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The Washington DC Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Washingon, Washington, D.C.
United States
85F / 29C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 32m 40s
Overall Rank = 144/828
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 16/103
Pre-race routine:

up at 2:45 - earliest ever for a race

Despite the fact that the olympic folks were set to go after the sprint racers, they advertised that they were going to close transition at 5:15am. My swim wave was scheduled to be at 6:50, so from the outset I knew that the day would involve a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. Oh well, who needs sleep anyway?

coffee and cereal - same breakfast as always
Event warmup:

I did the practice the swim the day before, but nothing on race day.
Just chilled out and waited - a really LONG time. Chatted with my friend Sarah, who was doing her first Olympic and first OWS.
Swim
  • 27m 56s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 42s / 100 yards
Comments:

I purposely tried to get to the front of the pack for the start, as I'm more confident now that I have a few OWS's under my belt.

I got into a decent rythm at first, but for some reason during the first 300m I started to have negative thoughts. "Why am I doing this again? this sucks!". Can't say I really know why. Once I got a bit further down the course and started counting down the 100m buoys my mental state improved.

Passed a lot of prople, and caught up to the first red swim cap (the women's wave that went just ahead of my M35-39,M40-44 mid-life-crisis-geezer wave) at about 300m. Despite the fact that they decided to have the waves go off every 3 minutes instead of every 5 (due to a late start), there didn't seem to be all that much bunching.

The marking buoys were absolutely huge which was very helpful for my sighting, as I wasn't wearing the best goggles. Once I turned around and started to head back I tried to pick up the pace a bit as I felt stronger (I always seem to get a second wind about 1/2 way through a long swim like this, ows or in a pool).

Toward the end there was a lot of bunching - mostly slower swimmers from several waves before mine. It wasn't all that bad, but I did have to do a lot of maneuvering around people which cost a bit of time.
What would you do differently?:

Perhaps push a bit harder. I think my slower performance this time around (which was about 2 min slower than the same course last year at the Dextro ITU race) can mostly be accounted for by the fact that I wasn't wearing a wetsuit this year. The water temp was 82.
Transition 1
  • 02m 29s
Comments:

My T1's have gotten more complicated lately because I like to put my socks on during T1 and also put on a headsweat under my helmet. I've taken to sitting down to get my shoes and socks on. Despite this and the fact that the transition area was absolutely huge (50+yds from timing mat to my bike, another 50+ yds from there to the other mat), I felt my time was pretty good.
What would you do differently?:

nothing - was very glad to have both my socks and headsweat on for the bike given the heat.
Bike
  • 1h 12m 28s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 20.57 mile/hr
Comments:

I felt I pushed this pretty hard, but once again I was disappointed with my time. Last year on a slightly different course I came in just over 1:10. This year the course had a few more hills and 2 more U-turns, which likely accounted for the difference.

I saw the eventual race winner (Sapunov) blow by me. I could tell he was a pro because he had his name across his back just like all the pro dudes did last year at the ITU race.

Despite the time, I once again really enjoyed being out on those DC streets with no traffic. It's just fun riding as fast as you can on streets where under normal conditions you would be constantly be stressing about stopping at lights and/or getting hit by clueless motorists.
What would you do differently?:

better bike, win the lottery, blah blah blah

I'm confident in my bike training, it's a matter of equipment at this point.
Transition 2
  • 01m 31s
Comments:

As I was running with my bike into T2 via the 'Bike In' chute, I decided to pop off my Garmin and put it on my wrist, as if I had done that in the transition I might have been in someone's way. As I did that the darn thing of course fell to the ground, but I picked it up and got it on pretty quickly.

Other than that this went very well.
What would you do differently?:

nothing - happy with this time.
Run
  • 48m 17s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 07m 47s  min/mile
Comments:

As I started out I felt tired and a bit crampy. I downed some HEED and seem to feel better afterwards. I was able to hold 7:30-7:45 the first 2 miles or so, but after that point it started to get harder to do so. I slipped back to about 8:00min a few times, but would always pick things up when I noticed it.

Later in in the race - especially in the parts with no shade - I wasn't able to get my pace below 8:15. I ate some cliff shots, which helped out for a time.

The Constitution Ave hill was absolutely brutal. It was probably about a quarter or a third of a mile long, fairly steep and in the bright sunshine. My pace went way down to 10:30 or so by the time I got to the crest. On this hill and the previous one near the US Mint they had water stations with cold towels - which really helped. Once I got over the crest of that last hill I started to pick it up.

After the U-turn I picked it up still more in anticipation of coming down that big hill again. I was really flying by the time I got to the bottom. When I got there I thought that I would turn left into the finish area, so I started my end-of-race dash. However, I saw that there actually was another turn-around - bummer! I didn't have much gas left after that, and as I made my way around the real second-to-last turn this really cute young blonde passed me saying 'C'mon - let's finish this this thing!'. By that point I didn't have it in me to pick it up again, so I just let her blow by.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. Happy with this performance given the hills and the heat.
Post race
Warm down:

Lots of cold towels and water. It took about 5-10 minutes before I had my wits about me again. My friend Sarah finished just behind me. I hung out with her for a bit and also met her husband and kids who came down for the finish festival fun.

The finish festival was pretty cool. I had two warm bean burritos - just fantastic. They also were printing out paper slips with your splits - I was really impressed with that. I was happy to see that I was 16th in my AG, but I wasn't sure how many people were in it. When I learned later it was 103 that brought a smile to my face :-)

I decided to walk back to the transition area as I couldn't deal with the line waiting for the shuttle bus. It was a long walk but I didn't mind.

When I got back there, as I was walking to my bike I heard that dreaded 'PPPssssssst' sound of a tire going flat. I looked around and there was no one around me near any bike. The heat had actually caused someone's tire to blow out due to the pressure! 'Huh' I thought - I hadn't seen that one before. 'Note to self: lay off on the tire pressure a bit on hot days'.

Also in transition I saw that pretty young thing who had passed me at the end of the race. She said that she was just trying to get someone to race her to the end. I guess if I had studied the course better I might have been able to. Oh well...

After I got home I left my bike in the car for a bit - outside in the sun - while I took a shower. When I went back out, my front tire was flat. The 'Heat Flat' had happened to me too!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

lack of bike bling

Event comments:

Extremely well-run event




Last updated: 2010-02-22 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:27:56 | 1640 yards | 01m 42s / 100yards
Age Group: 12/103
Overall: 134/828
Performance: Good
Suit: no wetsuit
Course: rectangular - from the dock, out under the Memorial Bridge and back.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Shot
Water temp: 82F / 28C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:29
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:12:28 | 24.85 miles | 20.57 mile/hr
Age Group: 54/103
Overall: 293/828
Performance: Average
Wind: Some
Course:
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:31
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:48:17 | 06.21 miles | 07m 47s  min/mile
Age Group: 20/103
Overall: 163/828
Performance: Good
Course: A couple of steeper hills, with the last one (Constitution Ave north of the Capitol) being a real killer. Also a steady and long uphill around mile 2-3. That portion was actually in a tunnel, which despite the fact that it was ugly and dirty, was quite welcome given the shade and cool temps it provided. Good decision on the part of the race director to route us through there. My Garmin was worthless in the tunnel though.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2010-06-21 9:18 AM

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Veteran
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Fairfax, VA
Subject: The Washington DC Triathlon


2010-06-21 9:34 AM
in reply to: #2933769

Pro
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yep,
Subject: RE: The Washington DC Triathlon
Bummer on the heat flat.  Nice job with a super hot day.  I'll have to check out this race next year maybe.
2010-06-21 11:13 AM
in reply to: #2933769

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Subject: RE: The Washington DC Triathlon
Nice race!

Did you get her #?
2010-06-21 11:54 AM
in reply to: #2933769

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Extreme Veteran
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San Luis Obispo County, CA
Subject: RE: The Washington DC Triathlon
Nice job!  The last two miles of the run were brutal!
2010-06-21 12:14 PM
in reply to: #2934193

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Veteran
217
100100
Fairfax, VA
Subject: RE: The Washington DC Triathlon
uh - since I'm married - no :-O

we geezers just need some extra motivation every once in a while...
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