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I'll start by saying that Tri Waco is one of the most well put together races I have been a part of, and this being my 18th triathlon, so I've seen a lot. Just want to say "Well Done" to the Tri Waco folks, I'll be back next year (and hopefully in the Olympic). My only gripe is the "no race day packet pick up", but going up to Waco isn't that bad as say, Austin, but still a little annoying!
PreRace:
Well, I got a bit of a late start, getting into Waco only 30 minutes before transition closes, and I normally like to get there, set up my spot, and take a quick ride to make sure everything is good to go, but wanted to make it a bit better for the wife, so not much of a warm up!
SWIM: 08:38 (8th in AG / 68th OA) 400 meter swim
I started in the third wave with all the 40-49 athletes, both men and women, which was cool since my neighbor and her crew was in my wave, so we chatted before the swim. The swim was a deep water start in the Brazos River (no current, just warm and murky). I started out well but kept bumping into traffic from my wave and the other two waves ahead. This made for a LOT of heads up swimming, which really isn't that efficient. Uggh! Plus I think the swim was a bit long, but not much I could do about that. The exit out of the water was interesting, you actually got pulled out of the water because the slope was so steep.
T1: 02:13 (3rd in AG / 24th OA)
Yikes, this was THE longest run to T1 ever, you had to run up the zig-zag ramp up from the river to street level, then across the grass and down the street to your bike. I may be overestimating here, but it was like a quarter mile, easy. But changed on thing up, I put on socks, which I think was a good way to go so my T2 would be faster. Got my glasses, helmet and shoes/socks on, grabbed the bike and rolled out! It helped that this was the first time with my new Garmin 910XT in multisport mode, so got that covered.
BIKE: 34:46 (4th AG / 22nd OA) 12.4 miles
The bike was an out-and-back affair on mainly blocked off streets with very little hills or rises. After I got on the bike and up to speed, I hit my lap button (missed about a minute of the bike leg). I immediately got aero and started to pick off the swimmers from the 20s and 30s that I didn't catch in the water or transition. I was constantly calling "on your left" as I passed, and drank water as it was starting to get hot (more on that later). I swear I passed about 50 people and felt strong the entire time.
I got momentarily passed for a minute while I refilled my BTA bottle, then got back down to business and passed him back, leaving him in my dust. I got to the turn around and took it a bit wide, almost going in the grass, but shook it off and put the hammer back down. Almost the entire ride I felt good, except towards the end, which I feared I might have over cooked myself on the ride, but came into T2, nailed the flying dismount and headed to my rack. Overall, still felt good on the bike, but still needed more miles to get faster, because I should have had a top 15 bike split, but I'll take what the day gives me!
T2: 01:13 (2nd AG / 38th OA)
Putting on the socks in T1 made me some T2 money, as I racked the bike, put on my running shoes, and grabbed my belt and was gone.
RUN: 26:02 (1st AG / 20th OA) 3.1 errr 3.5 miles
This run was advertised as a 5K, but the Garmin don't lie! 3.5 miles guys, just putting that out! I wanted to take it easy coming out of T2 because I thought I toasted my legs, but as I got in a groove, I was feeling great, except for a full bladder. Ooops, too much water on the bike! I thought about stopping but I felt I could gut it out, so I kept rolling. Just after the mile mark, I got passed by one of the only people to pass me, a 50+ year old. Yikes, I just got geezered! To be fair, I'm sure everyone said that as I passed them, but oh well! Just after the first climb, there were spectators cooking bacon on the grill at the top of the ramp. Really, really smelt SOOOO good. But I continued to catch and pass folks, but the sun was poking out more and more and starting to get toasty and with a full bladder, I really didn't want anymore water, so at each water station, it went on the head. As we hit the river walk area, you could see where you had to finish and I thought, Oh crap, we have to climb up there! As we were on the river level and had to climb one more ramp to get to the suspension bridge which you finished across (very cool finishing chute to say the least!). Just before I got to the ramp, I got passed by another 50+ year old, and I tried to keep with him, even though it didn't matter since he started 4 minutes behind me, but the two 20-somethings I was running with didn't figure I had 8 minutes into them. But we hit the climb, and I let them go a bit as the stomach started to protest a bit, so I slow-sprinted the length of the bridge and after passing the finish line, tossed a little water up! Yup, puking on the finish line was back! But it was very short lived and just water, so wan't too bad for everyone around!
OVERALL: 1:12:55 (4th AG / 19th OA)
Not too bad, but I don't think I was as prepared for this race as I normally would have been, and the first time in a while I didn't podium in my AG (I wasn't too far back of both 2nd and 3rd), but I know next time, I'll be ready.
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