Race Result

Racer:	Keith Bohnenberger
Race:	Reston Triathlon
Date:	Sunday, September 13, 2009
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group:	Male 40 - 44
Time:	2:29:02
Age Group Place:	22 / 74
Comment:	Focus

Race Report:

The Race:

Well it's Reston. We've come to expect the race to be extremely well run and Donna and the folks always make it happen.

My Race:

Swim: 34:12
T1: 1:49
Bike: 1:05:51
T2: 0:52
Run: 46:20

Total: 2:29:02

I've had a good season. Coming into Reston I was confident I was going to have a good race. My training this year has been real consistent. I did well at the Dextro Energy race in DC and I PR'd Luray. My mission for the race was to keep focused for the entire race. When I crossed the finish line I wanted to feel that I left it all on the course. Based on my training I was pretty sure that if I pushed it hard and didn't have any unexpected issues I could come up with a PR.

As always I love making the bike ride from T2 to T1 in the morning. The sky was clear, the stars were out. A great day to race and hang out with fellow RATs, family and friends.

Swim:
I started a Master swim class at the YMCA the Wednesday before the race. My swim hasn't improved over the years which is no real surprise because I haven't put in the work and up until now, haven't had gotten swim lessons. My expectation for the swim was to count on improved overall fitness to carry me to a slightly faster swim time than last year. It worked. I PR'd the swim by a whopping 24 seconds. My previous PR was in 2004. 5 years, 24 seconds. I need help and I'm hoping that the Masters swim class is the first step to a much bigger improvement. I was in the 3rd wave and found some room to myself pretty quickly. My swede goggles worked out great. No leaking! I focused on my stroke and tried to keep a consistent effort. It was great seeing Mike Smith back at the landing!

T1:
I had a great rack spot and hurried through as fast as I could.

Bike:
Nothing new. Coming out of the swim I have a hard time getting my breathing under control and getting some power in my legs. I fought through it and felt better and better each lap. It was great seeing all the RATs out on the course. Several of my co-workers and several of my neighbors were racing so there were lots of people out on the course cheering me on. Once again, I tried to focus. At times the course got a little congested but it wasn't too bad. I've done Reston 4 times before this race and I've trained on the course several times this summer. It's cool knowing the course so well. Coming into T2 I thought I was doing pretty well but I made it a habit of racing with no technology this year so I wasn't sure exactly where I was time wise.

Run:
My "Jimmy's lunch bet" was in the swim wave ahead of me. He's a faster swimmer, we're about even on the bike and I'm a faster runner. I figured I wasn't really expecting to see him until I crossed the finish line. I pushed the beginning of the run pretty hard, when I got to the water stop at about mile 1 I asked my daughter how far ahead my co-worker was. She said, "2 and a half minutes." That was an excellent answer because it meant that I was really 30 seconds ahead. At that point I knew as long as nothing strange went wrong I could track him down. I was running pretty good and caught him before the turn-around point. I was still feeling pretty good so I kept pushing it hard. By the time I hit the track I was pretty spent. A couple people passed my but when I hit the finish line and saw the time I was psyched.

Finally I had a good Reston race and actually got faster. I PR'd by almost 14 minutes. After years of staying about the same it felt really nice to see some quality improvement. My bike time was about 6 minutes faster, my run time was about 6 minutes faster and my transitions were about 2 minutes faster.

As always it's great to see so many RATs before, during and after the race. A highlight of the race was seeing Katie smiling on the run course. All the big dawgs kicked butt, Jamie was volunteering out on the run course offering lots of encouragement. The group picture at the end was very cool, although I was bummed April missed the picture. She still rocks!