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Race Result
| Racer: |
Melissa Hancock |
| Race: |
Reston Triathlon |
| Date: |
Sunday, September 13, 2009 |
| Location: |
Reston, VA |
| Race Type: |
Triathlon - International Distance |
| Age Group: |
Female 40 - 44 |
| Time: |
3:01:02 |
| Comment: |
A great time! |
Race Report:
To train for this race, I did pretty much the opposite of everything I’ve done in previous years. I cut way back on my swimming (which is my favorite) from 5 days a week with RMST to once a week on my own. I increased my running and cycling from 1-2 times a week each to 4-5 times a week each. I increased bricks from once in awhile to twice a week. I also lost 20lbs.
I was nauseous the entirety of my previous races, so decided to this one on as empty a tank as I could manage. I had a light breakfast at home and headed to the high school to set up T2. I couldn’t find my headlamp the night before, and it was still dark out at 6am, so I found some other riders with lights heading out, and stuck close to them for the ride to Lake Audubon.
At the lake, I discovered I had pretty much the furthest T1 spot, up near the pool. I set up T1 and walked around to chat. Right before the first wave went off, I was able to chew on a couple of Cliff Shot Bloks. Thank goodness I had those because I wasn’t able to eat anything the rest of the race.
I was in wave 5, and the swim went pretty well. Navigation is always my biggest problem, and I managed to swim in a fairly straight line for a change. After about ¼ mile, a large chunk of my wave took a sharp left turn and headed towards the first orange bouy. I kept going straight, and had a clear path. After I made the turnaround, I started passing some people in the previous waves, and felt really strong.
Swim 31:41
T1…hmmm. Not sure what happened to me here. The whole double transition thing started freaking me out, and so I went into my plastic bag and unpacked it and repacked it even though I had everything I needed. Spaz!
T1 4:20
That lovely climb on the bike right after T1 got my heart rate up right away. I was breathing really heavily my whole first loop and was on the verge of hyperventilating. The next 2 loops I was able to calm down and ride like I planned. I’m a really poor climber, so I’ve been working really hard on that this summer. I did way better on the bike than I expected.
Bike 1:14:05
T2. Could have been faster if I remembered to put lock laces on my new running shoes.
T2 1:46
My only goals for the run were to not WALK and to not GET LOST (like I did last year). Luckily, I was able to succeed in those goals! I carried a water bottle with me so that I could take little sips whenever I needed to, because I can never seem to drink out of those little cups during a race. My run was nothing to brag about, but it was very good for me.
Run 1:09:12
Overall, I PR’d in every leg, so I was very happy. I also finished in second place for the Athena division! What a great day!
Finish 3:01:02
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