With no swim and what little running I have been doing I just took this first run very easy. Stayed very comfortable and chatted with people. It was already getting hot and muggy and it was only 7:30 in the morning.

Nothing too exciting. There was a lot of ground to cover in transition, this was a pretty good T1 for me.

I decided to leave the flat kit behind and go with no water bottles for the ride. I had the NeverReach and added about 24 oz of water to it. I was looking forward to getting on the bike for the entire 5K. It felt great to be in the saddle! I settled in to the aero bars and reached down to take a sip of water from the NeverReach. I didn't know I was going to get a shot of protein too! Apparently I should get in the habit of cleaning off the mouth piece after a 3 hr drive with the bike on top of the car. THAT WAS ONE CRUNCHY SIP OF H2O!! Since I had my shot of protein I figured I might as well take a hit of gel to balance things out. I just settled in to a "comfortable hard" effort. The roads were very crowded with riders of all levels. I was trying to encourage the Team-in-Training riders but at the same time let them know that they need to stay right unless they are passing. That seemed to get me some dirty looks like I was being an ass. Oh well, the ride must go on. :-) The hills on the course were short and sweet just crowded. There was very little race ettiquette on the course. People were riding 3 abreast chatting in the middle of the road. Guys were entering the corners wide and cutting to the inside like there was noone else on the road. This was a ride I was just going to enjoy, not race. I don't remember the names of the roads on the course but there were some cool views out there. I was keeping on top of my hydration and took a gel at the beginning of each lap then another about 5 min before the end of the bike leg. I had no Garmin or bike computer so the ride was somewhat "naked" with only a HRM to go by. I passed the transition area in 33 min and started on the second loop. My bike was still making a crazy vibration when I touched the rear brake so I mainly used my front brake. I ended up getting the song Copacabana stuck in my head again. Ugh! I think I passed it on to about 5 other riders as I went by them. I'm thoughtful like that. :-)The second loop was the same as the first only about 1 min longer. Overall I was very pleased to get off the bike with no accidents with how crowded it was out there.

I could have pushed much harder but it just wasn't safe to.

This was actually a pretty smooth transition, just a long run to the timing mat.

Nada

Legs felt great and I found a very comfortable pace. HR was a bit higher than my effort but I figured it was only a 10K. The first few miles felt good, it was hot and I was taking water and Gatorade at each aid station and holding 7:30's or so. I am not sure what happened to the mile markers but when I looked at my watch at mile 4 I saw 40 minutes! I was floored. WTH? I just started to walk, then ran a bit and walked a bit, chatted with some other runners and figured that these last two miles were going to suck. The finish line wasn't getting closer and faster by walking so I leaned forward and started to run again. Just a few steps after I started running I heard someone say the 6 mile mark was just ahead. WTF?! I started hightailing it for the last 1/2 mile or so just trying to pick people off in my AG. I don't know what happened to the mile markers or to my mind but that was the strangest 10K I have ever run.

Pay attention more and stay focused. (That's just not in my nature though) :-)

Hung out at the finish line for a short time, grabbed some food and packed up transition. Rode back up the hill to the car and headed home. I stopped on the way home and hooked the Compex unit to my quads and repeated the recovery mode all the way home. THAT FELT GREAT!!!


Ummm, lack of training and too much weight!


Good race, apparently it has a 30% track record of turning into a duathlon. (2 out of 6 yrs) I probably won't do it again but it was a good experience to do once.