We better start off with Friday. Heading there was uneventful, we were able to get some time off from work and left at around 4 after loading the bikes and the usual load that takes for a racing weekend and some extra days of R&R for Res and work for Puli. Got to the hotel at around 9:30 and went for a light dinner after check-in. Definitely something to plan for the future as there isn't really anything open in Galveston after around 9:00 PM, so we know for future reference.
Saturday we got to sleep in a bit, got breakfast at the hotel and headed to the expo. Picked up our packages, saw coach M and a few others from the team and then headed for breakfast No. 2. It was actually good since we got to catchup a bit with everyone. Then we headed back to check in our bikes. That went pretty quick. It does help when is a one transition area only.
After that we just headed back to the hotel and got to prepare our bags for the next day before heading to the group dinner. Which is a tradition of our team. Coach gave us his pep talk and we just relaxed a bit, as much as you can relax on the day before the race. We were pretty calm actually. Just taking it all in as we were doing this for fun, there were a few first timers on the team which were a bit nervous, and we were supporting them more.
Sunday morning, alarms went off at 4:00 am, got ready, and headed to have breakfast at the hotel. Of course everyone was doing the same but it went pretty quick. We then headed to transition, body marking and setting it all up. It was actually quick to set it up. To the point we thought we were forgetting something, but we didn't. Met the coach, the others and then by 6:30 we got wetsuits half on, it was a chilly morning, and we parked relatively close which was really good.
Here is were the individual reports start.
Race according to Puli:
After we headed to the dock we met a couple of the guys from the team that were on the previous wave and on my wave and we just chatted there for a bit. Then we headed to the dock... the wait before jumping in was the worse, once we were up we jumped in with about 3 minutes left. The water was actually not that cold, I stayed to the back as I didn't want to get into the mix of the wave. I think I stayed too much to the back, I could've done it without the extra 200 yds (lesson learned). Then I did the usual, counted until about 7 or 8 and then headed out, I started a bit fast but then got into a good pace I was at about 2:05'/100m before I hit the 1st buoy. I hit a bit of traffic and then the gave after me started to catch up to me. It was actually a bit hard to see those girls swimming passed us so early, but then I just got back into my pace which by then was started to get slow. Ended the swim at 44:31 with a 2:18'/100m. Faster than Austin, not as fast as I expected but I take it. It is a good pace to keep for the Ironman in a few weeks.
Finished the swim, then off to T1... it was for some reason a long transition, just a lot of running through it because of the layout so it took what it seemed like forever to leave transition. Once out of transition the bike was pretty simple, get on Seawall Blvd after a few turns around Moody Gardens and 28 miles out turn around and 28 miles back. The first 28 miles were fast, averaged 21 mph. It was a bit deceiving because the wind which wasn't fully on our back was a mix of side and back wind. So the side wind made it feel like a head wind... err NOT!!! not a head wind, it was all in the back (not all but you get the idea). Turned around and the side wind was still there and NOW the head wind was more prevalent. Dropped to about 18 mph and some sections a bit slower. Pushed a bit too hard to keep the average which I started to feel by mile 45 or so. Legs were starting to feel it so I slowed down a bit because I knew I was going to pay for it on the run. I was being passed by the 40-45 male and females (those old folks are FAST!!!! I want to be like them when I grow up). Something funny actually happened around that time, I was passing a few people and came up to a 50 yr old lady, I chatted a bit with her on how the wind was taking it all from me and that she was doing a good job and I passed her, I didn't think I slowed down, she picked up some speed and passed me maybe half a mile later and comes to my side and says to me: "ha... did you slowdown?", told her: "just having my gel" and let her go of course passing her a few seconds later and never seeing her again. I know I should've let it/her go but c'mon... I was being nice :). Anyways, aside from that, people were actually being nice, except a few guys who were clearly drafting and flying by everyone (more power to them I guess). Got off from Seawall Blvd and on 81st towards Moddy Gardens, didn't count with them making us go inside the airport, it was actually nice because I was able to get my feet off my shoes without any traffic as it was a wide open area. By then one of the guys from the team caught up to me as he had gotten a flat so I passed him on the course. Bike was over in 2:57 avg 18.93 mph (18 minutes faster than Austin)
Finished the bike, then off to T2... T2 was fast, get my socks on, shoes, grab the hat, put some sunblock and off I went. Not before visiting the port-a-potty and missing a fight of two guys fighting for the 1... couldn't believe it but there are still some people like that out there (breaking records for the fastest port-a-porty brake I guess). On the run I focussed on trying to keep a 8:45'/mi to 9:00'/mi pace, which I did for a little bit, but then realized it was more of a 10:00'/mi pace what my legs had left. First 10K at 53 minutes. I got to see Res on my second loop, and then started to see our teammates that was a relief as I got some energy to continue running. By the end of the second loop heat was getting to me and just was feeling the previous push on the bike, by around mile 9 I started to do a lot more walking than running, on the start of the 3 loop Coach M must have seen my face because he asked how I was feeling... I waved at him and gave him 1 thumb up telling him: "last one" and left. Went for my last loop and got done. That loop took forever, probably because I was slow, got to the last stretch before the turn and got to the finish line. Run time: 2:23 with an avg of 10:58'/mi (9 minutes faster than Austin)
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