Official TriRock Annapolis Race Report - PreRace

Apparently, my recap of the TriRock race wasn't what I should've written in an official race report. So, I'm writing the official one based on this article: http://www.examiner.com/triathlon-in-washington-dc/how-and-why-to-write-a-race-report

·  Race Name: TriRock Annapolis

·  Race Date: May 14, 2011
·  Race Location: Annapolis, MD - City Docks
·  Race Distance: Sprint (500m OWS, 12.1 mi bike, 5k run (which turned into a 3.5 mi run)
·  Division: F 30-34
·  Total Time: 1:39:25
·  Time Breakdown: Swim - 14:06, T1 - 3:40, Bike - 48:23, T2 - 2:16, Run 31:03

·  Age Group Placing: 29/52

·  Overall Placing: 567/825 (male and female)

Pre-race:
I registered online about 2 weeks before the race after my May 1 triathlon got canceled. The fees were a high ($140/USAT members). The course maps and directions were provided online before hand - which was nice.

I was a little annoyed that there was no race-day packet pickup as it's an hour long drive (with no traffic) from home to Annapolis. It turned out to be ok, because we just made a weekend out of it instead of driving to/from Annapolis twice. Packet pick-up was from 2-8pm on Friday, May 13.

We arrived around 1:15, checked into the hotel, dumped our stuff (including my bike), drove down to where pick-up was, and promptly turned around to find parking. We got kind of lost during this process, but found one of the two race-day garages, so that was good. We walked down to the venue and picked up my packet. We had allowed plenty of time to hang out at the expo, but were pretty disappointed in the offerings (small expo). We did enjoy listening to the race MCs talk a bit. There wasn’t much swag at all (especially for that expensive of a race). I signed up for TriRock Gettysburg and got a TriRock shirt, which is free advertising for them, and another shirt for me!

I didn’t get much sleep, but woke up at 4 and took a shower. Weird since I knew I’d be doing the race, but I needed it. Got my race tattoos on, packed everything for the race into my bag, and headed to the car. On the way over to the race, I had my Luna protein bar (standard breakfast before a morning workout) and some water. We found the parking garage, pumped up the tires on my bike, and started heading down to the race area.

There were plenty of volunteers directing us where to enter the transition area. By the time we got to the transition areas, it was 5:30 and I had plenty of time to set up (maybe too much). I went back and forth several times about how each item was laid out in my transition area. I think this generally worked for me and I’ll probably do something similar next time.

Thankfully, by getting to the transition area early, I was able to use the bathroom before the rush. They definitely needed more port-a-potties. The pre-race safety meeting included a lot of chatter from the MCs of the event, most of which wasn’t heard by most of the athletes. There were close to 1000 of us and everyone talking, moving around, and being nervous made it difficult to focus on the task at hand.

The pre-race National Anthem rendition was one of the worst I’ve ever experienced. In my survey after the race, I made sure to note it. Following a thank you to all of the military participants, the National Anthem should’ve been a lot more traditional. I get that it’s the TriROCK series, but still.

As the misty rain fell, it was 7am and time to start!

Part 2: Official TriRock Annapolis Race Report - Swim/Bike/Run/Transitions.