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Race Result

Racer: Brady DeHoust
Race: Reston Triathlon
Date: Sunday, September 7, 2003
Location: Reston, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group: Male 25 - 29
Time: 2:07:12
Overall Place: 14
Age Group Place: 1



Race Report:



My swim training all year has been somewhat sporadic. It’s funny, because I constantly tell myself that to be able to compete at every race throughout the year, I have to improve my swim. I’d go through 3-4 week periods where I really felt “better” and stronger in the water, then, would fade back to slower, more tired sets. It’s somewhat frustrating, but all a result of putting forth the effort (or not!). I once listened to a swim seminar where the speaker really pounded the term TITW (Time in The Water)…I need more TITW.

I am pledging to this message board now that the swim paragraph of my RR’s will change in 2004. Unfortunately, once again, my swim was fairly uneventful. I was in the first wave, and positioned myself right center of the pack. I planned to make a slow, diagonal line towards the buoy rope, as opposed to swimming directly to it. There was very little “fight” at the start, so I was quick to find space and settle in. “Settling in” for me is sometimes my nemesis on the swim. I don’t seem to have that “gut” mentality in the water to swim hard, possibly with fear of becoming way to tired. At any rate, I felt pretty good and about 2/3 of the way to the turn, found myself right on the buoy line. On the way back, I never could seem to get far enough left to swim on the line, so I used the land and trees to site to the drain, gradually making my way to the rope. I exited the water feeling pretty solid. My time was 1:20 better than 2002, but I have plenty of room for improvement…TITW!

T1 went okay, with the exception of a small problem getting the top piece of my Desoto T1 wetsuit removed. Of course, it seemed like it took a lot more time than it did, but it was very frustrating. I could tell that the spectators who witnessed this act of comedy (me trying to strip the top off in multiple, failed attempts) wanted to reach out and help. When I was finally successful, I received some cheers from the crowd and moved on.

The first loop “rut”…
Like many others, I didn’t feel particularly good on the first loop of the bike. Labored breathing right out of transition is never a great way to start, but it seems pretty common regardless of the distance the race. An hour and a half before the race start, I had some yogurt with grape nuts, a bagel, and a half of a peanut butter sandwich. I brought a banana and two gels with me to the race, but forgot them in my car. This wasn’t a major concern, as I had a bottle of Accelerade that would provide enough calories to carry me through the race. I made sure to drink the entire bottle of Accelerade, mixed with sips of water throughout the bike. Hitting the back section of the first loop, I began to feel much stronger. I was passing a fair amount of the better swimmers, which is always a good confidence booster. I rarely look at my bike computer during a race, to avoid any negative “feedback” it may provide. Making the turn from South Lakes to Twin Branches for the third loop, I caught a good friend who is a better swimmer and a strong cyclist. Recognizing that we are similar in cycling ability, he stayed right with me the entire stretch down Glade, then passed me back as we turned on Lawyers. At this point, the lanes were crowded with other competitors, many of whom either have trouble with their left and right, or just can’t hear well. “LEFT”…”LEFT”…”ON YOUR LEFT”…”PASSING”. About 80% of the time, the cyclist would move over, but I often found myself dodging cones and passing on the other side of them, and in one instance, ran right over one. On Colts Neck, as I passed the Hunter Woods shopping center, I checked my computer to see how the time looked. “One hour…what the hell?!” I knew I was under an hour in 2002, and this really struck me as odd. I felt I was riding strong and at a good clip. But like I said, I rarely look at the computer, so it was hard to determine if it was a computer foul-up, or if I was just riding slower than last year. I still had a few minutes to ride, so I pressed on and began to mentally prepare for the run. Oh yeah, and the bike computer issue…well, long story short…hmm, I can’t make it short. I initially rode down from T2 to T1 and racked my bike and reset the bike computer. Then, realized I had forgotten my towel, so I quickly rode back up to the high school to snag my towel. When I re-racked my bike in T1, I didn’t reset the computer, so I started the bike with 7 or 8 minutes already logged in the computer (I didn’t put all this together ‘til about 8’oclock Sunday night).

T2…I don’t even remember. It was quick -- rack the bike, grab the shoes…GO. I think I was 42 secs, and it felt more like 10 seconds. I have no clue how the top guys were around 30 seconds, unless they bunny-hopped the curb and rode straight to the rack…a clear rules violation ;-).

In 2002, I was in Wave 2, so it was hard to judge exactly where I was in the race. This year, I was in the first wave, so I was eager to start the count of pummelers in front of me. The beginning of the run was similar to the beginning of the bike. A few of the first short, steep hills really hit me hard. I didn’t have a particular time goal, but wanted to match or do better than 2002’s run time. Similar to the bike, I really didn’t check the watch to monitor pace. I was going as hard as I could, and didn’t want any negativity if the watch check resulted in bad news…I’d wait ‘til 5k to make the time check. The first two-miles seemed to take an eternity. The short, steep hills really made me feel like I my pace was reduced drastically -- they also provided me with thirty seconds of lactic pain each time. Somewhere after mile two, the leaders came by -- time to start the count to see where I was overall. Last year, I was 12th, so I had hopes possibly placing in the top 10. I saw a lot of faces I didn’t recognize after the top 5 had gone by. Twelve, thirteen…seventeen…damn, a little further back than what I’d hoped. I hit the turn, and checked the watch -- 20:30. I passed a couple shortly after the turn, then worked hard and caught Rob Cole, then Eric Krogh. Eric beat me last year by 1:30 to win our age group (although, this year, Eric had jumped to the next AG), so this was a “feel good” moment – which I really needed at the time. Finally making way behind the bleachers, spectators were shouting, “go get ‘em”, speaking of Kyle Yost and Mark Frantz who were about 100 meters in front of me. One thing for sure about Reston -- the track is not the optimal place to try and make a pass. Kyle inched passed Mark shortly before the last turn, but I couldn’t make any ground, finishing behind them by six and twelve seconds respectively for 14th place overall and 1st AG 25-29. I managed to negative split the second 5k to come in just under my 2002 run split, but a better overall time by 1:35.

It’s really nice to do this “home-town” race. It was awesome to see so many RATs out there in pure pummel fashion. Congratulations to all who raced, placed, and/or finished!

Thanks for reading.

-- Brady DeHoust