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06-22-09, 06:53 PM
Well my wife decided it would be a good Father's Day present for me to race the Washington DC Dextro Energy Tri. When she was signing me up last Monday she asked if I wanted to do the Olympic or Sprint distance race, and then told me the prices respectively . .. they weren't cheap; 170 and 90 I think. I told her for that price I should make the most of it and do the Oly. Well here is the challenege, this would be my first Oly distance race and was a little intimidated. I did a hilly 40k TT last Sunday and finished in 63:07 so I know I could do well on the bike portion. I have swam the 1500 meters in the pool before, but was focusing more on the 1000 meter swim I have this coming weekend, so I had to up my distance in a week. But the kicker is I havent ran over 5 miles in over 14 months, so I had to make sure I could do the run at least, which I spent the next week doing.
Saturday was mandatory race meeting, packet pickup and mandatory bike racking, along with an optional swim practice in the Potomac. I met a friend there we sat through the 30 minute meeting which could have been cut down to about 5 minutes if it werent for all of the corporate stuff, but they do pay good money. It was in there that we heard the swim practice was canceled because of storms in the area.
Well I get to the parking around 415am and start making my way to down to the transition area and taking my time and focusing on the race. Around 515 or my stomach starts getting a little nervous so I make my way to the portapottys, nothing like being the first one in there opening up the TP, although using one predawn is very dark inside. About 530 or so in walks a gentleman with his bike, I was like wtf we had to rack them yesterday, as he walks closer he comes to the racks next to us and I recognize him, he was DC Mayer Adrian Fenty, a top age grouper at that. My friend who happened to be racked next me went over there and talked to him as they have raced together over the years. But soon after that the concentration was lost as the media started showing up to interview him and what not.
The start of the race was delayed by about 10 or 15 minutes because they still needed to clear the roads. I was in the forth wave M39 and under. When it came time for us to jump in the water, it felt pretty good, 73F and it didnt stink. You could definitely feel the current which we had to swim against for the first 700 meters and had it with us on the way back. The horn went off and off we went, I had a good swim caught up with a lot of the 40 and over wave and started getting hit and kicked. In fact one point i went for a breath and got hit in the back of the head took in a mouth full of water, I quickly spat it out. I got out of the water in 27:21.
Into T1 which was a good bit of distance from the swim, I could have made it out a bit quicker but for some reason the transitions werent a good point for me yesterday. I got on the bike and started looking at my Garmin for the HR data. My HR was in a good area, but always is after the run to the mount point. One thing I was concerned about going into the race was the potholes in downtown, this was a very valid concern as at one point in the race I passed 5 or 6 people in one area that all flatted at one particular pothole and one woman racer crashed and when I passed the medics were putting her in a neck brace. After the start of my second lap I slowly stopped passing a lot of the high end Cervelos and then started hitting sprint traffic. At the turn around point I was passed by an elite woman, number 104, after that I started to catch up to her, as we were both passing traffic. If there was room I would have passed her right back as we were going downhill and i had to brake to not hit her, but as we passed a group of sprint racers the motorcycle passed with the ref writing something down, i knew I was just cited for drafting which pissed me off as I wanted to pass but also want to be safe by not cutting anyone off with an approaching turn. I completed the bike 65:13, slow for me, I could have done so much more but the second lap was really slowed down with traffic.
T2 was not pretty, I run with my Edge 305 and I got laced up and headed out and forgot it on the bike, i went back and got it. About a mile into the run I could feel side stitches setting and knew I didnt drink enough on the bike and starting taking two cups at every aid station. The run was nice as the climate was cool and starting to drizzle, in fact I was really happy i was off the bike because I know that could have been very messy with all of the turns and bumps. I just kept running enjoying the light mist and rubbing my side. I eventually worked it out of me at about 4.5 miles but I knew it slowed me down a good bit so I picked up my pace and started chatting with other runners.
Now going into the race the quickest I was able to run 6.5 miles was 56:30, so anything under an hour was going to be a good day for me. I only glanced down at my Garmin once at mile 4 and was at 36:XX, i was happy with my time, but i had no idea what my race would be. As I approached the finish chute, I saw the clock counting 2:29:XX and I picked up my pace a bit, they announced my name as I crossed at 2:29:29. I was extremely happy with my time but felt like I didnt leave it all on the course. So subtracting the 6 minutes for my wave it was 2:23:29.
I looked up the results today and I was given a 2 minute penalty, which needless to say bummed out because I knew I wasnt trying to draft intentionally and have talked with triathletes and they have said they have all at least once gotten hit with one near turn arounds which they say are a pain in the ass. I ended up 12/32, even without the penalty. In my eyes I still did it in 2:23:29.
Sorry for the long post I get a little carried away, DrPete how was your race?
Saturday was mandatory race meeting, packet pickup and mandatory bike racking, along with an optional swim practice in the Potomac. I met a friend there we sat through the 30 minute meeting which could have been cut down to about 5 minutes if it werent for all of the corporate stuff, but they do pay good money. It was in there that we heard the swim practice was canceled because of storms in the area.
Well I get to the parking around 415am and start making my way to down to the transition area and taking my time and focusing on the race. Around 515 or my stomach starts getting a little nervous so I make my way to the portapottys, nothing like being the first one in there opening up the TP, although using one predawn is very dark inside. About 530 or so in walks a gentleman with his bike, I was like wtf we had to rack them yesterday, as he walks closer he comes to the racks next to us and I recognize him, he was DC Mayer Adrian Fenty, a top age grouper at that. My friend who happened to be racked next me went over there and talked to him as they have raced together over the years. But soon after that the concentration was lost as the media started showing up to interview him and what not.
The start of the race was delayed by about 10 or 15 minutes because they still needed to clear the roads. I was in the forth wave M39 and under. When it came time for us to jump in the water, it felt pretty good, 73F and it didnt stink. You could definitely feel the current which we had to swim against for the first 700 meters and had it with us on the way back. The horn went off and off we went, I had a good swim caught up with a lot of the 40 and over wave and started getting hit and kicked. In fact one point i went for a breath and got hit in the back of the head took in a mouth full of water, I quickly spat it out. I got out of the water in 27:21.
Into T1 which was a good bit of distance from the swim, I could have made it out a bit quicker but for some reason the transitions werent a good point for me yesterday. I got on the bike and started looking at my Garmin for the HR data. My HR was in a good area, but always is after the run to the mount point. One thing I was concerned about going into the race was the potholes in downtown, this was a very valid concern as at one point in the race I passed 5 or 6 people in one area that all flatted at one particular pothole and one woman racer crashed and when I passed the medics were putting her in a neck brace. After the start of my second lap I slowly stopped passing a lot of the high end Cervelos and then started hitting sprint traffic. At the turn around point I was passed by an elite woman, number 104, after that I started to catch up to her, as we were both passing traffic. If there was room I would have passed her right back as we were going downhill and i had to brake to not hit her, but as we passed a group of sprint racers the motorcycle passed with the ref writing something down, i knew I was just cited for drafting which pissed me off as I wanted to pass but also want to be safe by not cutting anyone off with an approaching turn. I completed the bike 65:13, slow for me, I could have done so much more but the second lap was really slowed down with traffic.
T2 was not pretty, I run with my Edge 305 and I got laced up and headed out and forgot it on the bike, i went back and got it. About a mile into the run I could feel side stitches setting and knew I didnt drink enough on the bike and starting taking two cups at every aid station. The run was nice as the climate was cool and starting to drizzle, in fact I was really happy i was off the bike because I know that could have been very messy with all of the turns and bumps. I just kept running enjoying the light mist and rubbing my side. I eventually worked it out of me at about 4.5 miles but I knew it slowed me down a good bit so I picked up my pace and started chatting with other runners.
Now going into the race the quickest I was able to run 6.5 miles was 56:30, so anything under an hour was going to be a good day for me. I only glanced down at my Garmin once at mile 4 and was at 36:XX, i was happy with my time, but i had no idea what my race would be. As I approached the finish chute, I saw the clock counting 2:29:XX and I picked up my pace a bit, they announced my name as I crossed at 2:29:29. I was extremely happy with my time but felt like I didnt leave it all on the course. So subtracting the 6 minutes for my wave it was 2:23:29.
I looked up the results today and I was given a 2 minute penalty, which needless to say bummed out because I knew I wasnt trying to draft intentionally and have talked with triathletes and they have said they have all at least once gotten hit with one near turn arounds which they say are a pain in the ass. I ended up 12/32, even without the penalty. In my eyes I still did it in 2:23:29.
Sorry for the long post I get a little carried away, DrPete how was your race?