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Race Result

Racer: Scott Baldwin
Race: Reston Triathlon
Date: Sunday, September 11, 2005
Location: Reston, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group: Male 35 - 39
Time: 2:08:02
Overall Place: 12 / 517
Age Group Place: 3 / 77
Comment: Good race..



Race Report:



Since I moved here in early 2004, I’ve been waiting to race this course. And now that I have been able to, I have no complaints. (Did I mention it took me forever to get registered for this thing?)


Pre-race:
Breakfast – chocolate slim fast, banana, cliff bar. I was able to get all this down without gagging which normally happens as race time approaches and the nerves start to take over.

Got to T2 around 5:15 to setup. No issues. It was very dark riding over to T1 and I found myself looking over my shoulder quite a bit to make sure no motorist would plow me down. I got T1 step up the then visit the porto-pottie and bathroom a number of time.

My pre-race warmup consisted of ~10 minute jog/walk/stretch along the lake side.

Swim (27:21)
Nothing special. I was hoping for a time somewhere under 28 so I was right on target. Although we only had ~30 seconds from the time we crossed the timing mats to the race start, it made for very little time for me to worry which I think I like. The swim went ok. The fact that there were only ~75 people in each wave and that I was one of the slower ones in my wave, I don’t think I got hit at all, but it also meant I was by myself most of the time. I ended up being about the 50th person out of the water with the 70th fastest swim split. This meant I was 3-4 minutes down on the big boys and had some work ahead of me to minimize my losses. It turns out that nobody that finished the race ahead of me had a slower swim.

This is where I can make the most improvement next year. Just a few minutes would put me in closer contact with everyone else for the rest of the race and then pushing on the bike and run would be easier.

T1 (0:54)
Rack placement was good. I was about half way up the driveway between the swim exit and T1 exit. I like have transition times under a minute. They are fun to do.


Bike (58:52)
I like this bike course. I was able to preview it a few times in the weeks leading up to it. I think the more I rode it the easier it got. The fact that it is multiple loops makes it a more spectator friendly course.

My plan was to hit each of the first two laps at 20 minutes each and then 18 minutes for the last lap to the school. I was right on target for laps one and two, but I think lap three is a bit longer than I realized because it loops around to the back of the middle school.

I think can make minor improvements on the bike. I lost momentum a few times at turns that were followed by a slight uphill. Like the turn from Colts Neck to South Lakes and then again from South lakes to Twin Branches. No real big issues on the bike course. The fact that it’s multiple loops are there are many people on the course didn’t bother me much. There were a few times I had to go outside the cones just so I could pass.

Nutrition on the bike consisted of half a bottle of energy drink.


T2: (0:47)
I like coming into T2 feeling good and today I did. I knew that when I got off my bike I would have something left in the tank to hammer on the run. There have been several races this year where I didn’t feel like that. Those times I knew the run was going to be hard and it usually was. But not today. Today would be good.

I usually like to get an idea of how may people are already out on the run course and I do this by taking an informal survey of the number of bikes racked. There seemed to be a few more than I had hoped. It looked like about 30-35. It turned out to be only about 18 but thinking it was more meant I needed to work hard on the run.


Run (40:08)
I had a few goals going into this race. Historically, overall the last several years, a 2:10 would put me in the top 20. So these were my goals. I was pretty sure that on a good day I could run ~40 minute 10k so I needed to be out of T2 by 1:30 into the race. I got out of T2 at ~1:28 so I was ahead of schedule and just needed to hang in there. I past one person going behind the stadium bleachers and than another going up the first hill toward the elementary school and then there was no one….I saw no one but a few volunteers at corners and water stations for 2 long and lonely miles until I saw Steve Smith coming back a we went under the Pine Crest bridge. It was hard out there with nobody to chase after. I knew that there were a couple of guys that I had jockeyed back and forth with on the bike that should be bearing down on me so that kept me going. I ended up asking a few on the corner volunteers how far ahead was everyone, because of all the turns and small ups and downs getting out of some ones slights was easy. Knowing this I also tried to stay out of sight of those behind by accelerating around corners and up hills. I kept saying to myself “out of sight, out of mind”. I guess it worked because I didn’t get passed on the run.

Soon after Steve and I crossed paths, #2 (Orton) and #3 (Casio) came by then there was a break, then a group of 3-4 (Frost and Crandall were here) that were within 30 seconds of each other, then another break followed by 1 or 2 every once in a while until I hit the turn around. I looked at my watch when one of the groups went by and they were about 2:15 from the turn around as I was 2:15 until it. 4:30 seemed like a bit much to make up in 5k, but a few others behind them were within reach. I tried to keep track of how many people were ahead of me up to the turn around but I got too excited the closer I got. I figured with was somewhere around 20 but it turned out to be 17.

Once I got to the turn around I started seeing those that wanted to hunt me down. I always hate that part of the race. Because until you get on the back of an out-and –back course, you know they are there but you don’t dare to look. But once I see them on the way back and knowing how far behind they are I know that I really have to keep up the pace or they will get me. So this point of the race can be good or bad depending on how I feel and how everyone else looks like the feel.

Anyway, nothing special happened on the return on the run. I finally see more people going out to the turn around. I ended up catching 5 of the people in front of me before hit the finish on the South Lake High track with a time of 2:08:02.

My nutrition on the run consisted of two energy gels, one at mile ~2 and the other at ~4. I had a slash of water at each aid station which were well placed.


The End:
I am happy with this race. I exceeded my goals of top 20 and a time of 2:10 with 12th place and a time of 2:08:02 and as a bonus I got 3rd in my age group. (It was nice Steve Smith won so the age group places could roll down to me).


Heart Rate Comments:
My heart rate was interesting in this race. Normally, in a race this distance I’m red-lining it on the bike (~168 bpm) and on the run (low 170’s). In this race I averaged ~155 bpm for the whole race. If I tried to push it any harder on the bike my quads would start to burn excessively asking me to slow down a bit. So I ended up trying to relax as best I could through the bike and run. I’m not sure what this means? My legs are tired? I’m in pretty good cardio shape? Or with age my max heart rate has dropped significantly?

Overall it was a great race. Almost prefect.