The night before I ran 1hr 10min thinking I was just training thru this race and wasn't concerned about resting for the race. The hill at the beginning of the run course wasn't easy with heavy legs. However, on the downhill my legs seemed to respond a little and I actually passed a few runners. I came through the first mile in 5:31 and was 30" behind the lead group filled with pros, top duathletes, and elite younger AG'ers.

On Friday I practiced transitions with bike shoes clipped into the pedals. Also practiced running with the bike and jumping on. I tried it during the race and cut my T time considerably from last week. I pedaled with my feet on top of my shoes up the first hill and tried to slip into the shoes on the downside. My left shoe came unclipped when I tried to slip into it so I put it on and then re-clipped.

Practice getting up to speed and slipping into shoes.

The wind was f*cking relentless today on many long stretches. I really forced myself to push a bigger gear into the wind and thought to myself "the winds of Kona make this look like a gentle breeze". I was really at my limit on some portions of the course and my legs were a little heavy from the 2 tough trainer workouts I had this week. I managed to catch a couple riders and went back and forth with 2 other guys the last 10 miles. Did I mention it was windy today?

Not much - coped as well as I could with the headwinds.

Got out of my shoes about 100 yds from the dismount line and coasted in with both legs on one side of the bike.

Nothing

I was worried that I fried my legs on the bike and thought the run would not be too fun. Up the first hill I really had to work hard and it seemed like I was slow as heck. The 2 guys that I was going back and forth with on the bike had about a 30" and 10" lead on me after the hill. My legs starting responding after the hill and I started catching the first guy in front of me. I passed him at about 1.5 miles and about 30" later I could hear him behind me breathing hard to try to bridge the gap. I had set my sights on the next guy up in front of me, so I thought "OK buddy, see if you can stay with me while I surge". I put on 3 different surges as I tried to catch the other guy and the guy behind me was breathing harder and harder trying to catch me. Although I was focused on catching the guy in front of me I have to admit I was getting perverse satisfaction out of making the guy in back of me suffer. I finally caught the second guy at the 2 mile mark and my legs were feeling great - I seemed to get stronger with each passing minute.

My second run leg split was only 30" slower than Brian Bich - national AG champion 40-44 and 2nd ranked in the nation in triathlon for 40-44. His first run split was 1min 5 sec faster than mine. He killed me by 4' 15" on the bike though.

Nothing - got stronger as the minutes passed - good sign for HIM and IM races later this summer.

No warm down run today. Changed clothes and headed to the food tent.


Wind on the bike


This was my first Apple Duathlon and I thought it was an excellent race. It was the site of a national duathlon championship in the past - so the distances were valid and the event was well run. Will go back for sure.

Got a nice stone apple with inscription for AG win prize. Left empty handed from the gear giveaway raffle.