The Triangle Tri is a 'big' local event with 600+ racers, but pre-race logistics went smoothly- as they always do with Set Up Events races. This year I've been experimenting with different pre-race warm ups, ranging from well, nothing, to a 20 minute shake ride and a 10 minute run with some pickups before hopping in the water. Generally speaking, as race length increases the amount of time/energy I reserve for warming up decreases inversely. The race morning energy surrounding the transition area at any race site is HUGE, like a human bee hive with racers nervously moving in every direction. You could really start to question your own pre-race routine if you paid too much attention to the gobs of shaved, permanent markered, aerodynamic people running/riding/stretching/fretting all around you. Something intuitively told me to skip the shake out ride/run, and just focus on staying hydrated. On what was a crazy humid morning I headed down to the swim start to see if I could find my swim stroke.
Starting with roughly 15 other racers in the Open/Elite wave, I fought like hell to make the lead swim pack. The 'lead' pack was actually chasing first year pro Doug Van Wie, who came out of the 750m swim with a 2:00 lead. I didn't quite latch on to the lead pack of 4, and ended up working side by side with two other dudes who set good pace despite the fast fish pulling away up ahead.
Frustrated with my swim, I pressed hard on the trek from lake into T1, and I was able to pass a few dudes while getting out onto the bike course in decent time. The rolling 17.5 mile bike course was visually stimulating, if otherwise uneventful. I pulled back one spot early on, then was entirely on my own for the next 30 minutes. Somewhere around mile 15 TMS-IOS founder Cid Cardoso Jr flew by me like I was standing still. This snapped my head back into the race, and I turned myself inside out for the last few minutes of the ride trying to keep Cid from completely disappearing up the road.
Coming out onto the run course I could see that there were two TMS-IOS red/black race kits shortly up the road. This stoked me to see that TMS-IOS was all over the front of this race, and also because I was hoping to have some run company. One good thing about being such a medium cyclist is that it always leaves you with plenty of dudes to try and catch on the run. The 5k run course was fun, with all but the first 1/2 mile on the trails/fire roads of Harris County Park. I felt like I was holding strong form out on course, pulling back a couple spots, but I ran out of run course before I could reach anyone else who may have been faltering, or before I was caught from behind by any fast runner dudes. All in all a fun day, finishing 7th overall, as the 5th amateur. Big congratulations to Doug Van Wie who lead the race from start to finish, and to the TMS-IOS Triathlon Team, who had four athletes in the top 10 spots.
Race results can be found HERE.
