Reston Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

Awful, I was 43s slower than last year which is disappointing but the worst part was how I felt during. I started hyperventilating and had to stop mid lane about 70m in. My biggest concern was getting myself out of the way of those actually SWIMMING. I made it to the wall at 100m and let two pass. Most importantly I don't believe I cost them any time, I sure hope not. That little break somehow calmed me down and the final 300m was fine. The swim took much more out of me then it should have.

I thought I had kicked my water phobia but clearly that's not the case. This was a 4 ft deep pool swim for crying out loud - how will I ever graduate to open water? I know it's all mental and I just need to spend more time in the pool getting comfortable.

I shaved a 1m 30s off last year, and was 20s below my goal. I know it still needs work but I'll take the improvement for now.

Oh yeah - YANKZ rock, and believe it or not they are not my sponsor.

I grabbed water and I'm not sure why. They had a water stop inside the transition area that I ran past saying "no thanks". Then I stopped, turn back, and said "sure". At 2m 40s this hardly impacted my total T1 time but I had a full water bottle ready on the bike. Just sayin. Skip T1 water stops from now on.

Fantastic (for me), I took off almost 11 minutes from last year. Trading in my mountain bike for a road bike this year made all the difference. The bike was my training focus and I went 1m 30s faster than my goal so I’m very pleased. However, this was also the last time I would lead my wife, who started the swim 10s after me. We traded a few passes and then about halfway into the bike she passed me. Even though I could see her ahead of me most of the time I couldn't catch up - so painful:)

I'd like to get faster sure, than my wife would be nice to, but I'm really pleased with my result given the wet roads and hilly course. I will continue to train on the bike because I enjoy it so much but it's far from my weak spot.

Drink more on the bike. I noticed at home after the race that my water bottle was full. I recall taking one quick swig but that was it.

Not bad, I'll take it. Saw my wife at the bike rack just before she exited. She said, "Come catch me". I told her afterwards she should have said, "Catch me if you can" - that would have been better trash talk IMHO.

Get Yankz for my running shoe (only had them for my bike shoes). And no, there really not my sponsor.

Worst part of my race, just a total disappointment for me with a 9m 32s pace. Believe it or not I never walked, just settled into that pace. I did 4 bricks (bike/run) leading up to the race - all at race distance, two of them on the race course, and never ran more than a 9m pace, averaging 8m 45s. I knew coming in that my running was a weakness but I felt I had realistic goals despite it. I missed my run goal by 3m which would have moved me up 7 spots in my age group.

I think it's simple - I need longer runs in my training. Up till now once my Garmin hit 3.1M my next step was always a walk. Might be time to sign up for my first 10K and get the training for it going ASAP.

Hung out with all my friends and family who we're also in the race or came to cheer us on. It was great to have so much support and really made the event more meaningful to me.


Lack of training.


I missed the inaugural year for the Reston Sprint because I had yet to discover my passion for this sport. I don't plan on making that mistake again in the future.