Reston Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

it was crazy how many FeXY teammates were out there racing and volunteering. it seemed like every other person in transition was from the team. very cool.
swim started ok. the waves were small so i didn't feel the need to be up front, but there seemed to be a wall of swimmers that i had a hard time getting through. once i found a hole, i pushed through and almost immediately found myself in the middle of nowhere. i was told to cut the corner instead of going out for the buoys, but that made sighting difficult. it was also still a bit dark, so i felt like i was struggling to get on course the whole swim.
i finally saw double buoys and a boat, so i started looking for a different colored buoy to make the turn. halfway to the boat though, i hear people frantically yelling to turn. apparently the double buoy WAS the turn. ugh. i turned back and tried to get back in rhythm.
the way back was more of the same feeling of being in the middle of nowhere and drifting, so i started making myself take 25 strokes between sighting so i would make a little progress and settle down. that seemed to do the trick and i cruised in to the finish.
when i saw my time and heard people yelling for shelly (a really good swimmer who was ahead of me, but still in transition), i knew i must have had a decent swim.

relax. start up front and sight less.

i decided to put socks on just in case, but it only took me a few seconds. as i finished and was going to put all my stuff in my bag, john was yelling for me to leave it all and he would take care of it! fantastic.
i am usually mediocre, but this was one of my best transitions and right up there at the top.

nothing.

immediately got to work and rode hard the whole ride. traded passes with a few guys, but never red-lined and rarely let up. felt very good.
on the second loop i saw bailey sitting on his top tube on the sidelines which really bummed me out. we only get a few chances a year to race together, so i hate to see him taken out by a mechanical.
shortly after, i saw ward in the same predicament. it made me worry about the rough road conditions, but there isn't much i could do about it so i tried to be careful and continued on.
i caught k (who was looking strong) on the 3rd loop and then started playing leap frog with a few riders that all came together. no one was drafting, but it was getting tougher to find a clean spot. luckily i was feeling good enough to put in surges to get ahead when i needed to and was able to get out of the traffic for the finish.
i couldn't believe i made it under an hour. there are no 'climbs', but the course is far from flat, so i was very happy with the ride.

nothing.

great transition. wanted to beat out all the guys i rolled into transition with and try to get an early gap on the run.

nothing.

the FeXY tent was packed with people cheering on the way out of transition and i was pumped up to get to work. i had no idea who was out in front or where i was, but as i passed the first volunteer, he said i was top 10.
i thought i mis-heard him at first, but i was excited to be in the mix after the bike.
the course was winds through the woods and there were arrows painted on the ground, but it was difficult to see them if there was not a volunteer at the intersection. i was having to concentrate and take turns at the last minute. it made it more difficult, but also kept it interesting and allowed me to focus on something other than the pain.

i didn't see a single runner on the way out until the leaders were coming back at me near the turn around. dan was out front looking great and we slapped hangs and grunted as we passed. henry and orton were the last 2 in the line and looked to be within reach if i kept up the pace. i got to see all the other racers on the way back, which made navigation easier and was even more motivation to keep pushing. it's so cool that people can be on their absolute limit and still encourage other people to keep going.

i was able to catch both henry and orton in the final mile or so and came up the hill and around into the stadium alone. it was a great feeling and a great finish right on the same track we've done workouts on and with a lot of the team there cheering.

nothing.

congratulated all the guys at the finish, especially dan and henry for such great races, and then went on to cheer on all the other racers.
i also watched neva hold off second place around the track to win by just a few seconds. that was amazing to watch.


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very good race. communication is lacking leading up to the race, but other than that it was very well run. it is a pretty cool course, lots of swag, and good post race food.