Austin tri--2:57 baby!!!!!

Preparation yields success, and this race was complete and amazing success, and has proven how hard and smart training yields amazing results.

Felt great going into this thing, a few nerves, but once I got my brain into it, everything else fell into place. The swim (sans wetsuit…boo) was uneventful, other than a girl smacking me a few times and causing me to swim off-course a little. I gave her a dirty look. I felt efficient in my stroke though and never really tired. Yes, I’m still slow, but dammit, I went out there and did it and STILL took almost 4 minutes off my swim time from last year.

Not wearing a wetsuit saved me a minute in transition. Not too shabby either. Then took another 3 minutes off on my bike time. Didn’t hammer as much as I would have liked, but still, to come out with 18 mph PLUS on those little wicked S. Austin hills felt pretty good. Hydration and nutrition this year was better than last year’s race. Ate 3 small fig bars and drank 2 bottles of Nunn water.

Legs felt actual decent (although a little fatigued-completely normal) going into the run. However, this is like the FLATTEST 10k in Austin, so how can you not pound it out?! I hit the halfway point at 24:00 even and finished in a cool 49:07, an average of 7:55/mile. I would like to thank Dave from Tsunami Cycles for helping me push the last quarter mile. It felt great to run hard and finish even stronger. In fact, I don’t think anyone passed me the last 5k, which is saying a lot when that was all that happened to me on the swim and bike.

(Plus, the best part is passing all the people that are WAYY WAYYYYY in front of me from previous in the race)…well and having a goal to finish under 3 hours is something to push up against, as well.

A quick rundown of the run placing looks like I was 4th in our age group for the run…ahhh to be a mildly-fast runner. And then get everyone (and I mean everyone) pass me up in the first two sports. I believe my focus next year will be on the bike…stay tuned. Must.get.stronger.and.then.i.will.get.faster. Must.get.stronger.and.then.i.will.get.faster. Must.get.stronger.and.then.i.will.get.faster…etc, etc.

Overall, a terrific race, and just the confidence booster I need for Longhorn next month (40 days away…ekkk!) Although my goal will be to finish…Would love to see 6’ish hours as a secondary goal :P thanks to all for cheering and support!!! You rock!!!!!!!!


The Stats:

41:02 1500m swim
3:34 T1
1:21 40km Bike (18.2 mph)
2:18 T2
49:07 10km run (7:55/mile)
=2:57.35

21st out of 62 in the 25-29 age group

(click for the nerdy results version)

My Chip Time

Kiki-the first timer! we are grand champeens!!!!!!!!