The CapTex Tri 2008 on May 25th had some humorous happenings that sometimes made me and, I am sure, my two nephews who also ran the race, feel as Wikipedia suggests, "totally incompetent." A triathlon is pretty complex to begin with. So much gear to organize, many rules to obey and directions to follow. And when there are over 2700 athletes participating in multiple events (First Tri, Sprint, Oilympic, Relay) and starting at different times well, it can be quite confusing.
I was entered in the Sprint Triathlon which included a 750 meter swim in Lady Bird Lake, a 20K bike ride through downtown Austin and a 5K run. I dropped off my bike the night before as required and showed up in plenty of time to prepare for my race and watch some of the elite runners come out of the swim. I found my nephews, Father Brian Eliers and his twin, Bradley Eilers, and talked with them a bit. I was in the very first swim wave for the Sprint (based on age) and so I had few minutes before the start, confident that I had it all under control. I strolled to the dock where you would jump in the water and there the fun began.
Everyone in my swim wave had flourescent green swim caps. Everyone that is except me. Mine was black and very conspicuous. In a sort of panic I found an official and explained that my cap wasn't the right color. Fortunately, she directed me to a table next to the dock designed to resolve these kids of issues. Why did I get the feeling that someone off to the side was laughing at me, having stuffed a black cap into the packet of race #2482 just for fun?
So, no problem there. I swapped caps, pulled it on top of my head and seconds later jumped into the water to begin the five minute treading before the starting horn. Soon, I was off with the other swimmers, staying closer to the shore than most to avoid being in the midst of all those thrashing arms and legs. The swim goes well although I kept rising to check my bearing only to learn I am a zig-zagging bit off course. Seems I list to my left just a bit.
25 minutes later, Brian and Bradley are out on the dock for their start. Now, they have the right color caps plus the bright idea of not jumping in the water with everyone else but rather staying on the dock until the actual start in order to avoid treading water. Good idea - in theory. However, when Bradley jumps in the water his heart monitor falls off and it's panic city. He struggles to gets it re-situated, doing a bunch more water-treading than anybody else this day. He also swallows plenty of lake water. Still, he gets himself headed in the right direction, heart monitor properly attached. I told you there was a lot to think about...
Bradley's great adventure continues when he gets out of the water and grabs his bike. Now I've read about this sort of thing but this is the first I've heard about it happening in one of my Triathlons. For some reason when he set up his gear, Bradley placed his running cap on top of his bike helmet. In triathlon, you always try to arrange the gear in the order you will be needing it. Bike Shoes and socks, sunglasses, bike helmet, race number belt first... Running hat and shoes later. You guessed it. Bradley, in a rush to get a good transition time, grabbed his Bike Shoes, socks, sunglasses and... running hat! Then he grabbed his bike and dashed out of the transition area, jumped on at the starting point and actually got away with riding 6 miles without a bike helmet before an official told him to "get a helmet or get off the course."
If only I had known what Bradley was up to, I would have pulled my bike over to the side and waited for him to pass by!! Fortunately, when the official made his demand, Bradley was near the transition area (the Sprint Bike Course was 2 laps). He rode toward the transition and, realizing that it was going to take quite a long time to run and get his helmet, began yelling, "is anybody finishing the Sprint Bike that can lend me a helmet?!" And sure enough, someone did just that so Bradley was back on track.
Up ahead, I was nearing the finish. My bike was really fast for me (19.2 mph) and my run was steady but not particularly fast. As I approached the finish area I got disoriented and thought that the runners pealing off to the right were Olympic Event athletes. Olympic participants basically doubled the course of the Sprint athletes. So, in my mind, they were going right to somehow loop around and I was going straight to the finish. Wrong! As I ran straight I began thinking, "where's the finish line - it's gotta be around here pretty soon!" Of course, I had it backwards. Those turning right were the Sprint triathletes finishing up, those headed straight were the Olympic triathletes going for their 2nd loop. After a while, I began to ask around, "where's the Sprint finish?" Finally someone said, "back there" so I turned around, missed the now left turn, turned around again and found the finish. I also saw Joan who was rooting me on proudly, unaware of my exploits. She should be proud. I ran 3.4 miles instead of 3.1! Someone give me a medal!
For the record, here's my results:
| Clock Time | 1:38:38 |
| Overall Place | 340 / 785 |
| Gender Place | 242 / 446 |
| Division Place | 8 / 15 |
| 750M Swim Rank | 451 |
| 750M Swim Time | 20:55 |
| 750M Swim Pace | 2:47/M |
| T1 Time | 05:00 |
| 20K Bike Rank | 193 |
| 20K Bike Time | 38:39 |
| 20K Bike Pace | 19.2MPH |
| T2 Time | 03:59 |
| 5K Run Rank | 321 |
| 5K Run Time | 30:02 |
| 5K Run Pace | 9:38/M |
Brian and Bradley did well in the Clydesdales 30-34 age group. Brian finished 2nd at 1:28:52. And Bradley, depite all his foibles, finished 4th in 1:34:07.
A while, I'm at it - a shout out to my daughter Rachel who completed her first Triathlon on June 8th at the Danskins Triathlon at Decker Lake. She needs to teach me transition strategy (see below):
| Clock Time | 1:43:33 |
| Overall Place | 352 / 2592 |
| Division Place | 19 / 91 |
| 750M Swim Rank | 545 |
| 1/2 mile Swim Time | 22:19 |
| T1 Time | 03:38 |
| 20K Bike Rank | 423 |
| 12 mile Bike Time | 44:15 |
| Bike Pace | 16.2MPH |
| T2 Time | 02:34 |
| 5K Run Rank | 398 |
| 5K Run Time | 30:25 |
| 5K Run Pace | 9:48/M |

