Triathlon Season in West Texas

For most of us, July and August means we’re doing early morning workouts before the temperature reaches 100, hibernating indoors under the air conditioner or making tracks for cooler places like the mountains of New Mexico or Colorado.
 
Not so for area triathletes; they’re just getting “warmed up” to tri and tri again during the local triathlon suffer fest that consists of the Lake Nasworthy and Goodfellow triathlons.

Two races, three events per race, all within a two-week period.

Do both of them and you’ll swim a total of 700 yards, bike over 22 miles, and run over 5 miles, all at full race pace.

You’ll do transitions from swim to bike, bike to run, gulp down a few energy gels, and probably drink enough Gatorade to fail a sobriety test if the highway patrol pulls you over.

If you’re a single-sport athlete, no worries -both triathlons have a team category, so line up a friend or two and do the race as a group.

The fun kicks off with the Lake Nasworthy triathlon on July 14, otherwise known as The Best Little Triathlon in Texas.

It will include a 300-yard swim in the pristine water of Lake Nasworthy, a 10-mile bike leg that follows Knickerbocker Boulevard from the Mary E Lee Park swim beach to the SAPD training center and back, and finally a 2-mile run on Fisherman’s Road.

The Lake Nasworthy event is a fun, low-key and low-cost race that’s perfect for everyone from beginner triathletes to experienced racers.

 Sign up now and get details by logging on to roadlizards.org/events/sarl-lake-nasworthy-triathlon.

On July 27, the fun shifts to the Goodfellow Recreation Camp for the Goodfellow Triathlon. This is a slightly larger event that consists of a 400-yard swim in Lake Nasworthy, a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) bike, and a 3.1-mile run.

The swim leg for the Goodfellow event will take place in Lake Nasworthy starting in the recreation camp’s marina area. After swimming, triathletes will complete an out-and-back bike leg on Knickerbocker Boulevard (FM 584) and then finish the race with a 5K run that goes out-and-back on South Concho Drive.

Goodfellow does a great job of hosting area athletes for this event, so come out and see if you can keep up with the military personnel who’ll be swimming, riding, and running.

Race information is posted online at roadlizards.org/events/goodfellow-triathlon-2013.

Both the Lake Nasworthy and Goodfellow events are perfect for triathlon newbies. They aren’t sanctioned USA Triathlon races, so you don’t need to buy a USAT license (or one-day permit) and you’ll encounter much friendlier competitors and race officials with very little of the elitist attitude common in bigger sanctioned events.

First-time and casual competitors will rack their mountain or touring bikes next to expensive aerodynamic tri-bikes, and the slow runners and swimmers will be cheered on as strongly as the faster racers.

For triathletes who don’t want the fun to end, the regional triathlon season will continue into September at the Comanche Warrior event on Sept. 7 in Big Spring. 

This race will consist of a 500-yard swim, 30K bike, and a 5K run. Full details are posted at visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon.

Remember — it’s triathlon season in West Texas.

Upcoming Events

• July 11: Road bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• July 14: Lake Nasworthy Triathlon, roadlizards.org
• July 18: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• July 27: Goodfellow Triathlon, roadlizards.org
• Aug 1: Road bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Aug 15: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon