Race Result

Racer:	Keith Bohnenberger
Race:	Reston Triathlon
Date:	Sunday, September 11, 2005
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group:	Male 35 - 39
Time:	2:43:13
Overall Place:	231 / 508
Age Group Place:	38 / 78
Comment:	escape for a day

Race Report:

Total: 2:43:13 - 5 seconds slower than last year.
Swim: 34:47 - was hoping for < 0:35:00
T1: 2:42 - was hoping for 0:02:30
Bike: 1:12:28 - was hoping for 1:09:00
T2: 1:37 - was hoping for 0:01:00

Life Reality:
This was a rough summer. A lot of bad things had happened. My dad had a mild heart attack (but thankully is recovering well), 3 or 4 people died on the W&OD, the war, hurricane Katrina, and the one that keeps tugging at my heart was the tragic death of a little boy in my sons church play group, 2 weeks before the reston triathlon.

Tri Reality:
Earlier in the year, I felt good training for Columbia. I met my goal of < 3:00 for Columbia without no 3 day sickness afterwards. My running was progressing well. I did the Herndon Festival 10K a couple of weeks after Columbia and met my goal of < 48:00. Shortly after that race I started having foot problems and had to take about a 6 weeks off from running. A very busy summer kept me from getting the bike miles I had planned on. To go with all of that my shoulder starting getting real tight about 5 weeks ago so my swimming took a serious hit. With all of that, my revised Reston goal was 2:39. I wanted to survive the swim in < 0:35:00; wanted to avg 19mph on the bike and I wanted to do the run in < 0:49:30.

Given life realities, my most importantly goal was to escape the real world for a day and feed off all the positive energy of my tri friends and my family. I missed the time goals. However, I successfully escaped the real world and I successfully fed off the positive energy of my tri friends and family. It truely was a great day -- despite missing my time goals. Thanks to Jamie, Bethany, Jereon, Steve and the host of other Rats who were out there in force and who provided more that enough positive energy.

The race:
Woke up around 4:45, ate a blueberry bagel, 1/2 a banana and a bunch of fig newtons. My stuff was packed the night before so after hitting the bathroom a couple of times I headed out to South Lakes. I got there around 5:45 or so, walked down to get my chip and put my stuff in T1. I got my chip and it had a plastic strap on it. I knew that would drive me crazy during the race so I walked back up to my car to get $5 for a better chip strap. When I got back to my car I saw Steve in the spot next to mine ... Good omen, I parked next to him last year too. I got my new chip strap, came back to my car and head off for the lake. This is perhaps my favorite part of the reston tri. I love riding in the near darkness from the high school over to the lake. I love how T1 starts off pretty quiet, its still dark, people are still waking up ... then the suns rises and in no time its light out and people are starting to get the race energy. I chatted with a bunch of RATS and then got my wetsuit on and tried to mellow out. I was very impressed by the bag pipes and the violin playing. Its not every day you see someone with a swim cap and a wetsuit on playing the bagpipes and the violin. Very cool. I was suprised how quickly the first wave hit the water, then I hung out and waited for the 4th wave.

The swim went as good as I could have hoped. I felt pretty comfortable and didnt really have all that much swim traffic. I did get tangled up in the rope a couple of times though. I got a bit tired about 2/3rds of the way through the swim but overall I really enjoyed it ... other then the smell/taste of the water. Its always good to see James at the end of the swim. Why? Because its James and its the end of the swim.

It felt like it took a long time to get my wetsuit off. I also still wear socks for the bike and the run so it took a while to get socks on and get out of T1. I had a great transition spot so I was hoping for a faster transistion than I was able to pull off. I need to work on the wetsuit removal thing and train with no socks to get T1 down to a reasonable time.

As always the beginning of the bike was a bit rough. My heart rate seemed high, my breathing was heavy. I quickly realized I forgot my gel packs in my bag which bummed me out. With that said, I was psyched to be on the bike and I was psyched to be racing. I got into a groove after the first loop and felt pretty good. I thought I was putting in a good effort and I thought I would meet my 1:09 goal. It turns out I was a little slower than last year. I think I could have pushed it a little harder but in general, I guess I just need to keep putting in the miles.

T2 was ok, other than the guy who was freaking out about his stolen stuff. Last year, I ran with my bike pump, spare tire and tire levers still in my shirt pocket. This year I changed shirts. I figured that was quicker than pulling that stuff out of my pocket. I was a little slower than I had hoped. I just need more urgency in transition.

I felt good starting the run. Perhaps the best I ever felt coming off the bike. I managed to get a handful of short bricks in before reston so I think that helped. My achilles was a bit sore going into the race so I was a little worried about that. Pretty quickly after the start of the run I heard a whole bunch of cheering. I rounded the corner and there were my girls. Kirsten and Patty and the crew were cheering away. I got some water from Kirsten and kept on trucking. I saw a several people on my way out which is always nice. I thought the turn around took a long time to get to. At some points I had to slow down a bit but overall I was feeling pretty good. The trip back seemed much faster. The advantage of starting in wave 4 and having a millon people pass me in the swim and the bike is that I get to pass a lot of people on the run. If I could actually get more run training in I think I could be a pretty good runner. I saw my girls on the way back and felt pretty good as I got onto the track. At this point I thought I was going to make my goal. Perhaps I should actually look at my watch during the race. I saw the time of 2:52, did the quick swim heat math and realized I missed my goal.

I saw Aaron and Amanda on the other side of the finish line. Chatted with them a bit and then headed off for some food. It was great cheering for everyone who was still out there. I changed out of my sweaty clothes and hung out and enjoyed the rest of the day. Lots of smiling faces. Bethany was a happy camper, I found out Steve won again, then at the awards ceremony I got reminded of how many incredibly talented rats there are. Shortly after the awards ceremony was over it seemed that most people cleared out. I asked a few race volunteers if anyone was still out on the course and they said one male was still out there. My wife called and said that a volunteer told them there were several people still out there who didnt hit their water stop on the way back yet. I walked up to the parking lot and saw Jamies car so I went back down to hang out a bit. I met a couple of Jamie's friends who were asking about her and found out she was going to be finishing shortly. I walked up the path and saw her motoring along. She had a couple of friends encouraging her along and taking some pictures. On the way back I took the short cut to the finish line as she went around the track. As she crossed the finish line, we all cheered her on. The end of a great day!

Some training notes:
Pre-race YTD training totals:
Swim yards: 74100 =~ 2117/week
Bike miles : 1863 =~ 53.22/week
Run miles : 164 =~ 4.68/week

To get faster I need more total miles, more focused miles and more interval miles. My training has been almost entirely zone 2 miles. I need to stay healthy!

Now I need to get over my mild case of achilles tendonitis and get over this shoulder problem. Who knows maybe I'll do a sprint before the year is over.