Racing in the Capital

Race weekend for me and the Devereaux runner. He cruised a training Half Marathon Sunday morning. At the same time I was downtown for what has become one of the largest triathlons in the world.

The Nation's Triathlon 9-13-09
1500m swim (Potomac River)
40K bike
10k run

New bike and run course this year. Just as flat.

Last year: 2,393 finishers
This year: 3,933 finishers

Me: Slower in the water. Faster on land. No injury. A healthy dose of fun and sun.
Mayor Fenty: ~15secs faster than me. Dammit.


70's and sunny, light wind.

SWIM
72F they said. Wore the full wetsuit.
Lots of body contact. Manged to swim pretty straight lines.
Dirty water from rainy week.
Wasted time wrestling into a sleeveless top before getting rolling on the bike. Could've gone topless and not been too chilly.

BIKE:
Used 11-23 cassette. Wheel cover. One bottle up front on the aero bars. (weak pic below)
Hit it hard out of the gate. Big ring all the way. Politely shouting "On YOUR left" all day, which is nice.
Almost too crowded on the bike course, but not quite. Only blocked briefly a couple times.
Took in a gel and ~16oz H2O. Almost vurped up the gel.
During the ride two guys passed me and stayed away. One was riding my bike. Score another showing for Felt.

RUN
Enjoyed a little tour of rows 20-23 searching for my rack spot. Finally, got headed toward Hains Point before circling back toward the Jefferson and returning to the finish near transition.

Again, 2 dudes passed me. One in my AG. Initially, caught him. Around mile 2. Ran with him and cajoled "let's go catch some guys, eh?" I was, apparently, still enjoying some race adrenalin and happy to be upright and off the bike. "No," he said, "I'm waiting." Uh-oh. I eased ahead. Not far past the 3mi mark he stopped waiting. Caught me and just kept fading into the distance.

Didn't monitor my mile splits, suspect I ran pretty evenly paced miles. It was tough to hold it for the last 2 miles. I tried to pick it up but doubt I shaved more than 3secs off my pace, and just as likely lost a little time despite the effort.

The numbers. Nothing surprising.
2008 v 2009

Yes, poor pic.
And, yes, I will eventually be trimming those cables.