The Nations Triathlon

Let me just say that before the race it was miserable- pouring rain (hence our soaked bodies in the first picture) and we had to be there by around 6 am. Kerwyn started 95 minutes before I did but we both stood in the cold for a long time. I was soaking wet and cold for 3 hours before my race started. I regretted signing up for those hours of shaking in my pruned body.

As you can see once I was close to actually starting the race I was very excited to just get started (hence the thumbs up). I went into it with the mentality that I just didn't want to drown in the Potomac River and I was planning on a leisurely ride and walk through the city (I trained, but not as well as I could have). The swim went ok, but I hoped for a better time. However I also hoped to not get clubbed in the face with someone's nasty foot so it just wasn't my day in those regards. I drank a fair amount of the Potomac but my body has managed it well (it couldn't be worse than the Zambezi River).

After lazily drying off and getting on the bike crazy competitive Angie reared to life when I felt as strong as I ever have on my bike. Despite the rain I pushed my tempo faster than I thought sustainable and saved nothing for the run since I was planning on walking it anyways. When I got off the bike my legs felt better than expected for the brutal transition to running. So I decided to keep running as I believed I was having the race of my life. It was rainy and cold which is pretty ideal weather for running at least (apart from the water-logged shoes).

It turns out my overall time was 10 minutes slower than my last Olympic distance triathlon but I was still happy with my performance. I spent 8 minutes in the first transition since at that point I didn't care about my time so that didn't help the cause. Here's the breakdown for all 3 of you who care:

Swim 1500m 34:35
Transition 1 8:31
Bike (40K) 1:20:20
Transition 2 3:04
Run (10 K) 59:30

Overall 3:05:59
I came in 190 out of 393 for 25-29 year old females. Yes, it was that huge of a race, plus I'm in a pretty big age group.


I'm sure there will be many more triathlons to come in our future!