Virginia Triathlon Series - Race #3 Kinetic Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Started kinda in the middle but slightly towards the front of the wave. In the end a pretty good placement in that didn't have to fight through many and not alot of people past me.
In the first leg I was past by someone going only slightly faster than me so I jumped on his feet and stayed there for most of the first loop. Wasn't really going much faster, if at all, than if I were solo but was saving alot of energy and he was really swimming a nice straght line though the course, so double bonus for me.. Lost my ride on the way into the beach. Ran out across the mat and off to the second loop. Spent most of this lap solo kept a steady pace and tried to stay on couse. By now I was being past by some pink caps (womwn who started 3 minutes behind in the last wave, so i'd try to draft them for the all of 3 seconds it took then to pull out of my site, probably not very useful but kept things interesting.

Nothing, Did as well as I could have hoped, right on my A goal time. The wetsuit gave me 10 seconds per hundred over what I did for a mile pool swim last week.

Not a very good T1. Wetsuit stuck and my overall spped needs improvement.

Nothing specifically caused the most time loss. TIme can be gained by a better wetsuit removal, running faster to the bike, and overall being more delibrate through transition.

I really liked this course, Hilly enough to keep it interesting but not too bad that my cyldesdaleness was a severe impediment

As usual, came out of T1 like a bat out of hell and spiked my heart rate while passing all those annoyingly fast swimmers. After awhile I settled in for the long ride and tried to keep a steady effort that I thought would get me through the race. I found myself with the same four to six racers for most of the course, we would trade places as the terrian changed, just when I'd think I wouldn't see one of them again he/she would show up infront or blow by me, usually on an uphill.

For the most part the roads were good and smmoth except one road which was rougher, not potholey, but rougher, a coarser course.

Traffic was heavier than I expected, probably lake/boat traffic on the first really nice weekend day. The cars did seem patient, even overly timid in passing cyclist.

Memorable things:
- On first loop, while closing the gap with an unkown teammate and others I dropped my chain, then while putting it back on my Aerobottle came loose. This cost me 60 seconds to fix. Alittle frustrating as my ride was going nearly perfect till then.
- One long shallow incline into the wind on the second loop. A group a racers, hitting a steeper section flaired out into the road completely blocking traffic. This caused a long line of cars to form, with a long line of cyclists, me included, trapped between the cars and the curb. Didn't slow me down, as the car line was moving about 18mph and I was caught in its draft with no way out, just waited it out till the turn off.
- This was my first experience with a water bottle exchange, everything went smoothly as planned. Volenteers were great, tried to thank them as my breathing allowed.
- Tri chick on tiny Felt B2 with the silver tri shorts. No further comment, just memorable.

I probably need to ease up coming out of transition but I'm just so happy to be on my bike. I'm real happy with the race but would like to be faster, but who doesn't look at their time and wish to be faster. Train more, ride lots, ride lots'o'hills.

Right where I predicted it would be and slower than it should be.

After dismount turning into the trasition area you had to walk your bike down a steep grassy/rocky/muddy incline. Can't believe that at least a few people didn't take a tumble down this, barely made it down upright myself. If this is truely the only route they can map into T2 at least put up some heavy duty rope line to grab onto, not just the flag lines to mark the chute. I think the next day's sprint didn't have to do this, and a good thing since the pouring rain would have made this a true mudslide.

I know its physically impossible for a loop course to have more uphill than down, but the RD obviously made a pact with Lucifer and managed that feat.

Out of T2 it's up a hill, that somehow didn't seem nearly as bad as the same exact road coming out of T1. Eventually that hill ends when you turn onto another roadwhich just rolls. The end of that road end in a cicle which starts with a satifying little downhill before going up and around and did I mention up , back onto the road you ran out on. Now those shorst little downhills on the way out turn into excrutiatingly long uphills and the road that was uphill on the way out just disappear. Finally you turn on a road that leads you back "down" to the beach area. It starts you going down just to raise your hopes but adds in yet more uphill further around the bend. This puts you on a walking path through the wood which does actually go downhill onto a side walk which takes you so close to the finish line. Now do it two more times, but first scrabble up this vrertical grassy slope to get back to the transition area.

Sign up for the Aquabike.

Beer, burger, brownie, etc...


Beer, burger, brownie, etc...


Despite my seeming complaining about the run, I really liked the race and the venue and am already looking forward to doing it again next year.