Races, Races, Races

This blog is well overdue. Memorial Day weekend was the 20th anniversary of the Captex Tri. WHAT A RACE!!!! This one is just plain fun, even if you're not participating. It takes place on Ladybird lake in downtown Austin. The water is clear enough to see the rocks as you swim just over the top of them (yes at times it did get pretty shallow... don't try to push off of them, some are sharp... cough cough... yes... guilty). The water temp was 68 deg. and I don't own a wetsuit... yet. Definitely an advantage on a swim like that. It was supposed to be a 1500m swim, but the word on the street says it may have been just a bit long. Just about everybody was posting longer times than they were expecting. I'm a pretty slow swimmer in the first place, but even I was surprised by my 38:50. I was expecting at least 35:00. But oh well, that's about the only thing that did not succeed to blow me away about the weekend. If you are a spectator, you can stand on the bridge and watch the swimmers pass underneath you, pass through transition and whoosh past you on that same bridge on their bikes, then walk over one block to catch an out and back section of the run. I have never seen a race this accessible to the fans. We ran a relay (in which I did the swimming) so I got to walk around a bit and check out the course as it was being run, and it was truely a good course. Slowtwich.com has a race review along with a nice image gallery in case you want to check it out. I saw Mr. Willie Fowlkes volunteering. He's the race director for the Woodlands CB&I triathlon. That was actually very exciting. The woodlands race is so well run, it's obvious that the director is taking some good notes from the best in the business. Hopefully the CB&I can begin to generate enough revenue to offer many of the perks that CapTex did. Zumtri.com gave a fabulous virtual race recap for all of the finihsers. Simply type in your bib number and even a comparison bib number of someone else and it placed tiny dots on a simulated race map that circled the course and let you relive the experience. I felt myself rooting for the dots on the screen as they neared the finish line, much like the old Dot Races on the video screen at the old Astros games.

This weekend is the Sylvan Beach Tri. Basically an Olympic distance. My first Salt water swim. I am anxious to see how that goes. Gotta get the bike ready. I have evidently already stretched out the rear derailleur cable after just a few rides. It is trying to switch gears by itself. I would love to make it down to Webster Bicycle to get the guys to tune it up before the race, but my week is so busy i don't think I am going to have time to make the hour & a half trek to drop it off and pick it up before the race on Sunday. If I can squeeze it in I will. Those guys know what they are doing and it would be worth it not to do it myself.

I made a comment that a friend of mine said he had actually heard is common among triathletes. Just about every race I enter, there is a moment when I ask myself why I do this. It's painful, it's not free, and it takes a lot of time. Then I look in the mirror and I see a guy that's lost 20 lbs since this winter, I sense the excitement building as the next race comes around, and I get a neat response via Twitter & Facebook from one of the many very accessible professional triathletes and the thought of quitting is a distant memory.

No go outside and sweat a little, It is good for you.