I aimed to hold my pace back, knowing I'd tank on the second run, but looking at the time, I may have been a little overcautious and held back even more than I meant to. It probably wouldn't have made a difference.

Oops. Failed to try on my helmet before the race. The strap was too tight when I put it on, so I had to adjust it during the transition.

Check my equipment properly!

The nice thing about starting the bike 80 people back, is that you get to pass people pretty much non-stop on course. The bad thing about starting the bike 80 people back is... you have to pass people pretty much the whole course. It's a little harder to get in a rhythm.

I just got in the groove the best I could. I rode pretty hard the first 1/3 of the course since it was uphill, then settled in to a slightly more moderate effort for the faster portions, planning to keep something in reserve.

Drink more!

What a dork! I started jogging out on the course with my helmet on. Like I don't look doofy enough with an aero helmet on the bike... nevermind on the run. Being Halloween, maybe I could have pulled off the look. Instead, I took it off and set it on the side of the road.

Doh! Remember to take my helmet off.

Ouch.
A side stitch set in after about 1/2 mile and never left, then my right ITB started up. The latter is no surprise, as I really don't have any mileage on my legs going in to this. The side stitch may have been a conditioning issue, but I drank very little on the bike course so I'm sure that didn't help.

Some of the faster runners who I passed on the bike course passed me back here. There was nothing I could do about it. Looking at times after the fact, some were MUCH faster runners, so I guess I was lucky to have been able to gain some ground on them in the first place. That's the nice thing about the duathlon.

Um... train?
Oh yes, and drink more.

Limited run training time leading in to the event.


This is a fun event.
I was happy to finish 3 minutes faster than I did last year, so that was satisfying. I'd like to do a little better on the run, of course, but my expectations were conservative given my lack of run training this year. I finished 12th/81 for women overall.
Team Hoyt was at the race, which was a highlight for me.