2017 Reston Sprint Triathlon
I swam, I biked, I ran, I finished! Long-ish race recap below.
Before the race I did not get a good night of sleep before the race. Even though the venue was just about an hour away from home, I booked a hotel room close by so I didn’t have to wake up too early on the morning of the race. But you know how hotels have those fluffy pillows that your heard kind of just sinks into? Yeah, my body wasn’t having that the night before and was missing my firm Tempur-Pedic pillow. So, I ended up tossing and turning for a while.
We got to the race site about 45 minutes before it was supposed to start. I had a higher number because I put a slower swim time, so I actually had a while before my race even started.
Swim - 400 meters, ~14ish minutes I put a conservative swim time since the swim is my weakest leg of the triathlon. It was a pool swim and we snaked our way across. I took a few breaks when I needed to but was pretty spot on with how long it would take me to complete it.
There was an issue with my timing chip strap before the race so they had to replace my whole chip and strap before I started. My unofficial results from the race said I completed the swim in less than 9 minutes, which I would have liked to have believed, but I know that’s not true. Lorelie took pictures of me when I got into the pool and when I got out and there was a 14 minute time difference. The preliminary results online don’t even have a swim time, so I don’t even have a final time yet. I’ll probably have to e-mail someone about that.
Oh, and I saw two people with snorkels. How the heck were they allowed to swim with snorkels??
Bike - ~11.40ish miles, 40:47 I went into T1. Nothing too exciting there. Then, got out for the 3 loop bike course. The race lists it as a 4 mile loop for a total of 12 miles, but my Garmin had much less than that, so I’m guesstimating.
The bike course has its hills but a fair amount of flat areas, too, so I was able to spend a good amount of time in my aero bars. By the time I got out onto the bike, a good amount of people had already finished, so thankfully, the bike course was too crowded. I was able to make up for a little bit of time from the swim while on the bike, so I was satisfied.
Run - 3 miles, 28:21 Went into T2. A lot of people were already done. But, hey, I’m out there to do my best so that didn’t bother me too much.
Most of the run was on shaded sidewalks and pathways, so that was a relief. I stopped to walk once at the first water stop, mainly because it was also a pretty steep uphill and I didn’t want to expel too much energy going up it.
Finish - ??? Since I don’t have an official swim time yet, I have to estimate where I finished. Swim - 14ish T1 - 3:32 Bike - 40:47 T2 - 2:57 Run - 28:21 Total - 1:29:37 Not bad, I guess. Definitely need to work on my swimming more. And doing a few more bike-to-run brick workouts probably would help next time, too.
If this race fits into my schedule for next year, I’d like to do it again!
Next up: Ellicott City 5K. Yay for regular road racing!
