Pre-race, Sarah said that she was going to just take it easy just like she always claims. However, within minutes, she had pulled away from me, again as usual. I was tempted to try to keep up with her, but I had to run my own race and she was just too fast for me at the start. I talked with Aaron and another guy who did IMAZ last year, and that was fun. This first run felt pretty fast for me as I haven't run any miles below 9:00 pace for many weeks. But it wasn't too fast to be uncomfortable.

Nothing really. It was a good start.

This was only my 2nd Du (my first was about 2 years ago) and I forgot how much easier T1 is compared to a triathlon. Nothing bad happened.

One day I will try clipping my shoes to my pedals.

For the first few miles with the tailwind, it was fun going fast and passing people. I saw Sarah at the first turnaround where she was just a few seconds ahead of me. Then the WINDS. From approx. mile 4 to 12, we had pretty strong head or side winds that slowed me down to about 18 mph or so. I passed Sarah shortly after that first turnaround and reminded her to drink because I know she doesn't like to on the bike. However, after the race she admitted to me that she didn't drink at all on the bike!!

I was riding much faster than I was used to doing in all my base training for the RedMan Full Ironman. I rode 60 miles yesterday at about 16.5 mph as my long ride for the week. So 18-19 mph into the wind felt really hard for me, but the 25-26 mph with the tail wind on the way back was sheer ecstasy even with a sore butt. Man, tri shorts have NO padding what so-ever!

After the second turnaround, I was looking for Sarah to be coming at me on the other side of the road. 1 min passed, then 2, then 3, still no sign of her. I was getting really concerned that she may have fell or gotten a flat. I went the whole last 4 miles not seeing her and concluded that I must have just missed spotting her or something bad had happened.

Not much

Pretty fast T2 for me.

Take feet out of shoes while on bike.

Still didn't see Sarah in T2 or coming off her bike as I was running out. I was really concerned that something bad had happened. My legs felt reasonable good for biking so hard. I think the bricks I've been doing paid off. It was a really nice and new experience to pass some people towards the end of the run. I hardly ever do that. I think my endurance is getting better.

At the last turnaround on the run, I finally saw Sarah coming the other way. First of all, I was relieved that she was OK and secondly, I and was shocked that she was so close to me. I had this preconcieved picture in my head that I had blown by her on the bike and had put some serious distance between us. Well, I was DEAD wrong! So, after getting butt my whooped by her in our last 3 races, I decided that it was about time that streak ended, so I picked up the pace to sub-7's for the last mile or so. I think that really helped my time.

Not much

Talked with Aaron a little, and wished him good luch at IMAZ next weekend. Sarah picked up a nice medal for placing 2nd in her AG.


I don't know maybe the 60 miles I rode the day before the race!


Very fun race. This was the first time I felt like I was really competing with Sarah. We're both prety competitive people and I'm really proud how we've been race each other while still maintaining a supportive and loving relationship. She's the best.

On a personal note, I was elated to experience first-hand how base training and Long, Slow Distance (LSD) work can make you faster. I haven't done any tempo or speed work in months and yet I came within 3 seconds of my 5K PR on BOTH segments AFTER biking 60 miles the day before!