I came into this race knowing that my fitness is starting to fall and i am ready for the off season. I just haven't had the time to log the hours that I wanted to be competitive. So I had decided that because i have mostly been running lately that i would be looking for a new run PR and try and come in under 2:30.
The race started at 9am and it had been raining heavily for 2 days straight so we were expecting a wet and wild event. When we got to transition for check in on Sunday morning it was raining like crazy and we were quickly soaked. I went through the usual pre-race warm-ups and headed to the water for the swim start. It seemed that the weather knew we had a race and the rain stopped right as we all hit the water for wave 1. The swim went as planned i found a group that was going at a pace i could hold and we stuck together without many issues for the whole swim.
The run back to the bike was pretty short and i was quickly on my way out on to the bike course. The bike course was mostly rolling hills with 2 serious climbs at miles 10 and 18. With in the first 4 miles i must have seen 6 or 7 people sitting on the side of the road because of flats or from wiping out on a turn. Luckly i was able to stay out of trouble and averaged just over 20mph on the day. With 5 miles to go I passed one of my fellow teammates who is a FAST runner and i knew that i wanted to gain a little ground on him before we hit the run.
Into T2 all of my stuff was totally soaked at this point so i opted to put on socks for the run so i wouldn't be slipping inside of my shoes. Scott left transition only a few steps behind me and we ran well together for the first mile and a half at a 6:30 pace. At the 1.5 mile mark i fell off Scotts pace and ran solo for much of the rest of the run. With the last 1.5 miles left i again linked up with one of my fellow team-mates: Diana (who recently parted ways with UVA Cross Country and Track Teams) so I really wanted to test my legs and try and hang with her. Let me tell you it hurt, we kept pushing each other and found more and more speed. Diana went one last time just before the line but i couldn't keep pace. We both came in at the 2:30 mark, so i was glad that I made it in under my goal time.
At the end of the day i was pleased with my race because i felt i left it all out on the road and had one of my fastest run times ever. Although this race was about 10 min slower than my previous Oly. races I can still count it as a success. The triathlon season is quickly coming to a close as i have my last race this coming Saturday. The plan will be much of the same as it was for Naylor's i just want to make sure i leave it all out on the road. After next weekend I will probably stick to running for a while and do some 10K trail races. Then, depending on how the fitness is going i might take on a marathon in November.
Thats all for now, just want to give a shout out to all my fellow teammates for a great weekend and big ups for Rudy who won the race over all! Look for a race report next weekend.
Happy Training/Racing!
1 comments:
good work hunter. no plans for cycling races coming up?
Post a Comment