The race became a duathlon because of cold water from the snow that fell a week earlier. Water temps were high 50s or so. I would have preferred to swim because I am a relatively good swimmer. I'm a below-average biker, and an average runner. And the one time I've run before I biked, my bike sucked because my legs were so tired, so confidence was not high going into the race. But I was going to go hard anyway.
Prior to the race, I had done well limiting alcohol intake during the high school reunion, but I was eating literally probably three times as much as I normally do. I drove the bike course and saw that the hills were longer than expected.
5K Run: The race started with an olympic race field of only about 15 racers. I hit the 5k turnaround at about 9:35, which is really fast for me, and I was hoping for 10:15. At mile 2 of the 5k, I felt my left calf muscle pull. Damn! I have had some problems with my calf muscles, but they both felt strong in training and I wasn't worrying about them. I even warmed up before the race, something I haven't done before. In any case, my second split for the 5k was 12 minutes and change.
T1: Sucked. My legs were tired and I couldn't push off my left leg because of the muscle pull, resulting in the below video comedy of getting out of T1. I'm lucky I didn't cause any crashes.
Bike: I thought I was prepared for the hills and the wind. I was 80% correct. I came in at 1:15 versus a goal of 1:09. The calf muscle didn't hurt too bad but I couldn't really push high gears to increase speed. The hills were more than I bargained for, too....loooonger than expected but the grade was doable. I followed my plan for the bike nearly perfectly, though, and came in ok.
T2: Quick and easy. Thought about bailing to save my leg but it had a chance to warm up more and work itself out a bit such that it didn't hurt too bad unless I was striding out and running hard.
10k Run: I started out pretty slow with trouble getting my legs going. After a few minutes, I got into a groove, but couldn't speed up much because of the bum leg. The run would've been good with a good leg, I think. Came in at 54 something, really slow.
After the race, I got into the water to clean up before another family picnic. I realized that the water really was as cold as they said!
Overall: I felt good going in. I was really suprised at how fast I went out without really pushing it. The muscle pull is obviously damaging to morale. Finished in 2:37 I think versus a goal of 2:12. Mission NOT accomplished in any way, shape, or form.
Next race is Saturday already, and my leg is about 70% only, and that guess is from walking not running on it. The water temp at Lake Hebgen is currently 50 degrees, so if this turns into a duathlon, I'm not racing.....there's lots of fishing to happen in Yellowstone and I want my leg to be get 100% so I can get back to training for the August and September races that are my primary races. This race is a "B" race anyway.
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