CHAMPIONS TRI

Swim-Run-Bike-Run (do you see something wrong in the order?)

Swim- Felt LONG. I took the swim out hard as I am a sprinter at heart! I was really hoping to hang on to Hailey Piersol's feet but that only lasted about 100m or so. Yes, that is Aaron Piersol's (Olympian) younger sister so there are some good genes there. Swam on my own for a bit until Kelly caught me, passed me and then I just stayed on her feet the rest of the swim. It was choppy out there and I felt a little flat. Was 3rd out of the water.

T1- Which was really another run! I had some trouble getting out of my speed suit because it got caught a bit on my chip. I slipped some shoes on for the 400m run but they never really ended up ALL the way on my feet, as my heels were sticking out. So it was more of a shuffle than a run. Probably would have been faster to go without shoes (but there were some random rocks) or actually put my shoes all the way on my feet.

Bike- WINDY...but I liked the course. Wore my LG space helmet which I liked a lot better than the Giro. I seem to do better on hilly courses (not sure why I signed up to race Florida 70.3) The legs were in pain the first loop. Second loop the legs were starting to warm up and by the third loop, I finally felt pretty good and tried to push it to the finish. The wind was tough out there today and I had to sit up quite a few times so that I wouldn't blow over. I even noticed a couple of other people out there riding with one arm on the aerobar and one arm on the bullhorn.

T2- Cotter's bike fell over into my bike slot so I didn't have anywhere to put my bike. I ended up just laying it down next to his. Don't worry...I forgave him.

Run- I didn't know how much of a lead I had starting the run so I wanted to start out quick...which I did. However, it definitely caught up to me at about mile 3 or so. I saw Brandon on the out and back and I just wanted to turn around and run back with him. It was a real struggle the last couple of miles and the finish line couldn't come soon enough. The results showed that I averaged 6:30 pace which is surprising because of the way I felt.

Swim-3rd
Bike-1st
Run-2nd
Overall-1st

I guess my swim isn't my strongest leg anymore.

Olympic distance races are HARD. I actually thought how much I would have rather been doing an Ironman today than going HARD. Maybe I need to do more races like this to make me faster!

I came away with the win, Kelly was second and Hailey third. Thanks to Red Licorice Events for putting on a great event, at a great venue, and giving pros the opportunity to race for a prize purse right here in Austin.

Ofcourse we had to get some Tex-Mex on the way home so we stopped at Iguana Grill with some friends. Good times.

Up next will be the World Championship Rookie Triathlon and then Florida 70.3