After soaking in the rain and evacuating at the porta-potty, it was race time! I met up with Derek Stone, the guy who beat me at the Washington, DC sprint triathlon in June. It was good to see him again. I could try to get a little revenge because he CRUSHED me at the June race. Ihad some extra incentive now.
The swim was ROUGH. I got right into a crowd by mistake and was kicked in the face and pulled under several times. It made it hard to keep momentum or a good consistent stroke. I eventually found a straightaway for about 400 yards when I went untouched... came in at 23:12,
The swim was ROUGH. I got right into a crowd by mistake and was kicked in the face and pulled under several times. It made it hard to keep momentum or a good consistent stroke. I eventually found a straightaway for about 400 yards when I went untouched... came in at 23:12,
a 44-second PR and 122nd best swim, but not as fast as I hoped.
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A long run through transition and I grabbed 002 and headed out. Hopped
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I got out of transition brimming with confidence. It was time to catch my rivals. I hadn't seen the DC Tri racers all race because of my slower swim... but around mile 1 I saw Blatecky, Serfass and Schmidt. I gave some words of support but deep down I told them I
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Final time: 2:05:04!! A 10 minute PR! And 12th elite.... until I found I was docked for a 2:00 penalty for "blocking". Apparently I stuck to the left side of the road for a little too long. Stupid penalty. So I got reduced to a 2:07:04, 26th overall. Still, that was my goal for the day and my placement goal was exceeded (I wanted top 40, got top 30!). I ended up beating some of my targeted competition (including Derek, who admittedly though wasn't in the best shape for biking or swimming... dude is a sub 4:10 miler!).
I am very happy about this race. Everything went right except for the shoes and penalty. The training paid off big time... special thanks to Michelle and Dirk for being awesome training partners through it all! Huge motivation boost going into the offseason. And I'm very grateful to Dean Pierson, who lent me his rear Zipp 404... that's a fast wheel and I bet it helped on those flat roads (he did well for himself, 2nd in his age group and under 2:15:00!) Shout out to Robbie, who WON the race and Dirk, who placed 7th overall and swam very very well. Well done guys!
Up next, Philly Distance Run!
Epic! This is just the beginning of greater things to come.
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