New England Season Opener - DuathlonStandard

There was a triathlon going on the same time as the Du so our start was coordinated with the start of the first wave of the swim. By the way, some of those crazy bastards were swimming w/o wetsuits in 60 degree water!!! I was cold just watching them.

Anyway, this was my 3rd race in 4 weeks so I am getting used to starts. Right off the bat, some guy starts out in a dead sprint and we let him go as he really didn't look like a runner. A couple of guys at various points took the lead but then soon faded back. I just sat behind a couple guys and tried to relax. Finally one guy went by us and opened about 15 second gap. Turns out he would never give up the lead. By the end, there was the 1st guy and then a group of four, including me and the lead female (she was flying). I finshed the first run feeling great and looking forward to the bike.

Nothing, great first leg.

I am not afraid to try new things so I decided I would try the shoes attached to the bike...big mistake. This transition was just a distaster from the start. I couldn't get my aero helmet on, couldn't my sunglasses on...finally started running out of transition. I jump on my bike, put my left foot on top of the shoe to start pedaling and my right shoe falls off the bike...shit. Jump off the bike, run back to get my shoe, put that one on, take my other shoe off the bike, put that one and finally get going. 30 seconds later I am finally riding and lead duathletes are long gone...great.

I think this is obvious.

There is no other way to describe this ride other than that I was riding angry. I was so pissed that I screwed up transition so bad, I just hammered from that start. There was no way to tell what place I was in because we were now mixed in with the triathletes. All I know is was passing people the whole time and no one went by me. This was a much better ride than Wrentham. I just attacked from the beginning and ignored the fact that I still had to run again.

The course was a lot hillier than expected but was really nice, very little traffic and well marked. By the end I thought I had passed most of the Duathletes, other than the 3 guys I had ran into T1 with. I figured I would never see them again and I was right.

Though this was a much better race, still need to work a little on intensity. If I divide the race into quarters, I really attached the 1st two quarters, lost some intensity in the third and picked up in the fourth. Still need to get a little more focussed by I was still very satisified with this ride.

Good T2...didn't know over the bike rack :)

First off, there is no way this is a 5k. I had a good run but not this good and this was not a flat course. There were 2 decent hills on the thing.

The second run started out up a hill and coming off a very hard bike, I decided to start slow and see how I felt. I couldn't believe how good I felt. Breathing was good, no cramping and I just felt like I was cruising. I didn't wear a watch so I didn't have any splits but I wouldn't be suprised if my last mile was my fastest. Unlike Wrentham were I died the lst half mile in a 2 mile final run, I felt strong right through the finish and had the 3rd fastest run split.

Nothing

Grabbed some water and walked around with the wife.


Definately my best race of the season. Other than the T1 fiasco, had a great race. I think racing a lot has made a huge difference.