The Biggest Race of the Year

I'm happy to report of a an exciting late addition to my race schedule this year. This makes 9 races for me through October, so I can't say that I was really looking to squeeze in another this season. I'm thrilled for this one, however, because I will be competing in a relay with my mother and my sister. My mom will swim (400 meters, open water!), I will bike, and my sister will run.

I couldn't be more excited that they have not only agreed to participate but now that we are officially signed up have already thrown themselves into training. I should note that while my mother has a good stroke and sometimes swims for exercise, she has never done any kind of a race like this, and while my sister has done this race twice as an individual, she has not competed in triathlon since having a baby, so this is kind of a big deal. Look out for us September 26 at the New England Danskin Triathlon!

Jim McDonnell Lake Swim May 30, 2010

2 miles
6th overall (non-wetsuit), 49:50

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I competed in what is technically my first-ever open water swim (standalone edition) and by far my longest continuous swim. This event offered 1 and 2 mile options and I decided to go for the greater distance just to challenge myself and see what swimming for close to an hour straight would feel like. I also targeted this swim because it is in the same lake as the Reston Triathlon in September with a similar course, albeit longer by about 1/10 distance, and of course two times around in this case.

The day turned out to be hot and sunny, perfect for me for an early swim. When I heard that the water temperature was nearing 80, I decided to switch to the non-wetsuit division. I was surprised to learn that there was no upper temperature limit for wetsuit wear for this type of event, as opposed to triathlon, and probably about half of the competitors still wore one. I think I would have drastically overheated especially as I got farther into the race, so I was happy to go without. After a very brief and probably unnecessary warmup in a 25 yard pool adjacent to the lake, I was ready to go. Waiting around for the pre-race briefing seemed to take forever, but then suddenly we were lining up for the 2 mile start and my wave was in the water and starting practically before I was ready.

While I was in the right position and had everything I needed, my goggles were not really sealed tight and this proved to be a problem as I fought to get to some open water with the rest of my wave. Since this event was seeded by time, and at least at the front people seemed to have seeded themselves appropriately, it was a crowded fight much longer than in a typical triathlon swim. I could barely see with my goggles filled with water but didn't want to lose any ground or get in others' way, so I waited as long as possible to turn on my back and quickly readjust them. That helped the problem a little but I unfortunately had to stop two more times during the first lap of the course to complete this maneuver until I finally got them sealed and could just worry about my swim.


Aside from this slight equipment malfunction, the race went well as I focused on taking a good line which involved less sighting off buoys than staying close to the shore until the far turnaround point. I didn't feel fast during the first lap, but I felt a surge as I came around to the start point and worked much harder during the second lap. It was really hard at any point to estimate where I was in the field so I truly swam my own race and had no idea at the finish how I had done. As it turned out, I was the 6th fastest woman in my division and 1st in my age group, so I got a nice medal for my efforts. I think that was not close to my best possible time for a race of this distance, but I enjoyed myself, paced well, and took a good course line which was my main goal. I was not focused on this race at all except as good training, and I think it definitely served that purpose. Now I know that a 2 mile swim is hard and does feel long during it, but is certainly doable, and I wouldn't hesitate too much to sign up for 3 or 4 miles. Longer than that, however, is probably not for me. I might take that back for a beautiful tropical area swim, but I will never be an English Channel style marathon swimmer.

I also feel very confident for the swim portion of the Reston Triathlon. Last year, I finished the 1500 in just over 23 minutes with a wetsuit, and knew that I had not taken a good line and had lost potential drafting and sighting benefit by not following the fast group that had stayed very close to shore. In this race, I finished 1 mile right around 23 minutes with no wetsuit, so I know I can drop a lot of time from last year's swim come September. And just as I plan to do for that race, and likely the Reston Sprint at the end of this week, I celebrated my 2 mile finish with delicious Flippin Pizza.

Kinetic Sprint May 9, 2010

750m swim, 18m bike, 5k run
Swim 11:16/5--T1 1:24/2--Bike 53:45/11--T2 :17/1--Run 22:08/4
2nd overall, 1:28:48

A First for Me but not 'The' First

On Sunday, May 9, I competed in the Kinetic Sprint triathlon, my first time doing this race. It was held at Lake Anna, with which I have grown familiar from doing the Giant Acorn triathlon in the fall and Rumpass in Bumpass three weeks ago, but this course was on the other side of the lake so completely new to me. I chose the race based on its proximity to DC and because I appreciate how Set Up runs their events, especially same-day packet pickup and later start times for early-season races. A sprint with a longer bike section is not the optimal race scenario for me, but I've been working a lot to improve on the bike so I still went in with high expectations.

Pre-race
I arrived at the race site as planned with just enough to time to drive the bike course and then get parked and checked in two hours ahead of the start. That timing turned out to be perfect because parking and packet pick-up started to get quite backed up soon after I had sailed through. I walked quickly to transition to claim my bike spot, then did my usual bike warmup to check out the mount area and first few miles and adjust the gear I would start in (important here because the bike leg started on a hill), transition set up (checking and double-checking that my shoes were clipped into the bike with straps left open this time) and brief warmup swim (also being sure to evaluate the course carefully from both in and out of the water). I do tend at least to learn from my past race mistakes but as you will see, that doesn't mean I don' t commit new ones...

The Swim
My wave was the third on this day, 8 minutes back from race start, and I made sure to focus on the waves before me to see how the strongest swimmers dealt with the mass start running into the water. This is not my preferred start type, although I think many triathletes like it better than a in-water start where they worry more about being kicked and trampled. I find it much easier to start from a position of treading water, because I can place myself to the very front and side and take some quick strokes off the line to get into mostly open water. I guess I'm one of the kicker/tramplers that everyone dreads, whereas from a running beach start I have to spend much longer in the scrum of bodies.

At any rate, the horn sounded and I raced as much as possible to get ahead of my wave. Coming up to the first turn buoy, I noticed that there were more fellow green caps than I would have expected in the vicinity so I tried to speed up my stroke a bit more. At this point we were also hitting the end of the wave before us, and for the rest of the swim it would be very crowded and rough because the waves had picked up and with only three total buoys everyone was just sighting off the mass in front and staying in a clump. Coming around the second turn buoy, I was stroke for stroke with two women from my wave, one on my left and one on my right. I think we could all see each other and were working hard to not let anyone get ahead, but fortunately we did a good job staying parallel and not doing any hitting, while I think a similarly positioned group of competitive guys would have beat each other up. When we hit land, I heard I was 5th or 6th woman, not a spectacular place for me but at least I knew that two others were right there with me.

The Bike
While I was hoping to have a better bike start at Kinetic than in my last race where I had left my shoes strapped shut on the bike, this was not to be. This time I couldn't get a decent mount on the bike at all. Part of the problem was the crowded mount line which was also on a incline, part was the fact that the elastic holding my left shoe off the crowd wouldn't break when I got my foot on it, so the other shoe wouldn't come around for me to push off and go, and my continued failure was due to the fact that this trailing shoe was then hitting the ground as I tried to get going causing me to nearly fall multiple times and also barely avoid riding into a ditch on the far side of the road from where I had started. After probably 45 seconds of fumbling, I finally got going, but I definitely had lost a lot of momentum in the interim as well as several places, so now I was not sure where I stood among women. Fortunately I had no trouble slipping my feet into my shoes a little bit up the road when it got more level and I again used my frustration and anger to fuel a fast ride.

The rest of the bike leg felt great and I really loved the course. It was hilly in parts, but rolling, and I just felt very fast and was aero essentially the whole way. I knew I had to do a lot of catching up, not only of women who were close to me coming out of the swim and flew by during my mount troubles, but also those who already had an unknown lead. During the ride I focused on picking people off, and always hoped as I was coming up for a pass that it would be a woman. Sometimes with triathletes it's really hard to tell, however, and I was definitely disappointed more than once to find that the person I had chased down was actually a man who favors short and tight jerseys, or a young boy. Still I was able to pass about three other ladies, with only one who passed me, and I came into the final three miles within the state park with two women in immediate sight. During this last stretch, the bike was just as clumped up as the swim had been, so I ended up slowing a little to be safe and conserve energy because it seemed that passing would be too difficult. In retrospect, I wish I had pushed this section more, other cyclists be damned, because I know I could have gone much faster and lost less time to the leader.

The Run
Coming into transition, I knew that I could pass the two women who were essentially even with me so I sped through (17 seconds--I really must pat myself on the back for this one!) and took some fast first steps into the run to get myself into the groove. I heard that I was third and the second woman was about 40 seconds ahead, so I set my sights on closing that gap as quickly as possible. I felt good, even with the short but steep hill that started the run, and was happy to be able to spot the woman I was chasing when the road opened up on a downhill. The road was not very shaded or scenic, but I was focused on my goal and was able to pass into second right about at the turnaround point. Since most of the course was out and back, I had seen the leader who seemed pretty far ahead but possibly running a slower pace, as well as a woman chasing me and clearly closing the gap. This gave me good incentive to pick up my pace even though I felt like I was cramping up, and as I stole looks behind me to make sure she wasn't right there, I started to feel stronger and knew I could sprint through to the finish. The last stretch of the run was through the woods and I gave it everything I had. As it turned out, I had the fourth fastest run split overall among women. Not only was that my best ever triathlon run placing, but for the first time ever, I placed more highly on the run than I did on the swim. That is something I would have never anticipated before I started triathlon training...



I'm pleased with my result at Kinetic Sprint although of course I am still seeking an overall win. Fortunately I loaded this season with races, so I have 6 more opportunities to go for first. I think that I raced well here, especially in the run but also in the bike, aside from my mounting disaster, maintaining over 20mph average, which I believe is another first for me. I still have things to work on (bike mount!) but I can see where training has paid off and there is a lot more still to put in for greater improvements.

Rumpus in Bumpass Sprint April 18, 2010

750m swim, 12m bike, 5k run

Swim 11:43/3--T1 01:07/3--Bike 37:41/8--T2 01:01/9--Run 22:35/7

2nd overall, 1:14:05

Writing this report with a couple of week’s perspective on the first race of the season, I’m going to focus on lessons learned. So here it is, the good, the bad and the downright ugly

1. Swimming straight is not enough

In case this diagram is not as illustrative as hoped, I went just a bit off course during the swim. I have never had this kind of trouble in a swim before, and in my pre-race preparations I never anticipated having trouble here. I looked at the course map, checked out all of the buoys from land and during warmup, and started the race with full confidence. I even noticed at one point that my nearest competition was veering quite far to my left and assumed that she was wrong. Well, it turned out to be me who was taking a focused, direct and quick line to the wrong buoy, having somehow never correctly registered the shape of the course. So, lesson learned—know the course, and knowing means checking and double-checking, talking to other racers to confirm where we are going, and actually listening during pre-race instructions.

2. Channel that anger

When the stick figure in the orange blob (aka kayaker) finally got my attention to point me back towards the correct course, I went through a lot of emotions very quickly. There was definitely a moment of denial, then shock, anger, anxiety and more anger. This was at least accompanied by a burst of adrenaline as I booked it back towards the line of swimmers I could see to my left and then pushed to pass as many people as I could during the remainder of the swim. I was thrilled to hear when I was running into T1 that I was still the third woman, and my continued anger at my own stupidity fueled a fast bike and run. So, lesson learned--when something goes wrong during a race, freaking out won’t help, but getting mad can be great motivation.

3. Make a list and check it twice

I discovered major mental lapse number two very early in the bike leg, when I went to slide my feet into the cycling shoes that I had left clipped on the bike and discovered that I had left them strapped shut. I had skipped a vital step in setting up my transition area, one that I did not consider in my mental checklist because it was just too obvious. I thought my set-up routine was as methodical and thorough as possible, but six months without racing had left some holes. So, lesson learned—a printed transition checklist can be just as helpful and necessary as a packing list.

4. A good shoe can’t be beat

In my determination to race through T2, I got my racing flats all kinds of twisted on my feet. I figured that I could deal with blisters during a 5K, and any time advantage gained in chasing the race leaders would be well worth the pain. Fortunately, as I was running, the shoe issue resolved itself as the flats molded to my feet as well as always. So lesson, reinforced—Brooks Racer ST flats are amazing.

5. You never really know where you stand

Throughout this race I was in the unexpected position of trying to chase my competition, when usually I try to lead onto the bike and hope not to get caught. I was never absolutely sure of my standing, and this uncertainty spurred me to race as hard as I possibly could. I realized that even when you think you know your relative position, there are racers in other waves who may challenge you although you never see them in real time, and though you never wish it for anyone, competitors ahead of you may have breakdowns or incur penalties that change the final standings. So, lesson learned—race through the finish because every step of the run is an opportunity to improve your place.