I was back. Back to the town I was born in... Bryan/College Station. Back in the town where my parents grew up. Where my dad graduated from Texas A&M. Back in the town where we spend holidays and see family. Back in the town where, with the exception of my parents, my family lives. This time though, I was back to race in the TriAggieland sprint triathlon. This triathlon has been on my calendar for a while now. This one was a little special due to the fact that my Uncle and I were going to be racing in it together.
I trained hard for this one. I trained for speed. Since I had already accomplished the goal of finishing a Tri, this one was for time!
 |
| Sunrise over Kyle Field. Natatorium to Right. |
PRE-RACE: We were staying in College Station with my Grandmother. The alarm didn't really wake me up, but once I heard my dad rustling around down the hall, I was up. I had my pre-race routine, loaded the truck and headed to the race site on the A&M campus.
Once we arrived and got body marked, I entered the transition to set up. After putting the bike on the rack, set up my transition area, I got my ear plugs and goggles, exited to the transition area to walk across the parking lot to the Natatorium. My Uncle and I were talking before going to get ready for the swim, we noticed how bad the concrete hurt my feet and he suggested putting my shoes at the end of the sidewalk when exiting the pool, I took his advice (more on that later). We entered the Natatorium, went to use restroom and then got seated for the pre-race talk and National Anthem. A group of UT students or alum or t-shirt fans, were there and started a "Texas--Fight" chant, I guess it was too early, but the Aggies didn't even do their hissing, or sssss'ing or whatever it is. The chant didn't last long, however, the wait to get in the pool, DID! I sat there and talked with my Uncle, met his trainer, went to the restroom, tried to loosen up and THEN I was put into line to get into the water.
Swim: I was bib number 209 so it took a while for me to get in the pool. I really wished I could have warmed my legs up a little bit more before the 400m pool snake style swim. (8x 50m lengths.) They were pretty well organized, but the first competitor was sent of around 7:05 and I probably hit the water 20 minutes later, I guess. They were putting people in the water and sending them off in 5 sec intervals.
The First 150m I thought I was doing well, form was good, time seemed to be doing good. Then I started to feel water getting into my right ear, so my breathing every 3 strokes turned faulty. I tried every 4, but it was to long and every 2 strokes was taking too much effort. I changed to my trusty breast stroke. Swimming the next 100m breast stroke I actually passed some people. Just before the last lap, I was preparing to past a racer but she did something weird with her lane change which didn't allow me to pass her like I wanted and caused me to swallow some water. I needed to clear the water out of my throat, allowing some of the people that I had just passed, to get back in front of me. Once I was on the final length, I was close enough to pass but decided not to. I got out of the water, and started on to the transition. My "official" time in the water was 10:31, but I had 9:55 on my watch and my dad timed me at 9:30. So, I am not sure where their timing stopped for the swim. Whether it was right out of the pool, not until the transition area or somewhere in-between. I was 23rd in my age group for the swim.
T1: There was about 50-75 yards to the transition area from the building. I put my shoes by the wall of the building so I could lean up against it while putting on the shoes. Turned out to be a great idea by my Uncle. I could actually get across the concrete without tearing up my feet. It allowed me to be 6th in my age group for T1. Official time of T1 was 2:06.
BIKE: The 12 mile, 2x 6 mile loops, ride had some elevation on it. But for the most part it was pretty fast ride. The ride was on good roads until we got into the campus roads, but they were marked very well to caution us about the cracks and bumps. There was a long section, about half way through the loop that was a long steady up hill climb that proved to be the hardest for me. I was pretty happy with my ride. Officially 37:19, averaging 19.3 mph, good for 13th in my age group.
T2: Got into transition, got some water, a GU and I was out. 1:32 in T2, good for 11th in my age group. One blunder, I forgot to tighten my shoe laces. Had to stop outside of the transition to tighten the laces.
RUN: 32:47, 10:34/ mile pace, 22nd in age group. The one thing that I can say about the run is... HOT! I told my Family after the race was that I completely underestimated how hard the run was going to be. The first mile was the hardest for me. I finally was able to get to some water and some gatorade, which was awful! The gatorade was warm and lemon flavored, but I think it is exactly what I needed. The last two miles proved to be a little better for me. I usually try to walk the aide stations, about every mile. This time I was walking about every half mile for about 20 seconds. One time towards the middle of the race, when I was walking, I noticed a gentleman pass me and on his right calf his age read 74!! At that point, I graciously passed him and only stopped one more time, at the water station, to get some more of that brutally necessary gatorade and cool water bath. I didn't have my Garmin watch so it was tough for me to run without that immediate feedback of speed...
 |
| Big Boy feels small. |
I can't forget to mention the couple of laps inside of Kyle Field. I have been in that stadium many times. I have been in there to cheer for the Aggies of old. When I was younger, my dad took me there to get autographs from Aggies. I have performed in a football camp there. And I have most recently been there to cheer for the Scarlet and Black! (Thanks to realignment, not anytime soon.) But this day I was in that stadium as part of the 3 mile run. We had to endure the sauna like heat that the black rubber outlining the field was putting out. It was pretty "cool" though. All in all I enjoyed going through the cool scenery of Kyle Field. Actually, kind of eerie. An 85,000-ish seat stadium and no one sitting in the stands, and then I could hear my Mom's words of encouragement echoing off of the aluminum bleachers... "GO GET EM RED RAIDER! WRECK 'EM!" Gotta love my mom!
 |
| My Uncle Larry and I with our finisher medals. |
FINISH: Official time was 1:24:17. 23 in my age group and 196 overall. I was shooting for somewhere in the ball park of 1:20-1:25, so I feel good about my time.... Kinda. I was wanting my run to be under 30 minutes, but since the weather was a little more humid and warm, I will take it and be VERY happy with my completion of my 2nd sprint tri... Most improvement I saw between the 1st and 2nd were the transitions. At T1 I went from 3:09 at CB&I to 2:06 at TriAggieland and T2 1:54 to 1:32. I cut off 1 minute 25 seconds off my transitions.
I had a great time running this race. It was well organized, fun and I will definitely do it again next year... My Uncle and I are trying to get my Dad to do it too, so maybe we will have another Garrett racing!
And I have to thank my pregnant wife, who is 7 months prego, for coming and standing in the heat to cheer me on too! I love you and always enjoy you coming to support me! Your cheers always make me smile!
Wreck 'Em from TriAggieland
Wade
