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.