Matt's DC Race Report

Results

I was probably asleep at about 10PM Saturday night.
Wake up at 3:30 AM.
Hop the shuttle bus to the transition zone. Should take about 10 minutes. Bus driver didn't know the route. 40 minutes later we still aren't there but we are close enough that we ask if we can walk the rest of the way. There were definitely logistical issues with this race. Genine may have covered them in her report.

Swim: Start is delayed a few minutes because the course isn't completely secured. There is a swim corral but it's not being organized. People from every wave are in the corral. When they call my wave. I make it into the water with about 40 seconds before the start. I'm on the right side of start line. There is no time to eye anyone up... Horn sounds and I'm off. The water is dark, you definitely can't see the length of your arm. This swim turns out to have the most contact of any swim I've done. People hitting my feet, arms, head, face.... I'm running into people as well. Because the wave starts were 3 minutes apart at most, I think the water was more crowded. Mixed with the fact you couldn't see, there was just ton of contact.
I also ran into some tree branches along the way. The worst moment of the swim was when I was at the max depth of my stroke, I hit what felt like the top of someone's head. So much so I looked down and back to see if I could see anyone. I then thought, that if it was another swimmer, they would have had a swim cap on right? I wouldn't have just hit a full head of hair like I just did... I have to say, I was creeped out a bit.
I kept on moving as best I could, I was really thinking that this was going to be a bad swim for me. Because of the rush at the start of the swim I forgot to hit start on my watch, so when I finished I had no way of knowing how I had done.

1500m 28:26 Haven't counted to determine actual swim rank. Looks like 170-175ish. Best swim was 19 minutes.
Edit: I had to know. 149th on the swim.

Transition went very smoothly. Run across the street found my bike easily. Plenty of room to move. Out of transition in 1:55. (I should have run harder out of the water to the bike).
81st overall T1 Time.

Bike: As I'm clipping in the guy just ahead of me has a blowout not 50m from the start. I'd be willing to bet he put new tubes in and didn't test ride the new install. I reminded myself never to let that happen to me.
The start of the bike was very much like most of my bike races. I don't feel very powerful. My focus for today's ride was to crank in circles. My quads were dying at Mooseman with the hills and my run suffered because of it. No hills here, work the circles. About halfway through the first of two loops, I started to feel like I had my bike legs. I had a group of about 6 people just a bit ahead of me. There were moments when I thought that I should power through them but they were staggered. AKA blocking. I think mostly because they didn't want to be drafting so they staggered instead. Whatever... There noticed two people in the group that looked like cyclists, so I was watching what they were doing. Take the turn, hop out of saddle and pump back up to speed. Power the "hill" or spin the "hill". This was working well for me but I'll have to admit they were slowly pulling away from me the entire time. I think I lost sight of them about 1/3 into the 2nd loop. While I was on my own, I definitely felt like I was floundering to find my pace but I was still feeling pretty good.
During the ride, I have been keeping my eyes open to see if I would spot Genine. Sure enough we do spot each other. Wahoo! I have no chance of catching up to her tho'.
Just before the turnaround of the 2nd loop. A less fit version of my friend Chaz (super biker), passes me. I now have my rabbit. Well maybe not, only kept him in sight for about 1/4 of the lap.
Next think I know, my bike number is looking like it's going to fly off. Ugh! How will I get my bike out of transition later if this thing flies off?? I mess with this a bit, while I'm rolling and finally decide that if it goes, I'll just tell the staff when I get to transition.
I get to transition, hoping I finally broke 20mph avg speed for the bike leg.

40K Bike 1:09:21 21.5 mph. Looks like 160-165ish overall.
Edit: 140th on the bike

T2: I run my bike into transition. It's cloudy so I don't need my sunglasses. I put on my hat. Pull the sock out of my running shoe and decide to pass on the socks. Let's keep this race moving!
1:20 in T2. 145th overall T2 time. (gotta practice leaving my shoes on the bike.)

I'm not half a mile into my run when I see that I'm about to pass the "super biker". As I get along side him I tell him how I tried to hold on but he crushed me on the bike. He responded that he has to make up time there because he's giving it all back on the run...
Running up one of the side road "up and backs". I hear Genine yelling to me again. I forget what the sprint course vs the olympic course look like. Again, I don't think I have a chance to catch her as she will run straight up the Avenue after this I think.
About 2 miles in, I'm starting to feel the dreaded heel chafe. I should have put my socks on. Or put a big ole bandaid around my heels. So dumb! Of course this happened last year at Buckman but I thought that was because of a tear in my shoe. I guess not. I'm sure it's going to look pretty nasty. Yet all I can think is of the post race discussion about it last year and Maija said "Suck it up Princess". I didn't have anything that was going to help so I just kept at it. It wasn't long before my left heel decided to join in on the fun. Awesome! I'm so stupid. Now I'm thinking that I'd probably be running faster if I wasn't thinking about how I might possibly run differently to not cause so much abrasion. UGH!
As I'm running under what I think was the longest tunnel on the run, I was getting very warm. When we got to the other side, a cool breeze and a light rain was there to meet us. The guy behind me said "Perfect!" I was in total agreement. We were going to be running back through that tunnel in less than half a mile. I won't be as hot going the other way.
I had my footpod going, so I kept checking to see that I was no slower than 8 min miles. Every "downhill" I pushed as fast as could, taking every bit of free speed I could get. I never did look to see what my actual splits were, I just stayed on task. Keep pushing!
With about half a mile to go. A couple guys running quickly by me say "You can smell victory from here!" I try to pick it up but I'm not going to be able to stay with them. Once I made the turn and saw the finish, it didn't look like I was going to catch anyone else. Maybe one guy.... maybe. Then I hear Genine yelling, I was right about where the carpet started for the finish. I look at Genine and point at the guy ahead of me and kick it in. I don't think he tried to sprint with me. I'll have to see the pictures to find out.
So now I've crossed the finish and I'm kind of dying. They hand me the finisher medal, I walk over to the people taking the chips. They look at me. I look at them. They continue to look at me. It seems they think I'm going to remove my chip for them. I'm not. They eventually realize that and take the chip off of my ankle.
As I'm walking with Genine, I say "did the clock say 2:32:xx? Or am I mistaken?" I was supposed to start 6 minutes after so that would have been a good race if I'm thinking right.
We walk down to the food tent. I get water. My heels are killing me. I still don't want to look. We decided to walk back to the hotel. I walk barefoot. Ahhhhh much better. Never mind the screaming when the water from my shower hits it. Ha ha!

It isn't until much later in the day that we make it back to the results list and I found out that I had in fact finally broken 20mph and stayed under 8 min/mile off the bike. The 2 goals I had going into this race. I'm now very glad that I did this race. I thought the first half of my tri season was going to be somewhat forgettable. This was the boost I was looking for.

10K 46:24 7:29 min/mile 170-175th in the run?? I didn't count
Edit: 148th on the run

Total 2:27:22 122nd of 364 overall, 19 of 54 Age Group, 102 of 266 male.
Edit: Kind of interesting that Swim 149th + 140th bike + 148 Run= 122nd overall


Fun Facts: When we get out race packet. We open it and we are pretty sure it's Vinnie Monseau on the cover. A picture of him at the Nations Tri with the capitol in the background.

We saw many pros / olympians up close and personal. At the race site and the hotel. Kind of fun.
I'm guessing Genine's report talks about this already.

This might be the first time my bike leg is my strongest of the 3 events. I need to figure out my exact placement at some point. I'm interested.

Fun Photos:

Goggles De-Fogged, ready to swim


Old joke from 1987 "Does this sweater make my chest look big?"
This is the shirt from Genine's Race Packet.
She probably won't ever wear it, so she wanted me to see if it would fit.


After the race.




the bloody shoe