I won the swim portion in my age group of the inaugural Washington, D.C., Triathlon.
It was all downhill from there.
That’s not exactly true, since I enjoyed every second of the sprint triathlon — a half-mile swim, 12-mile bike and 4.2-mile run last Sunday.
But the problem with the swim being the strongest part of your triathlon is that you spend the rest of the race getting passed.
I learned this a couple years ago, when I raced in an aquabike — a swim and bike ride, without the run. The only competitors I passed during the ride were on the side of the road trying to fix flat tires.
Lessons learned
House,Senate,President,White House,Conservatives,Liberals,Barack Obama,President,Democrats,Republicans,Libertarians,Mark Tapscott:26973199:26973199:Mark Tapscott. Practice running up and down hills.
Barack Obama,President,Democrats,Republicans,Libertarians,Mark Tapscott:26973199:26973199:Mark Tapscott. Walk at the water stations — sloshing water on you in 90-degree heat feels good, but splashing blue, sticky Powerade all over you does not.
Mark Tapscott:26973199:26973199:Mark Tapscott. Figure out a better way to wrap bandage. Better yet, buy a brace.
On Sunday, I did pass a couple people on the cycling portion, but many, many more sped by me. I passed more people on the run, but basically it was the same story — runners with excellent strides, looking fresh, sped past while I shuffled along, sweat pouring down in the 90-degreee heat. And because triathlons are weighted so that the swim is always the smallest part, the natural-born fish are at a disadvantage.
My swim took 13 minutes, the bike 43 and the run 41. Throw in my super-slow transitions between the segments, and I finished in 1:44.54, 11th out of 55 women in the 40-to-44 age group.
I was thrilled with both my overall place and my victory in the swim — I am a good swimmer, not great, so first-place finishes are rare for me.
I also was pleased with my knee, which held up relatively well for the four miles. And my run time wasn’t bad, considering that I adhered to my run-walk strategy and that the Ace bandage around my left knee unraveled three times, forcing me to stop and rewrap it.
This cost me valuable time, but I quickly dismissed any thoughts of taking the bandage off. At one point, I didn’t wrap the bandage tightly around the bottom of my knee, and I began running without the support I usually have. I almost immediately felt pain and decided to stop and wrap it better. That worked wonders, and the bandage didn’t come undone for the last three miles. I picked up the pace as I ran along, feeling better and stronger as the tightness in my quads from the 12-mile bike subsided. The run up Capitol Hill near the end was brutal — especially since I hadn’t run any hills in my preparation for the race (lesson learned).
But I was able to kick into a higher gear for the last half-mile because I had conserved energy in my effort to make sure my knee got through the race. I passed about 10 runners as I sprinted for the finish line on Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues, the Capitol looming behind me.
But I have lots of room for improvement — I placed 28th in the bike leg and 22nd in the run. And the transition from swim to bike took me a whopping four minutes and 28 seconds, 34th place. I have no excuse except I was trying to squeeze the water out of my hair and had trouble putting on my socks.
I entered the triathlon because I wanted to bike and run the streets of D.C. when they were closed to traffic. I enjoyed every bit of it, even when my legs were burning and sweat was dripping into my eyes. And the race organizers didn’t disappoint in their promise to take competitors past many of the city’s landmarks.
The Washington Monument rose above the transition area, where triathletes stored all their gear and started each leg of the race. We swam in the Potomac River, past the Lincoln Memorial. We cycled past the White House, the Kennedy Center and up Rock Creek Parkway. The bike turnaround in Georgetown was at the “Exorcist” stairs (my favorite part). We biked on the Memorial Bridge toward Arlington National Cemetery, with Arlington House in front of us. We ran past the Jefferson Memorial, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the many Smithsonian museums and the Capitol.
As soon as I finished, I was already planning to sign up for my next triathlon and pushing my boyfriend Tom to enter more triathlons in nearby cities, such as Philadelphia, next spring.
But first, I need to start revving up for another open-water swim. (As an aside, the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim took me about 15 minutes longer than the triathlon, but it was much more difficult.)
And then I’m planning at least one more triathlon, and who knows what other races I can find?
The summer awaits.
