Kemah Triathlon

This weekend, not only were my friends in town, but I also had a triathlon to race in! This was the Kemah Tri and my first race of the season.

I was really looking forward to it as I felt much stronger and more mentally prepared than any of the races I did last year. Before I get into the details, this race is a little different than other tri's. Most of the time there is a start where everyone either starts on land and dives into the water together, or you swim out into the body of water and start while treading water. This tri put us on a boat that sailed us to about 0.9321 miles (1500 meters) away and we jumped off the boat into the water and swam to shore.

Can you spot the difference from here?

Here is all my gear (much like the last time I raced). The key differences being: I'm taking a cat, I have my bike, and I only have 4 gel packs instead of 8. Other things to note, I am number 97. Because I was lower than 100 I was asked if I was a pro-athlete... I like to think, though, it was because I looked like one?

Pre-Swim

Due to the need to get started from a boat by 6:45, everything happened really early in the morning. Transition opened at 4:45, closed at 5:45, and we needed to be on the boat by 6:00 to have left by 6:10. That being said, Kate further solidified her awesomeness and drove out to watch me race! I didn't get a chance to see her pre-race since I was so rushed and had to be on the boat, but just knowing she was there was good news.

First off, I really don't like the swim portion... but then again, what non-swimmer triathlete does? Also, I am slightly afraid of open water. So I began to get a bit apprehensive on the ride out. We were packed in to this ferry boat much like people were packed into ferrys in The Dark Knight.

The Swim/Battle

As the elite/pro division of the race was about to start, everyone huddled over to one side of the boat to watch (quite a bit of leaning with the boat too). Shortly after, the woman in charge, whom I'll call the drill sergeant, told us that once she starts yelling, we just go. Maybe a minute passed and the race started... the drill sergeant began yelling, "Go! Go! Go!" and waving her arms for us to jump as if we were trained infantry jumping out of a plane. We headed into the chaos of a staggered swim start. I almost jumped on someone, and someone did jump on me.

As usually happens during the swim, I began thinking myself, "Why oh why did I sign up for this stupid race? I'll probably drown or never make it to shore..." It was definitely a rough swim. Lots of waves and lots of feet. I did get kicked in the face to where my goggles came off, but that's just part of the fun. After finally making it to shore after 40 minutes of a grueling swim (just side note, I was aiming for close to 30 mins on the swim since I can do the same distance in a pool in close to 20 minutes), I could rest easy knowing I would mostly likely not die anymore.

Now they say you're not supposed to drink ocean/gulf/salt water, but my theory was that since I was racing, I need the electrolytes, so I gobbled as much water as I could during the swim, and didn't even need to get water post-swim. (In actuality, the water was disgusting during the swim, and I missed the people handing out water :/ )

The Bike Ride

Hopping onto the bike, I felt much more confident. Swiftly got into aero-position, and I was battling the wind (probably 10-20 mph headwind). There were a few times that I would be pacing with someone or I would pass someone, then they would pass me, and it came to be a sort of group that were all around each other. There was Bob (actual name unknown), Maurice (a 61 year old 6'4 dude), pink girl, and high-cadence girl. I think I passed each of these people twice, and they passed me twice. But that was before we turned around.

Not me, but an example of aero-position and it's benefits (along with other expensive things)

On the way back, we had the wind to our backs, and I determined I had saved enough in the legs on the way out, and now it was time to go faster. After that, I never saw the motley crew again. Although I did see Maurice afterwards (did not say hi) and he is very tall with some massive legs.

The Run

I recall that in previous triathlons, I was extremely pooped by the time I got to the run. But this time, I was feeling very good and ready to keep going fast. I had saved one last gel-pack for the run, and I was off. The course was beautiful, and we got to run on the boardwalk that was right next to the gulf. I surprised myself with how fast I did the run course in. I think the fact that the clouds were blocking the sun really helped. There was a nice breeze and just a bit overcast.. perfect.

The Boardwalk - Post-race

I had a finishing time of 2:41:22. Not too shabby! I got a medal, and some ice, and I even got to see Kate on the race course maybe 4 times, and then hang out with her after. It was great. Good start to the season.

Next race isn't up until July, but will be looking forward to being faster by then...if only I can shave a few minutes off that swim.

Thanks for reading.

Past Weekend Shenanigans

Well this past weekend I had some visitors in town... Lucy and her boyfriend, Clay!

It was great... we got to hang out and watch some Walking Dead (an amazing show...fyi). That's all we did!


Just kidding...

I wanted them to get the full Houston, Texas experience; with the help of Kate, we were able to come up with a plan for my outta-towner's visit to the greatest country in the US. We got to do some shenanigans. So here are a few of them!

SKYZONE
Skyzone.. a place full of trampolines that lets you jump away. Pretty sweet as we were the only ones there, largely due to the fact that we showed up a little before they opened up. Lucy showed us how to do some tricks, and did some herself. Note how empty it is... we really were the only ones there. If you decide to go, may I offer a warning. Just because you're jumping on something bouncy and springy does mean that you won't get sweaty and tired.

Food

We got a chance to sample the different flavors of Texas. We had some BBQ (see photos below). We also got to eat at Ninfa's for some tasty Mexican food along with Landry's Seafood! So a good sampling of food. We also ate a lot of eggs. Not that they are more special here in Texas, I just thought that eggs are SO great and tasty that I would mention them... and they probably are better in Texas... isn't everything better in Texas?

The Galleria

We ran on over to the world famous* Houston Galleria (*may not be world famous). Got some shopping done, complete with trying out the Microsoft Store and seeing how good our Jedi Mind Powers are with an game console. Also, by shopping, I mean the Microsoft Store and the Lego store were the only two stores we stepped foot in... and it was to check out the price of the Executor Star Destroyer from Star Wars ($400!) and then try out the Xbox 360 Star Wars game... go figure.

The Force is strong with this one

We checked out the Williams Tower and it's little waterfall that it's got around it. Side note: I decided to climb up to be right next to the waterfall, and there was a man there that saw me and said to me, "That looks fun, when I was your age, I would've walked all around [the waterfall]." I think he was challenging me, but I declined.

Zoo

We also had an opportunity to visit the Houston Zoo. Apparently it's great here in Houston? I had no idea. Even after visiting the zoo, I still feel unsure about the zoo but try and relax since the animals are treated fairly. That part aside, the animals were very interesting to look at. Did you know that monitor lizards (monitors = that lizard from "The Rescuers Down Under" and Komodo Dragons) have the same muscle for breathing as for their legs? That means if they want to sprint, they have to hold their breath. Fascinating right?

The rest of the weekend consisted of going to Kemah to check their fantastic boardwalk and seagulls after my triathlon. We also got to head down to Galveston to show my friends what our beach looks like. Luckily there was no getting in the water so they never noticed how much they couldn't see in the water. But it was an ocean nonetheless.. well Gulf to be exact (thus the Gulf of Mexico).

And that was the weekend! Thanks for reading