Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - Duathlon

I wasn't sure about pacing for what was supposed to be a 5K to start things off. Plus I had done no run-bike bricks in the last couple months. So, my strategy was to just stay in the first quarter of my AG. I kept my eye on Paul and Bill, who charged out in front. I tried to keep my HR sub-threshold, and did for the first mile, but it crept up to Z4 soon after the first mile split. My first split was 5:30 - hmmm. This might not be a full 5K. Everything felt good, under control, I still had the front of the pack in sight. Mission accomplished.

Throw a few run-bike bricks into the training mix.

No wetsuit makes T1 easy.

I didn't push too hard going out of the park, because 1. it's a narrow, curvey road, and 2. that's where I flatted last year. I caught up to Bill soon out of transition. I figured it would be a duel, like we had in Columbia, but I never saw him again once we left the park. In town, I averted disaster when a girl in front of me dropped her water bottle on a 90 deg turn, and it started rolling in front of my intended path. To make matters worse, she stopped and turned to go back and pick it up. Fortunately some emphatic screaming from me and the nearby volunteers got her to stop before I T-boned her. Scary.
For the first couple hills, I did not feel like pushing hard. My legs felt fine, but I didn't have the mental drive to stand up and make myself really uncomfortable. So, I sat down, geared down and took it easy. Along the way, something clicked, though. Maybe it was keeping momentum on the rollers, maybe it was checking mya avg speed and saying, "Hey, I can have a pretty decent bike leg." Whatever it was I started pushing hard and was having fun. The course kind of flew by. Before I knew it we were at Conowingo, and two of the more prominant features of the course - Rt 222, a beautiful, flat, pothole strewn, slightly descending stretch of road right along the Susquehanna River, and THE HILL, outside Port Deposit. To my shock and delight, Rt 222 had been recently paved. Oh that was fun. Just blow the doors off, and let it all hang out. It think I kept it between 24-27 mph on that stretch coming into Port Deposit. Caught up to Dave, and fortunately he didn't blow any snot rockets on me. Last year, the traffic in Port Deposit was horrendous. I got stuck behind cars just inching along with no where to pass. This year, it was a ghost town. Very cool to cruise through an old town like that at 23-24 mph. Last year there was a long, steep hill just outside Port Deposit. This year there was a long, steep hill just outside Port Deposit. That didn't change. I knew that was the last major climb on the course, so I spent a little energy on it, alternating between sitting and standing. The second of two significant descents on the course was soon after the hill. I looked at my speedometer and saw 42 mph, and realized I probably shouldn't be looking at the speedometer. Next thing I knew, I was back in Perryville. It didn't seem nearly as long this year. Ever since Rt 222, I had been going back and forth with a guy on a Litespeed. I passed him on the big hill and he passed me coming into the park. He had grey hair, so I hoped he couldn't run. Really didn't pay too much attention to how many bikes were in transition at the time, so I had no clue how I might be doing.

Not much. I felt pretty strong for the latter 2/3 of the bike leg.

Didn't stick around long enough to screw anything up.

My shin splints were not going away. I thought they might calm down after I warmed up, but no dice. I kept to a just-past-uncomfortable pace, which was about 7:00/mi. I started picking off several other racers, then got picked off myself. The guy who passed me on the bike, I passed in T2, then he caught me around mile 1. I turned to him and asked, "You 40?" He shot me a puzzled look, "47". Cool, I didn't have to try to keep up with him. At some point during mile 2, I saw a green jersey ahead of me. There were a ton of these Team Z athletes there, so I couldn't be sure, but it looked a little different, like CMS green. "No way, that can't be Paul" Just in case I picked it up a little, and was narrowing the gap. Closing in on the turnaround, I had a positive ID. This surprised me because Paul is a very good cyclist, so I figured he had put a lot territory between himself and me. But, sure enough I give him a greeting at the turnaround and pass him at mile 3. Not long after that I pass Dave, who is on his way out. Now I need another mark. There was a girl, who came out of T2 just ahead of me and was running real strong, but now I was gaining a little ground. I passed her with a little under 1.5 miles to go (pity). As it turns out, she was the overall woman's winner and a Kona qualifier. Felt good about that. Pushed hard to the finish. Bettered last year's time by 1:30.

Not much. The shin splints bothered me on every other (rt) step that I took. I feel like I might have had a little more to give if it didn't hurt as much.

Got my...frisbee? Cheered Dave on as he finished. Drank, ate. On the way over to transition the results were being posted. I was shocked to see how high I had finished. I was not expecting much out of this race, so I was beside myself to get 1st in my AG.


Shin splints, big gravel chunks, non-specific training.


Although disappointed about the swim being cancelled, there were improvements to the course, which made the bike better and safer. I would like to see some honest measurements on the run course.
There were just a little over half of the number of athletes participating this year compared to last year. So, while I'm happy about my lighthouse(trophy) I wonder how the swim (my weakest event) would have changed things, and I also know that it's a question of who shows up.