Race Result

Racer:	Amanda Shuman
Race:	Reston Triathlon
Date:	Sunday, September 12, 2004
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group:	Female 20 - 24
Time:	2:32:41
Comment:	Should I become a duathlete and forget swimming?

Race Report:

Swim: 35:27
T1: 2:49
Bike: 1:06:01
T2: 1:06
Run: 47:20
Total: 2:32:41
Age group 1/4 or 2/5
Overall: 130th
Women: 18th
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Well, I 'won' my age group but considering there were only 5 people in it and Shandra placed out by winning the whole thing, I don't know how great that is? Though, besides the swim, I had a pretty good race.

Pre-race:
Everyone's asleep at 5-7am on a Sunday morning except me and a couple hundred other nutcases setting up transition areas in the dark. Hmmm....

I rode to T2 and was rather distraught to find out that because I suck so much in the swim that also granted me the right to a crappy transition area. I guess I'm not too bitter about it, next year I'll just lie on the form so that I get a better area ;) (why don't they ask you about your bike and run times on the form or your overall completion time??)

Mmmm... smell the lake!

Swim:
Well, I always write this part off. I start off ok, nobody in my way except people slower than me (yes, that is possible! I think it's like the army ten miler when people who run a 10 minute mile put down 80 minutes for their finish time). Anyways, after running into about 10 different pairs of feets I decided to move all the way to the outside and just do my thing. Granted I probably swam a couple hundred extra yards, but I always get frustrated. I was already thinking about the bike.

T1:
Thank GOD that swim was over. Put wetsuit/goggles/ear plugs in bag and hurry the hell out of that transition area to start making up the 8-10+ minutes I'm trailing everyone else by :(

Bike:
I passed a lot of people, that felt good. Especially passed a bunch of people in my age group (uhm... like all of them except Shandra!). I have my game face on whenever I bike. I always know I'm making up time in it, and I have to concentrate very hard. Luckily, my parents were there to cheer me on and I passed them on the first two loops, which made me loosen up a little bit and try to just enjoy the race.

I had one guy draft off of me which sucked, but other than that, I only got passed a few times and every time I did I would try and pace off that person as much as possible... especially since by the third loop I started realizing how far back that swim put me....!

T2:
Uneventful. Good transition area here since it's not based on swim time.

Run:
Sprinted up the first hill but legs were a little tired. It always takes me roughly a mile to get them up to running par. Good thing is, biking always warms me up. I was cheering people coming back in the other direction the whole time... Shandra, Julie, saw Mike and couldn't remember his name right away so I just yelled "wooo go rats!" probably sounded like a fool. Oh well. Keep going... passed by Katie almost near the turn around but MAN her swim must have been awesome!! Never saw her on the bike at all.

At the turn around I look at my watch.... nearly 26 minutes?! WTF! I can run a 5k normally in 22-24 minutes without a problem, with a PR of 21:22. So of course I got pissed at this. I gathered up all the strength in myself and said you know, you need to start pushing yourself here to do your best on your best part of this sport, the RUN! So, smiling the whole time, I picked it up. Passed several people on the way back who I also passed on the way to the turn around. No one passed me on the second half of the run, which felt great. Furthermore, I was feeling great in general. I saved too much again, which was frustrating but I wasn't going to let myself throw it all away.

Passed by Mike Tine near the last two miles (?) and he yelled 'looking strong' something like that and I just smiled. Entered the track after passing two more people and picked it up again, sprinted full out the last 100-200m or so. Anyways, it felt great, I felt great, and I was smiling. I like to run :)

Overall:
So, all in all, I had a pretty good race. Would have been nice to post a better swim but still I won the age group (never mind that without Shandra it was looking pretty thin anyways ;) ).

I really liked the run part because cheering people on is a ton of fun. And the food and chatting after was pretty cool too. I plan on doing it again next year, but will have to work on that swim -- though I might concentrate on duathlons as my race season next year....

Thank you:
- the volunteer who picked up my stuff at T1
- those little girls with the water on the run (did someone send them a thank you yet??)
- everyone who cheered me on, all the RATs who came up afterwards to say congrats, and all the volunteers who gave me water/towel/food afterwards
- my parents for showing up at the crack of dawn to watch and cheer for me out on the course

Goals for next year/future tris:
- BEAT KATIE IN THE SWIM! Ok, realistically... stop sucking in the swim, work a helluva lot on form and open water practice, reduce total time to 30 minutes.
- get faster on the bike, post a time a few minutes less.
- practice the run part more often and continue speedwork which is already helping (I'll let you know as I'm running a 5k in two weeks). Post time for the 10k of 45 minutes or less.