Home from the Rodeo.

What a very interesting race! Certainly not the way I had hoped nor predicted the race to unfold. What I did do is I turned a number of rather disappointing and poor situations into a good one. Last week I had a good first 2/3rds of the triathlon. In Austin I believe I am finding my legs in the other 1/3rd. So with round two finished I am fairly pleased with the end result. So here is how it played out pour moi.
Swim:
The swim start was messy but could have been much worse. Close to 50 guys lined up for a deep water start along a rope long enough for about 20 guys. The Horn came quick both for me and the starting rope which was lifted just after I put an arm over it. I got tangled up as I pressed forward hoping they would let go of the rope. Nope. So I untangled myself and here is where I got lucky. At the feet of the two guys beside me, they could have easily squeezed me out. Luckily they held there lines and I swam through the gap to get to the front. On my left was Cameron Dye and my right was Mark Van Akkeren. For the next 800 it was a bit of a battle for who would lead the swim between the three of us. I checked my ego and went to Marks Feet. I looked back to see a gap form including Brian Fleischmann in the mix. My time out of the water ended up being 16.20.

T1:
Fighting for position out of the water I ended up 4th. But with a fantastically smooth and fast transition I was 2nd out of T1. :32sec
Bike:
With a slim lead of 20sec the pace was FAST with some massive pulls by Mark and Cameron. I on the other hand was struggling. I was absolutely as flat as the course we rode, simply no wattage. There was a difference between the break in Austin and the break in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma the pulls were smooth without sudden accelerations. We did extend our gap but in doing so I was unable to react to an effort and was dropped when starting the second lap. I time trialed alone for a lap in no mans land eventually being joined by the very large Second pack. The second pack was actually gaining on the lead pack of 3 narrowing the their lead to about a minute. On the final lap I was setting myself up in a good position leading into the run. At that moment a couple of guys rubbed wheels causing a domino effect where I managed to avoid by bunny hopping over someone’s head. It scattered the pack but a group of us came out unscathed. With about a km to go till the transition I attacked with the plan to lead into T2. I did get a gap. Though it was small it was enough to set me up for a good start to the run. Split: 54:39

T2 was smooth, not my fastest but I got out in a good position. Split: 1.16

Run:
It took me about 500m to get my legs going. Which seemed to generally decide the order of finish. I believe I did play it a bit more on the safe side(Just don't Cramp) and I definitely built into the run. I know that I can take a bit more of a risk next time. The big news of the day was I didn’t cramp. Hydration was good. I ended up catching Cameron and Mark from the lead pack and with a sprint finish with Brazilian, Marcus Vinicius Fernandes for 9th and 10th. I was awarded 9th place with a real lean for the line(Ugly Photo) with a final run split of 32.50

Full Results Found Here.

So, I did a lot right this weekend with a lot of good decisions both before and during the event. Mediocre swim, disappointing ride and a redeeming run. I have made note of the positives to keep me sane. More importantly I have made note of what I need to work on. When I get home I will get right to it. My body feels recovered, so why not.

Let’s keep the ball rolling,
Hope all is well,
Andrew McCartney