Richmond Tri Club Sprint Presented by 3Sports - Triathlon

Self reported 1:20/100-yard, which was about right. Got passed by a couple of folks, passed about half a dozen myself, but all and all the draft was more or less clean until it bunched up in the last two lengths.

Was winded coming off the swim so jogged to the bike.

First attempt at mounting with shoes already clipped in. Worked fine but need to practice.

Went sockless for the first time. Worked fine.

Get out of T1 sub 1:00.

Practice water intake from the SHIV fuselage.

Had to sit down to pull on my shoes.

Put on shoes without sitting down.

Slowed down to swig water on two occasions - at the beginning and at the halfway point.

It was another picture perfect race day in Richmond, and Ed, Adam, Brian, and I braved 3 a.m. alarms to make the 75-minute drive to the Aquatics Center in Chesterfield to test our mettle and see what would win out - our off-season training or Father Time and the winter brews. What’s your guess? And, yes, I did say Brian. He made my day by surprising me with his last-minute re-entry to the race. He had a wry smile on his face when we ran into each other in the line to pick up our chips. Put me in the right frame of mind as we left transition and headed for the pool.

Last year I finished in 1:07:32 in my first-ever triathlon. This year I was determined to go sub-1:05:00, which I did finishing 28th overall (6th AG) in 1:04:10. Finished 13th overall on the bike (2nd AG) thanks in part to my sweet new whip!

swim - 6:33 (35 OA, 3 AG)
T1 - 1:07 (38 OA, 6 AG)
bike - 32:10 (13 OA, 2 AG)
T2 - 1:15 (81 OA, 10 AG)
run - 23:06 (87 OA, 13 AG)

For anyone interested in the race specifics, here are the finer points:

General. This is a great race to kick off the season. The course is flat, the facilities (and course) are in great shape, the volunteers are eager and helpful, and the post-race breakfast really hits the spot!. And did I mention that it’s flat? It’s a great confidence booster, particularly if you train on hills. My only beef would be with the format for the swim start, but nothing’s perfect.

Swim. The swim is billed as an “open water” pool swim. It’s contested in a 50-meter, long-course pool divided into 8 lanes each with a buoy anchored 5 meters from the end. Swimmers were grouped into 45-or-so heats based on their self-reported predicted 100-yard times (fairly standard) and started in deep water 10 at a time 30 seconds apart. Unlike last year when I started in the middle of the pack I didn’t spend 400 yards crawling all over people, but there was still plenty of congestion particularly for the last 100 meters as swimmers started to tire and slow. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I much prefer the one-at-a-time-every-10-seconds flying starts that are more typical of pool races, but with 450+ participants to process maybe this is the only way to get folks through in a timely manner.

Bike. The bike course is a lollipop around the Chesterfield airport. It is billed as “rolling” and though there are a few inclines/declines it’s essentially dead level by Charlottesville standardsI The road surface was smooth save for a 5-mile stretch of rough slurry along the east side of the airport. The course was well marked with cones and lined with volunteers so it’s virtually impossible to get lost. Sections that aren’t lined with cones are open to traffic, but there was very little that early in the morning. I was excited about riding my new whip, and she performed beautifully. Sure was fun running down some of those low numbers!

Run. The run course is a two-lap loop around the aquatic center and adjoining soccer fields, and like the bike course it’s essentially flat. It’s 100-percent paved and was in good shape this morning. My favorite part is the last 200 hundred meters, which is a downhill chute that propels you toward the finish line.

Best part of the day, though? Elizabeth took me to Fossetts for dinner!