Its 4 days after my 2nd triathlon, the Trek Womans Sprint triathlon in Austin Texas. I feel pretty darn good! Caught up on sleep & awoken by the TAMU Aggie band blasting a brassy 6AM good morning through my open window! Fall in Texas is incredible. Sneezing like crazy, but that’s simply this time of year allergies. Going to Golds spin class this afternoon & back in the pool tomorrow. Giving my toe/foot pad another week before running… it’s swollen up & still hurts.
Yesterday I had a nice after action review chat with Brett of Zen & the Art of Triathlon. My swim start has improved! Other improvements included the purchase of a race number belt, soft timing chip strap, bento box & shoe lace toggles at the Bicycle Sport Shop Expo. Laying out & packing my transition bag on Thur, then re-laying out on Sat was a great help. Since I had plenty of room in the tri-beetle, I had extra towels that came in handy since there was a T1A & a T1B. The new size 2 Enell sports bra combined with a size L supportive yoga top worked great for the swim & bike & was almost enough anti-bounce( I’m always looking for Complete anti-bounce for 36-38 F/G.. if you know of a product) for the run.
Pre and enroute nutrition also felt good even if I may have eaten more than I needed. At 6AM I ate the eggs from inside some breakfast tacos, at 7:15AM ¼ an avocado & ½ banana. On the bike I packed too much liquid. 2 waters & 1 bottle of Vega sports drink combined with Hornet Juice. I also peeled & split up a tangelo & a few strawberries into a baggie in the bento box. I drank about 1/3 of the sport drink combo and slurped 4 tangelo wedges & 2 strawberries..I’m still not great at pulling the water out form the behind the seat rack to drink so I slugged down water at T2.
Triathlon is all about you improving yourself. Improvement comes in self and external knowledge. Brett suggested that I start out even slower to avoid the asthma & hyperventilating excitement. When we were talking about the bike portion, I learned about ‘limit screws’ for the chain. My run-walk time and calf soreness both are reflective of lack of hill work training. I tested my outfit both weekends prior to the race, but at the last minute I decided to use the race shirt as my shirt over my swim set-up. My arm undersides were chaffed to bloody speckles… Always test your equipment and attires and then use the tested stuff! Something to work on for future events J And yeah.. there will be future events.
About the race environment: FABULOUS. Pace Bend Park is west of Austin Texas situated on the limestone hills above and along the lakes. Accommodations within the park included tent and RV camping or rooms at the Highland Lakes Camp & Conference Center. This year the weather gods gifted Texas with a utopian vision of fall. The curvy rolling hills of the bike ride were flanked with blooming lantana, cardinal flowers, gay feathers, fall aster, wild petunias and many others. The trees were green; the grasses were plumed with seed heads, waving in a gentle wind. The lake was brown and smooth with water temps in the low 80s. The best thing about the lake was it didn’t stink! Now if only the entry hadn’t been a boulder-field! I even saw a small tarantula participating on the run portion! My room was about 40 steps from the bike rack area! The camp allowed a late checkout, so the shower was incredible after the race! I’d recommend races in this area simply for the environment(excepting the rocky swim egress!).
Maybe I was spoiled at my first race, the Skeese Greets Womans Sprint Triathlon; but there were a few things I thought could be improved. Packet pickup location was revealed last minute. There were no lights at T1A or T1B, so if you do this race next year a headlamp will help you set-up your transitions, because its dark at 6AM. Bring an older pair of tennis shoes for the T1A to T1B 1/3 mile run from swim to bike racks, so you don’t have to wear wet shoes on the rest of the run after the bike segment. It would have been nice to get a professional pre-race photo. I never really saw anyone checking bike numbers with participant numbers… I believe athletes and their support are not likely to walk off with someone else’s bike, but… My big disappointment was the finish line party… Crossing the timing mat, you received a water bottle & pretty finisher’s medal and there were bananas & snack bags of Chips Ahoy cookies. Yet massages were a $1/minute, bbq was available for purchase and that was about it. In contrast, the Skeese Greeets Tri had an after-party, loud music, New Belguim Fat Tire beer, frozen yogurt, gourmet fruit slices, hamburgers and more, along with free massages, action wipes, and assorted vendor booths were available for the athletes (& I think the supporters could purchase items) The Trek Traithlon finish was anti-climatic.
Time to focus on improvements and select another event! One thing about triathlon; the very best part is the amazing, inspiring, encouraging, every day individuals crossing the finish line to their own best personal victory!
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