Capital of Texas Triathlon

CapTex marked the start of my 2012 race series. Leading up to the race I was in good spirits and health with a good block of quality training sessions behind me. Feeling very strong on the bike and run I new that I stood a good chance to hang with the field. As usual my swim time was suspect from missing one too many pool sessions.

The Open/Local elite field was filled with a good group of racers that I had been fortunate enough to train with periodically up until the race. Knowing how I had stacked up against them eased a lot of the nerves and allowed me to focus on how I wanted my first race of the season to unfold. Looking around the transition we had Joe Thorne who ran the 2nd fastest marathon at Kona. Scott Kimball a runner from Adam state college who has been known to throw down some, and my training partner Jody Broccoli-Hickey all capable of monster times that would mix up the results. Basically my goal was to negative split each discipline in order to progressively build up the pace... And not drown in the water.

Swim : 29th 28:02 1:52K

When you know something is your weakness you should practice in order to improve, right? So the swim start was not so great. Small field and as usual I am left fighting the open water all by myself. Loosing precious time from the main field... 4-6min to be exact. Unlike my usual open water swims I was able to swim a better line in the water, in fact my head hitting each 50m buoy indicated that. Let's Move On.

Bike: 24th 1:05:26 22.7mph

Now we are talking, trusty old bike was a redemption my lack luster performance in the kitty pool. CapTex is known for a slightly more technical ride then most. Two ninety degree turns coming off of descents accompanied by two rolling climbs to zap your speed every lap, love it. Put in the effort to catch up against the clock pregressivley pacing each lap to build up some speed. On the first lap heading north on congress myself and two other riders were riding three wide, when a non-attententive homeless man walks out on to the street. Slow to react the the inside rider clips his bars and down goes frazer, the other locks his wheels into a sweet drift and away I go. Pretty cool right. 

Next lap I am heading west on Caesar Chavez, thirsty I reach for my bottle to grab a drink. Cobbles! Airborne, One handed... landed. Might have wet myself a little. After that lap 3/4 where golden. Great transition in and out for the run.

Run: 9th 36:27 5:53mile

In the back of my head I was in fear that my foot was not ready from the injury that I had been struggling with had me worried. Fear was a major performance in my first lap of the 10k course. Timidly set the pace swift in order to feel out what I could push it at. The air temperature was very warm at this point in the race and hydration was an attempt, Typically you drink as much as you can on the bike but it is never enough. The legs felt tight but had a good clip to the pace. Started tagging down runners in my first lap. Telling myself that they where hurting more then me. I worked to catch the next, then the next, then one more. Saving just enough that I could go on the second lap. I ran with a drinking problem, every water station had a cup for me to spill on myself in order to cool off. 

The pace became "swift" for coming off the bike. The second lap was my time to move and run through the fatigue. It's funny to a point you find the balance of comfort and discomfort, and you tell yourself "well this is not so bad". Foot held up, minus the adidas tattoo of blisters on my arch.

Final Result: 2:13:09

Not a bad start for the year, need to learn how to swim fast again. Can't rest on the result of the bike and run. Must get faster. Next up is some fun, Maudie's Moonlight Margarita 5k, and Couples Triathlon. 

Thanks to Jack and Adams for the support, Jeff Raine's for the sweet Zipp weaponry, and JBH for the training partner... 


Because running fast is more fun than running slow.
-Frank Shorter

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Nat