Washington DC Triathlon

(post from June 2010 previously lost in the ether)

I had a blast this past weekend celebrating my 40th birthday and racing in the Washington DC triathlon.

I'm pretty happy with my race performance - I beat all of my goal times, though my performance was hampered by knee sprain bad enough to make me walk gingerly for more than a week.

Results:

Swim (800m/half-mile): 16:06 - top quartile overall - 277th of out 1141 competitors (27 of 78 in my age group.)

Bike (20k/12.4 miles): 40:37 - top half - 504 out of 1141 competitors (47 of 78 in my age group.)

Run (6.7k/4.2 miles): 49:00 - Bad. How bad? Ummm, I beat only 6 guys in my age group.

Thru two-thirds of the race (swim + bike), I was 47th of 78 in my age group, and in the top half of all competitors (502 of 1141).

Here's a collection of pictures of the D. C. triathlon.

Doesn't this look like fun?

I finished my first triathlon of the year, a sprint triathlon at the YMCA in Richmond's Shady Grove area, and, as luck would have it, about two miles from my sister's house.

The tri was a 300M indoor swim, a 20K bike ride, and a 5K run. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my effort. I beat my goal time by about 3 minutes (total time of 1 hour 23 minutes 56 seconds), with my swim time exactly as targeted, a minute quicker in transition#1, and two minutes better than targeted on the bike. The run wasn't fun, and I can definitely improve, but I pretty much hit my goal time for that portion of the event.

Relative to the rest of the competition, I was in the top 30-40% of all competitors on the swim and the top 20-30% on the bike, meaning I was definitely in the top third going into the run, where I either laid an egg or performed as expected, depending on your point of view. End result: I finished 19th of 28 in the Clydesdale category (>200lbs, all ages), and 297th of 493 finishers.

I've continued my training, as I have two more triathlons in June. I expect to perform at least as well in the swim and bike, and to pick up significant time in the run. My two races this month include:

- a very cool (but long) race in Washington that finishes at the steps of the US Capital, and includes a swim in the Potomac, and a bike leg in front of the White House.

-the Charlottesville Sprint Tri, a repeat of the event that was my first triathlon ever.

Doesn't this look like fun?

Triathlon results

Yesterday I ran my second triathlon, the Richmond Sprint Triathlon (quarter mile pool swim, 20K bike ride, and 5K run.) I'm very happy with my time, though I also see lots of room for improvement.

Overall, I finished 306th out of 529 finishers. This breaks down as:

(italics represent figures for the whole field)

Swim: 7:59, good for 156th overall out of 529 - i really screwed up my breathing by the second lap. I can take 30 to 45 seconds off this next time. (Median time: 8:57; best time: 5:09.)

Transition 1 (swim to bike): 4:57 seconds - it didn't seem that long, but the result is terrible - I was the 455th of 529) in transition. You can't imagine how hard it is to put a tight long sleeve shirt over a wet body! (Also, the transition included a quarter mile run from the pool to my bike, while wet, in low 50's temps, barefoot, and with only my trunks on. Not fun.) (Median time: 4:18; best time: 1:36.)

Bike: 41:29, good for 164th overall (of 529), in spite of the fact that I dropped my water bottle on an uphill climb, costing me at least a minute while I turned around, picked it up, and regained momentum. (Median time: 44:41; best time 29:48).

Through the bike stage, I was 179th of 529 - the top third of all competitors.

Transition 2 (bike to run): 2:29 (470th of 529)- again, really stinky, considering all I had to do was rack my bike, take off my helmet, and put on my running shoes. I did decide to stretch briefly. (Median time: 1:33; best time: 0:41.)

Run: 34:47 (436 of 529). Good news, bad news here. My legs felt soooo heavy coming off the bike. With additional training, I know I can take at least five minutes off this time. Good news is that I took about 2.5 minutes off of my 5K time in my first triathlon. (Median time: 28:41; best time: 17:45)

(So, if I just did the median transition times, didn't drop my water bottle on the bike, and ran at my potential (~29 mins), I'd cut 8:22 off my time, which would have been good for 184th lace (of 529.))

But considering how the triathlon field skews towards younger competitors (average age is probably 26 or 27 - I'm 39), and considering how I don't exactly have a triathlete's body, I'm much happier when looking at my results in my competition category - "Clydesdales," which is for anybody over 200 pounds (I'm ~235.)

My ranks in the Clydesdale grouping:

Overall: 12th of 23
Swim: 3rd of 23
Bike: 9th of 23 (shoulda been 6th without the water bottle drop)
Run: 19th of 23

So look for me next year finishing in the top 35% overall. I'm definitely going to do this race again next year, and incorporate all of the improvements listed above.