Reston Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Wow, what a horrible swim for me. I didn't have a wetsuit, but I've never had a wetsuit and that was the worst swim of my life. I was so overwhelmed by the crowds and my mom had critiqued my form just a week before the race. So I was trying to correct it and everything went to pot. My fastest practice open water mile was 35 mins. What happened?

Not try to change things up the week before. Work on more open water races to get used to the crowds. Nothing can really prepare you for swimming with that many people and freaking out about being elbowed in the face or drowning. Someone at the finish was complaining to her friends about a red cap kicking her in the face. While I don't think it was me I still felt badly that the wave two behind me caught up to me. Not good. But I really had no idea that would happen and I AM a fast swimmer, so sorry! Sometimes things happen...

Took a bit longer than I thought to get first shoe clipped in. Was a bit out of it.

I don't know that I'll ever practice transitions. Mine are mediocre at best, but I'm really not concerned with shaving off a minute or so.

Had a really good ride. I wasn't pushing very hard and managed to be 4th in my age group. Wow. My fastest Sprint pace was 16.3 mph. I managed somehow to pull 18 mph out of my hiney. Where did that come from? This was my first race with clip ins. And I was wondering if they'd make a difference. Turns out they do!

Hmm maybe push harder since it's my strongest event. I need to age group place one day!

Ok do people really do that? Ride with feet on top of shoes and jump off moving bike? They made us dismount before crossing the mat. And oww that would hurt my feet to walk barefoot. Does it really save that much time? Meh maybe I should work on transitions.

I guess work on getting my butt into gear.

This was the first race I have EVER ran the entire course. My third tri ever, first at this distance... and I run the double distance (not the 5k). Dang. I guess that's what 2 months of run preparation will get you.

Train bricks better for next year. The first 10 mins of feeling like you're running through cemet are terrible and I hadn't prepared enough for the numb legs sensation. But overall I'm really proud of my progress and obviously I have room for improvement!

Didn't do too much of a warm down other than walk around a bit for 10 mins or so. Got the free water bottles, towels, and goodies of food. Only ate the fruit and 2 slices of bread. I didn't really want Papa Johns. I felt amazing for working out that hard and didn't want to ingest that afterword. Instead I went to Cafesano and got a cheddar/avocado panini. If I'm going to do high fat content food I'm at least gonna do it right!


My limitations are that I'm still a rookie. I need more time to improve, period. But I'm really proud of how far I've come in a year. I've lost 60 lbs in a year and now have a decidedly middle-of the road performance. Great! This was my first Olympic distance ever!


I loved this race. So well organized, what a great group of people. No medal afterword (not that it's really important, but I'm starting to dig my collection). Absolutely beautiful course for each event.

Run course was a bit confusing and there was one volunteer that didn't direct on a turn so I lost probably 20 seconds (big whoop) but saw a big NO written on the course so I turned around.

Love the swag we got this year. Was really above and beyond what I'm used to getting at a tri.

The event organizers do a really good job and I'm very thankful they allowed me to register.