Race Report for Lake Anna Olympic Triathlon

Drove out to Margie & Hank’s Friday night for the 10am race start on Saturday. Really like the 10am start! This place was really hidden. Took me a little driving around to finally find the race site, good thing I left early. I had plenty of time to set up transition and get in a short run. I was feeling pretty good considering. I heard that the coarse was flat and fast, perfect for me. The weather was in the 70s, perfect as well. Water temps were said to be 75, nice. The race field was pretty stacked. There were a lot of college teams being represented as well. Usually college teams have some pretty good swimmers but aren’t too strong on the bike and/or run.

Right as the gun sounded for the start of the swim it was a mess of arms and legs everywhere. This was the first race where I started very aggressive in the swim. Besides getting kicked a little throughout the swim it went pretty good. I’ve found that the best choice for a swimmer like me is to swim with a group and risk getting kicked or punched, but stay on coarse and possibly draft off a swimmer in front. I finished the swim in 26 minutes. I think that’s’ a PR for me in a 1500 meter race.

Hit transition ready to really push it on the bike. Unfortunately I went to the wrong bike at first and lost 30 seconds or so, I was pissed. I had heard that the bike coarse was flat and fast and I was ready to go under 55 minutes for the 40K. But a good portion of the ride was rolling hills and not flat at all. Had a few guys hang on behind me for a little while before falling off, it’s not legal, but easily done without getting caught. Ended up passing everyone except for maybe 4 guys. Bike time was 58 minutes, not 1^st but 2^nd fastest somehow.

Got off the bike feeling a good amount of pain in the ankle. Once again in transition, I went to the wrong bike rack and lost maybe 15 seconds.

Started the run with 2 other guys. I could only keep up with them for a couple miles. The run coarse was not flat as I had expected. Rolling hills and a rough trail.. Not as difficult as the Luray run coarse but almost. I definitely left it all out there on the bike coarse. I just couldn’t find that extra gear on the run. I finished the first 5K around 18, but suffered on the second half. Very surprised and a little disappointed to see the run time up at 39 minutes; though it was the 8^th fastest. My ankle was on fire after the race.

In the end I finished 9^th overall and 2nd in my age group. I was happy with the race I had except for losing at least 45 seconds in transition and regretted not staying up with the 2 guys that passed me in the run. Nutrition for the race included 1 bottle of Accelerade, 1 bottle of water with 2 salt tablets, 1 Honey Stinger gel and 1 Accelerade gel. Had a bit of a stomach cramp the last 3 miles.

This was the final Triathlon for me this season and I have big plans for next..

Coming up I’ll have some race pics posted soon as well as a my assessment on my 09 tri season.