What’s this? A triathlon race during the Covid Era of cancelled races worldwide? Yep, a “local” 70.3 in Conroe TX with all the new Covid rules in place (very well done—masks in transition during setup and right up to swim entry, then again after finishing).

Main reason for going was to have Roger (a.ka., 75-year old phenom athlete) push his envelope on the Aqua-Bike (half IM distance!). And he delivered! He finished exactly as we calculated and beat Cutoff by 14 minutes! He had his best swim ever and did everything right! Onward and upward for him.

Swim:

Swim went fine—it helped immensely to do a practice swim the day before and realize no extra equipment would be necessary for water temp.  64F-ish water temp in coldest spot I think—so wet suit legal (as it is every year) and pretty flat water most of the way.  A bit of confusion about buoys (swim on right but turn right to get out of cove—everyone but I cut the corner and avoided the red buoy).  Felt comfortable and had a lot of room for most part.  Sun was a bit of an issue going out, but going back was easy to see.  The had steps to get out (unassisted due to Covid).

T1:

Biggest decision was what to wear on bike.  Planned for vest, sleeves and running gloves.  Looking around, I saw people leaving with nothing but wet kits (race start temp was 46F—one year it was 38F).  So I grabbed my vest and got out of there fairly quickly.  Mainly because I managed to get suit off without falling on my arse.  No peelers due to Covid.  Hit lap button too often and ended up biking my Garmin T2 leg—luckily I had a Garmin Edge on bike, too, as normal.

Bike:

It was hilly (about 2k ft of elev) and windy (maybe 15ish)—eventually got warmer. Mainly rode with same people sling-shotting back and forth.  Caught many faster swimmers ahead of me (as usual).  Saw a few flats and there was one section of bad road surface and two R/R crossings.  Mostly one-lane each way for cars and there was one close call with a car passing using our lane (fortunately I was on shoulder at time, but there are not wide shoulders in many places…).

I did a lot of math. I was determined to keep my average pace consistent throughout. There was a long climb in second half that had other plans—about 13 mph for all I encountered there. Did fairly well on nutrition. Hydration—eh.  Peed on the bike just once—mainly on purpose in last few miles to avoid stopping on the run.

T2:

Super easy and quick.  Remembered to hit lap AFTER finishing to move Garmin to run and have screens that matched sport!

Run:

Started out around 7:30 average, but it slowly crept up.  For a bit, I ran with a guy 5 years younger who had been with me all day, including the bike rack.

By Mile 10, I was limping along. Left foot was barking (cart path was in bad shape in spots, and at times, cantilevered).  I was not a fan of the cart path, but half of run was in neighborhood on streets.  Got to second loop in decent shape and then started really short walks to drink water at tables (carried my own electrolyte—didn’t want their Gatorade and no food on course, Covid?).

This here bridesmaid got 4^th/29 in AG, 34^th/231 Overall—some cancelled IMTX and 70.3 athletes showed up to test their training. Dems the breaks—one spot away from podium.

My goal was 38min swim, 4m T1, 2:42 (21 mph), 3m T2, 1:48:00 (8:15/mi) for 5:15 total.  Mission accomplished.