Batavia Duathlon

I'm really happy with yesterday's race! I don't think I've felt this much pressure in a long while, but in the end, I squeaked out a win. That makes 7 years in a row that I've won my age group (one of those years was in the Triathlon, but the other 6 were in the Duathlon). 2011-2nd overall, 2012-5th overall, 2013-Tri-6th overall, 2014-3rd overall, 2015-won overall, 2016-2nd overall and 2017-4th overall. I've slowed down from year to year, but still hanging in there! This is the biggest win of my life- Mid East Regional Championship!  This was also the closest age group race for me. Bob Jones, who is always fast was right behind me every step of the 2nd run, but I hung on.
    I think that getting a sports watch and hiring a coach for the month of April was a key for me.  That got me thinking a lot more about pacing and training at higher intensities. My build up to this race was perfect: slow steady increase in distance and intensity with swimming in there to help take some of the stress off the running and biking musculosckeletal systems.  I also think that running the Batavia half-marathon in April was a key because it gave me confidence that I can still run fast and provided a great stimulus for my CV system while still giving me plenty of time to recover.  Then the week before this race I took in very easy. A 50 mile fairly hard ride on the Sunday before and then a 7 mile low-moderate intensity run on Monday and then really easy the rest of the week with only swimming (2K yards only) and very easy biking. On race day I felt rested and ready to go!
    In the race, I checked my watch early and often in the first run with the goal of running 6:15 and that is exactly what I ran (12:30 for the 2 miles).  Then I pushed hard on the bike and even began to get cramps toward the end.  Starting the 2nd run I had some calf cramps on both sides, but I took it very easy for the first mile (7:30 + min /mile pace), but then was able to pick it up as the cramps subsided. By the end of the run,  think I was back around 6:45/mile. I knew that Bob was right behind me on the run because I heard people cheering for him at the turn around, but I never looked back!