Race Result

Racer:	Keith Bohnenberger
Race:	Brierman Sprint
Date:	Sunday, October 12, 2008
Location:	Boonsboro, MD
Race Type:	Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Male 40 - 44
Time:	2:29:15
Overall Place:	55 / 178
Comment:	One hill after another

Race Report:

Swim .45 Mile 0:17:42
T1 0:03:25
Bike 21 Mile 1:24:17 Rate: 15.00
T2 0:01:14
Run 4.9 Mile 0:42:39 Pace: 0:08:43

Long Story:
After the swim at Reston got canceled, I decided to find one more race to end my season on. Thanks to the Tri-DC magazine, I found Brierman. I originally though of doing the 1/2 ironman lite but then came back to reality and signed up for the "sprint"

Charles Barnes was registered for the 1/2 ironman lite.
He was in the race area for business and road the bike course. He sent me a nice email detailing the course. That was my first indication that "rolling hills" were going to be a challenge.

Charles, a friend from my work and I car pooled up to the race. We got their in plenty of time, picked up our packets and got transition all set up. It was a bit cold (around 50) and I wasn't sure if I should go with the long sleeve jersey or the rats racing jersey. I put them both in transition and decided to wait until T1 to figure it out.

The 1/2 ironman lite participants went off at 7:30 in one big wave. The male sprint participants went off at about 8:00 and the female sprint participants went off a few minutes later.

The water was cold but I didn't have any problems breathing or getting into a "decent" stroke. I was surprised how the pack spread out. Even thought the lake was relatively small and the wave was relatively large I didn't really have any problems in the pack. The only issue I had was trying to site for the last 3rd of the swim. The sunrise was blasting me right in the face.

It was a short climb out of the lake to T1. The first of many climbs for the day. I took my time in T1, dried off and decided to go with the RATs racing jersey.

It was a short roll out of T1 before you started climbing out of the park. The steep climb quickly warmed me up. I started chatting with another rider during the next climb and she gave me the scoop on the bike course. Lots of climbing with the big on coming from mile 10 to mile 12 or so. I decided to pace myself conservatively given my total lack of hill training. All the climbs did provide some fun downhill. At one point we were flying down a hill and crossed a bridge. My new riding friend yelled out, "We're going over the speed limit!" The fun ended quickly at the beginning of the next climb. This course was uphill or downhill. No flats to be found. The next big downhill was long and straight. My cheap bike computer said my max speed was 74mph. Obviously not correct but I'm pretty sure I got into the mid 40's. I'm usually pretty good on the downhills but on this one I did tap the breaks a bit at one point. On the next uphill I passed a rider who was walking. As I rode by I offered my pump and spare tube but he declined and said his tire was toast and he was done. I didn't realize it at the time but it was Charles who was walking. The 21 mile ride had one more climb from mile 19 to 20 and then a fast downhill back into the park.

T2 was uneventful.

The run was through the park and once again was either up hill or down hill with a few short false flats. I managed to run up and down the first two hills but after that I decided to walk the up hills. The hills were long. I tried to run fast down the hills but my technique sucked. I was foot slapping all the way down the hill. My ankles and knees were my breaks along with my toes which were slamming into the front of my shoes. I clearly need to learn how to run fast downhill. The run was an out and back. The first half seemed to take forever but the second half was a little easier.

This was clearly the hardest "sprint" that I've ever done. I averaged a whopping 15mph on the bike.

The race was well run and the area was really pretty. If you like hills I definitely recommend the race!