Reston Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Well, I felt good but apparently didn't perform all that well, as I was more than a minute faster last time I did this race and there was a swim (last year it was run-bike-run). I think my sighting was bad and it effected my time.

So, as I was coming out of transition I could hardly see because my sunglasses were covered with dew. I had put my helmet on with those sunglasses on, and just as I mount my bike someone says to me "Your helmet is on backwards!". Ugh. That was a first. How stupid of me! So, I spent a good 20-30 seconds turning my helmet around and futzing with the buckle before I got started, which obviously effected my bike time. Once I got going things were smooth. The course was littered with leaves and sticks - debris from yesterday's storms. I had to stay to the left of the cones often either because of the debris or in order to pass people, because the lanes were so small. I felt I hit my stride on the bike on the second and third laps, and my Garmin (which I started after the helmet debacle) told me I averaged 20.1, so I was reasonably happy with that. Although, last year in the Duathlon I averaged 20.8 on a nearly identical course. Oh well...lack of bike training.

So by the time I cruised into transition I had put the helmet issues out of my head, and I thought "now if I can only remember to pop my Garmin off my bike before the run". I got my shoes on quickly, grabbed my hat and numbers belt and was off. Only - of course, I had forgotten my watch! Ran back to get that as I hate not knowing if I'm slacking, so that cost me probably 20 seconds. And in the process of grabbing it quickly I messed up the Auto Multisport mode and had to reset it to run mode while running. Ugh.
After all that, it took me a while to get into a good rhythm, as there is one big hill right at the start and I was really sucking air going up it. I started to settle down for a while, but at about mile 2 I had to pull back because the course is slightly uphill for most of the first half. Once I got past the half-way mark and hit the last uphill crest I started to cruise on the mostly-downhill second half. The big hill right before the stadium was tough but I managed it well. However, as I came around the track to finish up I didn't have much of a kick.

So, I left all I had out there but the results just weren't that satisfying. Yes, it was 30 seconds better than my 2010 time and technically a PR, but I just really felt that I had the ability to go sub-2:20. Oh well, I guess I can use that as motivation for next year.