Reston Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Swim went well, fortunately, there were no real traffic jams. Didn't get passed by anyone and I passed 2 people, one of whom I passed at the end and sprinted to get by her ;) Exit from the pool was more graceful than the Biathlon ;)

Nothing, really. Just work on getting faster.

If there's one thing I do well, it's transition. :) Got into shoes quickly - hating them as I was ratcheting them down, thinking "why the HELL don't I just go buy the Trivents I've been eyeing?" Think I will... Got started on the bike well, too - clipped in quick, got moving right away. Rank of 25 overall.

Get the Trivents - even if they save me 2 seconds.

Bike course was good. I am gaining ability, little by little. The course was definitely not too hard for me - just enough to push me out of my comfort zone a little. There weren't many large hills - and after the first go-around, I knew where I didn't have to hold back. On 2 of the larger descents, I had to slow down a bit, due to congestion - I'm not a super-strong biker, so didn't want to take anyone out with a tricky pass or anything. The last hill going up to turn on Reston Pkway SUCKED, though, having to do it 3 times. I saw Slakey whizz past in a flurry of red speed. Saw Tim, who said hey, and saw Z pass, and saw her later while she was running. I managed to stay above 17 mph for a lot of it.

Not hold back as much on those descents. I feel kinda twitchy and I think part of it just has to do with the fact that I don't weigh a lot and I seem to feel wind gusts,even slight ones, fairly strongly. But I also think part of it has to do with body positioning - think I'm sitting too upright or something. Get better at climbing hills and longer, gradual inclines. Methinks some quality time will be spent on that section of the W&OD out in Reston/Herndon with all the overpasses.

I don't like T2 as much as T1 - I'm more tired at this point and for some reason, I can't get into sneakers as fast as I can bike shoes. Rank of 53 overall.

Not sure - it'll be years before I'd even attempt the whole "get out of your shoes while still on the bike thing" - that's really only for the folks who have a chance at placing. Which is not me, at this point. But at least tri-shoes would have less things to unstrap to get out of in T2. When I have the cash...

I need to run hills. In the heat. It was starting to get humid, and I've been running in fairly cool weather up until recently. Need to get acclimated. Was hoping to push harder than I did, but with the hills, I didn't want to overdo it too early and end up crapping out or bonking. Of course, the last part up to the finish line was a hill. Heard Dan and Ally cheering as I was going towards the shoot, so that gave me a little kick to finish strong :) I managed just about a 10-minute pace, I think, which for hills, is good for me :)

Just run more f*cking hills...

Got some water, an orange slice and half a bagel. Walked around, talked to Dan and Ally, got my stuff from transition, said hi to Slake/Z/Turtle/Tim/Ernie.


Just overall experience. And the hills on the run course - which will come with more training. I give it a 4 for physical effort b/c I could have pushed harder and sprinted up that little hill on Wiehle Ave, but that would have blown out my quads for the run. And I didn't push too hard on the run due hills and not wanting to run out of steam too early.


Fun race. Lots of volunteers - well-organized for such an urban area. SOOO glad they coned off a lane for us on the bike :) First one of the season for me, so no real goals - just gotta get out there and keeping doing it. I think this season will just be "race as much as I can, to get used to racing". At least I managed to land in a decent place overall. Next year, I can probably bump that standing up a bit.