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Race Result

Racer: Stuart Brandt
Race: Kinetic Sprint
Date: Sunday, April 24, 2005
Location: Spotsylvania, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Time: 1:50:19
Overall Place: 112 / 197
Age Group Place: 14 / 28
Comment: Tune-up for Columbia



Race Report:



Course:
750m/18mi/5K

Prerace:
After a week of worrying about the weather for my season opening race, I packed up the van with a variety of contingency clothes and drove through the pouring rain for the 90 minute trip to Fredericksburg, VA. Checked into the hotel, scoped out how far away the course was (40min), returned to the hotel for packet pickup, dinner at Friendly's, then turned in early. The next morning, time flew by and before I knew it I found myself with only 10 minutes to set up transition and get to the lake's beach for the pre-race meeting. Walking to the beach it hit home that bare feet in cold weather is uncomfortable at best. Ended up standing in the 62 degree lake during the meeting to keep warm.

The Swim:
The running beach start was fun as always, but that's where the swim fun ended. The course was a counter clockwise horseshoe and I didn't get a chance to scope it out ahead of time with my glasses on, so my line out to the first turn was all wrong. I wasn't swimming straight, I wasn't sighting well, I wasn't rolling enough to avoid breathing mouthfuls of water...things just weren't clicking. It was ugly, but 14 or so minutes later I was finally running up the hill to T1. Next time, a warmup (esp. for first OW swim of the season) is a must.

T1:
Took a lot of time trying to dry off as much as possible since I knew the bike was going to be cold. Put on a long sleeved running shirt over my Tri top, a light windbreaker, socks, shoes, helmet, glasses, full fingered gloves, and was off after about 4 minutes. Still lots of room for improvement here.

The Bike:
This section was pretty uneventful. There were a few smaller hills and my legs never warmed up, but overall I felt pretty good about the ride. I intentionally kept the pace slower than in the past in hopes of seeing how I might feel if I had a 10K yet to do. Approx time: 1:03.

T2:
Approach the dismount line, feet out of shoes, hit the ground, OUCH!! I nearly face-planted right there. The toes and forefoot of both feet were completely without feeling and my glutes were cramping. First time I ever had glute cramps, and boy do I hope it's the last. Hobbled into transition, changed into run gear and did my best to shuffle onto the run course a couple minutes later.

The Run:
I PASSED PEOPLE!! OK...not many...but I count anything greater than 0 as a bonus. The first 1.55mi was rough because I still couldn't feel the front of my feet (felt like running with bricks for feet), but by the time I got to final 1/2mi downhill section I was definitely running fast enough to hold off the other competitors. A couple of younger guys caught me with 50yds to go, but that was OK -- they started a wave ahead of me, so technically I had already beaten them. Approximate time here was 28minutes which matches my prior fastest tri-5K time.

Numbers:
Finish Time = 1:50:19 (112/197 overall male; AG 14/28)
Swim = 14:24 (AG 4/28)
T1+Bike = 1:06:14 (AG 18/28)
T2+Run = 29:42 (AG 20/28)