Race Result

Racer:	Nancy Toby
Race:	Cure Autism Now Triathlon / Duathlon
Date:	Sunday, April 17, 2005
Location:	Bethesda, MD
Race Type:	Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Female 45 - 49
Time:	1:24:16
Overall Place:	284 / 352
Comment:	Low-key informal event

Race Report:

My first little sprint tri of the season - the Cure Autism Now Triathlon in Bethesda, Maryland - and I had a lot of fun, even though I FROZE! It didn't get over 60*F!

This is a very local-level, low-stress, informal event, even though it attracts over 350 triathletes and something like 150 duathletes. The website and the organization is not exactly a finely-tuned machine, put it that way, even though this is their fifth year. Race day had a fair amount of confusion, and there was no security for bikes. Transitions are completely untimed. 2 1/2 days after the triathlon the results are not yet available.

Ankle chips were used. The swim was timed from the entry to the pool area to the exit, with no running allowed in the pool area, with laps counted by participants on the honor system. No swim warmups were available.

Swim felt reasonably good - especially since it was in a toasty warm pool and we had all been waiting to go in at 7AM in 45*F with teeth chattering! My hands finally warmed up after about 5 laps. I think my overall pace was about 2:30/100 yards, which is fast for me (all open turns in a shallow 25yd pool). I was hyperventilating a little (with no warmup at all) and just kept working on relaxing while having to take one breath per stroke. Since it was the honor system for participants to count their own laps, I managed to miscount my laps and swam a few extra, so I was extra-honorable. ;)

T1 was slow - 6:23 by my watch, but I didn't rush because transition times weren't being officially counted anyway. No errors, and no, I didn't take a nap - just used a little extra time to dry off a little, get my bike shoes on, pull on armwarmers (GLAD I brought those at the last minute!), helmet, and sunglasses; and get the bike out of the crowded transition area safely.

The bike leg went well! 3 hilly laps around the National Institutes of Health campus for 10 miles. Actually my bike computer read 10.5 miles, but that's okay. My overall pace was something like 15.3 mph, and I got over 33 mph on the Big Screaming Downhill we repeated three times (as fast as I dared, with a sharp turn at the bottom). Wheeee! We paid for it with long slow climbs the rest of the way around each lap.

T2 was slow again, switching to running shoes, and politely-as-I-could informing some guy who showed up late that he had taken my bike rack spot (fairly obvious, since he hung his bike right above my gear that was all laid out on a towel).

I'm not sure of my time on the run (2.5 miles), but I think my pace was between 11 and 12 min/mile. My hips felt stiff and my stride felt short and choppy, so it wasn't exactly a "sprint", but I maintained a reasonable jog most of the way through a hilly residential neighborhood.

Final time on my watch was 1:35:19, a little over my original goal of 90 minutes, but considering my crazy swim issues and casually-slow transitions, I'm happy with that. Official time without transitions was about 11 minutes less.

As soon as I got back from the run, I had to immediately bundle up again in a sweatshirt and fleece shirt, and didn't really warm up again until I got in my hot bathtub at home!

It was a GREAT rehearsal and confidence-builder for the next two bigger triathlons that I have coming up in May and June - an Olympic distance and a Half Ironman distance. I felt a little dumb when I looked at my splits on my watch and realized what happened to my swim, but I think it's kind of funny, too. I needed a little longer swim workout, anyway, and I won't have to worry about counting laps in my upcoming open water swims! Live and learn!