Galveston Race Report Part 1

Race Report: Lonestar Triathlon Festival Quarter Iron, Galveston Texas 4/5/2009
Joe Puscas
Bib 1167
Age 32
Swim Rank: 55, Swim Time: 29:35.55, Swim Pace: 3:04
Transition 1: 05:21.25
Bike Rank: 51, Bike Time: 1:41:07.50, Bike Pace: 16.6
Transition 2: 03:06.70
Run Rank: 50, Run Time: 1:20:34.25, Run Pace : 12:24
Total Time: 3:39:45.25

Lead in:
I have run a lot in the last few years having completed two marathons. I’ve decided to make the transition to triathlon. That being said I felt a lot more comfortable with my running abilities than I did with my biking and swimming. I made the decision to do this triathlon the week after the Austin Marathon so I had roughly six weeks to get ready. I decided to focus 65% of my training time on swimming since I had very little experience in competitive swimming. The other 35% was mostly cycling. Coming off the Austin Marathon I had promised myself no running for 4 weeks, and I stuck to that.

The swim training I did consisted mostly of lap swimming at Deep Eddy pool. I have to thank my uncle Michael and Brother in Law Steve for giving me some great advice. Without them I’m not sure I could have gone from zero swimming to completing a 966 meter open water swim in six weeks. In the future I plan on incorporating a lot more drill work in my swimming but for this one I decided to Swim, Swim, Swim. Overall I’ve never been a fan of lap swimming but after my technique started to get better and I stopped struggling so much I started to enjoy it so much more. I was only able to get one real open water swim in and that was unfortunate.

The bike training I did in two parts: short weeknight rides, and long group rides with Jack and Adams or the Austin Cycling Association. Again with the cycling I plan on doing a lot more drill work in the future but figured with the short training schedule just getting out and riding would help more than anything. Also being new to cycling I was still working on getting the bike fit dialed in.

For the running I only had a few weeks of real training time and to be honest I didn’t run very much. Most of my runs consisted of short brick runs. A brick run is a run done immediately after finishing a bike ride. I did several of these but nothing over 4 miles.

Another thing I did for this race was rent a wetsuit. Wetsuits are allowed in Triathlons where the water temperature is below 78 degrees. The real advantage of having a wetsuit is that the make you more buoyant and streamlined. It’s definitely an investment I’m going to make for the Ironman training.

Race Weekend:
The race was in Galveston about 4 hours from Austin. I was traveling with two other triathletes, Liz Baldinger and Mercedes Orten, as well as my wife Corrie. We left friday evening after everyone got off of work. We took Liz’s SUV which we packed to the gills with gear. We bought a bike rack on craigslist which we’d never used before but it worked great! We stopped for sandwiches and got to Liz’s parents house in Friendswood about 10:30. We locked up the bikes had a Snack and went to bed.

I have to comment on how great our hosts were. We stayed with Liz’s folks and we received rock star treatment. Liz’s mom had ever food an endurance athlete could want: bagels, cereal, bread, fruit. she had even heard that some people like to have candy with them and had a bag of gummy bears for each of us. She even let me keep the toy from the box of Cheerrios :) Liz’s dad helped us with the bikes and offered some great encouragement.

Saturday was race expo day. I woke up at 6:30 like I do most days. I read the paper and watched sports center till everyone else woke up. We had breakfast and headed to the expo about 11:45. Moody Gardens, the race location, was about 30 minutes from Liz’s parents house.

Galveston is, for the most part, a city in ruin. Hurricane Ike last fall brought this city to its knees. It is not even close to recovered. Many businesses have not reopened and they sit boarded up in disrepair. We saw large boats left in parking lots and now vacant lots. One antique store we went in only had the front part open because the roof had caved in on the back. Moody Gardens, where the race took place, looked good, as well as some of the more touristy areas. The neighborhoods however seemed devastated. I would guess that maybe one out of four houses were inhabited. According to what I heard it was never an affluent city but I’m not sure if it can ever recover. It’s sad because New Orleans got so much publicity but Galveston is just as much of a mess 8 months later. I’m glad I could go there and spend some money. I hope the race does some good for the community.

The expo was great. They had several vendors and sponsors. We did a little shopping and I bought a Tri-belt. There was a mandatory meeting for race participants at 12:45 and then packet pickup. The meeting explained all the rules and the way you could be penalized. After getting everything we needed we went out for some lunch and to visit some places in Galveston that Liz had been before. Unfortunately the retro Ice cream shop that she had been to before had not survived.

We headed back to the house for a delicious pasta dinner. We had turkey pasta sauce with lots of bread. After dinner we went and grabbed an ice cream cone since we missed out that afternoon. Then we loaded up the bikes, checked our gear, and went to bed about 9:30. I slept pretty well all things considered.

The alarm went off at 4:15. That’s right 4:15 AM. I got up as quietly as I could but still managed to wake up Corrie. I had a breakfast of cereal, tea, sports drink and a couple of bites of banana. We threw everything in the truck and headed off into the dark

At the race site everything was so well organized. They had a parking garage about 1/4 mile from the transition area. We unloaded and walked over to the transition area. Being my first triathlon I wasn’t quite sure how to set everything out but I did a pretty decent job. I put down my run gear then bike gear I double checked my tires and felt everything was in order. Then I realized I needed to pee. I wanted to go the the port-a-potty but the line were long and the race was getting ready to start. I didn’t want to get locked out of the transition area. So I made the decision to go in my wetsuit once I jumped in the water. That worked fine, but remember that if you ever rent a wetsuit. Once everything was set I walked over to the swim start. I saw Ray on my way over. He’s a running buddy that had come down to spectate. It was really great of him to come out.

The Race:
I was in wave five of the race. It was a deep water star which means that you jump off a dock and swim over to the start line (After taking care of business of course). Then once they blow the horn everyone starts swimming. Being a weaker swimmer I decided to stay to the back and outside. At the start I was feeling pretty good. My stroke was nice and long and I felt like I was moving well in the water. About 200 meters in we made the first turn. This is where my biggest struggle occurred. I’m not sure why it was set up this way but the wave after the Clydesdales (men over 200 lb.) was the elite women. So they started bearing down on us 6 minutes after our start. Making the left hand turn around the buoy I got kicked in the face and ended up with my goggles around my neck. No problem I thought I just put them back on my face and continue. As I was fixing the goggles one of the speedy ladies swam right over the top of me. I ended up drinking a mouthful of saltwater and panicking a little. I sort of lost my composer for a second and started flailing. Luckily one of the race supporters on a surfboard was right there. She let me hang onto the surfboard and regain my composure. Thank you mystery surfboard lady. After that incident I didn’t quite feel right again. I had lost a little confidence and was taking more breaks to make sure I was on course. I was also concerned I would get in the way of an elite athlete and mess them up. So I stayed wide and took my time in the surf. after the last turn into the shore I started to get my stroke back and finished strong.

Quick update

So I'm working on a full race report for Sunday's quarter iron. I did well and was overall happy with the day. This week has been a little odd. I sort of threw my back out sneezing yesterday. Weird, I know. I'm feeling beter and have been hitting the pool. Hopefully I'll be able to publish the full report by this weekend.

TV on the internet

If anyone's interested the triathlon Sunday will be televised online at:
http://www.lonestartri.com/lonestar/index.html
I'm not sure what the coverage will be like but you should check it out.

Getting ready for Sunday

I haven't written in a while because I've been geting ready for the Lonestar Triathlon Festival. This will be my first triathlon. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was super nervous. I feel like I should be in pretty good shape for the race. I've chosen a Quarter Ironman as the distance for my first race. The thing that's making me the most nervous is that I keep seeing this race as an indicator of how well everything after will go. I've set for myself some pretty lofty goals and this will be the first time I take a visible and quantifiable step towards that goal. I sort of feel like if things don't go well or I struggle in this event it will be a harbinger of things to come. I guess that could go both ways, good or bad. I'm trying to tell myself that there will be progress and setbacks alike on this journey and this weekend will no more and no less. It's easier said than done however.

So overall I'm feeling pretty good about this weekend. I finally got in an open water swim on Tuesday and I'm grateful for that. I wish I had done a little more running but that's my strogest field so the extra time swimming should pay off. I have two more things to buy at Lane 4 swim shop on my lunch break then pack. I'm also in charge of tunes for the trip to Houston. So, I'll pack tonight since we're leaving right after work tomorrow. I have a packing list with 112 items for the race. That does not include clothes to wear on the other days. I've got a checklist and a spreadsheet so I should be all set. In the words of Alton Brown: "Organization will set you free." So tonight I'll get packed and make a playlist, have dinner and try to get some rest. I can't wait.