The Washington DC Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

First of several PRs for the day. Took off over 10 minutes on the swim from last year, and set a new swim PR for this course by 6 minutes. Better sighting, wetsuit, and being comfortable with wet suit made a big difference. And swimming more than last year.

First time with a time trial start. Groups of 8 jump in off the floating dock every 8 seconds. Jumped in and really went down deep. Yikes. Popped up, breasted stroked for a little and began the swim. Started out with a hurried stroke, but relaxed myself after about 50 yards. Pool practice helped here, particularly with the wetsuit. Water felt just perfect at 77F, and no noticeable current. The water visibility was not bad. About a foot or so. Much better than any lake I've swam in.

By about 500m, goggles were foggy, and cleared them in the river. Glad I practiced that, and they were nice and clear the rest of the way. More bumping then I would have thought, and one guy in particular that frequently bumped me I could just never get clear off. Got kicked once in the forhead. After the reaching the bridge and the 600-700m mark, the later waves, particularly the women started catching me. Even though I studied the course, and bouys were huge, it still took additional sighting around the turns because I swung wide at 700, 1200, and 1400m. Finsihed the swim and felt good, but running through transition seems to spike my heart rate.

I could still do better with a little more sighting and keeping a straighter line. Focused swim drill could help too

Even though I felt I was a little inefficient with getting me suit off my feet, putting on my socks, shoes and helmet, I was about 15 seconds faster than last year and that didn't include the wetsuit. Ate my clif bar and off I went.

focus

Got out of transition, and for some reason mounted my bike in a way I never do. Struggled with getting the right foot in, and almost slipped with my left until I stopped and focused. Smooth start, but I was disappointed to see the my HR was already over 150 at the beginning of the ride. The plan for the race was to do the first lap under 140, and the second under 150. Started riding, felt good with my pace, but not really focused on cadence, or speed. Just kept trying to get HR under control, and ride my race, and not get pulled into the faster riders, wanting to pass the next person up ahead, and the excitement of the race. Drank my accelerade about every 4-5 miles until it was gone, and alternated some water. Drank about 32 ounces in total. This course has a lot of hard turns, and it was going well, and pace dropped off a little on the bridges, ramps and occasional slight headwind. By mile 8-10, even though HR was still in the upper 140's, knew I was at least meeting my goal of being over 16.5mph. I was stunned and thrilled to check my Garmin after the first lap and see a pace of 18.2! Second lap was about the same as the first with doing a little better at getting my HR down. While I was thrilled with the first lap, I knew I had a run to do. Came in on the second lap and my Garmin said 18.1 average. Race results had me a 17.5, which is still a PR for me not only on this course, but for Olympic distance as well. Don't know why there is a difference but I did start it a little late.

Just keep working on cycling and improving my effort.

Took off over 3 minutes on my T2 from last year. I wasn't as tired as last year, and it wasn't as hot. While I did better with getting my running shoes on, I still fumbled with getting them on and tying them. Maybe now is the time to switch over to elastic laces and see how that works. Really fumbled with getting the Garmin off my bike. It got hung up on the last hole. And then I fumbled even more trying to put it on. Had to stop running and put it on. Also, race belt and number was twisted, so that distracted me a bit umtil I just decided to go with it as is.

try elastic laces, double check race belt, and maybe get the Garmin quick release mount. Should have taken more water in transition

Out of transition and I started to run about a 10:30 pace. Faster than I wasnted for the first half, but HR was good, and felt comfortable, but still focused on going no faster. I didn't feel too bad coming off the bike, but running was still not smooth or easy like a training run. I was happy that it was relatively cool and overcast, but I guess humidity was high and I didn't notice the effect it could be having. I noticed my shirt was soaked, and wondered why because I felt OK. Then I said, "duh, it's still wet from the swim." Well, probably not. Most likely perspirationfrom the bike and run. Took a Gu at miles 1 and 4. Water at 1, 3,4, and 5. At the 4 mile water stopp, took extra cups and dumped them on my head and down my shirt. It was difficult for me to want to drink more than half a cup. I usually don't drink on runs 6 miles or less, so maybe this was a factor. By the little hill at mile 4, I just need to walk for 90 seconds. While my HR was high 160's, I think I could have controlled it because it was a short hill, and didn't feel like I was going to bonk, but still, I just wanted to walk. I think I just didn't have the mental toughness to keep running because I knew I already had beaten my time from last year, and felt I could spare a little time walking, because my Garmin said my average pace was 10:20. I know being in the tunnels affect the pace, but it didn't seem to be that off. Miles 1-3 were right on for my garmin, but mile 4 was off, and I never did see mile marker 5. Kept on chugging along, and now that I had broken into walking, I walked the next 2 hills for about 90 seconds each. Got to the last hill by the and the course marshall was saying a mile to go. That seemed off, because by my Garmin, it was only .75. Got to another turn in town, and the course marshall said finish is just ahead. Well, there was no finish, and another dam sign with a turn around arrow, and another marshall saying it was 300 more yards. This really messed with my mind, and I was beginning to think I had gotten off course and was running another loop. My Garmin said I had already run 6.3 miles by now. I alternated walking running until I really could see the finish at the end. Aso, my Garmin said I had run a 10:44 pace and 6.44 miles, so that didn't help me finsih as stongly as I would have liked. I knew I wasn't going to PR the run, but I did significantly beat my horrible run from last year by over 14 minutes.

establish more base volume, maybe be better hydrated. not much I can do about the garmin being off. Maybe I should calibrate my foot pod and learn how to sitch it over in the tunnel.

Saw the clock, and knew that I not only had vindicated my time from last year (by over 30 minutes), but I might have even PRd the Olympic distance. Got my race results, and saw that I indeed had, by over 8 minutes. This was a stretch dream goal.


Lack of training volume, weight and started to train late.


This was my first triathlon since doing the DC Triathlon a year ago. That was a terrible race for me since my training was weak, and my weight was up significantly from 2009, and I didn't repect the Olympic distance, because I had already "been there, done that". In fact, I put back on 50 of the 60 pounds I took off in 2009. I basically imploded in 2010. I somehow managed to do two 10 milers and a half marathon, but in the 12+ minute range, mostly due to weight. Finally, on April 1st, decided to get my act together and seriously focus on training and weight loss. Recognizing my lack of preparation, I felt I should drop down to the Sprint, but ego, rapid weight loss, and dramatic recovery of my running kept me wanting to do the Olympic. By race day, I had dropped about 35 pounds (20 pounds from the same race last year), and improved my average running pace from 12:30 to 10:30. I felt confident I could beat my time from 2010. I had no idea that I would be able to swim as well, or ride as fast as I did yesterday. I also am very surprised that I beat my time from 2009, since that was my peak race, and I was about 10 pounds lighter.

I'm very happy with the result, and I'm very encouraged to keep making improvements. I moved the bar up for myself for the Nation's Tri in September.