Cannon Wells Duathlon

Woke up at 3:30am, not for the race, just woke up. Had a bowl of rice crispies then tried to go back to sleep. No go. I finally 'got up' at 5:30, did the regular morning stuff then packed the car for the race. Its raining. Sofia was up at 6:05am so I got her started on breakfast while I had mine too. About 6:50am I left for the race.

Arrived around 7:35. Not a very good turn out. First year race, advertised, not so much, but I did see some familiar faces from other du's/tri's. It was a short race of a 1.75 mi run, 14 mile bike, and a 3 mile run so you'd think it would attract a good crowd. However, it was drizzling, around 60 degrees--enough to keep the fair-weathered people in bed. This was a test race for me to see how the hammy (tendon) is coming along. I had no intention of trying to compete during run 1, but thought I could clock a pretty fast bike split. Here's how it went:

Run 1 went pretty fast. I was 4th with a time of 10:37 (6:04 pace). I was holding back a bit as I didn't want to blow the hammy tendon right off the bat, and I didn't want to be the carrot for the rabbits to chase. T1 went fast, two people behind me got out of T1 before me (one was a team participant so they had nothing to transition) so I was 6th getting on the bike. Within a half mile I was in 4th and could see two guys that looked identical as they were both wearing black and red jerseys--they were about a minute up on me. They will be called the twins from here on. They looked like they were drafting/working together, but at that distance they could have been 20 feet apart and it would be hard to tell. I started closing in on them and they spread apart, but were side-by-side. I could see another guy about 200 yards up from them. By mile five I was in first overall--9 miles to go on the bike. It was nice just following the motorcycle as if it were an escort. I looked back a few times and I swear the twins were working together--I caught them before mile 5, was keeping a good pace, but wasn't gaining too much. At mile 9 we entered a bike trail--narrow and bumpy with gravel road crossings that had nasty lips--almost curbs to go up. I reached T2 and it was beautiful: empty. I was praying the leg/hammy would hold out. Mile 1 was 6:14--another 1/2 mile and the pain started to find its way along side and behind my right knee. Mile 2 was 6:27. I couldn't see anyone behind me so I slowed down a little and did a 6:46 final mile. I grabbed the overall win. The twins came in 2nd and 3rd. Curiously, they started the bike section 5 seconds apart and finished it 1 second apart. I'm not saying they were working together...just sayin'.

I went straight to the car to get the ice pack for my knee. The side (ITB) was pretty tender. What the %#$&... I think the tendon issue resolved and now the ITB is flaring up. Oh well. I see the PT on Tuesday so I will keep up with the stretching and see how it turns out.

Splits:
Run 1- 10:37 (6:04 pace)
T1- :47
Bike- 34:05 (24.71 mph)
T2- :29
Run 2- 19:26 (6:29 pace)
TOTAL- 1:05:23

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