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Race Result

Racer: Fabrice Guillaume
Race: Kinetic Sprint
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009
Location: Spotsylvania, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 1:23:43
Overall Place: 33 / 342
Age Group Place: 5 / 39
Comment: Nice race to kick off the season



Race Report:



Date: 10 May 2009
Distance: 750m Swim, 18 mi Bike, 5K Run
Time: 1:23:43
Place: 5/39 AG 30-34, 33/342 overall
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Pre-race:
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This race was my first tri of the season and a C-race training just to get back in the grove. This will lead me to Triple T then IM Nice.

I arrived on site without any pb. I met with Jason that was marking people (Thanks Jason for volunteering!) then I met Scott and finally Dave O.
Nothing special to note in the transition area except that I forgot my goggles. Fortunately, my kind neighbor gave me her replacement pair and I found myself with a very sexy purple pair of goggles. I am sure this shaved probably a few seconds of my time because they were just so crazy cool. :)

Swim: 750m 11:56 11/39 AG, 89/342 Men
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I was part of Wave #1. Dave O. was going to lead the charge as usual. I placed myself behind in the middle of the pack. The start was very chaotic and I wish I had put myself either on the side or push more to be in the front.
I had to pause a few times to navigate in the sea of bodies smashing things….
I did not swim well for the first 3rd of the race, then after the 1st turn things got better and I focused on my high elbow stroke.
Got out of the water and checked the time. I was quite happily surprised to see I was 4 mn faster than last year. But I am also sure the race course was shorter than last year by comparing times of other racers. So it's hard to tell how much I progressed.
At least I am not anymore in the middle of the pack (30th percentile) so that is a small improvement.

T1: 2:21 11/39 AG
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Got off my wetsuit without any pb. I put my helmet on, shoes on, grabbed the bike and headed out of the Transition area.

Bike: 18 miles 48:40 6/39 AG, 43/342 Men
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I could probably have gone a bit harder on the bike.
I was about 3 mn faster than last year but last year weather was rainy too so I consider that as a slight improvement. Towards the end, I got passed by the 1st woman and I stayed close to her. I passed her in the last 2 miles leading back to transition. I am mentioning this as she will actually race pretty much with me for the rest of the race.

T2: 1:00 8/39 AG
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I grabbed my hat, bottle of water and race belt and off I was running.


Run: 5k 19:48 1/39 AG, 16/342 Men
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I was happy to go sub 20. I did not have really any pb with the run, I felt good and finished strong with a sprint. I ran 1 mn faster than last year.
Funny thing on the run is that I paced for about 2 miles the first girl until the last mile, then she passed me and I encouraged her. And I passed her back in the lat 0.5 mile while charging down hill. I also passed Dave O. that sadly had to stop because of an injury. He walked his way to the finish line and this caused him several minutes.
Final time in 1:23 is 9 mn faster than last year (1:32). Sunny Conditions helped obviously compared to last year but I am also better trained with my IM race coming up in 1 month or so.

Post race
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I stayed a bit at the finish to see other fellow triathletes finishing (Dave, Scott, Neva,…). I also chat quite some time with Dave and Karolina Orton that both did an incredible job. Scott B. had also done a superb race after his HIM the day before, finishing in the top 3 Masters. Brady Dehoust was there too but I did not see him and he finished 2nd overall - must have been easy for him :)
The day before several other friends raced too on the HIM and did a great job too (Scott, Kyle, Jason all finishing sub 5, Reid, Craig around 5,Matt,…) I am forgetting several others fellow RATS and TeamFeXY, sorry about that.

Overall a great WE race. Now let's get ready for Triple T...