Didn't bring any water bottles for bike. I usually carry full bottles around and never drink anything. But this wasn't just a quick swim or 1 mi run. The first leg is a 5k and the sun was already out. Great. Fortunately, they had a water station at the 1 mi & 2 mi mark, so I made sure to grab a cup each time on my way by. 1st mile was fast downhill. Checked watch about 1/2 mi in: 5:25. Too fast. Slowed down a bit. Second and third mile were about what I expected considering the hills. Was trying to remember to feel good about having to get on the bike. Just about a 1/2 mile from transition, a runner in my AG passed me and I was thinking that he and I might be battling it out for a podium spot in an hour or so. He was wearing an Olympic Club kit. I'll call him OC44.

Not much. This was a good run. I got out of the gate fine

Crowded mount and almost ran straight into someone that stopped, but I went right, mounted and was off. I left shoes off the bike and didn't strap them before running out. It made for an awkward run and I still had to strap em up on the ride. It was downhill, though, so I didn't waste much time. Garmin on bike had powered off during the run, so I turned power on instead of starting timer. It took a while to power up and find satellite.

Leave shoes on bike. After last race, I was a bit tentative and was worried that the mass start would make for another crowded transition area. This one was crowded, but it was a downhill start, so it would have been easy to get into shoes. Check bike computer first thing - or turn off power save before race. It's a new piece of equipment and I'm still figuring out how to work with it.

Felt great heading down the hill and caught a couple of riders, including OC44. Pushed the pace and I couldn't see anyone ahead of me. I thought I might be riding the rest of the way alone, but the two guys (one was just 17 years old!) were right on me when it leveled out. The three of us jockeyed back and forth for a while. OC44 asked me if there was a group way out in front and I said yep. I knew there was a pack up ahead that were putting some considerable time into us. We saw them just before the turn and it didn't look like they were bunched together all that much. After the turnaround, I got a good look at some serious looking machines closing the gap behind us. We got caught shortly thereafter and everyone bunched up on the last climb on Stuart Mesa. A pack of about 5 riders then pulled away from me. Just after the turn up the hill towards transition, two more riders passed me and I started to concede another 4th or 5th AG. Just when I was about to completely fall apart on the climb, an event van coming the other direction yelled out "16" to me. At first I thought he was telling me what mile I was at, but then I realized it was my place in the race. I could still see about 6 or 7 riders within sight. That picked me up a bit as I thought I might be able to pick some of them off on the run (afterall, I had put some time into most of them on the first run). The last couple of miles up the hill were tough but I got there eventually and started to work on getting out of my shoes.

Start off a bit slower. I don't have a power meter, but I know I go out too hard in the first part of the bike. I also didn't have any nutrition or water. It's a short bike leg, but I think I underestimated what the 5k would take out of me. A few sips of water probably wasn't enough. I probably could have used a partially-filled water bottle in one of the rear cages.

I only managed to get completely out of one shoe before I was getting yelled at to dismount. I didn't swing my leg over before stopping. One shoe came off with me and I had a "one shoe off, one shoe on" shuffle to my rack. Spotted my bag and shoes just fine. Slipped on shoes, off with the helmet, on with the run cap and run out. Not too bad. Could have been a bit better, but with the long hill to transition, there wasn't much flat to work with and I did what I could.

Get out of both shoes before the dismount line. Start a bit earlier.

Headed out of transition and didn't see anyone at first, but after I made the first turn, I could see about 5 or 6 guys about 200 yards up ahead. I figured I would reel them in eventually and didn't really push the pace all that much. I was a bit worried about the uphill and I don't think I was really feeling all that great right off the bike. I caught up to 2 guys before the first mile, I was thinking 15th, 14th...then I grabbed some water and headed up the hill with a couple guys within striking distance. Still no leaders coming the other way. I caught someone else (13) and could see the two guys (OC44 and young gun) I had first passed on the bike. There were a couple more runners that I thought I could get and figured I'd have to get em all for a top-10 and podium spot. The first runners started to come the other way and I started to count them. I caught another runner before the turn and confirmed 12th place by who I saw in front of me. OC44 and the young gun were about 100 yards ahead and overtaking a runner. I didn't think anyone else would be in play. Down past the 2 mile sign and I knew I would catch at least one more guy. I saw he was in my AG and I tucked in behind to prepare for one last surge. Just before a couple of brutal little sharp inclines on the path I took off and hit the hills hard, hoping to leave no possibility of him latching on and matching the pace. I couldn't hear him, so I knew I was sitting 11th and was within about 50 yards of OC44 and the youngster. OC44 turned to take a look with less than a half mile to go and I knew he was hurting, too. I thought this might be the fight for the last AG podium spot and it was now or never. I tried to pick up the pace but there wasn't much there. When we made the last turn up the hill before the finishing straightaway, I knew I wasn't gonna catch them. There was less than a 1/4 mile to go and they were at least 10 seconds ahead. I saw them sprint for the finish and Young Gun pulled away for 9th, OC44 got 10th and I came in 15 seconds later in 11th. Turns out that last pass got me 3rd.

Maybe hit it a bit harder out of T2. I feel like I might have held back just a bit, not knowing what I would have left in the tank. But then I guess we always go with our pacing for what we can do for the distance and it's not like I had anything left in the last half mile. Maybe if I would have gone out faster, I would have blown up and lost any shot at a medal.

Walk through the chute, grab a water, cheer on the athletes coming into T2 and heading out for the run. Chatted with another guy from my AG. Turns out he won, OC44 got 2nd.


Overall fitness, power-to-weight ratio. I'm not a light rider and I seem to fade on the bike (especially up long, steady inclines). I'm not very good at climbing in the saddle - gotta work on that. Pacing on the bike was probably an issue, not to mention lack of hydration. I should have had at least a partially-filled water bottle on the bike.

I think my nutrition was fine. I had plenty of food the night before and enough in the morning to get through an hour and a half of racing.

Making up a minute with transitions, pacing, hydration (and perhaps a bit more fitness) might be possible. I could potentially see an AG win in a local event like this someday, but it's going to take a whole helluva lot to make up 5 minutes (that's where the overall winners were - 1:21 to my 1:26). I guess about 10% further improvement on the bike would be necessary. Not completely out of the question, but it's going to take some work and discipline.

Of course, this was a tune-up race one week out from Oceanside and I'm not all that sure anyone was taking this race very seriously.

It was interesting that my time would have won a lot of the younger AGs. I just "aged up" and it always seemed that the 35-39 group was the most competitive. I guess you just never know who's going to show up and you have to keep working and race as hard as you can. The rewards will come. And it should be noted that 2 of the 35-39 guys got bumped up to o/all top 3, so I really would have only been third in that AG although they would have given out a 1st place medal. Still the big fish with all the players is next Sat. I'm sure that will be a humbling experience.


This was one of a few events where I felt like I had a feel for where I was in the race the whole time. I knew my overall position heading into T2, thanks to a race official, and I could see runners on the out-and-back portions of the run. This was the first time where I was able to consciously employ some sort of strategy and surge to overtake a runner. I just think I should have made a move earlier to move up a few more spots, but really...if I could have, don't you think I would have? It's easy to say that now.

It's also interesting that, at least around where I finished, the position where we finished the run is just about where we finished the race. T1, the bike, T2 and the second run all just settled everything back to how the first run finished. Everyone that passed me on the bike, I ended up catching on the run. The two guys that were out on the bike just ahead of me ended up holding me off on the last run, too.

It shows that in duathlon, it's the bike that gets you into contention, but it's really the run that seals the deal and determines the final outcome. Not all that much different than triathlon.