The Nations Triathlon will be held Sunday the 13th and we drove to DC on Friday the 11th so we would have all day Saturday to do pre race activities and some time on Friday to explore DC. David and I drove to the transition area early Saturday morning and figured out a parking strategy for race day. We also went for a short 4.5 mile run that included parts of the run course but also enjoyed some of the monuments and other attractions of downtown. I met up with my clients Jimmy and Richard on Saturday afternoon and went to the expo for packet pickup. My hotel is right across from the Expo and central to the downtown area. They stopped by my hotel first to load my bike and gear. We knew there was an organized open water swim in the Potomac so we planned our day so we would have time to set up our bikes and gear and still have time for a pre race swim.
This is Jimmy’s first triathlon so we spent this day discussing a lot of pre race strategies and got him and his gear set up and ready for race day. We left all our gear overnight so would not have to address that issue in the morning. The swim was not extended to the full course but got an idea of what navigation was going to be like for Sunday as well as get a feel for the current. The swim is set up to be against the current for the first half, turn around and swim back to a platform that has a metal ramp to assist in exiting the water. The start will be an “in water” start.
We finished all that by 4:30 and then went to a family style Italian restaurant. Shared a little pasta, a chicken dish and Italian sausages. A little heavy on the protein, but it’s an early dinner and feel it wont be a problem. Around 7:30 I met up with David for a glass of wine and a super yummy cupcake for dessert. I was in Bed by 9:30pm for a 5am wake up call.