Reston Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I meant to take this swim easy, but I was really surprised at how slow my time was. I was never out of breath or working hard, but this was really slow and I don't know why.
Around the second and third buoys it was pretty intense. This was the point where I had caught up with the slow men from the wave before me, and was getting caught by the fast men from the wave behind. I got slugged in the head twice and kicked a few times, which was unpleasant. At one point I started kicking really hard to get some ham fisted dude out of my way. No harm, though. Sighting was much easier with my tinted goggles, so glad I had them. I never felt nervous, scared, or anything like that. I just felt like the shoreline was taking its sweet time to approach!

Swim harder. While I'm glad I didn't over exert myself, I could have swum harder, found some bubbles, or just generally been working more.

I took my sweet time, trotting my way to the far end of transition, wiping my feet clean, getting my shoes on, and situating the helmet and sunglasses. Knowing that my coordination is suspect, I also took this time to drink some of my double strength Skratch and have a gel.

If my feet didn't have brand new blisters on them, I would have run. I wasn't feeling too winded from the swim, and could have made up more time. I also would have been quicker about wiping up my feet.

This started off so well. My first loop I was feeling good, smiling big, and enjoying being on the bike. There were some hills, but nothing really bad. More just a case of working hard, either climbing or descending. Nothing really flat.
Then, somewhere during the second loop, my front derailleur stopped working. I couldn't shift at all, and was stuck for awhile in the granny gear. This was fine for climbing, but meant I was coasting a lot more than I wanted to. After some fiddling, I finally got shifted up....and promptly got stuck there! Sooo....lots of harder climbs than I wanted. And a terrible noise coming from my bike. I was so happy to be able to see my parents and brother so many times, along with J and even my friend K's mom! With all the mechanical issues, it was really nice to see smiling faces cheering just for me. It helped me keep a good attitude. I knew I was going to lose a lot of ground on the bike, but I wound up losing even more than I planned. It was super lonely out there on the course for the last loop, but the spectators made it worth it!

Not race with a wonky derailleur? At least it sets me up for a massively improved time for next year!

I got a little lost coming into transition. There were so many bikes, and I got confused about where I was going. Once I found my place, I racked my bike, grabbed my hat and number belt....then proceeded to stand there and eat half a pack of Skratch fruit drop and drink a few gulps from my bike bottle.

Take the time during set up to walk transition, count racks, and find run out.

Once I gave myself permission to take walk breaks, I sort of lost my groove. I should have set up some specific run/walk intervals and that would have been more successful. I started feeling okay around the 2 mile mark, and miles 3-5 were actually pretty good. When I was moving, I was feeling good and getting it done. I would walk up some of the small hills, as my back and shoulders were very tight and getting a bit spasm-y if I tried to run them. My legs and even my blistered feet felt a-ok. Just like last time, it was my heart/breath that kept me from running more. I walked up the last monster hill to the stadium, then of course I had to run the whole lap of the stadium. What a beautiful finish line! I heard my family cheering, and smiled big. Whoop!

Set run/walk intervals. Build a better bike/run base in general.

I was immediately handed an icy cold washcloth wrapped around a water bottle. So nice! I got my medal, and got a finisher hat, too. I wandered toward where I saw my family and wound up sitting in a camp chair for a few minutes. I tried to drink my beloved chocolate milk, but couldn't manage much before I thought I was going to throw up. I actually felt quite stupid, which was a weird sensation. My entire body was crusted over with salt.
That being said, once I felt good enough to move, we all headed out to Be Right Burger, and I had a hot dog, tater tots, and an orange soda. With that in me, I was feeling much more mentally "there."


Newbie status at its finest. In retrospect, I probably should have improved at Sprint distance this year, and moved up to Oly next. Ah well....if I'd signed up for Nation's I wouldn't have gotten to do a full tri (they cancelled the swim....again) so I'm glad for the way things turned out. I want to spend the winter building better bike and run fitness.


Looking at numbers, you would think this was a terrible race for me. But somehow it was the best day ever! Reston puts on a nice event, and with it so close, I can certainly see myself coming back to it year after year to gauge my improvement.
And can we talk about the swag?! All told, I got a New Balance long sleeve tech shirt, tech socks, Scattante Bliss sunglasses, a multitool, a washcloth, and a finisher hat. And a really pretty medal!
Yes, having two transitions is a bit annoying, and its lame that we can't swim in the lake except exactly during the event. But all told, this was a well run race with really nice volunteers. I will be back, and I will crush it!