Mile 1 708, Mile 2 703, Mile 3 725, Last .1 104. 22:42
It was cold, so I tried to run fast so I could keep myself warm. Wind was blowing. Splits were good, pretty much where I wanted them to be. Last mile was hard because the sand was less packed and it took more effort.

Nothing.

Just threw off my running shoes, hat, and shirt...put on bike shoes and helmet, grabbed bike and went.

Nothing.

Pretty much right on par with what I've been doing lately. Last year my average speed was 19.05 but there wasn't a 20 mph headwind either. And it wasn't 55 degrees like it was today, it was 70. The wind made it extremely cold today.

Splits were 309 307 348 340 308 243 242 332 313 335. You can see where the tailwind pushed me along for two miles as you can see in miles 6 and 7. The headwinds are evident in miles 3 and 4 and then again in 8, 9, and 10.

Trailed the same guy for most of the bike. Got passed a bunch but did pass a fair number of people, and not just the ones on fat tires. Trailed the same guy for most of the bike, finally passed him in the last mile, and then kept ahead of him on the run.

I heard Terri whoop whoop at me at some point, although I can't remember quite where...I think it was near the T by the entrance to the park.


Get faster!!!!

No time at all! Just took some Gatorade, grabbed a gel, took off bike shoes, put on running shoes, dropped helmet, and headed out. Great T2!!

Nothing.

Mile 1 703, Mile 2 717, Mile 3 724, Last .1 58. 22:42
Two identical 5K times today. I guess I'm consistent! :) When I came off the bike I realized I had to run 730's or better to beat last year's time of 1:20:24 because my bike time was slower by .6mph but I wasn't sure I had it in me. I heard Terri whoop whoop again as she passed, just coming in on her bike as I was at about Mile 1 in the run. I was nervous about beating last year's time at this point, but I just kept pumping, and not only beat my time but went from 66th place to 56th in the last run.

Nothing.

Drank water and had a Pepsi. No food. Walked over to the finish line to meet up with Terri's mom and wait for Terri to finish.


WIND!!!! My runs were great, the wind just sucked the energy out of my bike ability. If it wasn't so windy I probably could have averaged 20's. I felt strong out there. Oh well, next time.


Organization comments...The pre-race stuff was a disaster. They didn't have enough people at the registration tables, they had only one line for pre-registered and non, they weren't moving fast enough, and the race was delayed by 20 minutes. They need to come up with a better system for this. And the worst part is, its run by a company that usually does really well with organization and race management. Plus, after the race you had to cross over the course while people were finishing to get to the post-race refreshments. No water at the finish line.

Event comments...My bike was slower than last year's bike, but my runs were a lot faster. I ran high 23's in the runs last year. It was unfortunate that I went from 38th to 66th in the bike, but I'm used to that by now!! I had a great race overall though, and set a new PR for the 5K/10mi/5K duathlon distance. It's pretty tough since most du's are usually a 1 mile run at the end of the race. So I was happy to pass 10 people on the last run.