DC Tri Club Training Triathlon

DC Tri Club Training Triathlon Course

So, I did my first triathlon of the year today. I had signed up for two triathlons earlier this year... DC Tri Training Tri in June... swim was cancelled because of no lifeguard. Then, the Philadelphia Triathlon on June 27... swim was cancelled because a swimmer drowned the day before. So, the tri's turned into duathlons. As a result, I have now swum in a race and I have done very little swim training this year. In fact, the last time I swam in a pool was in late July. I did some ocean swims on vacation, but I think I've been in the pool less than 10 times thus far this year.

The training tri takes place down at Hains Point. We swim 400 meters in the Hains Point Pool (a 50m pool), do laps on Ohio/Buckeye Drive and then run one lap. Typically we do the long loop at Hains Point, but there was going to be two marches down in DC today... Glenn Beck and Al Sharpton. So, it was decided to do 5 short loops... I believe that results in a 15.5 mile bike. 3.1 mile run.

It also turns out that the local Team in Training triathlon team was doing a training tri down there, too. So, there were over 200 triathletes present and crowds starting to assemble for the political rallies. This resulted in Park Police getting nervous with our presence and cutting the race off before it ended. Fortunately, I finished before they pulled people off the course.

Swim as approximately 8:30. I was passed by three people, including Lennie, who got in the water right after me. I felt good on the first lap and the last lap... but was sluggish in between. I smoked the bike... ride time was 42:44... and I got behind some tour buses and Team in Training people a couple of times. Average HR was 153, cadence was 90 and overall, felt real strong on the bike. I did the run in about 26 minutes. Lennie had beaten me out of T2 but I passed him about halfway through the run. I put the hammer down and never looked back. I finished in 1:21:36... average HR was 152 and max was 163. I finished ahead of Lennie, and that is all that matters. :-)

Overall, a pretty good day. i don't think they'll ever have official finishing times because when I came in at the end of the run, the Park Police was hassling everyone and breaking up the race. No timers appeared to be present at the end.

Tomorrow... Half Full Triathlon bike course. I think I'll run a loop around the lake after the ride, too.