Another hot day in Austin and we completed our outdoor exercise activities very early to beat the wonderful Texas heat. Kevin's training is going very well and I can feel great things coming his way at the Augusta 70.3 race in September. As for me, today is a day I didn't think was even a possible when I started running and competing in multi-sport races about two years ago.
Last year the Darnd'st Du in San Marcos, TX was my A race and I wanted to go out and kick some butt. The race went pretty good and I felt my times were solid, I placed 2nd in my age group. It was very rewarding to see a payoff at the end of a season of hard work. After the race I reflected on the season, noted the things I wanted to do different in the 2009 season and focused on my marathons. In Nov 08 I joined T3 to help me with my training and hopefully I would see the results in my races.
January rolled around and it was time for my first duathlon of the year and my first race since joining T3. I was surprised how much my times improved and I placed in second in the race. I thought, "hey I think this T3 training is paying off." As the year went on, I did more races than I did last year and my times kept getting better and better and I found myself placing in the top two at every race. So being a person who likes to set the bar high I secretly thought to myself, "if I can do this for a whole year that would be really cool" So I set my sights on going back to the Darnd'st Du and doing better than I did last yer.
So that brings me to today, time to race Darnd'st Du 2009 which happened to be the TX Duathlon Championship. I knew the competition would be tough since it was the state championship but I felt great going into the race. I followed my coaches tapering advice and said stick to the plan and let the day play out.
The clock went off at 3am and I started my normal pre-race routine and by 4:45 I was on my way to the race. Because I'm partly OCD, I like to be one of the first people in transition to get the best possible spot and make sure everything was just right. Everything was lining up perfect, my stuff was set and then I was able to chat with friends and get the pre-race nerves settled.
As the horn went off we took off like a bat out of hell but I knew I couldn't hold such a high pace for long and I backed off because that was not part of my plan. Overall I had a good run not as fast as I would have liked but I knew I could make up some time on the bike. In and out of transition in great time and it was time to settle in and have fun. One by one I was picking off the cyclist in front of me and I was holding a great pace. One thing I decided to try during this race that I hadn't tried before was to flush the legs with a higher cadence to keep them fresh, I figured it couldn't hurt but only help. Just after rounding the 180 degree turn on the course I looked down and realized my computer had fallen off. Oh well what can you do but keep racing right?
Coming to the end of the bike I took my gel as I always do and started visualizing the dismount and getting in and out of T2 as quickly as possible. Great transition time and I was off. I felt pretty good on the second run but this is when I realized I need more speed work but I think this is something we all say. I pushed it as much as I could through the second 5k and left it all on the course and hoped from the best in the standings.
To my surprise I did better overall in this years race by 3 minutes and finished second in my age group. It's a great thing to accomplish something you didn't even think possible a couple of years ago but it's even better to do it while getting healthy and having fun. Thanks to everyone I train with and let's keep pushing each other to keep getting better and thanks to the coaches for the painful and yet great practices.
One more triathlon to close out the multi-sport season and then it's back to back marathon time.
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