Cannon Falls Duathlon

Well my first duathlon was a success. I was definitely the favorite going in and knew as long as I had a solid race and did not take any chances I should come away as the winner. Even though I increased my mileage the week before the race in prep for a half marathon in a couple of weeks.

I felt good off the bat and came into T1 right behind the leader who was on a team. I did not leave my shoes clipped in as the path we started off on was narrow and I did not know if anyone would come out of T1 with me. Again, this was the smart decision and made no difference in the end. I took the lead over the team cyclist a little over a mile into the bike but never felt like I could get into a groove or put any real power into my pedals. The course had a lot of sharper corners that were not swept so I took my time so I wouldn't wipe out around them. Again, race smart stupid. I came into T2 with about a two minute lead and had a great run to finish things up. I even felt like I could've put a little more into the 3 mile run but wanted to pace myself to see what kind of a pace I might be able to comfortably do for my half marathon. My 6:04 pace would be a bit ambitious but 6:10 is definitely a good goal to shoot for.

Super Mario Minelli came in a little over three minutes behind me and also had a great race. I read on his blog that he only puts in about half the training time per week I do. I must say he was no slouch and if he can do that on only 7 hours of training a week I'm glad he doesn't put in 14.

My dad was in town for this race and I was excited he got to see me get a win. Pops lives in Missouri so he doesn't get to see me race very often, I was glad he was there for such a nice day and a well run race. The ever smiling Randy Fulton was also there and helped out cheering me on. Randy owns and runs Vacation Sports and is one hell of a nice guy.

Next up is the Big Woods Half Marathon. I am looking forward to my first road running race since my marathon in Iraq in 2007.