DC Race Report

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Hey All!  Here is a race report from Ben Peeples who raced the Washington DC Triathlon, June 20th 2010.

Here's my race report. Hands down the best race I've ever had. It was 800m open water in the delectable potomac river, 20k ride through downtown washington dc and 6.7k run ending on capitol hill.

Pre Race: I felt I lacked a certain regularity to my nutrition so I decided to stick with what I've been eating. Banana, cereal and milk, cliff bar and water at about 3:15am this morning. I also benefited from having enough experience to ward off and prerace anxiety related stomach issues.

Swim: The worst part was the corral. I was kicked about 19 times waiting for the swim start. Aside from that I was relatively relaxed. After the second turn I had a feeling I was going to end up with a 20+ minute split. I definitely felt I could have swam faster but I wanted to make sure I could really kick it on the bike. Good news came back when I finished: 16:03

T1: I took my time and slowed the heart rate before I got on the bike. Thank you Pacers transition clinic for the rubber band tip to keep my shoe positioned. Thumbs up to you guys: 2:08.

Bike: I made it my point to keep my speed over 20mph and only let people with better bikes pass me. Worked out really well. I could have pushed it up the one hill in the middle of the course a little more and I'm continuing to have water bottle problems. Lost another one on the course. Oh well. Good ride. 21mph average: 35:26.

T2: I got out of my shoes at the dismount just fine and had to slow myself down running through the TA. I was ready to hit the road: 1:24.

Run: Kept it at a decent pace to start and got in a good groove in the middle of the course. Thank you DC Tri volunteers for the water! The rags were great too. I really felt very comfortable until the first pass of the finish area. HUGE Side stitch cramp that took a few meters to rub out. What always helps is the dude who passes you telling you to get a move on. Thanks to that DC Tri gentleman for kicking my ass back into gear. That hill was pure pain but I kicked hard to finish. Good run I think: 30:47.

Overall: 01:25:46

Hands down the best race I've run and my first in the area, as I just moved back here from Tulsa. It was a fantastic race and I'm completely excited about my time. I set my goal as 1:30, having not done an open water but twice at Sandy Point. The best part about good races is trying to figure out how you can go faster. Maybe the worst part is not having any excuses for why you didn't. Everything clicked this race.

Men 25-29
Age Group 9/127
Rank   top 7.1%
Gender 51/613
Rank top 8.3%
Overall 54/1136
Rank top 4.8%

Ben Peeples