Tri in the Buff Duathlon

Another great race day. I was very excited for this day, being my 2nd duathlon in as many weeks. Still on my high from placing last week, I went in hoping for another good performance. The big competition were two men who have competed at the national level and qualified for the world duathlon championships. I had no intention in beating them today, but I was gunning for "best of the rest". A total of 30 athletes registered for this race, but only 18 finished with a time.

Today's course was slightly longer than last week's; 5K run, 40K bike, 5K run.

Run 1: My goal was not to start out too fast. I was aiming for 7:30 splits. I did head out a bit faster for the first mile, but reigned it in for the 2nd and 3rd. I entered the transition area in 7th place.

Mileage: 3.12
Time/Pace: 23:04/7:24
Splits: 7:14, 7:30, 7:29
Elevation Gain: 32 ft
Avg HR: 161

T1: :59, not thrilled about this and came out of the transition area in 8th. Also, I forgot to grab my Cliff Shots that I had laid out, so no fuel for me during the bike. I was worried on how I'd hold up.

Bike: I love the bike. I feel like I'm just flying. The course was two loops with a decent hill halfway through for a total of 25 miles. Plenty of downhill as well. I push as hard as I can with a fast cadence until my legs can't burn anymore, before I gear down. I caught and passed all of those ahead of me except for the "two studs". I was the 4th fastest bike time (3rd fastest apparently dropped out before the end).

Mileage: 25.05
Time/Avg Sp/Top Sp: 1:11:02/21.1/31.9
Elevation Gain: 404ft
Avg HR:156

T2: :52, slightly better, but again (WHOA!) wobbly legs. I did remember to grab my Cliff Shots and ate all three packs during my final run.

Run 2: Goal here was to get under 8:00/mile, if possible. My legs definitely were beat and I fell a bit short of this. 4th best run and good enough to hang on to third.

Mileage: 3.09
Time/Pace: 24:54/8:02
Splits: 7:50, 8:11, 8:13
Elevation Gain: 32
Avg HR: 161

Total: 2:00:52

The Battle for Third
Last week, I missed 3rd overall by about 1:30 to the overall female winner. As my luck would have it, she was racing again today, so I set my sights on beating her (I knew I had no realistic chance on tracking down the other two.) I finished the first run about :21 ahead of her, but she had a much better T1, which put us neck and neck getting on the bike. I was able to open it up and grab a :35 lead going into T2. She gained again in T2, another :09, so I had to hang on to a razor thin :24 going into the final 5K. I was able to hold off her late charge, as she was only able to trim :04 off of my lead, coming in :26 behind me. I'm sure she had no idea this battle was going on, but for me it was truly motivating, so my hats off to her!

So, for the second week in a row, I've won something!! I again didn't stick around for the awards (had to show an apartment), but they will be shipping. I'll snap a pic for all of you when I get it.