CapTex Race Report

This past weekend was supposed to be my first triathlon of the season. However, Mother Nature had other ideas!  Going into the weekend I knew there was a chance the swim would be cancelled given how much rain we have received in Texas the past month.  Saturday night the Austin area was slammed with a major storm which forced the race organizers to switch to just a bike and run due to the water quality. After seeing the lake during packet pickup it was definitely the right decision. Not only was it brown, but it was littered with debris and would not have been safe.  I was a little disappointed given I had put a lot of work into my swim and wanted to see where it was at.

With it now being a bike and run the start would be a time trial start by your age group. I was scheduled to go off at 7:28, so that called for a 4:00 AM wake up call. The hotel was about 10 minutes from the race venue and parking is a breeze for this race. No matter the distance I always eat a full breakfast about three hours before my start. Typically consists of yogurt, granola, banana, milk, and a few scoops of peanut butter. This is consistent with what I do before big workouts, so I know there is no chance for surprises on race morning.  I headed over to the race venue around 5:30 AM to make sure I had plenty of time to do everything I needed to do.  Most importantly getting  everything setup and then finding a quiet spot to listen to music and go over my race plan in my head.

The benefit of it being a bike time trial start meant that transition didn't really close. I was able to go for a short run to warm up about 30 minutes before my age group went off. I got back with about 15 minutes to go.  They called our wave and grabbed the bike to line up.  I positioned myself about 20-30 back in my Age Group.  Knowing how the race played out I wish I would have gotten in the very front of of the group.  The overall winner was from my age group and had lined up ahead of me and I never saw him on the bike course.

My turn comes up and off I go on the bike.  Torsten had give me a power cap of 330 watts and figured if I rode between 300-330 watts I would be able to hold the pace I wanted to on the run.

The bike course was four loops and had a total of 8 u-turns.  With it being a four loop course I knew that the first lap would be congestion free, but then it would definitely become a lot more congested.  I rode the first lap in around 14 minutes and felt really good. I ended up riding the remaining laps right around the same time and ended up with a 57:01 bike split and averaged 318 watts.  I ended up with the fourth fastest bike split and was within 35 seconds of the fastest bike split of the day for Age Groupers and Elites.   That was right where Torsten wanted me and as I came into transition I was feeling confident going into the run.  I quickly got in and out of transition.

The run has always been a weakness for me and have never broken 40 minutes in an Olympic Distance triathlon.  Executing the bike like Torsten wanted me to set me up for reaching this goal.  I took off on the run and tried to hold a pace about 10" slower than what I would run over the last 5k.  Then at the 5K mark I would pick it up.  I really focused on maintaing good form and a high cadence. I didn't negative split like I had hoped, but ended up with a 38:01 which shattered my personal best of 42 for a Oly run.  Still a lot of work to do on the run!

I ended up 2nd overall male and 7th overall out of the Elites and Age Group Men. I am definitely happy with how the day went and can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out!

Next up is the Disco Triathlon locally and then the end of July I will be racing the USAT South Midwest Regional Championship at TriWaco.

Thanks to Generation UCAN for providing me with the best training and race day fuel! Also thanks to the Timex Factory Team for the support! My Timex never fails me and the Castelli tri kit is the most comfortable kit I have ever worn!