Nation's Tri 2009

I had a great weekend in Washington, DC. I visited with my sister and raced yesterday in the 4th edition of the Nation’s Tri.

One interesting happening on Saturday….we were walking down the street in DC and ran into Mark Hoover, a triathlete we had met in Taupo at Ironman New Zealand 2007. He had moved from Phoenix to DC and was just out for a morning run with his girlfriend. It was fun to do a little catching up with Mark. He raced at IM CDA last year and is preparing now for SOMA half.

The Nation’s Tri was my 6th triathlon this year. And for those of you who have been following along, you’ll know that the first 5 races have been challenging, let’s say. So, while I didn’t set any speed records yesterday, it was clearly a nice, steady effort from start to finish—and obviously the most solid effort this year.

In many ways, this race reminded me of the Chicago Triathlon. There were ~4000 participants, a 1500 m swim in the Potomac River with an in-water start, a gently rolling 40K bike course, and a mostly flat 10K run around Haines Point and the Jefferson Memorial area.

I was in wave 24 of 31 to start the race, so I started more than an hour after the race began. The water was 72 degrees, so I chose to use a wetsuit. I had a very steady swim….no troubles with other swimmers, but once again I managed to goof up. I turned for the exit 1 buoy too soon! I had put in a good 100 yards before realizing the mistake (where are the other swimmers?) and had to return to the course to round the last buoy before heading to the exit. This was probably amusing to the spectators. The swim was 25:12. Good start….and some bonus swimming, too!

There was a long run to transition, just because the transition area was so large. Orderly T1, then off on the bike. The HR was in the low 160’s to start and settled into the 140’s for the ride, which was comfortable territory. There were 2 out-and-backs on closed highway, with a tailwind for the return portions. I passed 100’s of people on the bike (and was passed by only 25, I think)….good for the psyche. At 20.3 mph (1:14, 165W avg, 180W NP), this was the fastest and strongest bike leg of the year for me. Solid for me if not spectacular. I was looking forward to the run.

I had an orderly T2 and was off on the run. It turned out to be difficult starting out, but I settled into a slow, steady pace by the 2nd mile and continued this way to the finish. I took a 1-minute walk break each 10 minutes and stopped to get a drink at each of the aid stations. It took 1:03….really wish I could run better. The last time I ran on Haines Point was during the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon, the only marathon I’ve done. This portion of the marathon was miles 15-18 or so….and my memories were of many people alongside the road cramped up or vomiting (or both). Much better scene this time.

Looking at the results, I was 6/290 in my age group after the swim, ~60/290 after the bike, and 139/290 after the run. For me, this was the first time to finish in the top half of the age group for an Olympic distance race or longer (and I’ve had 4 Olympic, 3 half Ironman, and 4 Ironman races to try!). Perhaps this is progress.

Most interesting event of the day….My sister was watching the race from the swim exit and she saw an athlete get out of the water before I had started. He couldn’t get his wetsuit unzipped for some reason….and neither could a couple spectators who offered to help. He was frantic….so a fireman/paramedic came with scissors and cut him out of the wetsuit! I always worry about using the wetsuit. It’s just one more thing that can go wrong!

After the race, we returned to the hotel to shower and gather our stuff before heading back to my sister’s place in Fairfax. We tuned into Ironman Wisconsin online and cheered hard for Chris MacDonald and Justin Daerr who finished 5th and 6th. Way to go! Justin thought he was racing under the radar, but we had it figured from the go!

For me, next up is Ironman Florida on November 7th. Just 7 weeks to go and I can’t wait. Next weekend, I’m taking a break from training, though, to travel to Yosemite to celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday. Looking forward to the trip. And the following weekend, I’m doing an overnight round-trip bike trip to Natchez with friends who are also racing at Ironman Florida. Should be fun.