Billy Self @ Metroplex Sprint - Day 1

My Chip Time Billy Self at Metroplex

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So Run-Far has a cool feature to "Share" a link to blogger. Hence above. Here's the recap.

Event: Metroplex Sprint Tri -

Day 1

Location: Lynn Creek Park,

Grand Prairie

Class (yours): M 25-29

Results: 5th Overall, 1st age group.

Local Knowledge and Conditions: It was about 76-81

degrees during the race. 76

when I got out of the truck and 81 when I got back in the truck. Light breeze

from the South at 5mph (slight gusts to 8-10mph). Very flat water in lake. Water

temperature was fantastic. This

is 4th race to do at Lynn Creek and I also watched one here as well.

Pre-Race Strategy & Warm Up:

Pre-race prayer for safety and best performance. Walked

through my trans and became very familiar with where my rack was set up. I changed up my warm up for this race. Instead of just jogging...included 2 pick ups at race pace. Then swam for about 3-4 minutes in the lake

and really stretched out my stroke to get comfortable. Felt ready.

Psychology: I wanted to go balls to the wall on this

race. hold nothing back. I looked around the swim start and anyone that has swam can tell you how hard it is to size anybody up. My strategy was to go hard off the front and keep anyone from drafting on

me.

Lessons Learned (Or Re-Learned): When approaching a pack in the swim from the previous wave, plan with more care to go around. I spent too much energy punching through

and I knew that's when Stephen passed me, because I was 1st at the first mark. I honestly didn't see him pass me, because I would have grabbed on to draft. he finished 8 seconds in front of me. My swim rank was 3rd overall and

2nd in age group.

Future Goals (include skills executed well and skills needing improvement): WOW -- the transitions were so much better. the clinic made an enormous difference. this is also my 1st race with no socks on the run and it worked out really well. I've never had transitions that fast. My bike to run muscle transition was awful, awful, awful... I cramped in my calves (both!) for the first 200 meters. Finally it went away, but I felt damaged and the rest of the run I felt like I was making up for the slow start due to the cramping. I made a HUGE effort to NOT heal strike while running, and I think I did an okay job. I kept telling myself to lean forward and get a quicker turnover. My running form has got to improve, but I feel like I'm making progress.

Fitness (endurance, nutrition, hydration): Endurance in the swim: awesome. I hammered and felt smooth. Endurance felt great on the bike. I have had quite a few miles in the past 3 weeks. Endurance on the run felt poor, but not sure if that was a result of the cramping. Nutrition felt on top game...I ate well all week and had a banana, wheat grass, bread, and a sip of katie's coffee this morning. I thought my hydration was in good order, but I'm second guessing myself after the calf cramps. Not sure.

I had PR's for the bike and the run both. Also, it was definitely a PR for T1/T2, but every transition area is different. So, hard to compare. I haven't kept track of my swim PR very well, but this race felt great. "It never gets easier, just faster"

Something funny that happened: Swim Start: lined up right next to buoy. As I took off there was a person that bumped me with decent force about 25 meters after the start. Katie even saw it from shore. She said that it looked like the person T-boned me. Thought nothing of it and kept on plugging away. After the race, this really tall blonde girl that looked like a strong swimmer with wide shoulders came up and tapped me on the arm while I was talking to katie, cliff, stampley and dian. She said, "I'm so sorry for hitting you...are you okay??" I was like, "uh, I'm fine, no sweat, part of the game"... and that girl went on for a little bit and then walked away. Katie says she was literally 'hitting on me'. It was really nice of her to say that, but it's just part of the game for an open water swim.

PS. katie and I overheard some positive comments on our race jerseys. Our team is getting buzz for sure! The team is so much fun for me and I love everyone's effort to demostrate team spirit.

Glad To Be Here!