The Bridgeland Triathlon - Summary

This race turned out to be the biggest sprint race I think Houston has ever seen with other 1500 athletes competing.

This many athletes meant there was a lot of talent and as expected and expressed in my previous post I was not expecting a podium but man was there a lot of talent.

Overall, I improved on my time from last years race and had yet another bike PR but finished outside the top 10. Oh well progress is what matters in this sport and progress I am making.

Swim:
Today was the first race we had in out new Apex Endurance gear.  I have been wearing a full suit the last two season but went to a two piece this year for our jerseys. The jersey caused a lot of drag but with the help of an Xterra Speedsuit I will not have that issue any longer.

I have not been swimming much at all as that is the one thing that does not seem to fit into my life with the new baby and wife's new work schedule. So, going into this race I have put in one swim in 3 weeks. To my surprise I still swam the same exact time I swam last year. But was already way out of the running for the race. I was barely inside the top 30% of people outta the water in my group.

T1:
I was somewhat disappointed in my T1 time but passed several people in T1. I was 6th in my group in T1 out of 95. I think the extra exhaustion from the swim caused me to run a little to slow in transition and that led to my slower than expected performance.

Bike:
The bike is a fast flat course with two u-turns and two right hand turns. The wind was a crosswind it seemed as it was never really in your face. I did however find myself a few times inbetween gears which is why I am going to be changing my rear cog probably this week and go back to a 12-25 cassette. Best part about the bike is now two races in a row I have set PR's on the bike. I do think however doing this is hurting my run a bit but that is part of the experiment to know what I can do off the bike after putting it all out there. This whole season is a test case for me as my training is somewhat down so it makes since to make sure I am getting something outta every race.

T2:
This is the transition performance I am used to. 2nd in my group of 95 in T2. I am sure if you added total transition times up I was in the top 2 or 3 and I can live with that. Transition = Free Speed

Run:
Well as always I take off on the run and try hard not to look at my watch for a while and let my legs just roll and I did that this race but probably looked to early. When I look and see that I am running fast I let my brain slow me down.  Not a smart move when racing but it happens.  This race was definitely hot but for some reason I could not push myself to zone 5 on the run.  I averaged zone 4 and my final pace reflected such. So, my heart rate and pace told me I had some more in the tank but my brain would not let me get there. I need to really work on mental toughness over the next few weeks before the Austin Tri.

Take Aways:

• When you do not swim with good form more swim volume does not help speed just endurance.
• Change my rear cassette on my bike so I do not get stuck between gears.
• Do more bricks so my legs and brain will be used to it for race day.
• Run my intervals harder during my speed days.