“The most recent water quality test conducted on June 15 by the Department of the Environment of the District of Columbia showed that the Potomac River levels were well within the acceptable range for swimming in the river. "However, since the last test, the amount of rainfall may have resulted in an elevated risk," stated the DOE. "The Department of the Environment states that athletes swim at their own risk and if they choose to take part in the river swim, that they take extra precautions upon exiting the water to ensure that all potential bacterial contaminants are thoroughly rinsed away."
USA Triathlon CEO Skip Gilbert stated: " Based on the hard data from the test results earlier this week, we are well within acceptable standards. The ITU competition jury, in association with USA Triathlon technical and medical officials, have made the decision to run a full triathlon tomorrow."
After the packet pick up we walked forever to the race start to drop off my bike in the transition area. Although it was a really long walk it was very cool seeing all the historic monuments and buildings. Now that I look back on the day it was such a blur, I can’t even remember what we saw. We made our way back to the car to drive to Thom and Eileen’s house. Thom had planned a big poker night for the guys. I played for maybe 3 rounds until I was out. Thom took the win and a pretty good hunk of change.
I fell asleep around 11:30. Woke up at 1 to the partying. Fell back to sleep around 2, then it was up at 4 to leave for the race. I think some people were still up when I left the house. Despite only getting 4 hrs of sleep I felt good for the race. I didn’t have time for a warm up run or swim before the race. Both would have definitely helped. They had our elite group go first in the water, I would say there was about ten of us. The swim went really well until the turn around bouy. I got swallowed up by a couple swimmers and lost my rhythm and I wasn’t the same on the way back in. Naturally I don’t swim in a straight line, so spotting is key and I couldn’t spot anything with the glare from the sun. I was relieved to be out of the water, as I always am during a race, and hit the dock sprinting to my bike. Started the “catching up” process on the bike, as usual, and passed everyone but 1 person. Started the run feeling really good. I was told I was about 2 minutes behind the leader. Hit a little hill half way and lost my pace. I didn’t see the leader with a mile to go and accepted a 2nd place finish. After the post race interview and congratulating the winner I met up with my mom and sister. They got up at 5am to get to the race, which I really appreciate. Having their support their means a lot.
Washington D.C. is a great place to feature a triathlon. Publicity for a race couldn’t be better. Volunteers and supporters for this race were probably the best I’ve seen. Overall the race for me went good. After seeing my splits, I wasn’t too happy with my swim or run pace. I lost 4 minutes to the leader during the swim and could only make up 2:30 minutes during the short bike ride. Ended up 5th overall. The race was pretty high profile so 5th place is okay. I will be spending more time practicing ocean/bay swims this summer for sure.
Here are some photos from my race.
After the amateur’s race the Pro men and women started up. It was very special to be at this race considering it is the only event on the ITU World Championship Series to be held in the US. It was really awesome seeing these guys in real life. They are all Olympians and definitely an inspiration to me. Here are some photos I took of their races.
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