Lonestar Tri Report

Here is a copy of the report I sent out today:

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Family, Friends, Sponsors:

I want to start off by thanking the folks at Tri On the Run, in Houston, for being so patient and helpful this week as we worked on my bike. If anyone out there wants an accomodating shop with a friendly staff; that's your place.

I competed in the Lonestar Triathlon yesterday in Galveston, Texas. All of the participants had to have been fairly concerned about the possibility of a cancelled race given the wicked thunderstorms/flooding on Saturday before the race. The Sprint race managed to go through on Saturday morning and its amazing that they managed to find a window of oppurtunity in there.
The gun went off at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and my 2007 triathlon season had begun. The start was not overly aggressive, but I lost contact with the main pack by the first turnbuoy and cruised solo to the finish, coming out of the water in 7th position and about three minutes down on Todd Gerlach (no surprise there).

I headed out onto the bike course and I quickly found a rhythm pacing with Adam Wilk of Dallas. We made up some really good ground on the field on the first half of the out-and-back, but he put about 30 seconds into me with the tailwind back into town. I wanted to get contact with him as soon as we started the second loop again, but just as the second loop began I had a blowout on my rear tire.

I had been dealing with bike problems all week (because of the installation of my new ergomo) and when I heard my tire go flat I literally said something along the lines of "of course." I hopped off and went to work on it. My change took a little longer than I might have hoped, but I got it done as quickly as I could.

I was back out onto the course and the headwind had grown from the first loop. It was probably hovering right under 20 mph so it was a real grind to the turnaround. Nevertheless, I felt pretty good and I tried to get it together to prepare for the run.

I hit the two loop run course and my quads were on the verge of cramping which is not a typical issue for me. I think I was a bit behind on hydration, but it probably was a result of the body reacting to the first continuously hard effort of the season.

My goal was to try and float the first loop of the run and go from there. I moved into third halfway through the first loop, but Gerlach and Ronco (from Co Spring) were easily ten minutes ahead so my race was more about my own time and effort at this point. I had a little fade in the middle of the second loop, but I came back around and finished well in 4:16 behind Ronco and Gerlach who finished in 4:07 and 4:08 respectively.

Aside from the mechanical setback I was pretty pleased with the day. It was a nice way to get back into things after five months without any triathlon races. I feel great about this upcoming season and I am really excited to get things rolling in Boulder in April.

Many thanks are in order for my friends and famliy who made the trip down to Galveston to watch the race. Additionally, I want to thank my coach, Joe Friel, and my sponsors: EAS, www.trainingbible.com, Descente, Javelin, and Fuelbelt.

-Justin