Galveston that the swim buoys would not stay in place and the poor guys on the kayaks were unable to hold still in the bay.  So, they scrapped the swim and had us do a bike and run race. 


The way the race was originally scheduled was that Sprint Distance was to begin at 7am and then the Olympic Distance was scheduled to go off at 8:30am.  I am not sure how many people were racing but my guess is that over 2000 were there.  Being that I am a below average swimmer you would think I would be cool with this!  BUT I was disappointed because I have been working hard at my swim and was excited to measure my gains in an actual race.


However, the RD made the right call because if the conditions were unsafe and someone would have got hurt then that would have been awful.  It is always right to error on the side of caution in these situations.  And the wind was crazy -- easily had gusts over 40-50 mph!


Anyway, we started the race on the bike.  The Sprinters went off first.  After they were done we waited about 30 minutes until the course cleared up some and then they let us go.  We did a Time Trial start with 3 seconds in between each rider.  It was different but okay.


The bike was extremely difficult because of the high winds and it was hot out.  By the time I hit the course it was well over 80 degrees and even with the wind, very humid.  The "back" portion of the bike ride was brutal with a headwind just crushing you the entire time.  I completed the 24.85 mile bike in 1:17:26 for an average pace of 19.22 mph.  Not bad with the wind.


My transition was a little slow (1:53) because I decided to run with new Brooks shoes that were sent to me on Thursday for wear testing (The Defyance 4).  I had to tie them instead of using my Yankz, but that probably only cost me 10-15 seconds.  They were extremely light and comfortable.


I hit the run course and I could feel the last portion of the bike in my quads.  My first mile was done right around 7:00 minutes but I was really starting to feel the sun and the heat and I decided to slow it down a little.  Damn it was hot!  My quads really didn't loosen up until about mile 5 and I tried to make up as much time as I could on the final mile.  My time ended up being 48:40 for the 10K.  Which is an average of 7:49/mi - not my best time but I'll take it.


In my 35-39 Age Group I finished 34/97.  The overall results are not up yet so I am not sure how I did compared to the entire field.


Overall, I was okay with my results.  I wish I would have pushed a little harder on the first half of the bike and the first half of the run.  It sucks that the swim got canceled but it was still awesome to be out there on a beautiful day doing what I love.  Annie volunteered at an aid station with our Tri club.  I was really fun to have all of them out supporting those of us racing on Saturday.  Many of them did the 70.3 Distance today!


Annie and I spent the day at the above mentioned Lone Star Ironman 70.3.  We took a ton of photos of all the ridiculously fast pros and many of the super-inspirational age groupers out there giving it their all.  We are both completely exhausted from the busy weekend and the camera is still in the car.  But tomorrow I will do another post with these pics, along with the final week schedule of the Push Up Challenge.  


I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!


Thanks for Reading,


Jeff