Weekend Warrior Part II

This is a picture of the transition area and in the foreground is the road where the bike route began after climbing up the short hill from T1 and in the background is the art sculpture where the run began (it is probably too far away to make out very well).

This is me pre race but post warm up eager to begin the 4 mile run.

To continue with the race post, my first 4 mile run split was 33:15 while after the bike my second 4 mile run split was 37:23 so I slowed down 4 minutes 8 seconds on the second run. While that was slower than I wanted, I think I ran the first 4 miles a little too hard which sapped some of my energy. I think the bike leg was great in the sense that I tried to maintain a good pace without ever going into oxygen debt or really feeling any burning in the legs due to trying to turn over the cranks too fast in a high gear. In other words, I think I succeeded pretty well in moving fairly fast with using as little effort as possible. Thus, I was able to start the second run leg with legs that were not dead. Doing so is an acquired skill that can be honed and developed with endurance workouts but many of the competitors I observed on the second run leg miscalculated and blew up on that run where I was able to pass them. If I run this race next year I would like to have the second run leg no more than two minutes slower than the first. Still overall I was pleased with the effort.

At the finish area there was water, gatorade and soda available. In addition, the race provided pizzas from a local pizza joint that I sampled once I recovered and consumed a water and gatorade. The awards were located inside the college field house and the participants were encouraged to pick up their own awards without any formal presentation. Thus, a very low key format was in evidence yet again. I finished first among two competitors in the clydesdale division and received a trophy. In checking my time relative to the open competitors I finished in 2oth place overall in the long division and 4th in my age group excluding the race winner. My average bike mph was 18.7 which I think is good for not specifically practicing racing at a fast pace on relatively flat terrain w/o a time trial bike etc. Still, the top riders averaged just over 24 mph so there is definitely room for improvement.