Race Result

Racer:	Dan Grove
Race:	Reston Triathlon
Date:	Sunday, September 10, 2006
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group:	Male 55 - 59
Time:	2:52:37
Overall Place:	200 / 336
Age Group Place:	4 / 15
Comment:	Most fun I've had racing in years!

Race Report:

This was my 17th Reston Tri, and 14th in a row, but my first race report. I’m a MOP regular, and do this for fun - it’s a joy to be a part of the amazing athletic community here in my home town! I was the newsletter editor for an earlier incarnation of the RATS in the late ‘80s. As I age, my race times have stayed fairly consistent, at least when I train some, and if I keep it up I may actually get some hardware in the year 2015… ;-)

Two things were new this year. I’ve been riding a $250 1985 Bike Nashbar road bike, with added aerobars, all these years. A better bike always seemed too extravagant, since I won’t win anything anyway. This time I rode a borrowed bike – Joe O’Gorman was very generous and loaned me his older one, a titanium, Dura-Ace, 650 wheel, 9-cog beauty. The other new thing is that, after starting a thread on running technique on the RATS list last summer, I converted my running from a heel-striking, low cadence stride to a mid-foot strike and higher cadence. This was based on Chi Running principles and additional advice from the wise and generous list discussion, notably from Aaron Schwartzbard, Steve Smith, and Ken Mierke.

The day before the race I ate low fiber, no fat, high carb foods. On race morning, I ate a bagel with a little peanut butter and half a banana 2-3 hours before the race, and a gel 30 minutes before my wave, sipping water slowly. I drank a 16-ounce bottle of Gatorade on the bike, and took just water on the run. No problems, that seems to be the right nutrition for me.

I set up at T2 early, got an end spot on the rack. When I put the front wheel on the bike, I noticed the wheel wasn’t centered between the brake pads – the brakes sometimes get jostled in the car, and I’ve adjusted them before when putting the wheel on. A tiny nudge with a 13mm set them right, and I’m off to T1 with all my gear in a backpack.

My T1 assigned spot is about as bad as it can get, in the far boondocks of the upper lot, but I don’t care. I set up, and have plenty of time to chat with friends, lie down, gaze at the moon and breathe, then marvel at Pavel Pekarsky’s intonation on the violin.

I’m in wave 5, stay right, settle into a rhythm, run a happy song thru my head, and relax. I have to swim around/thru a few folks from wave 4, with the biggest crush of them right at the finish. Time 32:33, in the same range as always. T1 time is 3:06, not bad considering how far away the rack is, and that I take the wetsuit off a bit slowly and take time to put on socks. I don’t realize it until after the race, but I have small cuts on the ball of my left foot and the middle toe of my right foot, both clean enough to suggest glass, not pebbles, while running barefoot in T1 or maybe on the ramp. That never happened before.

Exiting T1 is a high point of my day every year at Reston – my girlfriend Ann is waiting there to give me a good luck kiss, and this year she finagled a volunteer T-shirt at the last minute so she could get out from behind the fence and come closer to me, rather than me going to her. Thanks to the co-conspirators who loaned the shirt and enabled a little romance!

The bike seemed fine, a little slow getting my rhythm, but I felt good. The computer froze at a reading of 19.5 MPH almost immediately, so I had no idea of my real speed. It seemed more people were passing me than usual, though. On the 2nd loop, in a quiet spot, I heard it – the front brake was rubbing against the rim. The wheel must not have been fully seated when I adjusted the brake earlier, and with my weight and maybe a bump in the road, it moved. I hit the quick-release lever on the brake, and pulled the brake to the side, all while riding, and immediately felt the bike speed up. So, the fancy bike that should have made me faster was flummoxed by a dumb adjustment at dawn on race day. Bike time 1:14:37, 4 minutes slower than last year. Yikes!

T2 is fine, 1:12. Ann is waiting for me at the far side of the exit timing mat, and I get another kiss!

The run was fun this year. For the first time in at least a decade I settled into a groove and never felt exhausted. My T-shirt said “Go Dan” on the front, but it’s easy to forget that until another stranger calls out your name. Fun! I’d been training at a cadence of 85 beats per minute, which is at the low end of the 85-90 bpm recommended range. I ran my MP3 collection thru a free DJ utility called MixMeister BPM Analyzer, which figures out the BPM of each song. I then took all the songs with 83 to 90 tempos, put them in their own folders, and loaded the folders into my MP3 player. To train, I just matched my cadence to the songs. MP3 players are banned from the race, so on Sunday I tried a new gadget, a tiny metronome (Korg MM-1) that clips to your earlobe and emits a little chirp. I cleared it with the race officials beforehand (the head judge had to OK it). It won’t play all tempos, and the choice for me was either 84 or 88 BPM. I set it for 84, and cruised the whole run. I’ve always been a terrible runner, so my time of 1:01:12 doesn’t sound like much, but it’s 4 1/2 minutes faster than last year, and I finished much more refreshed. On the track, I could hear another runner gaining on me, and sped up a bit. He floored it and passed me with 30 yards to go, and I was amazed when I did a leg-check and found a sprint easily there. I passed him back and felt like I was flying effortlessly. I was as surprised as he was that a geezer like me smoked a kid like him.

Total time 2:52:37, about the same as last year, gains on the run offset by a bike adjustment gone bad. But I had much more fun, felt great after the race, and have had minimal stiffness since. That’s good, because I’ll go again after a 6-day rest, I just couldn’t pass up the first Nation’s Tri on September 16.

The Reston race directors, volunteers, and spectators are amazing. My sincere thanks to all! I’ll definitely be back for my 18th next year.