660 Nathanial Friedman Austin, TX 25
Swim Bike Run
02:17:53 25 38 152 27:57 1:52/M 2:03 55 1:06:19 22.4mph 1:55 38 39:36 6:23/M
With a little over 6 weeks of training available before Labor day race weekend, I decided to return to triathlon after roughly a two and a half year retirement/hiatus. With the purchase of a new bike "Time Bandit" 4 weeks from race day and the help of some training partners I jumped back into training full tilt. Now, I was not starting from scratch with everything my run/bike have seen their share of quality workouts from my race schedule, but I was not in triathlon shape.
Workouts got me ready to compete against a pretty salty "Open" field with a noble goal of a 2:09 result based from my training. My goal to hang with the pros was to suffer through the swim and do work on the bike and run. Did I mention I suck at swimming... right that's out there.
Going into the race weekend a phantom temperature drop brought strong winds but amazing race day conditions. The water was to hot for wetsuit conditions the air temp was perfect and we had a breezy wind that was whipping Austin around that made for some fast bike splits. After work on the Sunday went to drop my bike off into transition to have this await me in the open coral... those are some fast bikes. Looking around at what my competitors where utilizing for their time machines I would like to say the average bike was some where between $4,000-$8,000 including wheel sets and other speed necessities. With 40 racers classified in the open field
the stage was set for a fast weekend.
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| Time Bandit in Transition Swim: The open field was given a wave start since there was 40 racers and the dock was too small for a dive entry. From the beginning I knew that my lack of confidence swimming was going to result in a crap swim, around 500m in I went made a move to get more space but instead found open water and the loss of the packs draft... All alone for the rest of the swim, I came out 27minutes. 4 minutes behind pace.  Bike: Time for the machine to do some work, Kinda had a crappy mount on the bike coming out of transition but quickly started showing riders the how clean the back of my shoes are. The course had several long false flats with a big climb in the beginning. The wind was a whipping cross wind for most of the course that occasionally was quality tailwind if you caught it right. 3 laps got the 40k distance on the downtown course and each lap was a negative split gaining back time on the pack. By the third lap I had cut my 4 minute deficit to 70 seconds. ... I love my bike  Run:  Coming back to transition I averaged 22.4 mph and had a 66min 40k bike split. The work on the bike made the legs remember what exactly triathlon roughly translates to. Triathlon: n. Jello legs.. see slower run. Coming off the bike I shot out of transition and made some initial progress by passing 2-3 people within the first mile. Then fatigue hits and I no longer had a gear other then my jog.. or maybe its a soft J, yog. Sitting in that position I held the course to a 6:23 pace by negative splitting the 2 looped 10k course. Its the funniest feeling you keep telling you legs to shut up and run faster but they refuse and do what they want. Its too late for most nutrition and hydration, that you should have put down on the bike. You feel like you fuel gauge in a car just cruising towards E. Finished: I don't think there is a finish photo out there with me not having a look of constipation or what you would call, mental anguish. All said and done, after the race you feel like crap from your efforts question and know that you could have pushed it harder then you just attempted to. Saying never will I ever, after this next race... Then you hit the Beer Garden and get trashed off 2.5 beers....  Special Thanks: Luke's Locker Jack and Adams Bicycles Kreutz Photography Jody B-Hickey |
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