Richmond Rox Triathlon

On Sunday, September 18 I competed in my third triathlon. My first two were half ironmen, but this one was an Olympic distance. The short story? I did the backstroke during the swim again, yet somehow managed to pull off placing third in my age group!

Now for the slightly longer story.

The race took place at Rocketts Landing in Richmond. I arrived Sunday morning around 6:45 to set up my transition, then walked the half mile to the water start. Patrick was with me and we stopped to watch some of the half swimmers. I was nervous.

Heading in with my bike and gear to set up my transition.

Nervously waiting to get this show on the road. (Also, you would normally see more of the skyline of downtown Richmond behind me in the distance, but it was an overcast and foggy morning.)

My wave started at 8:10. We made our way down to the dock, then swam across the river to the starting buoy and waited for the horn. Between my nervousness and treading water waiting to start and having to adjust my goggles while treading I was already short of breath before we even started. Sheesh.

(I'm toward the right, with the white triangle on my back.)

Swimming to the starting line.

When the horn blew I started to swim normally. At least I tried to. My usual breath on every third stroke wasn't really cutting it though, and I kept awkwardly stopping to do a few breast strokes before trying again. But, as usual, I knew I wasn't in a good groove and I knew I was just falling farther and farther behind. So I did what I always do, because it seems to work for me. I swam on my back. And I think I was smoother this time about quickly turning over to sight before doing another hard twenty strokes or so. I was fine with it. But then this guy in a kayak came up next to me and tried to coach me. He was really nice. He asked me my name and told me to relax and calm down and he encouraged me to swim (normally) next to him and to breath on every other stroke. So I did that a little bit, for him. But I still knew it'd be faster to just keep doing the backstroke. So I did. Later, after I'd gone around the two turn buoys and was heading back down river he found me again. He asked if it was my first triathlon. He said I should join his group for weeknight open water swims. But I told him I live in Charlottesville. Again, he was very nice and I appreciate his attention, but all that chatting was slowing me down. At least by that point he wasn't trying to make me swim normally anymore, and he just told me to head straight for the smokestack. Which I did, on my back.

Swim (1500 meters): 46:36. (Really slow.) When I came out it was time for the half-mile run to transition. Luckily they let us keep shoes by the water exit. T1: 9:00.

The bike ride went much better. I tried to keep a good pace and felt strong. The pace was faster than my usual weekend rides, but still not terribly fast compared to everyone else. I did, however, pass a few people. So at least I felt like I was still in the game.

Bike (25 miles): 1:31:38. T2: 2:33 (Really?! My fastest transition yet!)

The run started out strong. But trying to go fast for six miles is hard, so my pace slowed some as time went on. The route went along the canal, across the river on the 14th St. Bridge, passed Legends Brewery, back over the river on Lee Bridge, and onto Brown's Island before heading back along the canal. There were a lot of turns, and one really steep downhill on brick that I walked down for fear of slipping or irritating my IT band. It also got hot on the run, so I poured water over my head at the aid stations. The run wasn't really all that fun overall, but I passed some people and mostly felt good. I was also pretty happy when it was over.

Run (6.2 miles): 58:11. Total: 3:27:55. My goal had been to finish under 3:30, so that worked out.

Catching my breath.

Feeling better after some rest and lots of water.

When it was over I drank a bunch of water and stretched in the shade. Then I got some food, though I wasn't really in the mood for eating yet. They had barbecue sandwiches but I just wanted to eat more cauliflower (the other raw veggies having already run out on the platter that was out). We didn't stick around too late, because I needed to hurry up and shower so we could go to Kings Dominion for the rest of the day. (We'd also gone to a birthday party and Ben Folds concert the night before. It was a busy weekend.)

On the run I remember passing one woman in my age group (our ages are written on the back of our calf), so I knew I wasn't dead last. I assumed I was probably second-to-last. It wasn't until I checked the results the next day that I learned I won third place in my age group! (Out of six.) If we'd stuck around longer I would have gotten a prize! Overall I was 88 out of 124 though. Meh.