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SRRC Race Reports
Worldgate Super Sprint Triathlon, Herndon, VA —April 27, 2008
by
Catalina Gomolka
Swim
I was a little nervous. This was my first triathlon of the season. To top it off, as we
were lining up for the pool swim, I started to worry about my swim time. I had given
a time based on a timed-swim that I had done the week before. I was number
38 out of about 120 people, but I am NOT a strong swimmer. How could I be 38? As I stood there waiting for my turn, I started wishing this was an open water swim. It is so much easier to hang back, let everyone go, and just swim at my own pace!
In the past, I have typically taken it easy during the swim, seeing it as a warm
up for the rest of race. This time, though, with my concern about being too slow for
my placement, I went all out—a full sprint for the entire swim, something that
I am not used to and definitely didn’t train for. I won’t lie— it was hard! But
it didn’t last long, so in the end I thought it was worth it. I should do that more often. I still prefer open water to a pool swim though.
Bike
Once the swim was over, I was happy. The transition was reasonably quick. (I really
have to work on cutting down my transition times though.) I told
myself that I had to push hard the entire time, so off I went. It was very cold at
first, but I warmed up soon enough. I never dried off, though, because of a slight drizzle
throughout most of the ride. When I heard the bike portion ran on the W&OD, I
had been worried that the trail would be crowded, but it was not at all. I think it
definitely helped that I was 38th out of the water. The front of the field was a bit more spread out than the rest of the pack.
Run
My transition off the bike was longer than it should have been but still under 2
minutes. My legs felt pretty good as I started running. A bit into the run my ankle
started to hurt, though. It’s a weird pain that I get once in a while. I haven’t
figured out what it is yet. Usually stopping and rolling my ankle a few times makes
it feel better. So I did that, and off I went again. I felt great during the rest of
the run. Slight hills—but nothing too difficult. I got to the 1 mile marker and
turnaround and couldn’t believe how quickly it seemed that I had gotten there. I only had one mile to go. I came to realize that I love Sprint Tris. Knowing that the run is so short just makes it all the better.
I PR’d overall—swimming, riding, and running faster. I was happy. To top it off, I placed
third in my age group, something that I have never done before. I will definitely have to do the Sprint distance more often!
April 2008
The SRRC would love to hear about your running, racing, or crewing experiences! If you would like to submit a race report, to be posted on the SRRC website, please email srrunner@srrunners.org.