Kerrville triathlon

I did the Kerville Half-iron triathlon on Sunday.  I had a good race:

1.2 mile swim in 31:49
56 mile bike in 2:24:15 (23.3 mph)
13.1 mile run in 1:49:01

total time of 4:49:11

12th place overall (out of 273)
1st place in 55-59 age group

40 K bike time trial - best time

I did my best time in a 40K bike time trial on the Castroville course on Sunday.

40K in 56:35, average speed 26.33 mph.

10K splits were 14:49, 30:30 (15:41), 43:27 (12:57), 56:35 (13:08)

Headwind on the way out, tail wind on the way back.

Perfect weather, sunny, upper 70s, low humidity.

Jack's Generic Triathlon

A very good local race, 1K swim, 26 mile bike, 6 mile run.  Nice course, but incredible hot weather, with bright sun and no shade on the course.

I took it easy on the swim, focusing on swimming straight. And did not hurry the transitions, to save energy for what I expected to be very tough run.  On the bike, I worked pretty hard on the up hill parts, but otherwise didn't over do it.  I felt OK on the run, but I can't seem to run like I used to.

I placed first in my age group, in 2:14:21.  I averaged 23.7 mph on the bike, yay!

40 km bike time trial, state age group race

The state bike time trial was on June 20, in Hempstead, Texas.  It was hot, of course. I surprised myself by riding better than I expected.

The course was actually 40.3 K (25.09 miles).  My time was 57:13, average speed 26.3 mph.

I was the 3rd place Texas resident in 55-59 age group (but really 4th, because there was one out-of-state guy ahead of me).  The photographer said to put our arms up for the photo, so I did.

Pookie is on hunger strike (June 2015)

Tuna and kibble is not acceptable.

UT graduation day, May 23, 2015

Wearing Hogwarts robes at the College of Natural Sciences graduation ceremony.  I am jealous of Jon's cap. He got a tam, and I just got a mortar board.

 

It was fun!  I'll go again next year.

 

Longhorn 70.3 half-iron triathlon

My Longhorn 70.3 half-iron triathlon results:

       1.2 mile swim: 30:04
       swim-to-bike transition: 3:11
       56 mile bike: 2:34:16
       bike-to-run transition: 3:21
       13.1 mile run:  1:50:34

        total time: 5:01:34

4th of 54 in age group.

The Kerrville Half-iron Triathlon was October 16th.  I placed 20th out of 300, first in age group.

       1.2 mile swim: 33:27
       swim-to-bike transition: 1:44
       56 mile bike: 2:28:37
       bike-to-run transition: 1:57
       13.1 mile run:  1:46:57

        total time: 4:52:45

summer sports update

The state age-group 40K bike time trial was at the end of June.  Not a good race for me, I had a bit of trouble with the heat, and slowed down a lot on the last 10K of the race.  My time was 58:00, for 3rd place in 55-59 age group.

Two weeks later I did a 56:43 on a 40K bike time trial in Castroville, TX, on another hot day. That was much better, and my best time for a 40K on the bike.

The Waco triathlon was on July 28th.  I had a good race, 10th place out of 300:

       1.5 K swim: 24:31
       swim-to-bike transition: 2:38
       25 mile bike: 1:02:25
       bike-to-run transition: 1:33
       10K run: 46:02

        total time: 2:17:06

Longhorn half-iron triathlon

I did the Longhorn half-iron triathlon on Sunday. It went pretty well. The weather was sunny, cold and dry. It was 40 degrees at the start, which was OK on the swim since the water was warm. But I froze on the bike, despite wearing 2 shirts, big gloves, and toe warmers.

The swim went well, about 30 minutes, no problem. My bike time was slow for me, since I wasn't functioning well in the cold. I finally warmed up on the run, and had a decent half marathon.

I placed 154th out of 2000 overall, and 1st of about 50 in the 55-59 age group. Here is a photo of me looking happy at the finish:

Here are the results for the top finishers in the 55-59 age group. Click on it to make it readable.

Kerrville Half-iron Triathlon

I did a long triathlon in Kerrville, TX, yesterday.  Its about 2 hours west of Austin.  I had a plan, and stuck to it:  Take it easy on the swim and bike, and try to have a decent run.  It went pretty well. My time was 4:50:45, which is pretty good for me.

The 1.2 mile swim was 33:38 (it might have been long, I'm usually around 30 minutes)

56 mile bike in 2:28:00 (about 23 mph)

13.1 mile run in 1:45:15 (about half of it on trail)

Placed 14th out of 345 overall, and 1st in age group.

Texas State Time Trial Championship 2012

The Texas State Time Trial Championship was today, which is an annual bicycle race, held this year in Lytle, which is just south of San Antonio. In the time trial, riders start 30 seconds apart, and try to cover the course in the shortest amount of time. Time trials are sometimes called "the race of truth", since it is a real test of who is the fastest rider, without being able to join with a pack and use other riders to break the wind.

This was the 7th year that I've done this race. I've usually finished in the top five in my age group, but this year I was first place!

So I'm the state champion in an athletic event. I've never done that before.

I've been trying not to slow down as I get older, and eventually I found myself in an age group that I could win. 

My time was 57:26, average speed of 26 mph for a little over 40K, 1st of 22 entrants in the 55-59 age group. Bicycle racing uses year of birth for calculating racing age, so I'm a bicycle racing 55 year old, even though my birthday isn't until October.

The 55-59 year olds are actually a very competitive group.  Bicycle racing seems to be popular among men of a certain age. Probably because it involves expensive equipment, and we're getting too old to run well.

Here are a couple of photos that someone took of me out on the course.  I'm peddling as hard as I can! If you click on the picture it gets bigger.

I look pretty happy, even though its miserably hot.

Here's a picture of the top 3 finishers. I'm the only one still in my silly lycra racing suit. Apparently you're supposed to raise your arms for the photograph (I think its a bicycle racing thing). Perhaps the other guys have won races before and know what to do.

Well that was fun!

Here are the results for the 55-59 age group, with times:

Triathlon season starts in 2 weeks, so tomorrow I have to start doing more running and swimming, and perhaps a bit less peddling.

Christmas 2011

Its cold and raining in Austin. This weather makes an old cat very sleepy.

Dalai Lama quote

“When asked “What thing about humanity surprises you the most?”, the Dalai Lama answered:

“Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

Longhorn triathlon

I did the Longhorn half-iron triathlon last Sunday. The swim went well. I had a very strong bike ride, feeling good the whole way, even a the end of 56 miles. The run was a bit of a struggle, the second half of the 13.1 miles was pretty slow. I did a few short walk breaks on some up hill parts. I think the heat got me, it was in the 80s, sunny and hot for the last hour of the run.

Anyway, overall it wasn't bad. Finished 3rd out of 90 in the 50-54 age group.

Results below, click to enlarge.

san angelo triathlon

The Wool Capital triathlon in San Angelo was yesterday. It rained during the race. The 10K run had to be shortened to 5 miles due to flooding on the course. So it was 1.5K swim, a very wet 40K bike, and a 5 mile run.

I placed 4th overall, first in age group. I actually crossed the finish line first, since the 3 guys who beat me started 5 minutes behind me (the start was done in 2 groups, 5 minutes apart, to prevent crowding). I also had the fastest bike split of the race. My run was not very good, I just can't seem to find the faster gear that I used to have for running. Oh well.

1.5K Swim: 23:16 (5th)
40K Bike: 59:05 (1st)
5 mile Run: 36:23 (15th)

Overall time: 2:00:54 (4th)

Results of top finishers (click to enlarge):