Cap Tex Tri

27 May -

I had made a late decision to add Cap Tex to the schedule a month or so ago.  The only worry was that it was 5 days prior to Armed Forces Champs.  With it being a short drive from home and having a place to stay down there with an awesome sherpa, Amy Chow, I figured why not.

A week before the race one of the guys I train with, Barrett, asked if I can give a ride to one of his buddies down there and bring him plus another friend back.  So I ended up spending a good amount of time with Jon Bird from Canada who is an awesome guy.  He use to train with Simon Whitfield leading into London up in Victoria.  Jon was really cool to hang out with and shared a lot of stories and knowledge throughout the trip, he also had a solid race and finished 6th in the pro field.  Then on the way back I picked up Many Huerta from Barretts parents place and Jon, Manny and myself all headed back to Ft Worth.

Anyways here is a quick recap of the race:

Swim- 23:13

I got a decent start and found feet for most of the swim.  It felt like the swim was taking extra long, and apparently it did.  I was 14th out of the water out of 32 guys in the elite amateur wave, so not bad placing wise, but not great time wise.  I am not sure if it was the current or what, but I felt decent in the water.

Bike- 57:36

I knew quite a few guys were up the road and with it being a 4 loops bike course I would have a decent idea of where I was on the first lap.  At the first out and back section I knew one of my main competitors Scotty Wilkinson was just up the road about 20-30 secs.  I kept checking my relation to him at the turn arounds and it seemed like I was holding the same gap for the first 2 laps.  The third and fourth lap he put in a little bigger gap, but I just kept riding hard.  I was really happy with how I felt on the bike and ended up coming off the bike in 4th place.

Run- 37:44

I had a decent T2 and felt great out of transition.  I put in a solid first few miles and was able to see that I was down by about 2:40 on the leader at the first turn around point.  I didn't want to kill myself on the run with Armed Forces coming up in 5 days so I just tried to run comfortably uncomfortable.  Around mile 2 I moved into 3rd place and knew there was a strong runner in Randy Arriola coming from behind.  I had raced against him at St Anthonys and he blew by me out of T2.  Somewhere between 5K and 4 miles I mentally checked out of the race and was satisfied with 3rd through 5th place.  I was really wanting to make sure I did not destroy myself and couldn't justify risking digging super deep to possibly finish 3rd or 4th instead of 5th.  It sounds like an excuses, but in all honesty Armed Forces means a lot more than CapTex did.  I looked back at my splits and mile 4 was slower than the rest and mile 5 I picked it up a bit when the guys made passes on me, but I ended up not going with them.  I got passed for 4th with about 1K to go and was content with finishing 5th.  I am not sure if I could have given them a run for their money, but a huge congrats to Randy and Brad Miles for blowing by me in the last 2 miles.

Swim (1.5K) - 23:13 / 14th Elite Male / 42nd Amateur (http://app.strava.com/activities/56717624)

T1-2:23

Bike (40K) - 57:36 / 2nd Elite Male / 2nd Amateur (http://app.strava.com/activities/56717386)

T2-1:12

Run (10K) - 37:44 / 5th Elite Male / 11th Amateur (http://app.strava.com/activities/56717628)

Total- 2:02:10 / 5th out of 32 Elite Male / 5th out of 1088 Amateurs

Overall I was pretty happy with my results and how my swim and bike went.  The run was solid and the legs felt good, I am glad to know that there was more in the tank.  I am excited to lay it all on the line this weekend and see how things end up.  Seems like there is a new group of athletes down here at Armed Forces and it should be a great race.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support and especially the Team RWB Crew that was out at Cap Tex volunteering and cheering on all the athletes.  It was great to see the RWB Eagle all over the place down there.  The other great thing about this race was that it was the Paratriathlon National Championships and it was amazing and inspiring to see the athletes compete out on the course.

Special thanks to FRS Healthy Energy, Honey Stinger, Kiwami, HED Cycling, Zoot, teamTBB, Fort Worth Cycling and Team RWB for all of the support!  Without the great help of these great companies and organizations this season would not be going as well as it is.  So THANK YOU!