As the internal alarm of 4:30am went off, the morning's weather was first on my mind. Sure, I knew it would be warm and humid but now an added ingredient. Wind!
We arrived in plenty of time for me to set my place up in the transition and as I was doing so, I noticed the transition area was divided into two sections with a fence running right through the middle. H'm, I said. I've never seen that before. Little did I know this layout would get the best of me later.
I proceeded to the lake to do a short warmup. The waves were really choppy from the wind and reminded me of ocean swims I'd done in the past. Thankfully, it was only a 500 meter swim. I was in wave 5...the one with the pink caps. Anyhow, the swim went fairly well for me, although the constant waves from the wind made it challenging to establish any kind of rythem. Some were even hanging on to the buoys to catch their breath! I came into T1 feeling good to be back on land but now it was time to tackle the wind on the bike. I had just put new tires on the day before and was anxious to see how they handled the road. The 14 mile bike course was mostly flat with some rolling hills. Most of the wind was on the first half of the course but to my surprise, wasn't too much of a problem for me. Most of the last 7 miles was with a tailwind and super fast. The computer read 20mph for the course as I came into T2. Not bad, I thought.
Now remember the divided transition area? Well, wouldn't you know it, I came into the wrong section! There I was, looking for my gear, dazed and confused and with a fence separating me from where I needed to be! Thankfully one of the race officials pointed me in the right direction and so I had to swing around to the other section. The damage had been done. Despite the frustration of losing a bunch of time, I quickly racked my bike, put my shoes on, grabbed my hat and shades, thanked the volunteer, and blasted my way to the run course! The run has always been my forte and today was no different. I quickly settled into 6:20 pacing and caught several runners on the first mile. The 3 mile run looped around the lake on compact dirt trail which has always been my favorite surface to run on. As I was about a 100 meters from the finish line, a race official asked for my name so that my arrival could be announced over the loud speaker. I guess with my number flapping around so much in the wind, no one could tell who I was! My finish was strong and I ran right through the line and almost knocking a volunteer over in the process.
So, my overall time was 1:18:54. I figured I had lost about 3 minutes in the transition mishap and upon checking the final results, it looks like it only cost me 2 places in the standings. Another learning experience.
All in all, a fun day with minimal soreness. Next one up is the Couples Triathlon in 3 weeks and then it's on to Marble Falls the week after.
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