CapTex Duathlon

Well as the title implies, my first triathlon of the season got turned into a duathlon because of heavy rains we have been having in the area. My thoughts go out to all those affected by the flooding and damaging storms that have been coming through the area.

Not swimming in that water!

Suffice it to say, there was a lot going on news wise this Memorial Day weekend so when Sunday came around and they announced at packet pickup that the swim had been cancelled I was not surprised. Lady Bird Lake was flowing with tons of debris and who knows what else that turned the waters into a muddy looking cesspool (more so than usual). I was bummed for my friends who had signed up to do the relay, as their superstar swim ringer (Linda) was not going to be able to swim. But she still came up and cheered everyone on and was a great sport out there. Thanks Linda!!

Packet pickup superstars. We made the CapTex FB page!

Having it changed to a time-trial bike format with a 10k run made me kinda excited to see how hard I could push on the bike and run. During my training my legs always feel like lead weights when I tried to run off the bike, so I was nervous about going hard on the bike and still trying to have a good run. My age group was one of the very last to go for the Olympic wave so the waiting seemed to take forever. I actually probably got on the bike around the same time I would have if we would have swam but it was a slow process getting out of the gate.

I was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly the time trial start on the bike was. They spaced us out 5 seconds apart and the way out of the parking lot was super clear with none of the congestion I had been worried about. Once out on the course it was smooth sailing. I really liked the new route they used this year as it eliminated the short, steep hill around the Capitol. The course is four loops and I got up as fast as 19.8 mph on my first loop and was back down to 19.3 at the turnaround to start my second loop. I told myself that I needed to stay in the 19's for the rest of bike....and I was able to do it! According to the official results I average 19.93 for the 24.8 mile course - one of my fastest bike splits.

Oh the cramps!

I had opted to run with my package of Clif Shot Blocs in my hand the night before and take one bloc every mile instead of drinking the Gatorade at the water stations. This was a decision that turned out to save me during the race. I was extremely happy by how quickly my run legs came to me. I didn't have any of that "dead weight" feeling that I had while I was training. This was a huge motivating factor for me! I took a bloc immediately as I started the run and just grabbed some water to sip and pour on me at the first water station. As I came up to the second water station I took another bloc and grabbed some more water. Things seemed to be going smoothly. I liked the new run course too as it ran us around the front of the Palmer Center and over the bridge and back again as opposed to running around downtown for a block or so. The cloud cover was holding so not having the sun beating down on me was super nice. Then as I was heading out for my second loop I passed the water station but didn't take a bloc. I was feeling good and just wanted to keep up my pace. As I turned to left to start to make my way up the one "hill" that's on the race course both my quads above my knees started cramping. I refused to stop running and tried to adjust my stride to see if I could loosen the cramps up. I got up the hill and they still hadn't subsided. I quickly downed two blocs and almost immediately I felt relief. My electrolytes must be messed up! I had two left with 3 miles to go. I had to use them wisely. Finally my watched beeped and I only had 2 miles to go. I took another one and the cramps stayed away. My quads were hurting from the cramps but it was manageable. My friend Karen had caught up to me and we ran together for a little bit. She gave me some encouraging words and I told her to stay on my heels (which she did!) and as I passed mile 5 I took my last block and hunkered down to see what I had left in the tank to finish. As I ran
out over the bridge for the last time and hit the turn around my cramps came back over my quads and also down along the front of my left shin. I was wobbling around on my legs refusing to slow down. The finish line was just around the corner!! I hung on and finished the run in 55:51, taking 2 minutes off my previous CapTex run time.

After learning that the swim had been cancelled I set a goal of 2:15 for myself to finish the bike and run. I ended up finishing in 2:12:29, exceeding my goal by almost 3 minutes. It was so much fun seeing all my friends out on the course and on the sidelines cheering. Everyone's support is so appreciated and I'm thankful for it. So even though it wasn't officially a triathlon, I'm super happy with my first race of the season and can't wait to tackle the next one.