Race Report

Cactus Challenge Olympic Triathlon

Austin, Texas

Pre-Race
I had troubles getting to sleep the night before. I finally got to sleep about midnight. Race jitters? I woke too early (3am) because some crazy guy was out in the hotel hallway talking extremely loud on his cell phone.

Nicole and I left the hotel about 5:15am and headed towards the park. We got there about 6am so we had plenty of time. I thought Texas was supposed to be hot, but it was a chilly 40 degrees in the morning. We got a great parking spot and I had plenty of time to get everything together. I even had time to go back in the car and warm up.

Swim
The swim came up faster than I anticipated. I took one last pit stop at the restroom. I missed a little bit of the pre-race meeting. It was only 15 more minutes and the race began. I watched the elite swimmers go and 3 minutes later my group started. I was a little nervous going into the water, but my wetsuit was very helpful. I started towards the front of the pack. I got kicked a few times, re-adjusted my goggles, kicked a few people, and got kicked a few more times. I didn’t get hurt of even phased. It seemed that way for much of the swim. I kept a pretty even pace for most of the swim.

I started getting off track a little, but re-adjusted and continued swimming. I passed the turn-around buoy around 15 minutes. Towards the end of the swim, I picked up the pace and finished with another person in my age group. My swim time was 31:09 and my rank was 82 of 129

T1
I had no problems stripping off my wetsuit. I put on my sunglasses, helmet, socks, bike shoes and off I went. My transition time was 2:49.

Bike
I got off to a good start, but I had to stop at the first corner. My race belt and bib were dangling along my seat post. I forgot to put it on. I had a few people pass me and never saw them again. I really thought it was going to fall off at some point, but it stayed on.

The bike portion was 4 laps and marked well. The first lap was good. I kept an even pace and tried to catch a few people. I didn’t catch many people. There was a big pack in front of me that I was striving to catch. It never happened. The second lap was much more interesting. The sprint triathletes entered the course and it was getting much harder to pass people. I felt much stronger and felt like I was riding with ease. I had to slow down a few times because there were so many people.

The third lap was about the same. I passed a few people in my age group and a few passed me. I tried my hardest to let few people pass me. The fourth lap was to maintain. A big majority of the sprint triathletes finished the bike portion so the road was clear. I grunted at a few of the hills and really got my adrenaline flowing. I may have scared a few people along the way? I came around the last corer and headed towards the transition. My official bike time was 1:19:38 at 19.6mph. My bike rank was 68 of 129.

Here listed are my computrainer results:
Time: 1:19:08 Odo: 771.40 miles Max: 32.9 mph Avg: 20.0 mph Distance: 26.38 miles

T2
I came in to the transition with no problems. I mounted my bike, put on my shoes and hat and off I went. This transition was fast with a time of 1:10.

Run
The run is my strength. I felt strong and was ready to start catching people. One at a time I reeled them in. All the Olympic distance triathletes were marked with an “O” on their right leg, so I knew when I was passing them. I was energized and was greeting everyone as I passed. As the run continued after a few miles, I only greeted the Olympic distance triathletes. I would tell them “good job”, “way to go”, “killer swimmer you are”, etc. I wanted to start conserving some of my energy.


I came around the big hill just before the first lap. It was tough, but I got through it. I passed Nicole as she took a photo of me. It was so great to see her! She cheered me on and off again I went. The second lap seemed to go by much faster. I recorded my miles on my watch, but I kept hitting my watch well after the mile marker. There was only one runner who passed me towards the end of the run, just before the big hill. I was upset that I couldn’t keep up with him, but this was my race.

The finish line was just ahead. I didn’t have any one to catch at the last minute so I ran with ease. As I came through the finish line, I received a finishers’ medal and a cold towel. The towel was nice and cold. My run time was 43:53 at a pace of 7:04/mile. My rank run was 19 of 129.

Finish

My total finish time was 2:38:38. My overall sex rank was 34 of 129 and I finished 6 of 18 in my age division. I finished a little slower than my goal, but it was a great time and I was happy. Nicole and I stayed for the drawings and left as they were announcing the winners. We went to a few stores before going back to the hotel. We ate lunch and took a long 4-hour nap.