2nd Annual Lake Pflugerville Sprint Triathlon.

Yesterday, I did the 2nd Annual Lake Pflugerville Sprint Triathlon, a short, but "lots o' fun" race that got started last year. I had wanted to do the race last year, too, but it's scheduled on the same day as the Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3, which Steve and I did last June, so I had to opt out of Pflugerville then.

I really wasn't expecting too much out of myself in this race. I have done no run training at all since the middle of March and my bike training has been non-existent since about a week before I had that surgical procedure in Houston almost 3 weeks ago. The last time I swam or ran was the CapTex oly triathlon the day before Memorial Day, and I had only gotten a chance to hop on the bike twice since the surgery. So . . . I was severely undertrained even for this short distance tri.

Given these factors, I was mildly pleased with my results. I say "mildly" because, as you all know, I'm a competitor and I always think I should have done better. So, without further ado, here's the race report:

The Short Scoop:

500 m Swim: 10 min. 6 sec. (2:01 min per 100 meters)
T-1: 52 seconds
14 mile Bike: 37 min. 15 sec. (22.6 mph)
T-2: 44 seconds
3 mile Run: 23 min. 35 sec. (7:52 min. per mile)
Overall: 1 hour 12 min. 35 sec. (25th/366 overall, 6th/52 in M35-39)

The Long Story:

I won't bore you with pre-race details. They virtually never change, regardless of the race I do. Suffice it to say that I got to the race site in plenty of time to get all set up in transition and ready to go.

The Swim:

The swim was a 500 meter point-to-point swim like a big angle. We started a good ways from the transition area and finished up at a dock near the "swim in" run from the water into transition. My swim went okay. Regardless of how far I swim or whether I wear a wetsuit or not, I never seem to do better than 2:00 minutes per 100 meters. This swim was no exception. I didn't go out hard and I tried to stay even in my tempo. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job. I never had to worry about getting too tired and my stroke was even. The only trouble I had was running into the 40-44 women who started ahead of us. I had my stroke broken up a few times by almost running into some of the stragglers from that group. Still, I had a decent swim for me, and was in the top 10 in my age group coming out of the water.

Swim Time: 10 minutes, 6 seconds (2:01 min. per 100 meters)
Overall Place: 50th/366
Age Group Place: 8th/52

Transition 1:

This was a good T-1 for me. I had the fastest time in the age group by a good 12 seconds. I passed at least 3 guys in transition, so when I hit the bike, I was in 5th place in the age group.

T-1 Time: 52 seconds

The Bike:

Overall, not a bad bike segment for me, considering my complete and utter lack of any training since CapTex. I "tied" the second place finisher for fastest split in our age group. Actually, he beat me by 6 seconds, but our per mile averages were both 22.6 mph.

The course was mostly rolling hills. It started great, though, with a nice quarter mile downhill. It was VERY conducive to starting with the shoes on the bike because you didn't have to pedal much with feet on top of shoes in order to get some speed up. I got up to 25 mph on the initial downhill and then quickly slipped my feet in the shoes . . . no problems.

For most of the bike leg, I just tried to make sure I wasn't blowing myself up. I didn't bring any nutrition (gels or food) and only about 10 oz. of Gatorade X-Factor. On these short sprints, there just doesn't seem to be a need to hydrate so much. Unfortunately, the day heated up quickly, and I found myself thirsty before I had expected to be. In retrospect, I should have brought a full bottle, but such is life.

I knew I'd started the bike in the top 10 in my AG, but I didn't know how high, so my strategy for the bike was to stay aero, keep a high cadence, and just try to pick off as many guys as I could without blowing up. I know I passed at least 3 guys in my AG early on the bike. Considering how little training I'd done, I was pleased when about a third of the way through, I caught site of the guy I was looking for . . . an acquaintance who trains regularly with a guy I have trained with on occasion. I made him my rabbit and started trying to reel him in. It was a seesaw game for a while, but by about the 8-mile mark, I passed him. Little did I know that at that point, I was in first place in the AG.

There is a section on the bike course that put us on the access road to one of those new toll roads in Austin. I think it was SH-130. That was the hardest part of the course because it was a very slight false flat with a bit of a headwind. I had to struggle to maintain 20 mph, and it was a good long stretch of road. By the time I turned off onto Pfluger Lane for the home stretch, I knew I'd blown myself up a bit more than I'd intended. My lack of training was probably going to hurt me on the run.

I cruised into T-2 in first place and had a great rolling dismount.

Bike Time: 37 minutes 15 seconds (22.6 mph)
Overall Place: 15th/366
AG Place: 2nd/52

Transition 2:

I had a pretty good T-2 as well. I didn't know I was in first place, but I still moved pretty fast. After dismount, I ran the bike in, racked it, and was into my shoes and gone in 44 seconds, good for 2nd in the AG.

T-2 Time: 44 seconds

The Run:

This is the tired old refrain . . . "it all comes down to my poor run training." In fairness, this was not a "poor" run, really, especially given my lack of run training over the last few months, and especially since I was pretty much unable to train at all in the 3 weeks leading up to the race.

Just before Mile 1, the guy who I passed to move into 1st place passed me back. About 40 seconds later, another guy from the AG passed me. Over the course of the next 1 1/2 miles, I got passed by 3 more guys from my AG. It was frustrating because I didn't feel THAT bad, I just couldn't get my legs to move faster. I definitely pushed too hard on the bike . . . my sense of pacing was certainly off due to the training hiatus. Additionally, the heat was a factor. It was barely 9:30 AM when I started the run, but the humidity was up and it was already in the 90's. I was very glad to finally hit the finish line.

Run Time: 23 minutes, 35 seconds (7:52 per mile)
Overall Run Place: 115th/366
AG Run Place: 19th/52

Postlude:

So, I really enjoyed this triathlon. Although these sprint tris really hurt because you're pushing yourself so hard all the time, I love the fact that they are smaller and less crowded than the big venue long distance races. Plus, most of the big time racers stay away from them so us wannabes get to feel like we're really good! :) Overally, I was pleasantly surprised with my 25th place overall finish and my 6th place AG finish. I would have liked to have had a better run, especially since I know I'm capable of going up to a minute and a half per mile faster than I did. But, now that the surgical stuff is behind me, perhaps I can find a way to get back into a regular run and bike schedule that Lisa and I can both live with! :)

BTW, I highly recommend the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon. It was very well-run and well-organized. It also had a surprisingly high number of big-time sponsors, so everything was first class all the way. The only improvement they could make is to the post-race food. It was pretty limited. Overall, though, it was a terrific venue.