Labor Day Olympic Distance Triathlon

The Avia Austin Triathlon was held on Labor Day. This is an Olympic distance triathlon run by the folks at Jack and Adam's Bike Shop in Austin, TX. It is a GREAT race to say the least. Very organized, nice expo, cool technical t-shirts, a race hat and a water bottle (but no medal - I guess they think we all have enough and I have found I wear a hat a lot more often than a medal).

Time was 3:09....treating everything now as training and only training....pacing in line with IMAZ pacing....really try not to overcook the bike so I have something left for the run....swim was 35-36, bike was 1:15-1:20, run was 1:00-1:05 with about 6 mins in two transitions...there was quite a bit of distance in and out of transition....there were over 2500 participants...it was really cool....Here's the brief report....swim was a cruise...caught a little draft and hung on it for a while - focused on form a bit, counted strokes, etc....really pleased with the "straightness" of my swim. Worked through T1 - it is so dry here that the little bit of water on your feet and the dirt made for nasty mud in the bike shoes....with rocks and all sorts of other stuff. Rolled out on the bike - focused on pacing and nutrition (these were the absolute needs of the day - practice for Arizona). Rode what I thought was a smart race which was actually pretty fast (for me). Rocketed through T2 and out on the run - legs felt really good (well done on the bike power consumption) but I had overdone the calories - I took in about a half a bottle too much which is 150 excess calories - doesn't sound like much but I think with the volume of liquid it filled me pretty full. After a couple of miles the stomach felt better....I was not hungry through the race after about 1/3 of a bottle on the run. Run was good - had a fun finish with another guy in my age group - I passed him with about 1/4 of a mile to go and held him off. I finished ahead by 10 seconds - that was a fun way to end the race. I was also very pleased with the lack of recovery time needed. I felt great Monday afternoon and after a day off Tuesday was ready to train again today.

Now it's on to Prairieman half iron distance this Sunday. For the record, I don't think 70.3 miles under your own power should ever be referred to as HALF of anything.

See you at the finish line.