The Preston Biathlon is the biggest race here in town each year at least competition wise. It's our big weekend here in town with " The Famous Preston Night Rodeo" . They lay claim to being the first night rodeo ever held. There are parades and carnival and all kinds of events all weekend. The race draws in a good number of people from out of town. Last year they said they had 160 participate including teams and this year it seemed as big or bigger. I really wanted to do well here but wasn't sure what to expect since I normally ride my bike year round but only started riding 3 weeks ago twice a week and it didn't help that I ran a 10K on Monday. OK enough of my excuses. There were a lot of people I didn't recognize and a lot of nice looking bikes and fast looking people. Some of these guys are better bikers and you just have to hope that they are slow enough runners and there are better runners you hope don't bike much.I just did a 1 mile warmup and just running 8 min pace felt hard but I've had races before where I felt lousy during the warmup and still had a good result. I just hoped it would be one of those. The race has a 5K run followed by a 14.5 [closer to 14] mile bike ride both on out and back courses. Last year they did the bike first and I was very glad they went back to the run first.
The race started and I had about 15 people running ahead of me the first 1/4 mile and we were at about 5:50 pace. I passed a few and still had about 10 ahead of me at 1/2 mile and the pace was still a bit under 6 min which was about what I had hoped to run the whole 5K I thought I could manage that without going all out and still have something left for the bike. I passed a few more the next 1/2 mile but I was slowing badly. First mile I finished in 6:14. Ouch. There was just no pop in the legs. 2nd mile was 6:16 and by then I just had 3 runners ahead of me but they were all way ahead. I didn't want to pick up the pace much and just cruise in so I wouldn't be too spent when I got on the bike. 3rd mile was 6:11 and without intending to I picked it up to about 5:20 pace for the last .1. Finished the 5K in 19:08. I was obviously still feeling it from the 10K this week. Normally when I run 5ks on consecutive weekends, I usually recover and run the second one better but I guess a 10k with 4 recovery days isn't quite the same especially as I get older. I was in transition about 52 seconds then I was off on the bike. After a slow start because of a couple of hairpin turns then a left turn onto a road with some traffic I had to slow for, I got settled in and focused on the guy in red who had finished the run about a minute ahead of me. The last race I saw this guy at he won the mile in 4:40 something so I was actually surprised I had finished the run even that close behind but before the race I had seen that he had a nice bike and equipment so I figured he must do a lot of riding and I doubted I would be able to make up what appeared to be a 1/2 mile lead he had on me. The next 2 guys were way up on him. After 4 or 5 miles I didn't feel like I had made up any ground on him but at least I seemed to be opening a bigger gap on the guys behind me. This course is always either climbing or dropping with 3 or 4 short hills that are pretty steep. At the halfway point it was the first time I felt like I had actually gained slightly on him and from that point the next 3 1/2 miles are a steady climb. As the climb went on I could tell that I was actually gaining and the more it went on I was gaining fast. I made it my goal to catch him before the downhill started and I just passed him just before the highest point. There was still some uphill after this but it was mostly gradual downhill or flat to the finish. I expended a lot of energy to hopefully leave him behind quickly but he fell right in behind and started drafting which isn't allowed. He sat on my wheel for a while then I let him pass. I rode along behind him 4 bike lengths back [as required] for a while and he slowed slower than I wanted to go so I tried to make a fast break to loose him but he got on me drafting again. I knew I had more left in the tank than he did but not if I had to do this a lot longer. After pulling him along for a while doing all the work I backed up and told him the rule. He hadn't herd it mentioned and I hadn't this year either but it had been the rule in the past years and at every other biathlon I have done. To his credit when I took off again he kept the right distance and I was able to pull away and build 17 seconds over the final 2 miles. I was really hoping the other 2 guys that finished ahead of me were both in the team category but one was an individual rider so I ended up 2nd overall. I finished the bike in 37:44 [22.2 MPH average] and my overall time was 57:46. Last year I did the bike in 36:03 [23.3 MPH]. I was in much better bike shape and the bike was first so I was fresher but I had a horrible time trying to run the 5K off of the bike after that and was 20:52 on the run so I beat last years overall time. Had I trained good on the bike and not run the 10K Monday, I probably still wouldn't have beat the 1st place finisher from Logan who came in almost 2 minutes ahead of me but it could have been a lot closer. I'm pretty happy though with a PR and second overall especially under the circumstances. Fun to do well in the hometown. PM My wife and I went for a 5 mile bike ride in the evening. After that I went another 10.
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